ACC Chairman addresses Executive Council; offers apology

John Paterson, bishop of Auckland and chair of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), told the Executive Council that he hopes General Convention will rigorously debate the Windsor Report while keeping in mind the communion that Anglicans share.

“The Anglican Communion needs the Episcopal Church,” he said. “I would be so bold as to say that the reverse is also true. The Episcopal Church needs the Anglican Communion. The ACC needs the Episcopal Church.”

Paterson, speaking to the Council’s opening session March 6, also apologized for the ACC’s decision to limit the participation of the Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada’s delegations to the last ACC meeting in Nottingham, England in June 2005.

Noting that the vote to ask the churches to voluntarily withdraw their members passed by two votes, Paterson said the decision “ostracized” the delegations.

“I apologize and at the same time I commend your representatives for the manner in which they managed to somehow stay with the body that was treating them so badly,” Paterson said.

J. Philip Newell, Celtic author and lecturer, to speak at Christ Church Cathedral

Dr. J. Philip Newell, an internationally acclaimed lecturer and writer and a leader in reviving interest in the Celtic tradition, will speak at Christ Church Cathedral on Friday evening, April 28, at 7 p.m. The event is open to the public. In addition, he will meet with Episcopal clergy and Christian educators on Sunday afternoon, April 30, in the Great Hall of the Cathedral. Interested persons should contact Elizabeth Conrad at econrad@ccclex.org or 859-254-4497. A Church of Scotland Minister, Dr. Newell is currently writer-theologian for the Cathedral of the Isles on Cumbrae. His doctoral research at the University of Edinburgh was in Scottish Spirituality. He is the former Warden of Iona Abbey in Scotland, and Scholar in Spirituality at St. Giles Cathedral. His best-selling book titles include Listening to the Heartbeat of God, which will be the title of his Friday evening address; Celtic Benediction, and Echo of the Soul. Christ Church Cathedral bookstore will have Dr. Newell’s books available for purchase, and there will be a book signing following the Friday evening event. Lexington hosts for Dr. Newell’s presentations are Christ Church Cathedral, the Presbytery of Transylvania and First Presbyterian Church.

Listening: Anglican women share hopes and concerns at U.N. forum

By Matthew Davies

[ENS] Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW), a forum sponsored by Anglican Women’s Empowerment was held March 4 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, where Anglican women shared their hopes and concerns for a world in which Christian faith calls them to action.

Abagail Nelson, vice president of Episcopal Relief and Development, led a lively conversation with three Anglican delegates to the UNCSW on the theme “Transforming Vision into Action.”

The panelists -- Lisbeth Barahona of the Diocese of El Salvador; the Rev. Joyce Kariuki of the Anglican Church of Kenya; and Dr. Jenny Te Paa, dean of the Anglican Theological College in Auckland, New Zealand -- brought perspectives from their individual contexts and highlighted some of the challenges of living in patriarchal societies.

A transcript of the conversation with Anglican delegates can be found below and online at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_72657_ENG_HTM.htm. Phoebe Griswold, founding member of AWE and wife of Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, delivered a powerful address for which she received a standing ovation. The Anglican delegation is the largest NGO at the United Nations this year, Griswold announced. “What a small group of women saw in 2002 by attending this meeting was an unmatched opportunity for resourcing women’s empowerment around the world,” she said. “There is no better resource of intelligent research [and] articulate conversation than the gathering of women at this meeting and to bring our dear, dear sisters from around the world to learn and to take things back to their own ministries is an unparalleled opportunity.”

The full text of Griswold’s speech can be found below and online at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_72659_ENG_HTM.htm.

Unique partnership to rebuild transformed Episcopal Church on Gulf Coast

By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[ENS] Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold has announced the launch of an appeal to restore the Episcopal Church in the Gulf Coast dioceses of Mississippi and Louisiana, both ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“Darkness into Day: Restoring Hope in the Wake of Katrina” is meant to raise money to rebuild church buildings and congregations, insure compensation until congregations become self-sufficient again, create new opportunities for church schools, and establish ministry centers, according to a news release.

The appeal will be a “unique partnership” of the two dioceses, the Episcopal Church, and the Episcopal Church Foundation, according to Rebecca McDonald, the foundation’s marketing director.

“We have received an outpouring of generosity,” Griswold wrote in a March 3 letter to Episcopal bishops announcing the effort. “The people of the Episcopal Church have reached out in unprecedented ways to provide relief, financial support, and volunteer help to the victims of Katrina.”

For instance, about $15 million has been contributed to Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) for hurricane relief, Abagail Nelson, ERD’s vice president for program, told the Executive Council meeting in Philadelphia March 6.

The church has learned a great deal about how to deliver needed assistance more effectively and how to form unique alliances for outreach and missions work, Griswold wrote.

While the situation in the affected dioceses remains critical and efforts to provide relief assistance will continue, “we must also look to how we will move forward, restore and transform the Episcopal Church in Louisiana and Mississippi,” he wrote. The news release said the appeal aims to “embrace a new vision.”