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Presiding bishop to join Obama administration as advisory council member

Presiding bishop to join Obama administration as advisory council member


By ENS staff, February 05, 2011



[Episcopal News Service] President Barack Obama announced Feb. 4 that Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori would be joining his administration as a member of the President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

"I am grateful for the opportunity to be of service to the larger community in this way," Jefferts Schori said, according to a press release from the Episcopal Church's Office of Public Affairs. "The ability to build partnerships between civic and religious bodies can only expand our capacity to heal a broken world."



The council "brings together religious and secular leaders as well as scholars and experts in fields related to the work of faith-based and neighborhood organizations in order to make recommendations to the government on how to improve partnerships," a White House press release noted, adding that the president will announce additional members at a later date. Each council serves a one-year term.



Obama said, "I am pleased to announce that these experienced and committed individuals have agreed to join this administration, and I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead."



Also announced as one of the 11 new members to join the council is Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which shares a full communion partnership with the Episcopal Church.



The other new members are:



Susan Stern, named as chair of the council; special adviser on government affairs to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC);

Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals;

Andrea Bazán, president of Triangle Community Foundation;

Angela Glover Blackwell, founder and chief executive officer of Policy Link;

Brian Gallagher, president and CEO of United Way Worldwide;

Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly;

Archbishop Demetrios Trakatellis, archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church of America;

Sister Marlene Weisenbeck, member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration; and

Reverend Elder Nancy L. Wilson, moderator for the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches.

In February 2009, Obama established the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships to "work on behalf of Americans committed to improving their communities, no matter their religious or political beliefs."



According to the White House website, the council is charged with: identifying best practices and successful modes of delivering social services; evaluating the need for improvements in the implementation and coordination of public policies relating to faith-based and neighborhood organizations; and making recommendations to the president and the administration on changes in policies, programs, and practices.

A couple of nice pics

Presiding bishop celebrates small church's ministries, helps sea turtle go home

                                         "This says so much about our whole ministry of healing."

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2010


A message from the presiding bishop



By Katharine Jefferts Schori



The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. —Isaiah 9:2



That's how the first lesson of Christmas Eve opens. It's familiar and comforting, as the familiar words go on to say that light has shined on those who live in deep darkness, that God has brought joy to people living under oppression, for a child has been borne to us. The name of that child is Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace — and God is bringing an endless peace through an heir to the throne of David (vv 3, 4, 6, 7).



This year we're going to hear a bit we haven't heard in Episcopal churches before, in that missing verse 5. It's pretty shocking, but it helps explain why the hunger for light is so intense, and the joy so great when it comes: "For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire." The coming of this prince of peace will mean the end of all signs of war and violence. An occupied people will finally live in peace, without anxiety about who or what will confront them the next time they go out their front doors.



People in many parts of this world still live with the echo of tramping boots and the memory of bloody clothing. Many Episcopalians are living with that anxiety right now, particularly in Haiti and Sudan. Americans know it through the ongoing anxiety after September 11 and in the wounded soldiers returning to their families and communities, grievously changed by their experience of war. Remember the terror of war when you hear those words about light on Christmas Eve. Remember the hunger for peace and light when you hear the shocking promise that a poor child born in a stable will lead us all into a world without war. Remember the power of light when you go out into the darkness after hearing those words — and pray that you and those around you may become instruments of peace.



Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors! —Luke 2:14



The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori is presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church.