Peace Out! Week Eighty-one

Witnessing to the God of Life: A Letter to the Episcopal Church

Rt. Rev. Dan Edwards, a member of EPF's National Executive Council, is also a member of Bishops United Against Gun Violence. Read Bishops United's powerful witness to the Episcopal Church here. Is your bishop a member of Bishops United? Check the website here and if your bishop is not, consider encouraging her or him to join to stand with other brave and righteous clergy for this life-giving advocacy.

Trinity Cathedral’s Episcopal Peace Fellowship chapter is planning a special virtual Healing Eucharist for the victims of human trafficking on Thursday, July 30, 2020 which is the United Nations World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. You can attend the virtual service by tuning into our YouTube channel (freeman.bruce or Debbie Hunter hunterd16 for more information.

Please register in advance for this meeting at:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYlc-6rpj8rHtSi7GOoJcc5mVFi4J2fLqLM

The Keeping Women and Girls Safe from the Start Act of 2020 (S.4003) expands the ability of the U.S. government to prevent gender-based violence and provide early interventions at the onset of humanitarian emergencies. By formalizing the Safe from the Start initiative currently administered by the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Aid (USAID), the legislation will help strengthen staff training and integrate important interventions to mitigate risks for gender-based violence in all humanitarian sectors. Contact your Senators and Representatives to support this bill.

General Convention Policy
2015-A049: Prioritize Gender Equality Concerns in Foreign and Church Aid
2012-A139: Endorse Efforts Against Gender Violence

Where does the Episcopal Church stand on this? The City of Asheville, North Carolina recently approved reparations for Black residents. Read moreepfactnow

JOHN NEVIN SAYRE AWARD
NOMINEES SOUGHT

Episcopal Peace Fellowship seeks nominations for its John Nevin Sayre Award. EPF established the Sayre award in 1979 to honor founding EPF member Rev. John Nevin Sayre for his lifetime of service waging the Gospel of Peace. Sayre was an Episcopal priest, pacifist, missionary, teacher and author who gained notoriety when he challenged President Woodrow Wilson to address the devastating events of World War I. Because of Sayre’s efforts, Wilson agreed recognizing conscientious objection as a legal alternative to military service. Sayre has been described as a peace apostle whose life was devoted to the waging of peace and opposition to war.

In 1979, two years after Sayre’s death, Episcopal Peace Fellowship honored his lifelong commitment to peace by establishing the John Nevin Sayre Award. The award is conferred every three years at General Convention for courageous witness in the cause of justice and peace to a recipient selected by the EPF National Executive Council. Through this award Episcopal Peace Fellowship publicly recognizes Episcopalians who are actively living their baptismal promises of striving for justice and peace among all people, and respecting the dignity of every human being. Like the person for whom the award is named, recipients have dedicated their life’s work to courageously promoting a culture of peace and nonviolence in the face of cultural opposition. Past recipients include Rev. Naim Ateek, Madeline Trichel, Mary Miller, Louis Crew, Newland Smith, Very Rev. Canon Patrick Augustine, Caroline Stevenson, and Patty and the late Rt. Rev. Ed Browning.

The 2021 John Nevin Sayre Award will be presented at the EPF General Convention reception on Tuesday, June 29, 2021. The Rev. Bob Davidson, chair of EPF’s National Executive Council, looks forward to EPF’s reception each Convention. “It isn’t often that we are witnesses to peacemakers of such magnitude living in our midst. These awards remind us that working among us are living, breathing models of God’s call to follow the Prince of Peace,” said Rev. Davidson.

Nominations should be emailed to EPF Executive Director Melanie Merkle Atha at epfactnow by November 1, 2020, including in the letter of nomination the ways in which the nominee has worked for peace and justice.