Prayers of the People developed to recognize landmark 10th Anniversary of Episcopal-Lutheran “Called to Common Mission”

In honor of the tenth anniversary of full communion between The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Prayers of the People have been prepared for use by congregations in both denominations.

“The Episcopal Church and the ELCA are celebrating the tenth anniversary of our full communion and the acceptance by all of the landmark Called to Common Mission,” explained the Rev. Dr. Tom Ferguson, Episcopal Church Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations Officer. “Prayers have been prepared to honor the past decade of our mission together, and for our ministry together in the future.”

Prayers of the People are available here: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/ecumenism orhttp://www.episcopalchurch.org/documents/POP_10th_Anniversary_ELCA_branded.pdf

Noting that on January 6, 2001, The Episcopal Church and the ELCA entered into a relationship of full communion through Called to Common Mission, Ferguson explained that this action was not a merger. “In full communion both churches retain their autonomy and structures but agree to work together for joint mission and witness in the world,” he said.

Ferguson suggested congregations and individuals begin using the prayers during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which begins on January 18.

Prayers are presented for use in all six forms of Prayers of the People found in the Book of Common Prayer. For example, the suggestion for Form II is: “I ask your prayers of thanksgiving for the tenth anniversary of the relationship of full communion between The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Pray for enduring commitment to common mission.”

Equality California Hails Court’s Decision Denying Standing to Imperial County in Prop. 8 Federal Challenge

Federal Court will now ask California Supreme Court to Consider Issue of Standing

San Francisco – Today the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Imperial County’s attempt to intervene in the Proposition 8 federal challenge, and the court will now ask the California Supreme Court to consider whether the groups that placed Proposition 8 on the ballot have legal standing to appeal Judge Walker’s decision to overturn Prop. 8 on the grounds that the measure is unconstitutional.

Equality California filed the only amicus brief arguing that Imperial County lacked legal standing to appeal Prop. 8. In addition, out of the more than 25 amicus briefs submitted, the Ninth Circuit Court has chosen to send the California Supreme Court Equality California’s second amicus brief arguing that Prop. 8 proponent Protect Marriage also lacks legal standing to appeal.

Statement from Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors:

“We are very pleased with the court’s decision to deny Imperial County standing, and it is clear the court wants to determine if California law allows proponents of a constitutional initiative to step into the state’s shoes when state officials decline to defend a measure that clearly violates the equal protections enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. We are optimistic that the case will be dismissed, marriage equality restored and that same-sex couples and their families will finally enjoy equality and dignity under the law.”

Equality California (EQCA) is the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights advocacy organization in California. Over the past decade, Equality California has strategically moved California from a state with extremely limited legal protections for LGBT individuals to a state with some of the most comprehensive civil rights protections in the nation. Equality California has passed more than 70 pieces of legislation and continues to advance equality through legislative advocacy, electoral work, public education and community empowerment.www.eqca.org

National Suicide Prevention Efforts To Focus on LGBT Youth, American Indians/Alaska Natives, Military/Veterans

The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention today added three new task forces to address suicide prevention efforts within high-risk populations: American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN); youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT); and military service members and veterans. This brings to six the number of task forces formed by the Action Alliance, the public-private partnership forged in September to advance the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (NSSP)

"I am heartened that we are focusing attention on communities hardest hit by suicide. By shining a light on their struggles I am optimistic we can help them identify solutions and bring hope for a better tomorrow," said Gordon H. Smith, co-chair of the Action Alliance. Smith, a former U.S. senator who championed passage of the 2004 Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act following the loss of his son to suicide, now serves as President and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters.

In the U.S., suicide claims over 34,000 lives annually - the equivalent of 94 suicides per day, or one suicide every 15 minutes. State and local prevention efforts are having a positive impact as rates of suicide have been falling among teenaged and elder males, two of the hardest hit groups. Suicides are increasing among other groups, however, such as AI/AN youth and military members.



Studies from organizations such as the Suicide Prevention Resource Center report thatlesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are from 1.5 to seven times more likely to report having attempted suicide than their non-LGBT peers, while transgender youth are believed to have higher rates of suicidal behavior as well. Co-leading the LGBT Youth Task Force are Kevin Jennings, Assistant Deputy Secretary, Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, U.S. Department of Education, and Charles Robbins, Executive Director of The Trevor Project, the leading national organization focused on crisis and suicide prevention efforts among LGBT youth.

"This task force will bring together the best minds in the country to combat suicide and make sure that every LGBT youth has the opportunity to grow up in a supportive, accepting community and to enter adulthood safely," Robbins said.

For AI/AN youth and young adults ages 10-34, suicide is the second leading cause of death and is on the rise. Jointly leading the American Indian and Alaska Natives Task Force are Yvette Roubideaux, M.D., M.P.H. Director of the Indian Health Service; Larry Echo Hawk, J.D., Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior; and McClellan Hall, M.A., Executive Director, National Indian Youth Leadership Project.


"As our new task forces begin their important work to end the rising number of suicides in some segments of American society, I believe we can make a significant difference," said Roubideaux. "For American Indian and Alaska Native communities, this assistance is especially needed."

Leading the Military and Veterans Task Force are Dr. Jan Kemp, National Director, Suicide Prevention Program for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Ms. Maggie Haynes, Director of Combat Stress for the Wounded Warrior project. Research indicates that there are increased suicide rates among veterans, and suicide rates among service members recently reached historic highs within the Army and Marine Corps.

"Combined with initiatives already underway by the Department of Defense and the VA, this task force will further strengthen prevention, bringing together the best minds in the public and private sectors," said Secretary of the Army John McHugh, co-chair of the Action Alliance. "This collaboration will form an important foundation for the nation's suicide prevention efforts."

Three weeks ago, the Action Alliance rolled out its first three task forces: Data and Surveillance, Research, and National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (NSSP). The respective task forces are beginning the work of identifying and developing systems and strategies to improve data collection and surveillance of suicidal behaviors, prioritizing research on suicide prevention, and updating the NSSP.

In the coming months, the Action Alliance will determine how to address suicide risk in other populations where data show evidence of increasing or high rates of suicides or suicide attempts. Other high-risk groups include Latina youths, older adults, individuals with disabilities, survivors of suicide attempts and of suicide loss, and working-aged men and women.

All task forces will include leading experts in the field, including researchers and scientists, advocates, family members, and others who are concerned and knowledgeable about preventing suicides. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will provide support and technical expertise for the task forces and the Action Alliance, in cooperation with the private sector and other federal support.

About The Action Alliance

The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, a public-private partnership, provides an operating structure to catalyze planning, execution and accountability for advancing the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (NSSP). From this alliance will grow advancements for practitioners, policymakers, service providers, communities, families, agencies, and other partners that play a vital role in reducing suicides in America.

Creating the Action Alliance was a key recommendation of the NSSP, issued in 2001. The Action Alliance was launched by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates on September 10, 2010, with input and support of many public and private sector stakeholders, including the National Council for Suicide Prevention and the Department of Veterans Affairs. For more information, see http://www.actionallianceforsuicideprevention.org.

Historic Lesbian Marriage in Boston Cathedral Unites Top Clergy of Episcopal Church

The Episcopalian bishop of Massachusetts began 2011 by solemnizing the first lesbian marriage - of two senior Episcopalian clergy - at Boston's St Paul's Cathedral Saturday (January 1).

The marriage of Episcopal Divinity School, dean and president, the Very Reverend Katherine Hancock Ragsdale and Mally Lloyd, Canon to the Ordinary, was the first lesbian marriage solemnized by the Right Reverend M Thomas Shaw SSJE, Bishop Diocesan of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.

At the marriage attended by close to 400 guests, Bishop Shaw commented: “God always rejoices when two people who love each other make a life long commitment in marriage to go deeper into the heart of God through each other. It’s a profound pleasure for me to celebrate with God and my friends, the marriage of Katherine and Mally.”

The couple met on June 30, 2008, at the urging of a mutual friend. At the time, Canon Lloyd, 57, said, “We were both travelling a lot and so we would talk by phone. And somehow when you talk a lot by phone, a relationship can go deeper more quickly than when you spend time in person. At least that is what happened to us.”

Although this is a second marriage for Canon Lloyd, it is the first for Dean Ragsdale,52. “It’s astonishing how the world is changing,’’ Dean Ragsdale said, “when I grew up, I never believed I would be able to have someone special in my life and now to have almost 400 people show up to support us at our marriage ceremony is wonderful.”

Canon Lloyd says: “We have a lot in common, we each have a spiritual life that the other understands and respects and we also understand the amount of travelling and often late hours that our work requires. Somehow too when you are in your fifties, certain things just aren’t as big a problem as they seemed in your twenties.”

Though the Episcopal Church's canons and formularly still state that marriage is between a man and a woman, the church at its General Convention in July of 2009 decided to allow that "bishops, particularly those in dioceses within civil jurisdictions where same-gender marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships are legal, may provide generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of this church."

In November 2009, Shaw announced his decision to allow clergy in the Diocese of Massachusetts to solemnize all marriages--a long wait for many given that same-gender marriage had been legalized in Massachusetts more than five years earlier.

Ragsdale, 52, became dean of the historic Episcopal Divinity School in October 2009. She is the first woman to hold that position. The school is among the most progressive seminaries in the world. It was the first to train African-American theologians, the first to accept women on its faculty and among the first to prepare women for ordination. The Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu selected the school with his daughter Mpho for her theological education.

Ragsdale is a graduate of the College of William and Mary and holds a master of divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary and a doctor of ministry degree from Episcopal Divinity School. She served as vicar of St. David's Church in Pepperell and as president of Political Research Associates in Somerville before her appointment as president and dean of the Episcopal Divinity School in 2009.

Ragsdeale has served on the national boards of the White House Project, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence, and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. She has worked in the national offices of the Episcopal Church and as a consultant in the areas of professional ethics, organizational planning and development, advocacy training, and theological foundations of public policy advocacy.

Lloyd, 57, as canon to the ordinary to Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE since December 2008, serves as a chief executive, overseeing operations for one of the Episcopal Church's largest and most politically active dioceses. She is a deputy to the Episcopal Church's General Convention and a member of the church's influential Program, Budget and Finance Committee.

Prior to joining the bishop's staff, Lloyd was for six years the rector of Christ Church in Plymouth. She has been an active leader in the diocese for many years, serving on Diocesan Council and its Executive Committee and providing mentorship through the Fresh Start program for clergy beginning in new ministry.

MASSACHUSETTS Bishop solemnizes marriage of two female priests

[Episcopal News Service] The Very Rev. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, dean and president of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, and the Rev. Canon Mally Ewing Lloyd, Episcopal Diocese of Massachusettscanon to the ordinary, were married Jan. 1 by diocesan Bishop M. Thomas Shaw.

The marriage at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston took place just more than a year after Shaw gave diocesan clergy permission to solemnize marriages for all eligible couples. Massachusetts allows same-gender couples to marry.

"God always rejoices when two people who love each other make a lifelong commitment in marriage to go deeper into the heart of God through each other," Shaw is quoted in an EDS press release as saying during the service. "It's a profound pleasure for me to celebrate with God and my friends Katherine and Mally their marriage today."

This is the first marriage of a lesbian couple that Shaw has solemnized. About 400 people attended, according to another version of the EDS press release.

Though the Episcopal Church's canons state that marriage is between a man and a woman, the church at its General Convention in July 2009 passed Resolution C056 which, in part, allows that "bishops, particularly those in dioceses within civil jurisdictions where same-gender marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships are legal, may provide generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of this church."

The resolution also authorized the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to work with the House of Bishops to collect and develop theological resources and liturgies for blessing same-gender relationships. The commission is to report to the 77th General Convention in 2012 in Indianapolis.

Ragsdale, 52, became EDS dean in October 2009 and is the first woman to hold that position. She is a graduate of the College of William and Mary and holds a Master of Divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Episcopal Divinity School. She served as vicar of St. David's Episcopal Church in Pepperell, Massachusetts, and as president of Somerville, Massachusetts-based Political Research Associates before her EDS appointment.

Lloyd, 57, became Shaw's canon to the ordinary in December 2008. She is a General Convention deputy and a member of the church's Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance. Prior to joining the bishop's staff, she was for six years the rector of Christ Church Parish in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Lloyd was attended during the wedding ceremony by her adult children from her first marriage, Robert, Margaret, and Joseph Lloyd. Ragsdale was attended by her nephews and niece, Cameron and Nicholas Ragsdale and Lauren Mills.

In New Year message, Archbishop of Canterbury addresses impact of King James Bible

[Episcopal News Service] Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has celebrated the impact of the King James Bible since its publication 400 years ago.

"When we try to make sense of our lives and of who we really are, it helps to have a strongly defined story, a big picture of some kind in the background," said Williams, in his annual New Year message, recorded for the BBC. "As the King James Bible took hold of the imaginations of millions of people in the English-speaking world, it gave them just that -- a big picture, a story in which their lives made sense."

The Authorized King James Version is an English translation of the Bible begun in 1604 and published in 1611. James I, who instructed the translation, was king of England at the time.

"Things move on but it's good for us to have some long-lasting furniture in our minds, words and images that have something a bit mysterious about them and that carry important experiences for us that we can't find words of our own for," Williams said.

The archbishop underscores that some kind of "big picture" matters for people to make sense of their lives, regardless of their beliefs. "This year's anniversary is a chance to stop and think about the big picture -- and to celebrate the astonishing contribution made by that book four hundred years ago," he said.

The full text of the Archbishop's message follows.

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New Year message 2011

Perhaps someone some time has said to you that you shouldn't hide your light under a bushel. Or told you to set your house in order. Maybe you only survived a certain situation by the skin of your teeth. Perhaps it's time you listened to the still small voice within.

All those everyday phrases come from one source – a book whose four hundredth anniversary we celebrate this coming year, the King James Bible – or the Authorised Version as it's sometimes called. It wasn't the first Bible in English by any means. But for all sorts of reasons it got into the bloodstream of the people of this country.

The language it was written in wasn't ever quite the sort of language people spoke in their daily lives, even four hundred years ago. But its rhythms are exceptionally memorable, and its stories can still move and even shock us.

Things move on but it's good for us to have some long-lasting furniture in our minds, words and images that have something a bit mysterious about them and that carry important experiences for us that we can't find words of our own for. And when we try to make sense of our lives and of who we really are, it helps to have a strongly defined story, a big picture of some kind in the background. As the King James Bible took hold of the imaginations of millions of people in the English-speaking world, it gave them just that – a big picture, a story in which their lives made sense.

It was the story of a world broken and out of control - but still a world God loved fiercely; the story of God promising to be there for the people he had made, in good times and bad; of his promise being kept in the most dramatic way you could think of, when God himself lives a human life in Jesus Christ. And woven into all this were the records of how individuals – very like us in their confusions and failings – had got caught up in this great story of God's promises, and how it had changed them.

So reading the King James Bible told you that your life story was set within the biggest of pictures, the story of the whole universe.

Four hundred years on, that can feel quite remote. You may be the sort of person who feels that you can make sense of your own story in your own terms. Or you may feel that there's only one big story and that's about money and whether I've got a job tomorrow or whether my children can afford higher education.

But the trouble is that we so often don't have the kind of big picture that simply tells us that we matter, never mind what happens, that tells us there is something quite outside ourselves that can eventually make sense of things – even if, like some of the writers of the Bible, specially the Psalms, there are moments where all we can do is shout out in protest.

Whether you're a Christian or belong to another religion or whether you have nothing you'd want to calla religion at all, some kind of big picture matters. If we 're going to talk about a 'big society', that'll need a big picture, a picture of what human beings are really like and why they're so unique and precious. This year's anniversary is a chance to stop and think about the big picture – and to celebrate the astonishing contribution made by that book four hundred years ago.

May the New Year be a time to discover something of this vision in your life; a time to discover more of the meaning of another of the King James Bible's great words – the 'lovingkindness' we all need to give and to receive. A very happy New Year to you all.

Civil rights leader and Episcopal priest John Burnett Morris dies at 80

[Episcopal News Service] The Rev. John Burnett Morris, an early leader in the efforts to integrate the Episcopal Church in the civil rights movement, died on Dec. 28 at a retirement home in Evans, Georgia, due to complications from Parkinson's disease. He was 80.
Morris was a founder and the first executive director of the Episcopal Society of Cultural and Racial Unity (ESCRU) and a civil rights activist in the 1950s and 1960s.

An Episcopal priest, Morris worked for civil rights both within the Episcopal Church and more broadly across the South. In 1961, as part of the Freedom Rides protesting the segregation of bus facilities in the South, he organized the "Prayer Pilgrimage," in which an integrated group of clergymen left New Orleans by bus intending to ride to the Episcopal Church's General Convention in Detroit. At their first stop, in Jackson, Mississippi, Morris and 14 other white and black clergy were arrested and jailed after they tried to eat at the bus station lunch counter as an integrated group. Morris described the Prayer Pilgrimage as "a sermon in action ... to set the household of faith in order so that prejudice may be eliminated."

In 1963, Morris led protests in Atlanta, Georgia, against the segregated policy of an Episcopal school, the Lovett School. At the time, Morris' children attended Lovett, and he had recommended to Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta that they apply to Lovett for one of the King children. Lovett rejected the application on racial grounds, leading to four years of protests before the school changed its policies to admit black people. Although Morris had withdrawn his older children from Lovett in 1963, years later his youngest daughter, Ellen, graduated from the school.

On Oct. 12, 1964, King spoke at an ESCRU dinner at the Episcopal Church's General Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, and described "the great and significant work that is being done through ESCRU -- the work that is arousing the conscience of so many people on this question of racial injustice."

ESCRU was active in many civil rights protests, including at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, and at St. John's Episcopal Hospital in New York. ESCRU also organized groups of clergy to participate in the March on Washington in 1963 and in the protests in Selma, Alabama, in 1965.

Morris was born in Brunswick, Georgia, on Feb. 10, 1930, to Hervey Clark Morris and Annie Wright (Burnett). He graduated from Columbia University in 1951. In 1952, he married Harriet (Patsy) Barnes Pratt. Morris attended Virginia Theological Seminary and was awarded a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1954. He was ordained to the diaconate in 1954 and to the priesthood the following year.

Morris served as parish priest in Dillon, South Carolina, from the time he was ordained until the formation of ESCRU in 1959. Morris was a cofounder of ESCRU and then served as its executive director from 1960 to 1966. Morris later served from 1968 to 1970 as a special assistant to the Southern Regional Council, and then from 1971 to 1981 he worked as a civil rights specialist for the U.S. Departments of Health, Education, and Welfare, and later, Education.

Morris is survived by his second wife, Wright [Cousins] Morris, one daughter, two sons, one sister, and six grandchildren. He was predeceased by his first wife, Patsy Morris, and a daughter, Anne B. Morris.

A graveside service will be held on Jan. 7 at the Palmetto Cemetery in Brunswick, Georgia. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 8, at Emmaus House at 1017 Hank Aaron Drive, SW in Atlanta, Georgia.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Emmaus House, 1017 Hank Aaron Dr., SW, Atlanta, GA 30315, or to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, Church Street Station, P.O. Box 780, New York, NY 10008-0780.