On the Lasting Evangelical Survival

From Cristianity Today-

The Internet is abuzz with the latest prognostications about "the coming evangelical collapse." This is the substance of three blog posts over at Internet Monk (a.k.a. Michael Spencer), who predicts said collapse in ten years. When his thoughts got picked up and condensed by the Christian Science Monitor and then the Drudge Report — well, you can just imagine the electronic excitement.

The title of Spencer's posts spoils the ending; still, many of the details are interesting. I've made many of the same observations in this column. For example, Spencer writes, "Expect evangelicalism as a whole to look more and more like the pragmatic, therapeutic, church-growth-oriented megachurches that have defined success. The determination to follow in the methodological steps of numerically successful churches will be greater than ever. The result will be, in the main, a departure from doctrine to more and more emphasis on relevance, motivation and personal success." My only caveat here is to wonder if this is a future or present reality.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/marchweb-only/110-31.0.html

SUDAN: Interfaith consultation explores deeper engagement between Christians and Muslims

The Episcopal Church of the Sudan's (ECS) Commission for Interfaith and Ecumenical Relations held its first consultation February 23-27 in Juba to address the goal "that Sudanese communities of different faiths understand, respect and live in harmony (co-existence) with each other," said a report from the Rt. Rev. Michael Jackson, bishop of the Church of Ireland's Diocese of Clogher, who attended the meeting.
The consultation included presentations and discussions about ecumenical dialogue with Muslim partners; the relationship between Sudanese churches and the national government; a review of provision for Christian teaching and curriculum in schools; devising an interfaith curriculum in theological institutions; issues concerning the safety and dignity of women and children; and increased local interaction between Christians and Muslims to develop mutual understanding and respect, and to safeguard permanent prosperity.

The consultation was organized by Sudanese bishops Andudu Adam Elnail of Kadugli, chairperson of the commission, and Ezekiel Diing of Bor, vice chairperson. It was facilitated by the Rev. Dr. Johnson Mbillah, general adviser to the Programme for Christian-Muslim Relations in Africa, and Jackson, chairperson of the Anglican Communion's Network for Interfaith Concerns management group. Participants included bishops, clergy and lay people, both men and women, of ECS along with representatives from the Sudan Council of Churches, Church Mission Society and the Ministry of Religious Affairs. The primate of ECS, Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul, was represented throughout the consultation by Bishop Justin Badi Arama of Maridi. Also present was the Rev. Canon Enock Tombe, provincial secretary of ECS.

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_105816_ENG_HTM.htm

Grace church trial is over, but decision won't come for 4 weeks

After four weeks and dozens of witnesses, the trial to determine who owns a $17 million Gothic church and other property at 601 N. Tejon St. ended Wednesday as attorneys presented their closing arguments.

But Fourth Judicial District Court Judge Larry Schwartz is not expected to issue his decision for at least four weeks.

The trial, which started Feb. 10, pitted two entities that had once been united: the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado and Grace Church & St. Stephen's, which broke its affiliation with the Episcopal Church in 2007, but has continued to worship in the building. The group that stayed with the Episcopal Church, Grace & St. Stephen's Episcopal, has been worshiping in another downtown building.

The breakaway parish - the plaintiff in the case - maintains that it is a separate corporation from the diocese and therefore has legal rights to the property.

The diocese argues that Grace Church is subject to Episcopal law and legal precedent that gives title of the property to the diocese.

In closing remarks in a packed courtroom Wednesday Grace Church & St. Stephen's attorney Gregory Walta characterized the church as an independent corporation since 1973 that bought and sold property without approval from the diocese. Grace's Articles of Incorporation, moreover, make no mention of the diocese or the Episcopal Church, further evidence that it is an independent entity, Walta said.

Yet the diocese expects Grace parish to "give up the property it fought and bled for to some national corporation," Walta said.

Diocese attorney Martin Nussbaum, meanwhile, spoke of the "symphony of vows and affirmations" Grace Church has made to the diocese for decades, suggesting a deeper relationship between the entities than the breakaway congregation has acknowledged.

http://www.gazette.com/articles/church_49742___article.html/trial_grace.html

Report from Denver here-

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_11891291

Students forge ties in wake of schism

When the students of the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies at Duke University speak about their community, they often speak of friendship and pain in the same sentence.
At the AEHS, part of Duke Divinity School, future church leaders pray together, take communion together, share classes and meals and conversation. Most are preparing for ordination as deacons or priests.

Yet despite their common goals, recent controversies in the Episcopal Church have complicated their sense of unity, particularly about the role of gay clergy and some dioceses' decision to bless same-sex marriages.

Director Jo Bailey Wells recalls a friendship between two students that highlights the conflict. Lauren Kilbourn and Andrew Rowell had sought each other out at AEHS, hoping to better understand each other's opinions. Kilbourn, a lesbian in a committed relationship, supports the ordination of gay clergy. Rowell adheres to conservative views of homosexuality. For a year they met weekly for coffee and prayer.

"Each of them at times during the year shared with me how much it meant to them and how much they respected the other," Wells said. "At the same time each of them during the year shared with me how completely painful it was and how they didn't want the other to see how much they cried in light of some of their conversations."

http://www.thedurhamnews.com/front/story/191601.html

Good Stuff In TEC: Texas

Youth group raises money for missions

Good Shepherd Episcopal Church’s Episcopal Youth Community raised $3,050 at their Feb. 15 Feast of St. Cocoa fundraiser for Holy Cross Anglican School in Belize, the site of their 2008 and 2009 mission trips. The youth group entertained about 200 people with songs, skits and instrumental pieces, and provided an array of homemade chocolate desserts in honor of “St. Cocoa.”

The following day, Director of Youth Ministries Nancy Schorr presented a check to Bishop Philip Wright, of Belize, to hand-deliver to the school in its third year of operation and directed by Anglican missionaries from the United States.

Twenty-two Senior EYC members, along with nine adults, traveled to Belize last summer to construct a library/computer lab for the school, which serves 512 of the poorest of the poor on the island of Ambergris Caye. They also took with them 1,500 pounds of children’s books and school supplies donated by the Good Shepherd congregation. The high school group will return to the school in June 2009.

Middle school students in Junior EYC will do Hurricane Ike home repair in Texas City for their 2009 mission trip.

In addition to games, fun get-togethers, topical discussions and Bible study, Good Shepherd’s youth groups maintain a steady schedule of outreach activities, from preparing breakfast for the street community at Lord of the Streets Episcopal Church in midtown Houston to collecting and delivering Christmas gifts to the International Seafarers’ Center at the Port of Houston.

http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2009/03/11/kingwood_observer/news/10stcocoa.txt

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Bishop's mansion for sale

Front page of Today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette-

If you want to buy the Gilded Age mansion in Oakland that has been the home of five Pittsburgh bishops, you'll need $2.5 million and enough extra cash to update a large kitchen and six bathrooms.

Sitting atop Morewood Heights on a street called Warwick Terrace, the Edwardian Tudor home was officially put up for sale two weeks ago by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Inside the massive wrought-iron gates at the main entrance, Bishop Donald Wuerl received President George W. Bush, and Cardinal Giovanni Montini, who later became Pope Paul VI, visited Cardinal John Dearden. After he was appointed bishop of Pittsburgh in 2007, David Zubik lived there for two weeks before moving to a two-room apartment at St. Paul's Seminary in Crafton. The house is for sale because Bishop Zubik did not wish to live there, said the Rev. Ron Lengwin, a diocesan spokesman.

"Each bishop has to decide how his lifestyle is going to influence ministry in the church," said the Rev. James Wehner, pastor of St. Thomas More Church in Bethel Park.

Father Wehner lived in the house from 1996 through 1998 and several summers afterward when he assisted Bishop Wuerl. He also wrote a history of the house and its valuable furnishings, all of which have been removed. He said church leaders had to ask themselves:

"Is there a real, practical use for that house that benefits the church? The conclusion was there really isn't."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09070/954621-30.stm

Leaders say economic uplift will come soul by soul

Holy jeremiad! The Archbishop of Canterbury and Pope Benedict XVI both unloaded this week on the human sinful side of the worldwide economic crisis.

Ruth Gledhill's Articles of Faith in The Times of London blog details recent comments by the leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, Archbishop Rowan Williams, on the "perils of greed and unbridled consumerism. The market became God, and even many clerics seemed beguiled by its apparent indefatigability. But now it has been shown to be a false God, literally fool's gold."

She summarizes Williams' conclusions:

Just as God keeps promises, "human beings need to to as well, including in their financial dealings.

Humanity, for all its God-created talents, must be more humbly aware of its limits -- "without resentment or fantasy."

The ideal human community looks to everyone's welfare.
What is good in God's eyes for human beings not something that is altered by differences in culture or income; we can't say that what is unwelcome or evil for us is tolerable for others.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/religion/post/2009/03/63899299/1

Archbishop of Canterbury to visit US General Convention

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams will travel to the United States in July and attend two days of the Episcopal Church’s General Convention in Anaheim, California.

A spokesman for Lambeth Palace told ReligiousIntelligence.com that Dr Williams will visit the US General Convention from July 7-9 before returning for the start of General Synod in York. The Episcopal News Service has reported that Dr Williams will participate in Bible Studies at the triennial meeting of the Church’s synod and will be a keynote speaker at a global economic forum on July 8.

This will be Dr Williams’ first visit to the US General Convention. However in 2007 he attended the New Orleans meeting of the US House of Bishops, garnering mixed reviews. While many bishops praised his efforts at stabilizing the communion, others on the left, Bishop M Thomas Shaw of Massachusetts, and the right, Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, expressed their disappointment with Dr Williams’ leadership.

On Sept 20, 2007 after addressing the American bishops in private sessions, Dr Williams heard concerns and complaints from some two dozen bishops. Anglo-Catholic Bishop Keith Ackerman of Quincy told Dr Williams that the changes of doctrine and discipline made over the past 20 years in the Episcopal Church no longer made it recognizably part of the catholic church.

http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=4075

Good Stuff in TEC: Kansas

Food bank, crisis center see growing need

The Graham Area Food Bank, in conjunction with the Crisis Center, has growing numbers of people in need of food. From mid-October, the number of citizens receiving food from the food bank has significantly increased every month. Since the numbers have escalated, the food bank now feeds approximately 800 people each month.

"This is the highest number of people we’ve ever had," said Don Oldfield, director of the Graham Area Food Bank. "The poverty level of Graham is currently at 17 percent, and that was during the census of 2000. That’s a pretty good chunk of the population. I’m estimating that the poverty level of this year’s census will increase to 20 percent."

The food bank purchases and brings in 3,000 to 3,500 pounds of food every week from the Wichita Falls Area Food Bank. By the end of the week, all of the food is used.
"The increase in food recipients is most likely due to people getting laid off," he said.
The food bank is open Tuesday and Thursday and is staffed by a different church each time. Contributions are also made from different organizations. Volunteers are always welcome and appreciated.

"Offerings are taken every Sunday at the church to contribute to the food bank’s surplus," said Gillie Sebastian of Holy Spirit Episcopal Church. "The food bank’s number of recipients are up and there are homeless people in Graham."

http://www.grahamleader.com/news/get-news.asp?id=15132&catid=1&cpg=get-news.asp

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NORTHERN MICHIGAN: Bishop-elect, election process scrutinized

The process used to elect a bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan and the bishop-elect's meditation practice have come under scrutiny as diocesan bishops and standing committees are being asked to consent to the election.

Blogs, emails, open letters and news articles -- including one in the London Times -- are taking issue with the fact that the Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester, Northern Michigan's bishop-elect, was the single candidate presented to a special diocesan convention and that he devoutly practices Zen Buddhist meditation.

Delegates on February 21 overwhelmingly elected Thew Forrester as bishop on the first ballot. The delegates also created what is being called an Episcopal Ministry Support Team of up to 10-12 people, including the bishop. Team members will share responsibility for oversight of the diocese.

Under the canons of the Episcopal Church (III.16.4 (a)), a majority of bishops exercising jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees must consent to Thew Forrester's ordination as bishop within 120 days of receiving notice of his election.

The Northern Michigan convention concluded more than a year of discernment based on the Mutual Ministry model in use in congregations in Northern Michigan for more than 20 years. Other dioceses, including Nevada, South Dakota and Wyoming among others, use the model.

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_105800_ENG_HTM.htm

Pastoral visitors plan ‘is too little, too late’

American Church leaders claimed this week that the Archbishop of Canterbury’s new group of Pastoral Visitors is ‘too little, too late’. As the number of lawsuits between the Episcopal Church (TEC) and breakaway conservative groups approaches 60, some say the initiative – intended to help repair the torn fabric of the Anglican Communion – lacks integrity.

The names of the bishops who will act as ‘mediators’ were announced this week by Lambeth Palace. The statement said that the bishops had attended a meeting at Virginia Theological Seminary in the USA from February 25 – 28. The purpose of the new group is to assist in healing the current tensions in the Anglican Communion by holding ‘face to face’ meetings with church leaders in both the new American provinces and TEC.

But the Rev Philip Ashey, Chief Operating Officer for the American Anglican Council, a grouping of conservative Anglicanism, was deeply concerned about Lambeth’s response. Speaking from Atlanta, Georgia, he said: “Every pastoral visitor programme suggested so far has admitted the participation of the parties who have been aggrieved, those people who have left TEC.”

He continued: “Still no contact has been made by any Pastoral Visitors so we have no reason to believe that a seminar they attended at Virginia Theological Seminary by the people who are, in part, the leadership of TEC, will make much difference.”

Ashey went on to say: “We have no confidence that the process is going anywhere.”

In addition he said that the timing proved troublesome as both Archbishops Venables and Orombi had hoped that the visitor process would have been completed before the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) meets in Jamaica this May; this now seems unlikely. Ashey said: “We are deeply concerned that the Pastoral Visitor scheme is too little, too late.”

http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=4069

Good Stuff in TEC: Mississippi

Group out to rebuild home in one week

When Marvin Miller lost his home to 13-feet of Hurricane Katrina's floodwater, he never thought he'd live to see it rebuilt.

A crew of 60 volunteers from various parts of the country was banging hammers Sunday, vowing to rebuild the Northrop Grumman retiree's Orange Grove home in less than a week.

"I'm overwhelmed that so many people I don't even know would want to assist me," Miller said.


This is the third speed build project the Lutheran Episcopal Services in Mississippi has organized since the 2005 storm ravaged Jackson County, leaving thousands in temporary government housing.

When the two-story, elevator accessible, home on Sam Road is finished Saturday, Miller will finally be able to move from his Mississippi Emergency Management Agency cottage.

"I'm thankful that they are willing to do this," said the disabled 67-year-old Miller, who has since left the property and will not return until the build is completed Saturday.

"I would not have had any way to complete my home without their assistance."

Carla Poole, case management director with the Lutheran Episcopal Services in Mississippi, has been working with Miller for more than a year, planning and developing financing for the project.

http://www.gulflive.com/news/mississippipress/news.ssf?/base/news/1236593708259870.xml&coll=5

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Americans becoming less religious, study shows

Several Stories on the same subject- LA Times

Americans are becoming less religious, increasingly turning away from many denominations that once served as their spiritual homes, according to a major national survey released Monday.

The percentage of people who do not claim a religious identity has nearly doubled since 1990, growing to 15% of Americans last year, researchers with the American Religious Identification Survey found.

Mainline Christian denominations, once bulwarks of the religious landscape, have suffered most from the drift.

Methodists, Lutherans and Episcopalians are among the denominations that have seen their ranks decline.

Although 86% of Americans identified as Christians in 1990, just 76% said the same last year, the result of onetime adherents rejecting organized religion, the survey con- cluded.

The broad falloff has occurred as some groups, including Catholics, have seen their overall numbers rise.

But despite growing by 11 million new members since 1990, Catholics now account for a smaller percentage of the U.S. population than they did then -- 25% compared with 26%.

The survey's principal investigator, sociologist Barry A. Kosmin of Trinity College in Connecticut, described the overall trend as an erosion of the "religious middle ground."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-me-religion10-2009mar10,0,2852705.story

London Telegraph-

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/damian_thompson/blog/2009/03/10/at_last_the_truth_about_america_its_becoming_less_religious

ABC News

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=7041036&page=1

AFP-

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i9oUKRzJYBlPk0hhLOMaxzxw9_SA

Clerics vie to make history

It's a long shot, but it might happen.

Two Anglican women priests from Windsor are vying to become the first female bishop for the Huron diocese. They are among 10 candidates who are in the running. Four are women.

Rev. Kimberly Van Allen of All Saints' Anglican Church downtown and Rev. Jane Humphreys of St. Mary's in old Walkerville were nominated, and have agreed to run.

Both, however, maintain if they are unsuccessful, they are "quite content" to remain serving their own parishes. The reason is there's more than enough work for them in this city dealing with a population that has been hit hard by sudden plant closings and thousands of job losses.
"These are tough times," said Van Allen, who believes more than ever the church must step forward to aid families broken and hurt by the severe economic downturn.

"We have to respond, because downtown where I am, every day we see people looking for help and we have to respect them and listen to their needs," she said.

http://www2.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=ede82262-c8ac-4c98-9aa3-67f421c3185e

The 'emergent church' – growing but hard to define

New ways of "being church" that developed in the past couple of decades are gathered under the term "emergent church."
It's also called a conversation, a movement, a phenomenon – and defining it is "like chasing mercury around a chemistry lab table," said Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why.

Although their emphasis on Scripture, the sacraments and their relationship to the established church vary widely, emergent churches are linked by their dedication to worship and ministry in the context of their location.

"A community in rural Iowa is going to be very different from the ones I've been involved with in Manhattan and Harlem because the places attract people with different stories and sensibilities in different environments," said Bowie Snodgrass, co-founder of New York's Faith House, described on its website as "an interdependent community." She recalled an Easter evening when more than 200 people attended a worship service honoring Mary Magdalene in a Manhattan club. She and a musician friend had developed the service with sex workers and artists who lived and worked in the neighborhood.

http://www.episcopal-life.org/79901_105727_ENG_HTM.htm

Thieves Steal Hope from Detroit Congregation

For a number of years, the leaders of St. Philip and St. Stephen’s Church on Detroit’s east-side sought to match its limited resources with the ministry needs of the church’s immediate neighborhood. Members attended church-growth seminars and tried to apply the urban ministry strategies they were taught in the hope that the struggling inner-city church would rebound one day.

Finances for the dozen or so faithful members of the church have been precarious for a number of years, according to The Record, the Diocese of Michigan’s newspaper, but even a $3,000 heating and utility bill in January could not destroy the confidence of the congregation. All that changed in mid-February, when what remained of the congregation’s hope and confidence was stolen along with virtually everything else not nailed down. The congregation voted soon after to close.

Thieves stole office equipment and cleaned out the church’s supply of emergency food, diapers and infant formula.

“They took everything that could be sold,” said Jane Johnson, a member for 22 years and one of the organizer’s of Trudy’s LovingCenter, a safe haven and resource for neighborhood families and at-risk mothers which opened in 2005. Last fall the center added an after-school program attended by 19 neighborhood children. In an interview with a reporter for The Record, Ms. Johnson said that the break- in was the final straw.

“[It] said to me, ‘We’ll never be protected’. It would cost $2,400 for bars on the windows, but this time, they crow-barred the door,” she said.

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/3/9/thieves-steal-hope-from-detroit-congregation

Good Stuff In TEC: Western Louisiana

Time for Joy is "the place to be"

The Episcopal Church Women will sponsor their annual spring retreat, a Time for Joy, on April 24-26, 2009 at Camp Hardtner. The Joy weekend is for young women and promises to be fun, relaxing and an event even better than the one before. It's an awesome weekend, and the staff focus and work hard to make it a very special weekend for each guest.

Time For Joy was conceived by Bishop Hargrove several years ago as a time for young women to be away from the demands of work and family and a time to renew or revive their relationship with Jesus Christ. Bishop MacPherson is an important part of the weekend, and he and Susan MacPherson allocate quality time to the young women in attendance. He's a lot of fun, and it's interesting to get to know the Bishop and Susan, on a personal level in an informal and relaxed setting.

The central concept of the Time For Joy (Jesus, Others, Yourself) weekend centers on providing young women with a time to get away from the pressures of an over-busy life. Once at Camp Hardtner, the message of taking time for oneself and making time for a relationship with God is emphasized.

The weekend is joyful and carefree, with the message that life is our gift from God and that He meant for us to enjoy it! It is a "stop and smell the roses" type of weekend. There are fun activities that have no message, but equally important are the activities that stress the importance of slowing down and enjoying life, and sharing a personal relation with God.

http://www.diocesewla.org/Time%20for%20Joy%202009.htm

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Media CEO creates London bus signs affirming God

The head of a London-based Russian television station plans to counter a recent atheist poster campaign on London buses by funding even larger placards proclaiming the existence of God.

Public transport is becoming a popular vehicle worldwide for the devout faithful and atheists to proclaim their beliefs. Nonbelievers are seeking to proclaim their atheism on Toronto buses, but in Zurich a similar effort was blocked due to local transit regulations.

"People like me are naturally guarded when they see atheist [movements] like this, since we know what atheism did to Russia, almost destroying our country's essence," Alexander Korobko, director of the Russian Hour satellite channel, said in an interview.

The 38-year-old entrepreneur was speaking during preparations for the March 1 launch of the London campaign promoting God. These follow the January campaign by atheist Richard Dawkins and the British Humanist Association, which featured placards with the slogan, "There's probably no God: Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

Said Korobko: "When I saw the atheist campaign, it obviously surprised me— not because it was atheist, but because it was completely illogical." As he put it, "To presume or imply you can only enjoy life and stop worrying if you don't believe in God is an oxymoron. In reality, people who believe in God tend to worry less and be far more optimistic."

http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=6534

Attendance and Giving for TEC

More people say they have no religion

A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting out of the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more people said they have no religion at all.

Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.

Northern New England surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the least religious region, with Vermont reporting the highest share of those claiming no religion, at 34 percent. Still, the study found that the numbers of Americans with no religion rose in every state.

"No other religious bloc has kept such a pace in every state," the study's authors said.

In the Northeast, self-identified Catholics made up 36 percent of adults last year, down from 43 percent in 1990. At the same time, however, Catholics grew to about one-third of the adult population in California and

Texas, and one-quarter of Floridians, largely due to Latino immigration, according to the research.

Nationally, Catholics remain the largest religious group, with 57 million people saying they belong to the church. The tradition gained 11 million followers since 1990, but its share of the population fell by about a percentage point to 25 percent.

Christians who aren't Catholic also are a declining segment of the country.

http://www.charleston.net/news/2009/mar/09/more_people_say_they_have_no_religion74359/

Sudan Primate calls on UK and US to step up fight against LRA

The Primate of the Sudan, Archbishop Daniel Deng of Juba (pictured), has called upon Britain and the United States to intervene in the conflict in East Africa and end the depredations of the Lord’s Resistance Army.

Speaking to the BBC last week, Archbishop Deng said the governments of South Sudan, Uganda, the Congo and the Central African Republic appeared unable to end the 20-year reign of terror of the LRA. International support from the West was needed to capture LRA leader Joseph Kony and “bring him to book.”

On Dec 14 elements of the Ugandan, Congolese and South Sudan armies, supported by Ugandan jet aircraft, launched operation ‘Lightning Thunder’, attacking LRA base camps in the Garamba forest of the Bas Uélé district of the Congo. The strikes came after Kony failed to appear at a Nov 29 meeting to sign a final peace agreement.

The US Army’s African Command seconded 17 military advisers to the Ugandan People’s Defence Force for ‘Lightning Thunder’ according to a report in the New York Times, and also provided equipment, satellite intelligence and the jet fuel for the Ugandan air force. Last month Israel’s Ambassador Jacob Keidar told the Kampala Monitor that his government also would offer military or intelligence support to defeat the LRA.

Pledges of unity follow Northern Ireland attack

Catholic and Protestant congregations in Antrim walked at midday from their churches to the scene of the killing.

Ministers from the Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches took turns praying for the dead and wounded, for the IRA dissidents to give up, and for their leaders to stay on a path to reconciliation. The crowd reached several hundred.

In Washington, a spokesman for Obama condemned the attack. "Those who perpetrated these cowardly acts do not represent the will of the people of Northern Ireland, who have chosen a path of peace and reconciliation," said Mike Hammer, spokesman for the National Security Council.

On Saturday night, scores of Corps of Royal Engineers soldiers based at Massereene ordered pizzas - a final meal before boarding a flight to Afghanistan for a six-month tour. The four soldiers were already wearing their desert camouflage fatigues when they met the two delivery men.

Police Chief Superintendent Derek Williamson said all six were believed wounded during the initial volley of bullets, then the gunmen got out of their vehicle and shot their victims again as they lay on the ground.

Williamson said the two fatal victims were royal engineers in their early 20s but did not give their names. Their unit departed yesterday for Afghanistan after giving statements to police.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2009/03/09/pledges_of_unity_follow_northern_ireland_attack/

Good Stuff in TEC: South Carolina

Habitat completes 73rd Aiken home

Shameco Butler had cut the ribbon to her new Habitat for Humanity home Sunday.

She had formally received the keys to the residence in the Kennedy Kolony area of Aiken and had accepted a Bible as a gift.

It was her turn to speak to a cheering crowd of family, friends and volunteers, but Butler was immediately overcome by tears. She could only express her gratitude to Habitat, the sponsoring Aiken Board of Realtors, the Realtor Habitat Committee chair, Lyvia May, Kay and Joe Buggy and St. Thaddeus Episcopal Church.

A few minutes later, Butler would describe how she had become so worried about the neighborhood where she had once lived with her three young children - Dystiny Lawrence, 9, Dashawna Hicks, 8, and Shawn Hicks, 6. She moved in with family members and dreamed about her own home. She applied for Habitat and was accepted.

"Everyone made me feel so comfortable," Butler said. "They had such confidence in me and were so dedicated to help me build my house. It's just a blessing."

Ron Pope, the 2008 Realtors Board president, had approached May in 2008 about sponsoring a Habitat home. In tough economic times and a difficult market, May responded, "Are you crazy?," but she also said yes.

May acknowledged she was consumed primarily at first by raising the funds and actually building the home. But even before the sponsors came through and the house began to take shape, something else happened to May.

http://www.aikenstandard.com/Local/0309-habitat-dedication

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Good Stuff In TEC: New York

During a recession, Westchester County presents exceptionally sharp contrasts

In the months since the economy began to tumble, Pepi Powell has heard people apologize for taking the free bread, coffee, tea and other staples spread out on the tables at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Ossining.

They are not used to relying on charity, but they can no longer afford everything they need.

"They may even own their own homes," she said. "People are losing jobs, so they are unable to pay their rent or meet their mortgage."

Powell is among the volunteers at the Ossining Food Pantry. They arrive at the church on South Highland Avenue every Thursday night and Friday morning to distribute food among the people waiting for the doors to open.

Aileen Hunt helped to found the pantry in 1987 with a grant of about $8,000 from the Episcopal Diocese of New York. It quickly outgrew the four participating churches, she said, and today the budget for the nonprofit organization is about $300,000.

http://lohud.com/article/20090309/NEWS02/903090339/-1/newsfront

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Faith: U.S. Episcopal Church leader will visit Peoria

The presiding bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church is scheduled to visit Peoria next month.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori will open a special meeting of the Synod of the Diocese of Quincy, to be held April 4 at St. Paul's Cathedral. This will be the first time an Episcopal presiding bishop has visited the diocese, according to a diocese news release.

Schori called for the special meeting to elect new diocesan leadership.

Leaders of the diocese had voted late last year to leave the U.S. Episcopal Church and join the more conservative, Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. The U.S. church no longer recognizes the authority of the Quincy diocese's former leadership.

Schori also will preside over Palm Sunday services April 5 at All Saints Church in Moline. The church was formed last month by parishioners who didn't want to join the Southern Cone province.

http://www.pjstar.com/features/x1599167298/Faith-U-S-Episcopal-Church-leader-will-visit-Peoria

Signs, signs everywhere signs #10

I wouldn't even hazard a guess !

Clergyman defends his Zen Buddhist practices

An Anglican clergyman elected as a bishop has defended his right to use the practices of Zen Buddhism to deepen his Christian faith.

Conservatives in The Episcopal Church of the US are demanding that Rev Kevin Thew Forrester, a priest in the diocese of Northern Michigan, be barred from the episcopate because he received a "lay ordination" from a Buddhist group.

For his election to be ratified, Dr Forrester will need the consent of a majority of bishops in The Episcopal Church as well as of diocesan standing committees.

Conservatives in the US, who have so far failed to unseat the openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, have already begun an internet lobbying campaign in an attempt to undermine support for Dr Forrester by claiming he is a fully-fledged Buddhist.

They are also citing two other recent cases. In 2004, the Rev Bill Melnyk was inhibited by the Bishop of Pennsylvania for proclaiming that he was a practicing Druid as well as an Episcopal priest. In 2007, the Rev Ann Holmes-Redding was inhibited by the Bishop of Rhode Island being a practising Muslim as well a priest.

But in an interview with The Times, Dr Forrester said he was neither a Buddhist nor a Bhuddist priest and that he used Zen meditation simply to deepen his relationship with Christ. It was also a means to deepen understanding of the mystery of suffering, he explained.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5869562.ece

A bishop and his campaign for the poor

Dinners in the Johnson household have always been noisy affairs, full of debates about God or curfew time for the kids.

But they begin in silence. Complete silence.

"My wife is a Quaker," explains Toronto Anglican Bishop Colin Johnson of his spouse, Ellen.

"She was, and still is, an active member of the Society of Friends."

Like Anglicanism, the Society of Friends – as Quakers are officially known – is a product of the Reformation, but it took the message of developing a personal relationship with the faith many steps further. It stresses silence over ceremony, and inner reflection over pomp and circumstance.

Learning to accommodate his wife's beliefs goes back to when Johnson and Ellen Smith first met as students at the University of Western Ontario. For a young man newly committed to his Christianity but tempted from the United Church of his youth by the "beauty" he saw in Anglican tradition, it was a difficult time of reflection. Further complicating things was the love blooming with Ellen.

They met in their first week of classes while lining up to audition for the choir. After dating off and on for two years, the two got engaged. But then they called things off because of their religious differences.

"We like to say now that we had our divorce before we got married," laughs Johnson, who has three grown children with his wife. The couple will celebrate their 22nd wedding anniversary in July.

http://www.thestar.com/News/Insight/article/598444

Why has everyone gone la la for Lent?

From The London Times-

I can still visualise the battered blue biscuit tin we used for our lenten stash of confectionery. As children, my younger sister and I always gave up sweets for Lent, but we saw no need to forgo our evening visit to the Tally — Italian ice cream van — that chimed into our street every night at seven on the dot.

We simply bought our 1970s confectionery as usual and put it in the tin until Easter. By then, of course, the assorted Curly Wurlies and Milky Ways had taken on a strange white bloom and couldn’t really compete with the influx of chocolate eggs from parents and aunties.

It all rather defeated the purpose somewhat. Despite being brought up as devout Catholics, we missed out on the days of true fasting and sacrifice endured by earlier, more observant generations.

We ate fish on a Friday, but it was something of a treat because it came with chips. In past centuries, especially before the Reformation, Lent was legally enforceable and truly penitent. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition it remains proscriptive to this day: no eggs, dairy products, oils, wine or sex until the Easter bunny arrives.

But the really interesting thing about Lent, which is now into its second week, is its increasing popularity in our secular world. When I was a child, it didn’t seem much of a thing among non-Catholic friends. Now, the Protestant denominations pay it much more attention as do millions of non-believers. Of course that’s no different from other dates in the Christian calendar. But while the attractions of Christmas and Easter to agnostics and atheists are self-evident — eat, drink, party, then eat a bit more — Lent’s appeal is considerably more austere. That hasn’t stopped it being embraced by people who haven’t set foot in church since the last wedding they attended and for whom Good Friday marks nothing more than the arrival of hot cross buns.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/article5863882.ece

Good Stuff In TEC: Ohio

Toledo church offers place for Lenten journey

At St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Toledo, the Lenten journey is not just a spiritual experience but a physical one as well.

Visitors to the stately Old West End church can walk through a miniature desert set up in the back of the sanctuary for the 40 days of Lent, a season that began with Ash Wednesday on Feb. 25 and concludes on Easter Sunday, April 12.

"Jesus wandered in the desert for 40 days before entering public ministry, and the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years because they didn't learn what they needed to learn," said the Rev. Kelly O'Connell, rector.

The symbolic desert, made of sand in a makeshift container with curved edges mindful of wavy dunes, is designed to engage visitors with thoughts of biblical deserts and spiritual quests.
"Jesus was tempted in the desert. It's a place where he needed to find that strength. For us, the desert is a visceral image - stark and barren, even forbidding," Ms. O'Connell said.

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090307/NEWS10/903070339/-1/OPINION02

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