Presiding Bishop to host Oct. 16 webcast

New monthly ‘multicasts’ debut

'Episcopal Life Focus' available online and for community-access cable stations

A LIVE WEBCAST with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori on Oct. 16, and the second monthly edition of “Episcopal Life Focus’ --  a half-hour video "multicast" featuring church mission, ministries and news –- are upcoming program highlights from Episcopal Life Media.

Co-produced with Trinity Church Wall Street, the webcast will begin at 3 p.m. Eastern time on October 16 and is planned to feature the Presiding Bishop’s responses to questions asked via telephone and email during the program.

Access will be available through both the websites of the Episcopal Church (http://www.episcopalchurch.org) and Trinity Wall Street (http://www.trinitywallstreet.org).

Meanwhile, the new edition of Episcopal Life Focus, set for release online October 11, will feature coverage of the House of Bishops September meeting in New Orleans, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s visit there, and the hands-on post-hurricane rebuilding and pastoral work offered by the bishops and spouses along the Gulf Coast.  

A profile is planned of New Orleans Episcopalian Diana Meyers, who leads the Mobile Healthcare Ministry for St. Anna's Church, a historic parish in the city's Treme section.  

The program will also feature the opening of the new Desmond Tutu Center for Reconciliation at New York's General Theological Seminary. A pastoral reflection is also planned.

Both programs are anchored by the Rev. Jan Nunley, executive editor of Episcopal Life Media. Michael Collins is producer.

The program follows the successful debut in September of Episcopal Life Focus’ first multicast. The Diocese of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was among the first local groups to place the program on local cable-access television. The program was sponsored by Episcopal Books and Resources, with online captioning for the hearing impaired provided by the Episcopal Church Women, Diocese of Los Angeles.

Each edition of the program remains available online for on-demand viewing at Episcopal Life Online (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife/).

Episcopal Life Focus will incorporate news items and human-interest features from across the Episcopal Church, Collins said.

"Episcopal Life Focus gives us a chance to explore topics in more detail," he added. “Ongoing programs will continue to be topical, informative and newsworthy, while striking the balance with the human side of the issues.”

"The idea for Episcopal Life Focus came out of our nightly closed-circuit and webcast news programs at General Convention in Columbus in 2006," Nunley said. "We wanted to present more of the day-to-day life and mission of the Episcopal Church. Through this new program, we'll bring in more voices and visions of the church and the Anglican Communion than we've ever been able to do before." 

Upcoming editions of Episcopal Life Focus will air the second Thursday of each month: Nov. 8, Dec. 13.

Direct inquiries about programming and requests regarding community-access cable placement to Collins via e-mail, mcollins@episcopalchurch.org, or by phoning 800-334-7626, ext. 6018. 

The program is part of the new integrated "Episcopal Life Media" initiative that complements the churchwide monthly newspaper, Episcopal Life, with the Episcopal Life Online website, weekday e-mail releases, regular streaming video reports and weekly inserts for Sunday parish bulletins. Top stories are featured from the Episcopal News Service.

“This new synergy now widens the reach of news and information serving the Church,” said Robert Williams, director of Episcopal Life Media.