6 short reports with links
Former Bishop of Arctic, John Reginald Sperry, dies at 87
New Canada – John Reginald Sperry, a long-serving bishop of the Anglican Arctic diocese, died Feb. 11 in Hay River, Northwest Territories. He was 87. Sperry was born in Leicester, England, in 1924. He joined the Royal Navy in 1943 and served until 1946 on destroyers and escorts doing convoy duty. After completing his tour of duty, Sperry immigrated to Canada in 1950, serving parishes in Kugluktuk, then known as Coppermine and Fort Smith. He served as diocesan bishop from 1973 to 1990 and is the author of Igloo Dwellers Were My Church, a memoir of his time in the North, where he learned Innuinaqtun and Inuit language skills.
Read more: http://new.canada.com/Former+Anglican+bishop+Arctic+John+Reginald+Sperry+dies/6146386/story.html#ixzz1mL7oknwC
Hollywood actor Forest Whitaker is set to play Desmond Tutu in a new film adaption.
The South Africa.com – The Academy Award-winning actor of The Last King Of Scotland and Platoon will play the Archbishop during his time with the Truth and Reconciliation hearings, which were established after the end of apartheid.The working title is currently The Archbishop And The Antichrist. London-born director of The Mission and The Killing Fields, Roland Joffe is at the helm of the project. Based on Michael Ashton’s fictional play of the same name, the story imagines a meeting between the real Tutu and a boorish white South African mass murderer called Piet Blomfeld seeking redemption for his crimes.
Read more – http://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/forest-whitaker-to-play-desmond-tutu-in-new-film.htm
Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop calls for focus on Millennium Development Goals during Lent 2012
The Episcopal Church – Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori invites a focus on the Millennium Development Goals for Lent 2012. “I invite you to use the Millennium Development Goals as your focus for Lenten study and discipline and prayer and fasting this year,” Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori said. “The Millennium Development Goals are truly reflective of several of the Five Marks of Mission.”
An audio of her 2012 Lenten message is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/page/presiding-bishop
The text of her 2012 Lenten message can be read http://bit.ly/yr1qrw .
2012 Courses at the Anglican Centre in Rome
ACNS – The Anglican Centre in Rome was founded in 1966, and is located in the historic centre of Rome a few minutes from the Vatican. It is a UK charity, but its work is for Anglicans across the world. Its Director acts as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See, but he is available to the whole Anglican Communion. The Centre includes the library, a reading/seminar room, and a chapel dedicated to St Augustine of Canterbury. There are still some places on courses. Contact Jan Hague, Course Administrator on administrator@anglicancentre.it
Russian Mission Group Warns Of Crackdown On Evangelicals
Religion News Blog – As protesters demanding more freedom and fair elections prepared to demonstrate in freezing temperatures in Moscow last Saturday, a major Russian mission group warned of more difficulties for evangelical Christians and other religious minorities in Russia and other former Soviet Union nations. “Even as demonstrations increase, protesters’ hold on religion and civil liberties appears to be slipping in the North Caucasus and Central Asia,” explained Russian Ministries. “The situation in Russia has been building over the last several years, and is as much about religious liberty as it is about political freedom,” the group added.
Read more – http://www.religionnewsblog.com/26518/russian-mission-group-warns-of-crackdown-on-evangelicals
Jews With Ties To Iran And Israel Feel Conflicted
NPR – As tensions between Israel and Iran ratchet up, one community is caught in the middle: Iranian Jews living in Israel. Many of them maintain strong ties with their homeland, and with the possibility of war looming, they’re uniquely conflicted. In a small, cluttered apartment in Jerusalem, Naheet Yacoubi cooks a traditional Persian meal for her Shabbat dinner. Originally from Tehran, she moved to Israel when she was a child. It’s easy to find Persian ingredients here, she says. Some 250,000 people of Persian descent live in Israel, and that migration continues. But Iran still has the second-largest community of Jews in the Middle East, and the two communities are close, says Aaron Yacoubi, Naheet’s husband.
Read more – http://www.npr.org/2012/02/07/146484459/jews-with-ties-to-iran-and-israel-feel-conflicted?ft=1&f=1016