News Brief
Episcopal News Service. January 24, 1977 [77015]
The custodian of the Standard Book of Common Prayer has issued a statement reminding the Church that it is not possible to authorize partial reprints of the Proposed Book of Common Prayer for regular parish worship use. The Rev. Canon Charles Mortimer Guilbert said that the General Convention mandate for the Proposed Book was for the whole thing, not for abridgements and that as the Convention agent, he could not authorize such efforts or certify them against the standard text. He did add that he has authorized and will continue to authorize the reprinting of copyright material for occasions such as ordinations, weddings, services with music, large-type formats and portable formats used on episcopal or sick visitations. To authorize these, applications must be made in writing to the custodian and detail precisely what is to be reprinted and for what purpose.
The National Park Service has designated Trinity Church at Broadway and Wall Street as a National Historic Landmark and will list it on the National Register of Historic Places. The edifice, built by Richard Upjohn and completed in 1846, has been recognized in the past by the New York City landmarks commission that described its architectural excellence as follows: "The Church is one of the monuments of Gothic Revival and was executed in brownstone by the noted ecclesiastical architect Richard Upjohn in a free rendering of English Gothic, Its spire, once the highest structure on the New York skyline, is the most notable feature of the Church. The tower itself is given a marvelous appearance of solidity, being double-buttressed at each corner by stone buttresses which diminish in depth as the tower rises. Four ornate pinnacles at the corners with flying buttresses behind them make a skillful transition from the square tower to the handsome octagonal spire."
The Rev. Robert Jordan, the first hearing missionary in the 125 year history of ministry to the deaf in the Episcopal Diocese of Albany, was ordained priest on Jan. 18. The ordination service featured a "deaf choir" made up of students of the sign language of the deaf from classes Fr. Jordan has been teaching in the area. The whole of the service was "signed" for the deaf who participated by the Rev. Alvin Burnworth, missionary to the deaf in Rochester and Western New York. Fr. Bob began working with deaf persons in Malone, Hudson, Glens Falls, Saratoga, Goversville, as well as the Capital District, following his ordination to the diaconate this past summer. The Rt. Rev. Richard Millard, newly appointed coordinator of the Venture in Mission program of the Episcopal Church Center staff, preached.
The Committee for the Creation of a New Episcopal Diocese in Louisiana has held its first official meeting under the chairmanship of Mr. Brooke Duncan, member of Trinity Church, New Orleans. The Rt. Rev. George M. Murray, Bishop of the Central Gulf Coast, was present as an advisor at the first meeting which was composed of one person from each of the Diocesan convocations. The 1976 Diocesan Convention charged the Committee with a study of how best to create a new diocese, saying that the present state of Louisiana is so extensive that it cannot be served by its Bishop, the Rt. Rev. James Barrow Brown. The final study will be presented to the 1978 Convention by the Committee.
Dr. Paul Callaway, for almost 38 years organist-choirmaster of Washington Episcopal Cathedral, has announced his intention to retire on Sept. 1, 1977. At the same time that the Cathedral Chapter accepted his request for retirement, they established the Paul Callaway Fund for Music Endowment. The chapter also stated that, upon his retirement, Dr. Callaway would be named organist and choirmaster emeritus of Washington Cathedral. Dr. Callaway, a native of Atlanta, Ill., came to the cathedral in September, 1939. He attended Westminster College, Fulton, Mo., and has received honorary doctorates from Washington College, Chestertown, Md., and from Westminster College. From 1930 to 1935 he studied organ with Dr. T. Tertius Noble, then spent a year in Chicago studying with Dr. Leo Sowerby before going to Europe to work with French composer and organist Marcel Dupre.
This year's national conference of the Church and Synagogue Library Association will be held in Dallas, Tex., June 26-28. Seminars on library operation, book exhibits by religious publishers, and addresses by leaders in the religious and library worlds will be featured in the three-day event. All interested persons may attend. The conference is designed to provide guidance for persons who organize and operate congregational libraries and will include workshops on library skills, book selection and cataloging.
A controversial Anglican theologian has struck once again, this time with an assertion that the entire New Testament was written far earlier than many modern scholars are willing to accept. The Rt. Rev. John A. T. Robinson -- author of the famous and explosive Honest to God has published a new book which claims that the writing of the New Testament was completed by AD 70. Although Dr. Robinson published Redating the New Testament some months ago, the theory was given new impetus when the theologian appeared on a series of discussion broadcasts on the British Broadcasting Corporation's network. Most scriptural scholars today suggest that the New Testament was written in the form we received it between AD 50-150 with the Gospel of John often placed as late as AD 100.
The editor of the Anglican Gradual, a planned updating of the Anglican Missal for use with the Proposed Book of Common Prayer, has taken steps to see that potential subscribers don't lose money invested in the project. David White of San Antonio undertook the project with a publishing firm set up especially to prepare the Gradual and publish it at cost. The publishing firm, Integrity Publishing of New York, failed in its commitment and folded, according to White, and many subscribers were out of pocket the cost of the first part of the Gradual ($20.00). He assures them that the project is not a hoax, that he still has hopes for it, and asks that those who have not received their money back write to him at 607 East Locust St., San Antonio, Tex. 78212.
A major new series of six one-hour programs, "Six American Families, " will be presented on the Public Broadcasting Service Television Network beginning April 4. (Check local listings.) The series, which will appear in prime-time hours, is an in-depth examination of American family life. It was produced by Group W (Westinghouse Broadcasting Company) in association with the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church. The series presents a candid look into the real life experience of six typical yet different families: the Pasciak family of Chicago; the Greenberg family of Mill Valley, Calif.; the Stephens, an Iowa farm family; the Georges, a black New York City policeman and family; the Kennedys of Albuquerque, N. M.; and the Burks of Dalton, Gallup, George.
The Very Rev. Seth C. Edwards, a missionary of the Episcopal Church in Liberia, West Africa, for nearly 30 years, died at St. Luke's Hospital here on January 21. Dean Edwards, 72, a native of New York City, served in Liberia from 1947 until his retirement in 1970. He was the first president of the Episcopal Church-related liberal arts Cuttington College in Suacoco from 1949 to 1960, dean of Trinity Cathedral in Monrovia from 1960 to 1967, and the founder in 1963 and director of the Church's Boys Town Institute for problem youths in Scheifflin. Following his retirement in 1970, he continued to assist, at the request of the bishop, in parishes in the Diocese of Liberia where clergy were absent. Survivors include his wife, the former Vivian Joseph, a son, Seth, and a daughter, Jean. Funeral services were held on January 26 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.
The Church of the Incarnation, a 200-member, 100-yearold parish in Detroit, and its rector, the Rev. Joseph L. W. Angwin, were received into the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. The parish which existed independent of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan for several years before joining it in 1885, left the diocese in the summer of 1975, with the approval of Bishop Coleman McGehee, the Standing committee, and steering committee. The parish left the Episcopal Church primarily because it was displeased with the prospect of liturgical changes and the ordination of women to the priesthood, both of which were approved by the 1976 General Convention. The words of the Orthodox ordination rite were spoken by Metropolitan Philip Saliba of the Antiochian Archdiocese at a Sunday divine liturgy at St. Mary's Orthodox Church in Brooklyn, N. Y.
The Rev. Natalia (Tanya) Vonnegut became the second woman to be ordained a priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, though the ordination was accomplished under the watchful eyes of two armed sheriff's deputies following a week of threats against her four children. The Rev. Duff Green of St. John's Church here arranged for the presence of the two Montgomery County deputies in plain clothes after Mrs. Vonnegut reported she had received several telephone calls at her home from a male voice warning her: "If you think anything of the welfare of your children, you won't go through with the ordination ceremony Saturday." Mrs. Vonnegut, 44, who is divorced, will continue her work for the Julian Mission, an Episcopal agency in Indianapolis. She was ordained by Bishop John M. Krumm of Southern Ohio in the absence of Bishop John P. Craine of Indianapolis who was only recently released from the hospital.