Bernard Law, Powerful Cardinal Disgraced by Priest Abuse Scandal, Dies at 86

From The New York Times-

Cardinal Bernard F. Law, whose stature as archbishop of Boston and America’s senior Roman Catholic prelate was shattered in a maelstrom of scandal, acrimony and resignation in 2002 after revelations that he had protected abusive priests for years, died Wednesday. He was 86 and lived in Rome.

The Vatican confirmed the death in a news release.

He was a staunch defender of church orthodoxy, a Harvard-educated advocate of social justice for immigrants and the poor who had campaigned for civil rights in the segregated South. And when he arrived in Boston in 1984 as Pope John Paul II’s new archbishop, he was welcomed like a favorite son.

Over the next 17 years, he became one of the nation’s most influential churchmen, a protégé and confidant of the pope, a friend of presidents, a force in politics who traveled widely, conferred with foreign leaders and nurtured Catholic relations with Protestants, Jews and others. Admirers thought he might become the first American pope.

More here-

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/obituaries/cardinal-bernard-law-dead.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

and here-

http://www.wcvb.com/article/former-cardinal-bernard-law-dies-at-age-86-sources-say/14453640

Boston University creates new denominational program for Episcopalians

From The Cafe-

Perhaps sensing a gap in the wake of Episcopal Divinity School’s departure for New York City to join with Union Theological Seminary, Boston University School of Theology (BUSTH) has announced the formation of a new Episcopal denominational learning community.

In collaboration with the Episcopal Dioceses of Massachusetts, the intent of the learning community is to form a community of students, faculty, and staff dedicated to nurturing and preparing Episcopal students for future leadership and service in and through the church. The Anglican Episcopal Community of Learning (AECL) is a specialized program that aims to provide the best possible education in an ecumenical community that values the unique gifts, histories, and ministerial legacies of the denominations represented.

https://www.episcopalcafe.com/boston-university-creates-new-denominational-program-for-episcopalians/

In Boston, some churches are providing sanctuary to undocumented immigrants

From Boston-

First-time visitors to Sunday morning services at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Boston are met with smiles, handshakes, and even hugs. To call it a warm welcome would be an understatement.

Bethel AME is no stranger to political activism. But the mostly African-American congregation has taken up a new mission. In late September, the parish decided to give shelter to a man from El Salvador facing deportation. Church officials turned down a request for a face-to-face interview with the man, a father of five, who's now living at Bethel AME. But Rev. Ray Hammond explained the church's thinking behind becoming a sanctuary church.

"This is not a political issue. Ultimately it's a human issue," says Hammond, who co-founded Bethel AME with his wife, Gloria White-Hammond, a fellow physician and pastor herself. The couple started the church in 1989. It has done work on various social justice issues, including with youth, prisoners, and the impoverished.

More here-

http://theweek.com/articles/730308/boston-some-churches-are-providing-sanctuary-undocumented-immigrants

Old South Church puts a $19 million price on sunlight

From The Boston Globe-

Old South Church has put a price on sunlight:

$19 million.

That’s how much the historic Copley Square church wants developer Boston Properties to pay as compensation for shadows a planned tower at Back Bay Station would cast on the 142-year-old church, potentially causing moisture damage to masonry and darkening stained-glass windows.

It’s the latest example of development colliding with city landmarks and the complex interplay of shadows on open spaces.

That’s how much the historic Copley Square church wants developer Boston Properties to pay as compensation for shadows a planned tower at Back Bay Station would cast on the 142-year-old church, potentially causing moisture damage to masonry and darkening stained-glass windows.

It’s the latest example of development colliding with city landmarks and the complex interplay of shadows on open spaces.

More here-

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2017/10/01/windows/l9ZXRHaZJC7ZDfusfEY0DI/story.html

Episcopal Divinity School’s Harvard Square sale hits a serious snag

From Boston-

The news that the Episcopal Divinity School was shopping its 8-acre campus at 99 Brattle Street in Cambridge’s Harvard Square dropped like a thunderclap in late May.

Given its location alone, never mind the size, it appeared the parcel had the potential to be one of the Boston region’s most important sales in living memory.

Yet, there’s a potential snag to any smooth sale: Lesley University co-owns several of the campus’ buildings through a nearly decade-old condo agreement with the divinity school.

It was already known that Lesley and Episcopal had a property agreement. It turns out that that deal is much more intimate than previously thought—and, per Cambridge Day’s Marc Levy, it doesn’t look like Lesley is as keen to sell as Episcopal.

More here-

https://boston.curbed.com/2017/6/20/15836502/episcopal-divinity-school-harvard-square-lesley

Gay Catholics laud pope’s remarks

From The Boston Globe-

Gay Catholic leaders in Boston are hailing Pope Francis’s assertion this week that Christians should apologize to gay people for marginalizing them.

But they also insist that words are insufficient: The church, they say, must change its teaching that gay sex is “intrinsically evil” and that marriage is a heterosexual union.

“I was taught by nuns that it’s not enough to say ‘I’m sorry,’ we had to make amends, and firmly commit to try as hard as we could not to make that mistake again,” said Peggy Hayes, president of Dignity/Boston, a community of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Catholics and their allies that worships in the South End. “I need to see that change of heart.

More here-

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/06/28/gay-catholics-hail-pope-words/b7RcWCWurhzTxmJgaZuIrM/story.html

Old North Church work uncovers decorative wall art

From Boston-

Boston’s historic Old North Church is uncovering ornate paintings unseen in more than a century with an $8 million renovation that started earlier this year – the church’s third major renovation in its nearly 300-year history. 

Part of the work on the North End neighborhood structure – known best for the tower where Paul Revere’s two lamps were placed to signal the British army’s movements toward Lexington and Concord on April 18, 1775 – will be to undo an earlier paint job. 

Built in 1723, the city’s oldest surviving church received a whitewash in 1912, a treatment popular during the colonial revival architectural phase of the early 20th century. But the interior walls of the sanctuary had previously been decorated with paintings of cherubs and patterns. 

More here-

http://newbostonpost.com/2016/02/16/old-north-church-work-uncovers-decorative-wall-art/

Outdoor Church invites homeless in on Easter

From Boston-

On a concrete plaza in Porter Square on Easter morning, the Rev. Thomas Hathaway talked about how frantic Jesus’ disciples became when they arrived at the cave where he had been buried and found that the body was missing, not yet aware of his resurrection.

People today can live with the same frantic energy, Hathaway said to his congregation of homeless men and women, whose lives on the streets or in shelters are often marked by instability.

The Outdoor Church of Cambridge is in the city every week, ministering to people who may not feel comfortable in more traditional churches, said the Rev. Jedediah Mannis, who cofounded the church.

“Being outdoors is a chaotic life, and we try hard to keep it calm, predictable,” Mannis said. “People have made it their church, and they have a proprietary feeling about it.”

More here-

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/04/20/easter-sunday-outdoor-church-cambridge-ministers-homeless/2l8qC7iNep5K4xpsAMYYgL/story.html

Congregants wrestling with Trinity’s $3.6m condo

From Boston-

Trinity Church’s purchase of a $3.6 million Beacon Hill condo to house its rector is sparking dissension among some members of the landmark Episcopal congregation, with a few even asking if the church could resell the property.

Some say they feel the new rectory, where the Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III now lives, feeds the perception that Trinity is a bastion of privilege and obscures the congregation’s significant contributions to the city’s less fortunate. Others say the problem goes deeper than optics, maintaining that the purchase is a departure from the Christian ethic of standing in solidarity with the poor and marginalized.

“I thought it sent a very bad message about our values,” said Gary Sandison, a longtime congregant and former member of the vestry, the council elected by the congregation to make decisions for the church. “It pained me deeply because I know Trinity . . . is doing wonderful things in the city.”

More here-

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/02/14/trinity-church-purchase-million-rectory-sparks-dissension-among-some-congregants/v0C4KdyJgcodPuI7aw0ULJ/story.html

Should a seashell adorn Boston’s Episcopal cathedral?

From RNS-

Forget crosses, saints and scenes from the Bible. The prominent face of a cathedral should be adorned these days with something more welcoming to all people: a seashell.

That logic has given rise to a bold new look for the front of the Episcopal Cathedral Church of St. Paul, which overlooks Boston Common. Since May, a giant aluminum sculpture depicting a cross-sectioned chambered nautilus has been lighting up the pediment in a brilliant blue and turning heads at one of Boston’s busiest corners.

It’s also igniting debate about what’s lost and gained when a church uses its high-profile facade to display an ambiguous symbol, rather than recognizable religious imagery.

The shell was chosen largely to draw attention to a granite, columned building that’s dwarfed by neighboring buildings and easily overlooked, according to Cathedral Dean Jep Streit.

More here-

http://www.religionnews.com/2014/02/13/seashell-adorn-bostons-episcopal-cathedral/

Nautilus Design On St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral Church In Boston Sparks Controversy

From Boston-

The pediment of The Cathedral Church Of St. Paul in Boston has stood empty for 190 years, as the builders of the impressive Greek Revival structure ran out of money during the initial construction phase. It was finally completed in May of 2013, but since then it's come under fire for its unusual design, which features a backlit nautilus sculpture.

Though the original plans for the Episcopal church called for a classical relief of St. Paul preaching to King Agrippa, the current design is absent of traditional Christian iconography, featuring instead the clean lines of a seashell's interior which allude to Oliver Wendell Holme's poem "The Chambered Nautilus," writes The Living Church in a review.

Reverend and Dean of St. Paul's, Jep Streit, told Radio Boston that the nautilus was "the perfect metaphor for a spiritual journey." He elaborated, "The nautilus is evocative of so much more than the church. It creates its shell by outgrowing each previous compartment. It’s always moving into a new, bigger space, and it can never go back."

Father Tim Schenck, an Episcopal priest, explained in a post on his Clergy Family Confidential blog why he finds the choice of a nautilus as a spiritual symbol to be "contrived" and "empty." He wrote, "I’m still not sure why Paul was pushed aside for a seashell."

More here-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/01/nautilus-st-pauls-episcopal-church_n_4702350.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

Slaying galvanizes Episcopal Church

From Boston-

Jorge Fuentes did things his own way. “If you’re not being yourself, you’re not having fun,” he would say, flashing a smile.

As a contrarian kid, he sometimes drove his mother and teachers and pastors crazy. But by his late teens, he was a standout counselor at his church’s youth programs. He traveled everywhere on mission trips, doing farm work in Virginia, feeding poor people in New York. He planned to join the Marines.

Then, just over a year ago, came the stray shot, fired from a stranger’s gun, that hit the 19-year-old in the head as he walked his dog across the street from his family’s home in Dorchester.

The death of Fuentes was a loss of incalculable proportions, not only for his close-knit family, but for Episcopalians across Eastern Massachusetts. A thousand people came to his calling hours and a candlelight vigil that followed at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in the South End. The following spring, more than 650 marched in his name at the Mother’s Day Walk for Peace. Last month, Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, just back from treatment for brain cancer, came to Beacon Hill to tell Jorge’s story and demand changes to gun laws.

More here-

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/10/07/the-death-year-old-and-wounding-hope-cause-episcopal-church-reexamine-its-commitment-young/w39oEtRMs6x9jUPzALRz1M/story.html

A new look for a dour old Boston cathedral

From Boston-

A crane lifted the large piece of sculpture and placed it within the empty pediment of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, high above Tremont Street, on a recent sunny morning. A four-man crew fixed the piece in place, attaching it to a bright blue backdrop that will be lit at night when the new look for a very old church is formally celebrated on Wednesday.

In traveling 60 feet skyward, the piece, made of hand-formed aluminum and weighing 650 pounds, completed a journey that, in a sense, began nearly 200 years ago.

Until now, St. Paul’s, with its stately sandstone columns and recessed granite facade, has not had a very interesting exterior, said The Very Rev. John “Jep” Streit, dean of the Episcopal church, as he watched the installation from the sidewalk.

“People think it’s a bank or a courthouse,” said Streit, who wore a Red Sox baseball cap with his khaki suit and clerical collar. “We wanted something that would say, ‘What’s going on in there? Let’s go see.’ We wanted to invite people inside.”

More here-

http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/2013/05/04/boston-paul-cathedral-sculptural-pediment-fills-space-left-vacant-nearly-years/NDoJxvk20OalWiexjbNOKK/story.html

Former Episcopalian minister ordained Catholic priest

From Boston-

Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley ordained Father Jurgen W. Liias, a former Episcopalian priest of 40 years, to the Roman Catholic priesthood on April 20 at St. Mary Star of the Sea Church in Beverly.

The native of Germany received ordination for the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. Msgr. Jeffrey N. Steenson, head of the ordinariate, concelebrated with Cardinal O'Malley.

The Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter is a national structure created by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. It was formed in response to requests from former Anglican groups and clergy who wanted to become Catholic as a group, and retain aspects of their Anglican heritage and traditions, including parts of their liturgy. Special permission has been given on a case-by-case basis for former Anglican priests who are married to be ordained Catholic priests for the ordinariate.

Cardinal O'Malley emphasized the theme of Christian unity as he addressed the candidate in his homily during the ordination.

"Jurgen, we thank God for your generous response to this second calling and commend you to the loving care of the Mother of the Divine Shepherd, so that your ministry as a Catholic priest will draw people closer to the Lord and to one-another, as we strive for the unity that Christ prayed for at the Last Supper, and so that we will experience the fellowship of those first disciples who were of one mind and one heart," he said.

More here-

http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=15931

Outdoor ministry strives to serve the homeless

From The Boston Globe-

It’s Sunday around noon and a line forms that winds around the towering bronze Brewer Fountain in a corner of Boston Common. Weary-looking men and women shuffle forward, making their way toward the folding card tables, where a dozen teenagers hand out carefully wrapped sandwiches and bags of potato chips. It is the end of the month, and many of these people’s food stamps have run out.

Walking by, you might mistake the whole thing for a soup line. The cast of characters seems right: the long line of the downtrodden, carrying their belongings on their backs or in tattered bags; the suburban youth group bused in from some parish outside of Boston, offering sandwiches from their perches behind the tables; a few clean-cut, middle-aged men and women overseeing everything, stopping to chat with the people waiting for their lunch. But then around 1 p.m., something altogether different unfolds. A woman with short blond hair and wearing a clerical collar steps forward.

“I’d like to invite all of you to form a circle,’’ she says. And in the space in front of the fountain, most of the 30 or so people who had stuck around to eat come together with the teenagers who had handed them their sandwiches, while a few remain standing at a distance.

More here-

http://bostonglobe.com/arts/2012/01/21/outdoor-ministry-boston-common-strives-serve-homeless/Nd8MFu7EyAXo6rZceNa8QJ/story.html

21st Century Monks: Cambridge Monastery Reopens to Public After $11 Million Renovation

From Boston-

Seventy-five years worth of candle wax, incense smoke, and general wear and tear left quite a mark on the Society of St. John the Evangelist monastery in Cambridge. But after an 18-month, $11 million renovation and restoration of its chapel, guesthouse, and monastery buildings, the society’s monks are ready to welcome guests and worshippers again.

Originally built during the Great Depression, the Episcopal monastery just steps from the Kennedy School on Memorial Drive is currently home to nine monks. The guesthouse hosts visitors who come for spiritual retreat, including Harvard students, faculty, and affiliates.’

As part of the restoration, a specialist carefully cleaned each of the chapel’s stained glass windows—depicting the lives of monastic saints—with a solution of ammonia and water.

“We’re seeing colors we’ve never seen before,” said Brother Kevin Hackett, a resident monk and director of communications at the monastery.

Contractors installed new wiring and plumbing and reinsulated the complex for temperature and sound. Guest rooms were refurbished and outfitted with energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, and a handicap-accessible was bathroom added. The renovation also repaired leaks in the chapel tower, roof, and walls, and replaced the bell that calls the brothers to prayer five times a day.

More here-

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/9/26/monastery-chapel-hackett-brothers/

Clergy play key role in veterans’ care

From Boston-

Pastor Elizabeth M. Krentz-Wee says that as many as 10 of the 50 worshippers who attend Sunday services at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Norwich, Conn., are veterans.

But like many clergy, Krentz-Wee acknowledges that she has had little experience dealing with mental health problems that plague many of those who have served in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other conflicts.

Now, the military and psychiatrists are engaging spiritual leaders in the region, like Krentz-Wee, saying they are pivotal as first responders in helping soldiers and their families cope with issues like post-traumatic stress.

Though soldiers might refrain from seeing a military psychiatrist because of a stigma that seeking help suggests weakness, they may be comfortable approaching a clergy member, experts said. And reaching veterans sooner rather than later is imperative to recovery as they make the jarring transition from violent battle zones to quiet New England life.

More here-

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/08/15/clergy_play_key_role_in_veterans_mental_health/

Dean Lloyd: ‘I’m not in this Business to Step Up’

From The Living Church-

A cathedral dean rarely chooses to return to a former parish as priest-in-charge, but for the Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III that transition was an answer to prayer. Lloyd, dean of Washington National Cathedral since 2005, will return in October to Trinity Church, Boston, where he was rector from 1993 to 2005.

“My fundamental calling is as a priest — a preacher and teacher and pastor,” he said. “And the decision for me was to let go of this large, complex, exciting place” and to focus on a pastoral ministry. While he said that returning to his former parish “was a surprise” and “not part of the plan,” the possibility began to emerge as he thought about and prayed about his perceived calling to return to parish ministry.

“I’m not in this business to step up,” he said. “Every step has been to ask what with my gifts I’m being called to do.”

Lloyd sees himself on a journey, and his Boston position will be the next step in that journey. While Lloyd was discerning his future, Trinity Church was searching for a priest amid the retirement of the Rev. Anne Bonny Berryman, who succeeded Lloyd as rector in 2006. The two periods of discernment seemed to converge according to God’s plan.

The dean said his new position as priest-in-charge at Trinity Church entails a structured three-year commitment. Becoming the rector again “is certainly a possibility, but it needs to be prayed through and make sense on both sides.”

More here-

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2011/7/15/dean-lloyd-im-not-in-this-business-to-step-up

Bombs Explode Near Church

From Boston- (with video)

Two homemade bombs exploded near a Marshfield church Saturday night.

The Rev. Barbara Peterson said she saw a bright light as she was leaving the Trinity Episcopal Church at about 7:30 p.m.

"As we were driving up the road, there was a white flash. We pulled in the driveway and called 911," Peterson said.

"I thought it was at first a very strong lightning bolt," witness Bill Wrenn said.

"And it turned out there was a bomb down here by the driveway, and then another there was another one in front of the church," Peterson said.

The bomb exploded on the church's property on Highland Street, but did not cause any damage to the building, officials said.

Several residents called police reporting that their homes were shaken by something, police said.

More here-

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/r/27023846/detail.html

A mission on the move Roxbury convent for sale as order’s focus shifts

From Boston-

Since the late 19th century, the Society of St. Margaret, an order of Episcopal nuns, has maintained a quiet but steady presence in Boston, nursing the sick, caring for the poor, and welcoming travelers in need of a quiet place to stay, all while keeping a rigorous schedule of prayer and silent contemplation.

For more than 100 years, the nuns lived in four brownstones in Beacon Hill’s Louisburg Square, worshiping at the nearby Church of the Advent and the Church of St. John the Evangelist. In 1992, they sold their quarters — one of the buildings is now home to Senator John F. Kerry — and converted a nursing home they had previously run on Fort Hill in Roxbury into their convent.

But in recent years, the sprawling 35,000-square-foot convent has become too expensive and difficult to maintain for the 17 women who live there, many of them elderly, and the order has decided it is time to move again — to a retreat center the sisters operate in Duxbury.

Selling the convent, said Sister Carolyn Darr, the superior, would allow the sisters to devote more money and energy to their charitable and spiritual work — in particular, their small mission in Haiti, which the order has run since the 1920s and which suffered severe damage in last year’s earthquake.

More here-

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/boston/roxbury/articles/2011/02/13/roxbury_convent_to_be_sold_as_orders_focus_shifts/