newSpin, the newsletter
February 7, 2013
Bill Lewellis
Published on Monday
Occasionally, abbreviated, also on Thursday
TopSpin
• Two Lehigh Valley philanthropists ... died within a day of each other: Marlene Linny Fowler, 73, died on Monday, Feb. 4; Priscilla Payne Hurd, 93, died on Tuesday, Feb. 5. Hurd was a member of the Cathedral. God knows how much they supported Episcopal churches and our ministries, Lehigh Valley institutions and individuals.
Morning Call story on Hurd here. Her name graces some of the best-known and important buildings in the
Lehigh Valley — art galleries, hospital facilities, college centers —
but to people who knew Priscilla Payne Hurd, her bountiful philanthropy
grew out of her greatest trait: her humanity. Hurd obituary here.
From Bob Schenkel, former dean of the Cathedral, regarding Priscilla Payne Hurd: A day or so after my instillation as Dean I had a telephone call from Prill. Her message (as I recall) began something like this: Hi, I’m Prill Hurd. I was at your installation. You probably don’t remember me, but you will.
Morning Call story on Fowler here. Linny Fowler was one of those rare individuals whose actions matched
the size of her heart, a woman who truly made a
difference in our community and in the lives of so many."A
meeting with Fowler didn't require approval from a lawyer or navigating
red tape. You went to her home on Center Street in Bethlehem and found the door open
to you. Often there was a line. More people were waiting on the phone. Fowler obituary here.
Morning Call columnist Bill White's blog and comments below his thoughts here.
• Diocesan Training Day ... Saturday, March 9, at St. Stephen's Wilkes-Barre. More info here. Register online here.
• DioBeth Missioner for Communication and Congregational Renewal ... A new full-time position in the Diocese of Bethlehem. Download the job description and details on submission.
• Justin Welby confirmed as new ABC ... [RNS] He is a “top drawer” Englishman, educated at Eton College (along with Prime Minister David Cameron and Princes William and Harry) and Cambridge University. The former oil executive is privately wealthy and holds membership in one of London’s most exclusive private clubs. He and his wife, Caroline, have five children aged between 16 and 27. But despite his closeness to the British establishment, Welby is known to have a strong social conscience and has been – and remains – critical of the banking and financial sectors. Soon after his appointment last year, he raised eyebrows by accusing banks of serving “no socially useful purpose” and for being “exponents of anarchy.” Read on.
• A Year in the Life of Trinity Easton ... The video, "A Year in the Life of Trinity 2012," served at the recent annual meeting as the rector's report to the people of Trinity Easton. It is on the Trinity website. Watch it here.SoulSpin
• Lent Madness: Who will win the Golden Halo?... [USA Today] The website LentMadness.org invites people to play
along with a tournament of saints and learn their stories, virtues and
foibles. USA Today story here.
• Busted Halo for Lent ... Each day throughout Lent, starting on Ash Wednesday, the Busted Halo's calendar’s link
for that day will become active, revealing a Daily Jolt for spiritual
contemplation relating to Lent, and new and practical ideas for fasting,
prayer and almsgiving. Fast, pray and give on.
• Feeding and Fasting ... Reflections for the Lenten season from CREDO. Here.
Four different authors drawn from the diverse CREDO faculty write in
prose and poetry about the season of Lent. Through their unique voices
and reflection styles, Joe Chambers, Bud Holland, Molly O'Dell, and
Winnie Varghese explore Feeding and Fasting. Available in both text and
audio; some reflections will end with questions to ponder and some will
conclude with a suggested practice.
• Free Episcopal Relief & Development's 2013 Lenten Meditations booklets
... If you live within the 3-day shipping zone for FedEx and UPS, you
may order these up to February 6 for arrival by Ash Wednesday. The
materials will continue to be available from Episcopal Marketplace throughout the Lenten season, and you may also download resources from the ER-D website or sign up for the daily email meditations.
• The Book of Common Prayer ... every edition from 1549 to 1979. Here.
• Prayers and Thanksgivings from the BCP. Here.
• The Daily Office ... can be read online in Rite I, Rite II or the New Zealand Prayer Book versions. At Mission St. Clare.
• Holy Women, Holy Men ... Download Holy Women, Holy Men as a .pdf file.
• Daily Episcopalian
... An Episcopal Café blog. Commentary on our Church and Communion as
well as feature articles on theology, peace and justice initiatives and
poplular culture. Here.
• Speaking to the Soul ... An Episcopal Café blog. Sermons, reflections, multimedia meditations and excerpts from books on spirituality. Here.
• Pray-As-You-Go ... [Irish Jesuits] Beautifully-done, 10-13-minute daily reflections for your MP3 player. Here.
DioBethSpin
• Living the Gospel: Churches unite to shelter homeless ... [The Morning Call]
That's the headline of a front-page story in The Morning Call, Jan. 28,
mainly about the Cathedral (Thursday night) and St. Andrew's (Friday
night) who welcome the homeless in from the cold overnight. The story
opens: When the nights are frigid as they have been lately,
it's not unusual for the overlow of homeless men taking shelter at St.
Andrew's Episcopal Church parish hall on Fridays to wind up sleeping in
the church itself, clustered near the altar. To the Rev. T. Scott Allen,
who preaches from that spot on Sundays, that image is the living
embodiment of his message. "It's what we do on Friday night that gives
us the privilege to do what we do on Sunday morning," Allen said. "The
Gospel is about the good news for the poor. If we're not doing that,
we're not doing what we are called to do as Christians." ... Organizers
say the revolving shelter, known as Bethlehem Emergency
Sheltering, is on track to exceed the number of homeless served each
winter since it started in January 2009. ... Story, photos and video here.
• Disaster preparedness training sessions ... [John Major] At last year’s diocesan convention, the delegates approved a resolution calling for every parish in the diocese to establish a disaster preparedness plan and put that plan on file in their church office and the diocesan office by the end of 2013. With almost daily news reports of wildfires, floods, tornados, heat waves, freezes and an almost endless list of disasters affecting every part of this world, it’s easy to see why a preparedness plan is a good idea. But the thought of actually creating one might be daunting.
It doesn’t have to be. Drawing on years of experience helping parishes throughout the world deal with disasters of every sort, Episcopal Relief & Development has created a program our parishes can use to create a disaster plan customized to the resources and abilities of each parish that will prepare that congregation to handle the disasters most likely to affect its area.
Twelve parishes in the diocese have completed a short workshop on the Episcopal Relief & Development program and are on their way to creating their disaster plans. Four more workshops are scheduled. One will be held as part of Diocesan Training Day on March 9 at St. Stephen’s Pro-Cathedral in Wilkes-Barre. The others will be held on April 27, August 17 and October 26 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (including Noon Prayer and lunch) at St. George’s Regional Disaster Recovery & Outreach Center in Nanticoke. Registration for the March 9 workshop will be through the Training Day registration process. Registrations can be made for the April, August and October workshops by emailing jmajordiobetherd@hotmail.com.
We hope you will join us for one of these four workshops to learn how to create a preparedness plan and about the many resources available through Episcopal Relief & Development. If you have any questions about Episcopal Relief & Development, the workshops or disaster preparedness, please email us at the above address.
• Renewal Assembly VII ... February 16 at multiple locations across the Diocese. Registration and more info here.
• Diocesan Training Day ... March 9 at St. Stephen's, Wilkes-Barre. Here. Register online.
• Chrism Mass ... March 21 at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, 11 a.m.
• Christophany ... April 19-21 at Pocono Plateau Retreat Center in Cresco. Online registration opens March 1.
• Diocesan Evangelism and Stewardship Conference ... May 18 at St. Stephen's W-B.
• DioBeth Website ... newSpin Blog ... Re:Create blog for youth and young adults ... Twitter.DioBeth ... Twitter.Kat Lehman ... Facebook.DioBeth ... Flickr, search under dio_beth
• Public news and info lists ... At the Diobeth website,
enter your name and email in the "Get Connected" box. You
are welcome to subscribe to
any or all of
these. "Bakery" is
our diocesan interactive
list.
ParishSpin
• Allentown/Bethlehem ... Social ministries at St. Andrew's. Here.
• Bethlehem ... Social ministries at Cathedral Church of Nativity. Here.
• Bethlehem ... Social ministries at Trinity. Here.
• Easton ... Social ministries at Trinity. Here.
• Forest City ... Social ministries at Christ Church. Here.
• Hellertown ... Social ministries at St. George's. Here.
• Jermyn ... Social ministries at St. James-St. George. Here.
• Mt. Pocono ... Social ministries at Trinity. Here.
• Reading ... Social ministries at Christ Church. Here.
• Sayre ... Social ministries at Church of the Redeemer. Here.
• Susquehanna ... Social ministries at Christ Church. Here.
• West Pittston ... Social ministries at Trinity. Here.
• Wilkes-Barre ... Social ministries at St. Stephen's. Here.
[Highlighting parish social ministries will be a continuing item.
Corrections and additions are welcome.]
• The shelter at Grace Church Honesdale ... [WYOU-TV, Wilkes-Barre] Grace
Church Honesdale is opening its doors to help the homeless during this
brutal cold snap. The church has 20 cots available. They have been
opening their doors for three years... and have helped many people
over the years. "The church is heated, the lights are on and we might as
well make use of it in some good way to help the community," said
Father Ed Erb. When the weather warrants, the emergency shelter will be
open from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. People can stop by to get warm soup,
drinks, or even spend the night and get a hot breakfast in the morning. Here.
• Calendar of Events ... Here and Here.
Obituaries
• Marlene Linny Fowler ... [Morning Call] Here. More above, under TopSpin.
• Priscilla Payne Hurd ... [Morning Call] Here. More above, under TopSpin.
Episcopal/Anglican (beyond DioBeth)
• House of Deputies newsletter ... Here.
• Episcopal Church Website ... ENS blog ... Episcopal Web Radio ... Episcopal Church on Facebook ... YouTube ... Twitter ... foursquare ... and Linked-In ...
• Anglican Communion Website ... News Service. ... and News Service on Facebook.
Employment Opportunities
• DioBeth Missioner for Communication and Congregational Renewal ... A new full-time position in the Diocese of Bethlehem. Download the job description and details on submission.
• National Church ad other Episcopal Jobs ... [ENS] Here and Here.
TailSpin
• The NRA's enemies list ... [CNN] Question: What do George Clooney, Chaka Khan, the American Medical Association, Bon Jovi and C. Everett Koop have in common?
Answer: They are among the 500 names on the National Rifle Association's absurd new "enemies list." Read on.
Evangelical Lutheran
• NEPA Synod website ... Here. ELCA website ... Here. ELCA News Service ... Here. ELCA's blogs may be found here. See especially "Web and Multimedia Development."
Moravian
• Moravian Church in North America website. Moravian Church Northern Province website. Moravian Theological Seminary website.
United Methodist
• UMC website Here. News Service Here. Communication Resources Start here. Communication newsletter (tips and tools) Here. Eastern PA Conference website Here. Facebook Here. Bishop Peggy Johnson's blog Here.
Roman Catholic
• Evangelical Catholics: It's about offense, not defense ... [George Weigel,WaPo] A bold new era in the history of the RC Church
is beginning. The curtain is coming down on the institutionally-focused
Catholicism of the Counter-Reformation – the church in which every
Catholic under 50 grew up – as the curtain rises on the Gospel-focused
evangelical Catholicism of the third millennium. More than a century of
Catholic reform is now coming to fruition as the living, vibrant sectors
of the world’s largest Christian community accept the challenge posed
by Blessed John Paul II at the end of the Great Jubilee of 2000: the
challenge to “put out into the deep,” like the disciples on the Sea of
Galilee, in order to invite the post-modern world to friendship with
Jesus Christ. Read on.
• Catholic hospital group apologizes for fetus lawsuit defense ... [Reuters] That Catholic hospital
group that argued fetuses are not people
to defend itself against a wrongful death lawsuit in Colorado now says it was "morally wrong" to contradict its church's
teachings on the beginning of life. Catholic Health Initiatives said it will instead use other legal theories in the case. Read on.
• A convenient morality ... [NYTimes column, Frank Bruni] Here.
• Germany's Catholic Church may approve some so-called morning-after pills for rape victims ... [Reuters] after a leading cardinal unexpectedly announced they did not induce abortions and could be used in Catholic hospitals. Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne, an ally of German-born Pope Benedict, changed his policy after two Catholic hospitals refused to treat a rape victim because they could not prescribe the pill, which is taken after sex to avoid pregnancy. The Catholic Church firmly opposes abortion and artificial birth control. Many Catholics see all emergency contraceptives as abortion-inducing drugs banned by this policy, but Meisner said some prevent fertilization and could be used in rape cases. "The German Bishops' Conference is holding a regular meeting in two weeks and the issue will certainly be on the agenda," Cologne archdiocese spokeswoman Nele Harbeke said on Monday. Read on.
• Diocese of Allentown ... Here. Diocese of Scranton ... Here. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops ... Here. Catholic News Service ... Here. Vatican website ... Here. Vatican Information Service blog ... Here. Vatican News/Info Portal ... Here.
HealthSpin
• Flu Situation 2013 ... Here. • Seriously: Wash your hands ... [Diana Marshall]
“While hand sanitizers kill the flu virus, they are not effective at
getting rid of the norovirus. Medical experts suggest washing your hands
with soap and water repeatedly to keep the norovirus off them." Read on.
• Resources for caregivers ... Here. • Medline Plus ... Here. • WebMD ... Here.
• Alzheimers.gov ... For the people helping people with Alzheimers. Here.
Media/Films/DVD/TV/Books/Music/Tech
• Free eBooks by Project Gutenberg ... Here. • Free Audiobooks from LibriVox ... Here. • Free Audiobooks and eBooks ... Here and Here.
• Google Books ... Millions of books you can preview or read free. Here. • The Online Books Page ... from UPenn. Here.
Calendar of Events/Diocese of Bethlehem ... Here and Here.
Calendar of Events/The Episcopal Church ... Here.
Resources
• Forward Movement ... Here.
• The Alban Institute ... Here.
• ECF Vital Practices ... Here.
• Faith in Public Life ... Here. A strategy center for the faith community
advancing faith in the public square as a force for justice,
compassion and the common good.
• Religion&Ethics News Weekly (PBS) ... Here.
• Weekly Bulletin Inserts from the Episcopal Church ... Here.
• Religion News Service Daily Roundup ... here.
• National Catholic Reporter ... here.
• Back issues of the newSpin newsletter ... here.
• Episcopal/Anglican
(1) The Episcopal Church
(2) Episcopal News Service
(3) Episcopal Café
(4) AngicansOnline.
(5) AnglicansOnline News Centre.
• Daily Office ... Lectionary Page ... Lectionary ... Oremus Bible Browser ... Revised Common Lectionary
*************
You are reading the newSpin newsletter. The newSpin blog, which includes the newsletter and other items, is available here,
where you may comment on anything posted here. When the
newsletter is completed on Mondays
and occasionally on
Thursdays, it is
published immediately to the
blog and on Bakery and on a
ChurchPost list of some 1,000
addresses. Many
recipients forward it to
many more. Bakery and the
blog are interactive. The
ChurchPost list is not. The
newsletter comes, of
course, with some spin
from the editor.
The views expressed,
implied or inferred in items
or links contained
in the newsletter
or the blog do not represent
the official view
of the Diocese of
Bethlehem unless
expressed by or forwarded
from the Bishop or the
Archdeacon as an
official communication. If
you're wondering why you
haven't seen something related
to your parish or
agency here, it's probably
because no one has sent
relevant info. If you think something about
your parish or agency merits
inclusion, send email to Bill.
Bill Lewellis, Diocese of Bethlehem, retired
Communication Minister/Editor (1986-2010), Canon Theologian (1998)
Blog , Email (c)610-393-1833
Be attentive. Be intelligent. Be reasonable. Be responsible.
Be in Love. And, if necessary, change. [Bernard Lonergan]
Comments