If Moses got a call, Flo Watkins got a phone call.
Watkins – the first woman and the first African American to serve as pastor of the Seigle Avenue Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, N.C. – recently found her sabbatical interrupted by a series of phone calls and email messages asking her to confirm whether or not she would be attending a seminar for African-American leaders. When she learned that the seminar was intentionally designed to strengthen and nurture the gifts of African American clergy and elders to encourage them to seek out executive and senior leadership roles at all levels …
At its meeting on September 9, the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) approved its report to the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on its engagement with corporations doing business in Israel-Palestine. As part of its regular process of corporate engagement, and based on directives given to it by each General Assembly since 2004, the committee recommended that three companies be added to the General Assembly divestment list: Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions.
Along with colleagues from other faith-based organizations, Lisa Robbins, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s director of human resources (HR), saw the need for a network of people in their line of work.
And so they formed one.
The Ministry Resource Network was founded a few months ago by Robbins; Deb Rice, a consultant at Missional Movement International; and Maureen Cleary, director of HR for the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church.
The World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) and SIGNIS (the World Catholic Association for Communication), which together currently sponsor a human-rights film award, said they are exploring ways of working more closely.
Inspired by WACC’s Gender Media Monitoring Program, which analyzes the representation of women and men in the media, SIGNIS plans to start a media monitoring program on children, said SIGNIS General Secretary Alvito de Souza after meeting with WACC General Secretary the Rev. Karin Achtelstetter in Aachen, Germany, on Aug. 19.
They call themselves “Roamin’ Catholics,” traveling from church to church, looking for a new place to worship since Cleveland’s oldest black Catholic church was shut down more than a year ago.
Initially, there were nearly 50 of them from St. Adalbert Catholic Church, which closed in June 2010, as part of a diocese-wide downsizing.
But some found other worship communities ― both Catholic and Protestant ― while others just quit church.
For a New Yorker, to tell a 9/11 story is to tell a personal one.
I was born here.
I live here.
I was at work here on that beautiful Tuesday morning 10 years ago. I was in the middle of engineering Doug Limerick’s 9 a.m. ABC NEWS network radio newscast when the second plane roared into the World Trade Center, forever changing our lives.
The National Middle Eastern Presbyterian Caucus (NMEPC) has elected its new officers and executive committee for the Aug. 2011-Aug. 2013 biennium.
The following officers were elected: Dr. Nahida Gordon, moderator; Elder Joe Faragalla, vice-moderator; Elder Lucy Janjigan, treasurer; the Rev. George Bitar, secretary; the Rev. Adel Abraham, chair of Christian dducation and youth; Mrs. Irene Roufaeal, chair of peacemaking; Mrs. Marta Soliman, chair of Presbyterian Women; Mr. Zohny Hannah, chair, fund development; and the Rev. Raafat Hanna, chair of communications.
Muslim leaders in Kenya say they will continue to oppose a decision by Roman Catholic bishops, announced on Aug. 19, that students in Catholic schools may not wear the hijab, or head covering, worn by many devout Muslim girls and women.
The bishops cited long-existing church tradition, discipline and philosophies when announcing the rule. “We do not wish to discriminate against anybody. Anybody is welcome to come to the Catholic schools, but there are rules and regulations that are to be followed. If you want to send your child to a Catholic school, then follow the rules,” Bishop Maurice Crowley of the Kitale diocese told a news conference in Nairobi on Aug. 19.
Standing in the pulpit on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, what do you say?
For clergy called upon to preach that day, which falls on a Sunday, the challenge can be connecting with a congregation that might have already moved beyond the tragedy.
But in many congregations other realities will dominate: people in the pews who lost family on 9/11; Muslims who have suffered a backlash since the attacks; soldiers who are still fighting wars set off by the events of that crisp September day.
The Rev. Tosu Sinkaman from the Tayal Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan will be in Yukon Presbytery from mid-August until mid-November as part of the presbyteries’ partnership.
He will spend several weeks in the Aywaan Parish, working alongside the Nome, Gambell and Savoonga Presbyterian Churches. He will attend the October Presbytery meeting before traveling north to spend several weeks with the churches of the Ahmaogak-Akootchook Memorial Parish ― Chapel in the Mountains (Anaktuvuk Pass), Atqasuk, Olgonik (Wainwright), Utqiagvik (Barrow), Kuukpik (Nuiqsut) and Kaktovik.