A New Service

A new service aimed at Pittsburgh Episcopalians is being launched today. It should also be of interest to Episcopalians elsewhere. Specifically, Pittsburgh Update is intended to “provide accurate and timely information” about “developments in the wider church that have the potential to affect [Pittsburgh Episcopalians].”

The first weekly post appears today, and it reports on the reorganization of the Diocese of San Joaquin, on the recent court decision regarding the property of St. James’, Elmhurst, N.Y., on the controversy over the recent episcopal depositions, and on a vigil to be held in support of Bishop Robert Duncan and the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes. The stories posted are brief, but they contain links to conventional news stores and other sources.

Pittsburgh Update builds on the background material provided by A Pittsburgh Episcopal Voice, which is maintained by an increasingly diverse group of Pittsburgh clergy and laypeople. I am, for now, one of the editors.

Some Background

For those of us who have been trying to get ordinary Episcopalians to pay attention to church developments beyond the boundaries of their parish, it has been hard to know where to tell people to go for concise and relevant news updates.

Four years ago, I suggested that Via Media USA post a history of the current church conflicts and keep that history up-to-date. That never happened, partly because the history would be a long read and would be difficult to write and maintain.

My own parish recently faced the news source problem. I am on a committee that was concerned about how we can help keep parishioners informed of current events in the church. We could recommend no single Web site, or even a handful of sites, that could be relied upon effectively to deliver relevant news to Episcopalians.

This led me to scale down my original idea to something more manageable. Why not offer concise, objective news summaries with appropriate links? (One can hope that readers will eventually pick up the necessary background information.) This is the idea that has been developed into Pittsburgh Update.