ACP/CCP Chicago convention entertains capacity crowd

Meeting at the Four Points by Sheraton, downtown Chicago, April 27-29 the Canadian Church Press and the Associated Church Press teamed up for their joint annual convention, drawing standing-room-only attendance at workshops.

More than 120 members and guests packed the hotel's meeting space for fellowship, inspiration, networking and professional development.

Keynote speakers challenged attendees to bring a voice of reason to their reporting about a troubled world, but not to duck the pressing iniquities of the day: 

The Hon. David Kilgour, for 27 years a member of the Canadian House of Commons, told the luncheon audience April 29 of his recent work lobbying on behalf of oppressed classes of people in China and elsewhere. 

In his earlier years, Mr. Kilgour was a parliamentary secretary in the ministry responsible for Canadian International Development Agency. Later, he was minister of state in foreign affairs, first for Africa and Latin America and later for Asia and the Pacific. 

A constitutional lawyer by profession and a devout Presbyterian with wide contacts in the interfaith community, Kilgour has been a keen observer and influencer, internationally, in the area of human rights. Darfur, Myanmar (Burma), Zimbabwe and China have been particular points of interest. He is one of a very few Canadian parliamentarians who has represented both Conservative (1979-90) and Liberal (1991-2006) parties in the Commons.

Wednesday’s opening reception, Eboo Patel, also challenged the religious media to look beyond the stereotypes of the Muslim world. Named by US News & World Report as one of America's Best Leaders of 2009, Mr. Patel is the founder and Executive Director of Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), a Chicago-based institution building the global interfaith youth movement. 

Author of the award-winning book Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation, Mr. Patel also is a regular contributor to the Washington Post, National Public Radio, USA Today and CNN. Read more about him at http://www.ifyc.org/about_core/staff

Jean Bethke Elshtain brought a more academic perspective to the convention in her address Thursday on “Hot Topics call for Cool Heads.”

Regularly named as one of America's foremost public intellectuals, Jean Bethke Elshtain is the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics, Divinity School, The University of Chicago, with appointments in Political Science and the Committee on International Relations and holder of the Leavey Chair in the Foundations of American Freedom, Georgetown University.

The Rev. Otis Moss III, pastor, Trinity United Church of Christ, preached a whimsical yet pointed sermon at the main convention worship, held at St. James Episcopal Cathedral. He parodied some contemporary political coverage by framing the story of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection as tabloid news.

Pastor Moss has done extensive research in the areas of African-American culture, theology and youth development. Four-G published his first book, Redemption in a Red Light District, in December 1999. His essays, articles and poetry have appeared in The African American Pulpit Journal, Sojourners Magazine, and the Urban Spectrum. 

The African American Pulpit Journal recently named him one of the "20 to watch" ministers who will shape the future of the African American church. 

New officers elected

The ACP also thanked board members Jerry Van Marter and Terry DeYoung for their years of service and elected new members.

Meinrad Scherer Emunds, associate publisher at Claretian Publications, was elected president. Verity Jones, of the New Media Project at Union Theological Seminary, will serve as past president.

Steve Thorngate, assistant editor at The Christian Century, was elected to the board.

Cynthia Martens, director of circulation and production at Sojourners, also was elected to the board.

Next convention in Chicago

Because of the popularity of this year’s convention, the ACP Board voted to hold the 2012 convention again in Chicago, on dates to be announced.

The oldest interdenominational religious press association in North America, the Associated Church Press was founded in 1916. The Canadian Church Press began in 1950 as a fellowship of editors founded on the principles of mutual assistance and support. Both the ACP and CCP are communities of communication professionals brought together by faithfulness to their craft and by a common task of reflecting, describing, and supporting the life of faith and the Christian community.

Both groups foster personal and professional relationships; promote higher standards of communication through professional growth opportunities and recognition of excellence; and join in interfaith and public discourse with those who seek to build a more just society for all God’s people.

Memorable joint meetings of the ACP and CCP include the 1965, when CCP played host to the ACP in Ottawa. 

“We were honoured to have as featured speakers the Hon. John Diefenbaker, then leader of the opposition, and Rev. T.C. Douglas, then national leader of the New Democratic Party,” recalls the Rev. Harold U. Trinier, one of the CCP’s founders. 

In 1972 The CCP and ACP met at Banff, Alberta, In 1979 members of the ACP and CCP again held a joint convention at the Park Plaza Hotel in Toronto. Larry Henderson, editor of The Catholic Register, was president that year and arranged for Malcom Muggeridge to address the CCP awards luncheon to which ACP editors were invited. The two groups share a long and mutually supportive relationship, and both groups are confident that the joint meeting in April 2011 will continue that tradition.