Episcopal Church Women

Episcopal leaders nationwide have confirmed the election of the Rev. Barbara C. Harris as the first female bishop in the history of the Anglican Church, officials said in Boston. The Episcopalian Diocese of Massachusetts said Harris received approval from the majority of bishops who head the 118 dioceses across the country. She is to be consecrated Feb. 11 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.

Episcopal leaders nationwide have confirmed the election of the Rev. Barbara C. Harris as the first female bishop in the history of the Anglican Church, officials said in Boston. The Episcopalian Diocese of Massachusetts said Harris received approval from the majority of bishops who head the 118 dioceses across the country. She is to be consecrated Feb. 11 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.

Una Belsey Bignell, a retired laboratory technician, died Friday at the Venturan Convalescent Center. She was 90. Bignell was born July 23, 1909, in Los Angeles, where she spent her formative years, eventually attending Belmont High School. She moved with her family to Ventura in 1930. After becoming a licensed laboratory technician, Bignell worked for the Ventura County Health Department. Later, she worked for Ross-Loos Medical Clinic in Pasadena. In 1933, she married Bob Bignell.

Modest Bertram, 81, of Ventura, who for 26 years was the attendance secretary at Nordhoff High School in Ojai, has died. Bertram was born Jan. 20, 1915, in Hackett, Ark. An Ojai resident from 1953 till 1981, she worked at Nordhoff High until her retirement in 1976. While in Ojai, she attended and served St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, and volunteered many years with the Ojai Music Festival and the Ojai Tennis Tournament. Bertram and her husband, Ralph, moved to Ventura in 1982. She joined St.

There was a time when church teachings were considered gospel--or close to it. If you disagreed, you kept it to yourself or you moved on. These days, as society tackles one hot issue after another, churches find themselves having to keep pace. Some clashes in the Episcopal Church: * Women priests: In 1974, 11 women were ordained by retired bishops despite the fact that ordination violated canon law.

Calling the nation's affordable-housing shortage a "moral and social disaster," more than 375 religious leaders have urged President Clinton and other political leaders to use the Federal Housing Administration's $5-billion surplus to help end the crisis. In a letter issued this week, the leaders said they were "deeply troubled" that the problem was being ignored despite unprecedented economic prosperity.

Local Eastern Orthodox Christians will join with the other 200 million worldwide members of their church Sunday in celebrating Easter, more than a month after other churches marked the event. The Orthodox Christian church calculates the date of Easter by following orders issued by the church's First Ecumenical Council in the year 325.

A nationwide, theologically conservative organization has been formed within the Episcopal Church, spearheaded by Bishop James Stanton of Dallas, a former Glendale parish priest who says liberals are diverting the church from its Anglican heritage. As the 2.5-million-member denomination heads to its triennial convention in July that may consider gay wedding rites and other changes, the new American Anglican Council says it will emphasize faithfulness to traditional beliefs.

The West Coast section of the Women's Convoy to Central America arrives today in Los Angeles. Having started in Seattle, 18 women will stop first at the House of Ruth, a shelter for battered women in Boyle Heights, said Mollie Lowery, a local convoy organizer. The convoyistas, as the women sometimes call themselves, will help relandscape the shelter's back yard, lunch with residents and drive to Temple Shir Shalom in Mar Vista, where they will be guests at a potluck supper given by the temple and St. Bede's Episcopal Church.