Washington Window: June 2007: Episcopal Café will nurture a virtual community

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Washington Window
Vol. 76, No. 7, June 2007

The Episcopal Café is open for business on the World Wide Web at www.episcopalcafe.com.
A collaborative effort of more than two dozen writers and editors, and an ever-growing list of visual artists, the Café is a ministry of the Diocese of Washington in partnership with Episcopal Church in the Visual Arts.

"The Episcopal Cafe provides a way for us to be able to present our faith, both the good and the not so great, in an honest and open way to a much larger audience than most of us ever have hopes of reaching," said the Very Rev. W. Nicholas Knisely, dean of Trinity Cathedral in Phoenix, Ariz., a contributor to the site, and a member of its editorial board.

"The collaborative, grass roots nature of this project is, we think, a first step in a journey into some new ways of building church community in non-traditional settings," he said.

Jim Naughton, canon for communications and advancement in the Diocese of Washington, said the Café grew from his experience with his diocesan blog, Daily Episcopalian.

"There is a surprisingly large audience out there for news about the various controversies in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion," Naughton said. "But it isn't helpful if that is all that the public knows about our church. What we need is a site that not only reports and shapes the news, but reflects the dynamism of our church."

Café contributors include Bishop Steven Charleston, president of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., Deirdre Good, professor of New Testament at the General Theological Seminary in New York City, the Very Rev. Samuel Candler, dean of St. Philip's Cathedral in Atlanta, the Rev. Roger Ferlo of Virginia Theological Seminary and the Very Rev. Howard Anderson, dean of Washington National Cathedral's Cathedral College.

Naughton also has recruited a number of rectors, General Convention deputies, chaplains and bloggers whose work he admires. "One of our contributors works in the United Arab Emirates, and another in Honolulu, so we cover a lot of ground," he said.

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the Café is its extensive use of spiritually-themed art work. "Art has the capacity to awaken us and even shock us just as surely as it can connect us with our tradition," said Mel Ahlborn, president of ECVA, who is the Cafe's art editor. "On our site, you will find some of the best artists in our church interpreting the unbroken history of Christian visual remembrance through their own contemporary works."

The new site is composed of four blogs: The Lead, which is devoted to breaking news about the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion; Daily Episcopalian, a blog of commentary; Speaking to the Soul, which features reflections, multimedia meditations and excerpts from books on spirituality, and the Art Blog.

Naughton encouraged the Café's visitors to comment on the art work and articles. Unlike most blog sites, the Café requires visitors to sign comments using their real names. "Our aim is less heat and more light," he said.

Several members of the diocese contribute to the Café including Anderson, Naughton, Deryl Davis, producer of the Sunday Forum at Washington National Cathedral, and Missy Morain, program coordinator for the Cathedral College Center for Christian Formation, who keeps the blog Episcopal Princess.

Several clergy who recently left the diocese also are involved, including the Rev. Deacon Vicki K. Black, formerly of Saint Columba's; the Rev. Kit Carlson, formerly of Ascension, Gaithersburg and the Rev. Jennifer McKenzie, formerly of St. David's.

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