epiScope

Cancelled in Connecticut

Catholic Radio Axing Protestant Programs
Hartford Courant, Connecticut
By ELIZABETH HAMILTON
April 27, 2008

For 24 years the Rev. Chris Rose has been the voice of WJMJ radio's "Sunday at Six," a religious program from the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut, so when word trickled down a few weeks ago that his show was being canceled, he was shocked.

Of course, Rose asked why the station's owner, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford, was taking this step.

The answer, he said, was more upsetting than the cancellation itself.

The archdiocese is eliminating most of its Protestant shows, switching to a primarily Catholic format, and has not yet decided how, or in what numbers, ecumenical programming will continue.

Sorry to hear this news.  Read it all here...

Just don't call me late to dinner

Whatever your faith, titles can be confusing
By Molly MacMillan
Salisbury (MD) Daily Times
March 2, 2008

BETHANY BEACH -- Whether referring to a minister, reverend, pastor, most reverend, priest, or monsignor -- figuring out who's a what has the potential to make finding God the easy part of being faithful.

Fortunately, religious officials along the shore weighed in to help believers get a grasp for the proper title for the person at the pulpit.

It’s all here …

Watching the watchers

Bloggers keep the faith, contentiously
By Cathy Lynn Grossman
USA TODAY

"For Christ's sake, stop!" declared the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Rev. Frank Page, pleading for civility in the Baptist blogosphere.

Episcopalians and Anglicans duel incessantly over their faith and future in the Anglican Communion.

Catholics focus on every topic from liturgy to law to spirituality.

These are faith bloggers — uncountable voices who contest, confess and consider religious beliefs, doctrines and denominational politics in their posts.

Although every faith has its bloggers, U.S. Christians may be among the most vociferous of the watchdogs, philosophers and ecclesiastical groupies.

It’s all here …

NY Times Ad

New York Times ad notes Episcopal Church history, mission

The op-ed page of May 12 editions of The New York Times carried a display ad marking the beginnings, 400 years ago, of the Jamestown Colony and the Episcopal Church's heritage and mission in North America.

The advertisement, which reached a readership estimated at 1.1 million nationwide, was prepared by the Episcopal Church Center Communication Office.  The ad generated favorable response underscored by the volume of written notes and telephone calls received at the Church Center.

The ad is available free of charge to Episcopal congregations and diocese that wish to place the ad in local print media and to distribute it to their parishioners and friends.

The ad is available here

Comment comes cheap; reporting costs money. (Even in the church.)

A slight, but necessary, digression from our usual fare.

Who Will Pay For The News?
David Corn
April 05, 2007

A few months ago I gave a speech at a university, and before the event I attended a luncheon with members of the Democratic and Republican clubs on campus. There were two dozen students present. We talked about politics and the media. The questions were sophisticated. They asked about political figures in Washington and media players they read and watch. It was heartening. These young adults were clearly well-informed and dedicated consumers of news.

I asked them to rattle off their main information sources. It was the usual suspects: CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Newsweek, Time. That is, the dino-media (a k a the MSM). A few libs at the table were familiar with The Nation, while some cons were fans of the National Review. As media consumers, they were getting a decent mix. Then I asked a follow-up: How many of you pay for media? Only three raised their hands. The rest get it for free from websites. I shook my head.

It’s all here … and this:

Blogs and cut-and-paste-and-dissect websites provide essential services for a media consumer—producing news of their own and analyzing the news produced by others—but we ought to remember that much of what we know of the world we know because of the work of journalists toiling within mainstream media environs.