Episcopal Press and News
Episcopal Communicators Meet in Colorado, Honor Best Work in the Past Year
Episcopal News Service. June 6, 1997 [97-1784]
(ENS) Eighty members of Episcopal Communicators, a national organization of the church's print and electronic professionals, gathered in the mountains of southern Colorado to share common concerns and honor the best work in the past year.
Meeting in a Victorian-era hotel in Durango, the communicators also attended Evensong and a church supper at a local parish which featured cowboy Gospel poets. Some also took a trip to see the ancient cliff dwellings at nearby Mesa Verde and others enjoyed a ride on the narrow-gauge steam train into the mountains that once held lucrative silver mines.
The 1997 Polly Bond Awards, named for a prominent diocesan communicator from Southern Ohio who helped create the organization in the early 1970s, drew 442 entries from which the judges gave 181 awards for excellence, the top award, and for merit (second place), according to Bob Williams of Los Angeles who chaired the awards committee.
Interchange, the newspaper of the Diocese of Southern Ohio edited by Michael Barwell, received the top award for diocesan newspapers with a circulation above 12,000. Awards of Merit went to Soundings, the quarterly newspaper of the Diocese of Minnesota, edited by Walt Gordon, and Anglican Advance, the paper for the Diocese of Chicago, edited by David Skidmore.
The top diocesan newspaper with a circulation below 12,000 was Plenteous Harvest, Diocese of Kansas, edited by Melodie Woerman. Awards of Merit went to Dayspring, Diocese of West Virginia, edited by Elizabeth Walker; Trinity, Diocese of Pittsburgh, edited by Fentress Waits; and Diocesan Life, Diocese of Bethlehem, edited by Bill Lewellis.
The top award in the category for Agency Newspapers went to Episcopal Life, edited by Jerry Hames. An Award of Merit went to Network News, published by the Episcopal Information Network in the Diocese of Rio Grande, edited by Laura Hughes.
The Witness, edited by Jeanie Wylie-Kellerman, received the Award of Excellence in the Magazine category, with Awards of Merit going to General Seminary News, edited by Bruce Parker, and Journal of Women's Ministries, edited by Marcy Darin.
The bishop, who described himself as a cradle Episcopalian, said that one reason the Navajos responded to the Episcopal Church is that it came "with medicine, education and social service." It was clear to the Navajos that "this is the only church that helps us."
Yet the late Bishop Wes Frensdorf, who was responsible for work on the reservation, could see that "the church had not taken root in the Native soil yet so he asked us, 'When will you plant the church and make it yours?'" Plummer said.
Because "we still live in the old ways, Kathy and I are often caught between cultures," the bishop added. "We still believe that the holy people exist, that we must protect the holy mountains. And our doors still face the east, where the light begins each day." He compared the church to the clan structure of the Navajos "because of the way it gathers people." And he expressed the hope that the church in Navajoland will be able to raise up leaders for its future.
The program included a panel of editors of area small-town newspapers and workshops on a variety of topics, including how to survive General Convention, video production, the World Wide Web, electronic communication and an introduction to parish print media.
Michelle de la Rosa, a language arts instructor at the University of Southern California, conducted a popular workshop on how an "ethnographer looks at the Episcopal Church." An ethnographer demonstrates that "a singular identity no longer exists, we are all influenced by each other. The borders of the world are permeable, especially with the demise of colonialism when a few European nations tried to control the world.
She contended that, based on her examination of Episcopal publications, what they publish places them "at the borders of society." Holding up a packet of photographs from ENS, she said that they illustrated that "you see the progression of post-colonialism in a fundamental way." As journalists "you are involved in identity formation, you are participants as well as observers," she said. "You are making meaning, sense, choosing what is significant.... You stand at the nexus of local, national and global events. Your great strength is that you participate -- and you report."
In a business session the communicators considered several resolutions that will come before General Convention this summer. One, introduced by retired Bishop Elliott Sorge of Easton, asks the church to develop "a comprehensive, coordinated communications strategy." Another, introduced by Cynthia McFarland of Central New York, commends the church's communication efforts but asks that the communications committee of Executive Council be reactivated to assess the effectiveness of those efforts. It also urges the church to explore the use of the Internet as "potentially cost-effective medium" for internal and external communication. The communicators will support the resolutions in committee meetings.
The communicators also wrote a resolution on salary parity for the church's lay and clergy employees that will be introduced by Bishop Tharp of East Tennessee at General Convention.
Responding to a request brought to the meeting by Katerina Whitley of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, the communicators took an unusual action by deciding to sponsor a refugee boy for a year of high school in Tanzania. "Even though this is unusual for us as an organization, there was strong enthusiasm for the idea," said Sarah Moore of University of the South, president of Episcopal Communicators.
Elected to the board were: Walt Gordon, Diocese of Minnesota; David Skidmore, Diocese of Chicago; and Virginia Barrett Barker, Diocese of Florida.
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