[ELD] Rochester ordains bishop in colorful ceremony / Episcopal Church, San Joaquin diocese amend property dispute / Methodists, Episcopalians celebrate historic Eucharist at Bruton Parish / Province I announces Lambeth Conference plans

[Matthew Davies]

Episcopal Life Daily
June 2, 2008

Episcopal Life Online is available at
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.

Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* TOP STORY - Multicultural elements abound as Rochester ordains bishop
in colorful ceremony
* TOP STORY - Episcopal Church, San Joaquin diocese amend property
dispute
* TOP STORY - Methodists, Episcopalians celebrate historic Eucharist at
Bruton Parish
* TOP STORY - Province I announces Lambeth Conference plans for prayer
and dialogue
* WORLD REPORT - CANADA: British Columbia court sides with diocese in
dispute over access to church
* WORLD REPORT - CENTRAL AFRICA: Bishops issue pastoral message on
Zimbabwe crisis
* PEOPLE - David Gortner to head Virginia Theological Seminary's Doctor
of Ministry program
* FEATURE - A brief history of the Lambeth Conference
* DAYBOOK - June 3, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - The Becoming of G-d

_____________________


TOP STORIES

Multicultural elements abound as Rochester ordains bishop in colorful
ceremony

By Don Hill and Neva Rae Fox

[Episcopal News Service] An extravagance of color, movement and sound
encompassed the more than 1,200 people who gathered to celebrate Prince
G. Singh's ordination and consecration as the 8th bishop of the
Episcopal Diocese of Rochester
(http://www.rochesterepiscopaldiocese.org).

"We are here to bless a bridge builder," Presiding Bishop Katharine
Jefferts Schori said in her sermon. Reflecting on a recent visit to the
famed Brooklyn Bridge, which is held together by tension, she noted that
all parts of the bridge are necessary to make it work.

"The Diocese of Rochester has called Prince to be a bishop, but they did
not call him to be a prince bishop -- a monarch -- but to be a bridge
builder, a servant ministry," Jefferts Schori said. She challenged the
new bishop to "be a bridge; to build bridges; and to encourage others to
build bridges."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_97579_ENG_HTM.htm

- - - - -

Episcopal Church, San Joaquin diocese amend property dispute

Merrill Lynch, 'holding corporation' added as co-defendants

By Pat McCaughan

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Episcopal
Diocese of San Joaquin on June 2 amended their complaint in a lawsuit
seeking recovery of diocesan real estate and financial assets, adding
Merrill Lynch and the "Anglican Diocese Holding Corporation" as
defendants.

"The main reason for the amendment is that we have obtained information
that John-David Schofield has actually been transferring both real
property and investment accounts (the latter held by Merrill Lynch) to
non-Episcopal entities, including specifically a new corporation known
as the Anglican Diocese Holding Company," said Heather Anderson, an
attorney with the Goodwin Procter law firm based in Washington, D.C.

The San Joaquin diocese, along with TEC, sued Schofield and several
Episcopal legal entities that he asserts the right to control on April
24 "to establish who is the true incumbent of Corporation Sole, which
owns most of the real estate of the diocese and accounts such as the
investment fund and trust fund" containing  more than $4 million in
cash, diocesan chancellor Michael Glass told a gathering in San Joaquin
on May 31.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_97578_ENG_HTM.htm

- - - - -

Methodists, Episcopalians celebrate historic Eucharist at Bruton Parish

[Episcopal News Service] A recent day-long joint clergy conference for
United Methodist and Episcopal clergy culminated with a joint
celebration of Holy Eucharist at Bruton Parish
(http://www.brutonparish.org) in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Interim Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia (http://www.diosova.org)
Bishop John Buchanan and Bishop Charlene Kammerer of the Virginia Annual
Conference of the United Methodist Church (http://www.vaumc.org) were
the presiders at the May 19 liturgy.

The Rev. Elizabeth Felicetti, associate rector of Old Donation Episcopal
Church (http://www.olddonation.org) in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and one
of the organizers of the conference, said, "The historic setting was an
ideal place to start to heal a historic rift -- and singing Charles
Wesley hymns from our hymnal with our Methodist brethren was a highlight
of my ministry."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_97563_ENG_HTM.htm

- - - - -

Province I announces Lambeth Conference plans for prayer and dialogue
 
[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church's Province I
(http://www.province1.org) President Marge Burke has announced two
initiatives for prayer and dialogue during this summer's Lambeth
Conference (http://www.lambethconference.org/index.cfm) of bishops,
meeting July 16-August 3 in Canterbury, England.
 
A prayer vigil is planned to support the 12 bishops in the province's
seven dioceses (Connecticut (http://www.ctdiocese.org), Maine
(http://episcopalmaine.org), Massachusetts (http://www.diomass.org), New
Hampshire (http://www.nhepiscopal.org), Rhode Island
(http://www.episcopalri.org), Western Massachusetts
(http://www.diocesewma.org) and Vermont
(http://www.dioceseofvermont.org)) while they are at the once-a-decade
gathering. 
 
"I feel it is very important that our bishops know their sisters and
brothers back home are offering themselves to God through prayer, on
their behalf," Burke said.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_97555_ENG_HTM.htm

More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife

_____________________


WORLD REPORT

CANADA: British Columbia court sides with diocese in dispute over access
to church
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_97531_ENG_HTM.htm

CENTRAL AFRICA: Bishops issue pastoral message on Zimbabwe crisis
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_97527_ENG_HTM.htm

More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm

_____________________


PEOPLE

David Gortner to head Virginia Theological Seminary's Doctor of Ministry
program

[Virginia Theological Seminary] At its May meeting, the Board of
Trustees of Virginia Theological Seminary appointed the Rev. Dr. David
T. Gortner as the new director of the Doctor of Ministry Program and
professor of evangelism and congregational leadership. Gortner steps
into his new position, housed under the seminary's Institute for
Christian Formation and Leadership, on August 1. 

Gortner comes to VTS from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific
(CDSP) where he has served as assistant professor of Pastoral Theology
since 2004 and as director of the Center for Anglican Learning and
Leadership since 2005. In addition to teaching courses on pastoral
theology, youth ministry/leadership, and human development, Gortner
directed and developed CDSP's continuing education program for clergy
and religious leadership that includes online education. Concurrent with
his work at CDSP, Gortner co-convened the Graduate Theological Union's
(GTU) area in Psychology and Religion, working with students and
developing curricula in the M.A. and Ph.D. programs.

As director of Virginia Seminary's Doctor of Ministry Program, Gortner
will have oversight of the two D.Min. degrees: Ministry Development,
which focuses on increased excellence in ministerial leadership in
congregations, and educational leadership which focuses on leadership in
school ministries. The case study seminar has been central to the
program since it began in the 1970s. 

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_97534_ENG_HTM.htm

More People: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_ENG_HTM.htm

_____________________


FEATURES

A brief history of the Lambeth Conference

By Christopher L. Webber

[Episcopal Life] John Henry Hopkins was bishop of Vermont and presiding
bishop of the Episcopal Church when he suggested in 1851 that a
gathering of Anglican bishops would be useful, but nothing happened.
Fifteen years later, the Canadian Anglican Church suggested the same
thing to the archbishop of Canterbury and got his reluctant consent. 

"It should be distinctly understood," said Archbishop Charles Longley,
"that at this meeting no declaration of faith shall be made, and no
decision come to which shall affect generally the interests of the
church, but that we shall meet together for brotherly counsel and
encouragement."

They would meet at the archbishop's town house in London, Lambeth
Palace, encourage each other and go home again.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81834_97528_ENG_HTM.htm

More Features: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78936_ENG_HTM.htm

_____________________


DAYBOOK

On June 3, 2008, the Church remembers the Martyrs of Uganda (1886).

* Today in Scripture: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm
* Today in Prayer: Anglican Cycle of Prayer:
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm
* Today in History: On June 3, 1162, Thomas Becket was consecrated as
Archbishop of Canterbury.

_____________________


CATALYST

"The Becoming of G-d" from YTC Press by Ian Mobsby, 152 pages,
paperback, c. 2008, $18.06

[YTC Press] Continuing on from his first book on "Emerging & Fresh
Expressions of Church", Ian explores the nature of Trinitarianism and
what it has to say about the nature of church and faith. Drawing on the
understandings of the Cappadocian theologians who instigated the
thinking behind the Nicene Creed, (and others) Ian explores how the
ancient church balanced a path of faith between a God that was knowable
but not fully knowable. Some theologians, including Volf, Barth and
Gunton, acknowledge that Western theological thinking has always had a
weakened understanding of the Trinity which has impoverished the Western
Churches understanding of God and the nature of Church. 

Ian argues that a full understanding of the Trinity is essential to
understand faith, mission and being church in a postmodern and
post-Christendom context. With an understanding of how God 'becomes' we
have a hope of our own journey of transformation or human 'becoming'. 

Further, Church as a spiritual community becomes a place for people to
find their identity in being a full person through the love of God and
human community. Without this, the Church has little to say to people of
the twenty first century driven by spiritual tourism with an interest in
spirituality rather than religion.

Ian contends that the great wealth of Trinitarian inspired Christian
spirituality is then made accessible to those seeking authentic, fresh
and deep expressions of Church, and approaches to mission as 'human
becoming'.

This book is a must for all those seeking to explore Emerging & Fresh
Expressions of Church and mission in our highly consumptive and
technological culture.

To order: Episcopal Books and Resources, online at
http://www.episcopalbookstore.org, or call 800-903-5544 -- or visit your
local Episcopal bookseller, http://www.episcopalbooksellers.org

More Catalyst: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/83842_ENG_HTM.htm