Episcopal Press and News
News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. April 24, 1986 [86091]
(DPS, April 24) -- The Rt. Rev. Bennett J. Sims, retired bishop of Atlanta, and the Very Rev. David B. Collins, president of the House of Deputies, were keynoter and chaplain, respectively, of the 18th annual Conference of Diocesan Executives (C.O.D.E.), here April 7-11. More than 120 members, spouses and guests, representing 56 domestic dioceses of the Episcopal Church and seven Canadian dioceses, heard Sims and Collins daily address the 1986 theme: "Theology and Mission of Servant Leadership." Other sessions included workshops, worship and resource-sharing among members and with program executives from the Episcopal Church Center in New York. At the business meeting April 10, members received reports, ratified official incorporation of C.O.D.E. and elected representatives to the Board of Directors. For the first time, the C.O.D.E. board is headed by a Canadian representative, the Rev. Charles F. Wilkins, Diocese of Kootenay. Other members are: Mary Lou Lavallee, Diocese of Western Massachusetts, vice president; Evelyn Haygood, Diocese of Dallas, treasurer; Vincent Currie, Jr., of Central Gulf Coast, secretary; the Rev. Charles L. Johnson, Diocese of Virginia, program chairman; and the Ven. Robert Herlocker of Idaho, site chairman. All full-time diocesan executives reporting directly to bishops are eligible for membership.
(DPS, April 24) -- Under the leadership of the Rt. Rev. John T. Walker, bishop of Washington, the Standing Commission on Peace met at Virginia Theological Seminary here April 1-2. The Commission was created by the 1985 General Convention. Officers for the triennium were elected as follows: the Rev. Nathaniel Pierce, Diocese of Massachusetts, chairman; Lawrence S. Poston, Diocese of Chicago, vice chairman; Lee Davis Thames, Diocese of Mississippi, secretary. Thelma Wilson of the Diocese of Nicaragua is a member of the Commission and invited the group to hold one of its meetings in Managua. A meeting was tentatively scheduled there for March 2-6, 1987, to take advantage of previously scheduled trips by two members of the Commission. Other business included reviewing the many resolutions passed by the 1985 General Convention involving peace-related issues. The first and second report of the Joint Commission on Peace were also reviewed. The next meeting of the Commission will be held Nov. 3-5 in Houston, Texas.
(DPS, April 24) -- This year's annual Lesser Chapter of the Brotherhood of St. Gregory was held here from March 7-9, bringing together brothers from around the country. Saturday, the 8th, was spent at the Church of St. Luke in the Fields, and the rites of the Brotherhood, whose Superior General is Richard Thomas Biernacki, took place during the Offices and Eucharist of the day. At Morning Prayer, three postulants were received into the novitiate: Matthew Staples, Randal Anthony Elliott and George Keith; and Michael David Elvestrom was admitted to the postulancy of the community. At the Noonday Office, the following brothers renewed their annual vows of profession: Thomas Joseph Ross, Tobias Stanislas Haller, Thaddeus David Williams, Augustine James Baird, Edward Munro and Bernard Fessenden. The main service of the convocation was that afternoon: a votive Eucharist of St. Gregory the Great with the first profession of vows of Brothers John Francis Jones and Earl Christian. A special surprise guest for this service was the Most Rev. Edmond L. Browning, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. Following the service, a reception was held for the newly professed brothers at the Episcopal Church Center, where Browning was also honored with a surprise birthday celebration.
(DPS, April 24) -- This January, in his first letter in The Episcopal Evangel, the diocesan newspaper, to the people of the Diocese of Montana, Bishop-elect C.I. Jones wrote of his and his family's settling into their new home and of their happiness there but added, "In terms of position descriptions, there is no such thing as a 'bishop-elect.' Since I am no longer Archdeacon of Kentucky and am not yet Bishop of Montana, I am having an identity crisis!" In early February, the diocesan council remedied his problem -- sort of -- by adopting for him the title, "Bishop in Limbo."