ELPC member Elaine Bellin was recently featured in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for her company's role in bringing locally grown fruits and vegetables to area restaurants. She is the president of her family’s firm, Paragon Foods. Read the articleJanuary 1, 2012
ELPC member Catarina Rosano’s work and research on the human brain and aging was featured in the University of Pittsburgh’s PITT Magazine. Rosano is a faculty member in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health, and a researcher in the University’s Center for Aging and Population Health. Read the article
Rev. Bush has asked the Pittsburgh Presbytery to consider entering into a one-year period of study related to the environmental concerns associated with natural gas exploration involving hydraulic fracturing (fracking), commonly associated with Marcellus Shale exploration and development. This moratorium would be in place refraining any Pittsburgh Presbytery groups from entering into contracts, leases or other agreements with natural gas companies. Bush said, “This pathway of a moratorium is following similar actions taken by the New York assembly and the New Jersey Governor. I make this request out of a sincere desire that our Presbytery be faithful stewards of the environmental resources entrusted to us and our congregations for our present and future generations.” The matter has been referred to the Property Committee of Presbytery. Updated Spetmeber 20, 2011
In related news: The Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light issued a four-page ethical analysis that declares its opposition to development of the deep and massive shale gas play because it is not part of a strategy to end fossil fuel use, creates too many environmental and health risks, and perpetuates the “boom and bust” cycles of other, earlier extractive industries in the state. PA-IPL is a state chapter of the national Interfaith Power and Light, a national religious response to the threat of climate change. | Read the Post-Gazette story
Rev. Bush was a featured speaker at the 9/11 remembrance service, “Memory & Hope: An Interfaith Remembrance of 9-11,” held at the Rodef Shalom synagogue. The service is sponsored by The Religious Leadership Forum of Southwest Pennsylvania (Christian, Jewish, and Islamic leaders) and Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania. Bush will be preaching the sermon titled “Prisoners of Hope.” Read the press releaseSeptember 2, 2011
The Post-Gazette featured East Liberty Development, Inc. (ELDI), one of ELPC’s community partners, for its work on rescuing several houses in the East Liberty neighborhood with the goal of establishing the Borland Green Ecovillage, a co-housing initiative. The Rev. Patrice Fowler-Searcy is vice president of ELDI’s board of directors. Read the articleAugust 15, 2011
ELPC was featured in a WQED video about the Pittsburgh Gospel Choir, who rehearses in our church every Monday evening and calls our church their home. “The Pittsburgh Gospel Choir brings the tradition of American gospel to life. Horizons drops in on a Choir rehearsal to meet the charismatic director and learn the history behind the Choir's many voices.” Click to view the video segment on WQED’s site.
The Rev. Dr. Randall K. Bush’s sermon was selected as the winning sermon in the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance’s (EAA) Food for Life Sermon Competition. The competition, launched during the 2010 Food Week of Action, encouraged individuals to submit sermons reflecting on food and faith, as a basis of campaigning together for food justice. The prize is a trip to Geneva to deliver the sermon in the Ecumenical Center at the Oct. 17 worship service for the 2011 Churches Week of Action on Food. Read more about the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance and read Rev. Bush’s sermon. | Read about Rev. Bush’s selection on the PC(USA) news page
In light of PC(USA) passing 10-A, Rev. Bush was featured recently along with Rev. Paul Roberts, Senior Pastor at Eastminster Presbyterian Church, in a Huffington Post video, “Living with Differences: Two Congregations, Two Viewpoints on Gay Clergy”:
ELPC member Carol Chonoska was featured in a story about Pittsburgh’s PrideFest. Read or view the news segment on local CBS affiliate KDKA’s website.
PC(USA)’s Amendment 10-A has been ratified! Our national governing body, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has ratified an amendment to its constitution. This allows congregations to ordain partnered gay elders and deacons, and for presbyteries to ordain or install pastors in same-sex relationships. PC(USA) joins the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as the fourth major Protestant denomination to lift this barrier. Read the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article | Read the LA Times editorial | Read the Covenant Network article | Read the TAMFS article
The work of East Liberty Development, Inc. (ELDI), one of ELPC’s community partners, was featured in the Post-Gazette for its recognized work and ongoing renewal efforts in the East Liberty neighborhood, particularly in the area of renovation of abandoned properties and successful neighborhood and community building. The Rev. Patrice Fowler-Searcy is vice president of ELDI’s board of directors. Read the article
Rev. Bush was featured in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story that looked at the perennial popularity for attending church on Easter, even for those who don’t usually attend services. “Easter sermons tend to be non-threatening. It’s a guaranteed upbeat message.” Read the article
Dr. Edward Alan Moore, ELPC’s current Music Director and Organist, played a concert in early March on the newly restored Skinner organ at the Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown, OH. WFMJ carried the video news story. The organ had been silent for nearly five decades before being restored. Moore’s concert was the inaugural performance, on the occasion of the auditorium’s 85th anniversary. View the video (plays after a ten-second ad)
Hope Academy’s annual “Love and All That Jazz” was a huge success this year, drawing over 200 attendees. Several members of the Pittsburgh City Council, including Bill Peduto, Ricky Burgess, Darlene Harris, and city Controller Michael Lamb also took part, doing live spoken word performance. View the coverage in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Muriel Helene McEvoy Szeremany, beloved wife of ELPC’s former Music Director, The Reverend Dr. J. Richard Szeremany, died on Saturday, January 15, 2011 after a brief illness. A funeral service was held at the chapel of Fairmount Cemetery in Newark, New Jersey on Saturday, January 22, 2011. A celebratory Memorial service and Witness to the Resurrection was held on Sunday, February 13 at 4 p.m. in the East Liberty Presbyterian Church. Read the obituary notice
ELPC member Doug Cooper had his work exhibited in February at the Concept Art Gallery, in Pittsburgh’s East End. In collaboration with Pittsburgh Filmmakers and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University, Doug Cooper has experimented with using his panoramic Pittsburgh landscapes as sites for a motion picture, using green screen technique to set live-action sequences directly into Cooper’s charcoal world. View the first of the series, “Pingurgh” on Vimeo.
Sojourner House’s MOMS program, affiliated with our community partner organizations East Liberty Development, Inc. (ELDI) and East End Cooperative Ministry (EECM), was featured for its new “green” playground and its role in helping to renovate its neighborhood. Read the article (PDF).
Our September 11, 2010 special labyrinth event, “May All Peoples Walk Together” was featured as a WPXI news item . Read the article (PDF).
Two of our members, Doug Cooper and Stefani Danes, were featured in the Post-Gazette in July 2010 for their work on Pittsburgh’s co-housing movement. Read the article (PDF).
Our national organization, PC(USA) held its biennial conference at the beginning of July 2010 in Minneapolis, MN, which Rev. Bush attended. The conference discussed and voted on several key issues. Read the AP news article: Votes Continue Debate | Read the “daily dispatch” notes from the head of the Pittsburgh Presbytery, the Rev. Dr. Sheldon Sorge (PDF).
ELPC was mentioned in two Post-Gazette articles on the June 2010 Organ Historical Society 2010 Convention: our concert by Juilliard Organ Chair Paul Jacobs, and our famous Æolian-Skinner organ. Read the articles: Pipe Dreams | List of Pittsburgh area recitals
Dave Epperson, an Elder at ELPC and member of the family care team, was featured on a recent American Public Media documentary, “War on Poverty - from The Great Society to The Great Recession.” ELPC is also noted in the piece for its efforts to help rehabilitate a home for a family to move from a dangerous public housing development and become first-time home-owners. Read the transcript | Download the MP3. (June 2010)
The Bayer Center and its executive director, ELPC member ELPC , were featured in the Post-Gazette. ELPC is working with the Bayer Center for strategic planning. Read the story. (May 2010)
East Liberty neighborhood development and renewal discussed in the New York Times. Read the story. (March 2010)
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