Andy Burnham: 'Churches should be turned into gyms'

Or they might want to try evangelism !

Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary, has suggested churches with low attendance could be turned into gyms, restaurants and multi-faith centres.

Mr Burnham said while it was important to preserve the architectural beauty of some of the churches, many of which have listed status, they may serve the community better by becoming secular.

His comments follow his suggestion earlier this month that libraries could benefit from being modernised with coffee bars and abolishing the silence rule.

Mr Burnham said if the UK could not preserve its churches: "We need to find new purposes with the support of the local community and we need to increase secular interest in our church heritage."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/3291865/Andy-Burnham-Churches-should-be-turned-into-gyms.html

Estelle Reiner dies at 94

Estelle Reiner, 94, the comedy matriarch who uttered the famous line "I'll have what she's having" in the movie "When Harry Met Sally," died Oct. 25 at her home in Beverly Hills, Calif. No cause of death was reported.

Mrs. Reiner was the wife of actor-director Carl Reiner and the mother of actor-director Rob Reiner, who helmed "When Harry Met Sally" (1989).

In the film, Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal are sitting in a restaurant arguing over whether women can realistically fake orgasms when Ryan demonstrates that they can.

After Ryan's vocal display, Mrs. Reiner, seated at another table, quickly says, "I'll have what she's having."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/30/AR2008103004387.html

Many mission venues

The Presiding Bishop reflects on Mission and Slavery. Looks like she got a new hat.

I had just left the subway on my way back to the office in New York when a young man stopped me on the sidewalk. His name is Jesse Zink, and he turned out to be a YASC volunteer, soon to be on his way back to South Africa. YASC, Young Adult Service Corps, sent him to Mthatha (em-ta'-ta), where, he told me, learning to "be" rather than "do" is the hardest part. He actually lives and works at the Itipini medical clinic with HIV-infected children, particularly in the after-school programs offered there. Read more about his being (and doing) at http://mthathamission.blogspot.com.

YASC is an example of mission in this church. It sends adults under age 30 to work for a year in some part of the Anglican Communion beyond this church. It engages the passion many young people have for service to others, while at the same time inviting them into vocational discernment. Go to www.episcopalchurch.org/agr.htm and click on Young Adult Service Corps under Offering Our Gifts to learn more.

Mission takes many forms, from working with sick children to engaging the (Lutheran) Church of Sweden in conversation about the possibility of greater partnership and even full communion.

http://by102w.bay102.mail.live.com/mail/SendMessageLight.aspx?_ec=1&n='738315000'

Better late than never ?

News of Pittsburgh's convention decision finally reaches Canada. Oh Canada !

Both those who supported realignment and those who opposed it outlined plans before the convention was adjourned to deal with the implications of the vote.

“We understand that one member of the standing committee remains, and once he determines that he is indeed the sole remaining member, he will appoint others to join in the leadership of the diocese of Pittsburgh, in accordance with diocesan canons.”

Presiding (national) Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said, “As the ecclesiastical authority, the standing committee will set a schedule for the reconvening of the convention, electing members to fill offices, and eventually calling a bishop to serve in Pittsburgh.”

She said her office would “provide support and counsel to Pittsburgh, in service to the leadership of the ecclesiastical authority.”

That person, Rev. James Simons, rector of St. Michael’s of the Valley in Ligonier and chair of Across the Aisle, said after the votes that he would attempt to determine very soon the status of other standing committee members and then make the appointments Bishop Jefferts Schori described. He predicted a convention to elect an interim bishop would be held before the end of the year.

http://www.anglicanjournal.com/issues/2008/134/nov/09/article/diocese-of-pittsburgh-leaves-episcopal-church-realigns-with-southern-cone/

Good Stuff in TEC: Florida

We hear so much about the decline in the Episcopal Church but there are places where the church is growing. This from Florida.

About 400 Christ Episcopal Church parishioners gathered in their new Parish Hall Wednesday night in Ponte Vedra Beach to celebrate the realization of an eight-year dream.

They also welcomed a special guest from New York City who led them.

"Let the doors be opened," said The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, national presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, as the consecration service began.

The Rev. Samuel Howard, bishop of the Diocese of Florida, also joined the Christ Church clergy for the service, which included prayers, hymns, a dance performance by the church's liturgical dancers and a sermon by Schori.

"This is the culmination of what has been a long road," said Rector Richard Westbury, acknowledging former Rector Jim Cooper, who had proposed the new parish hall when membership outgrew the old center on the campus at 400 San Juan Drive.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/110108/nes_350124105.shtml

Bishop Bakare wins Swedish human rights prize

Bishop Bakare from Zimbabwe was named winner of a Swedish human rights prize for "having given voice to the fight against oppression." Bishop Sebastian Bakare was also cited for his work to promote "freedom of speech and of opinion in a difficult political situation." He was due to accept the 2008 Per Anger prize at a ceremony in Stockholm on November 10, said Johan Perwe of the government agency Living History Forum.

Bishop Bakare, installed as bishop of Harare earlier this year, was also due to be keynote speaker at a human rights conference in Lulea, northern Sweden. The agency said Bishop Bakare was an "important voice" who has "received threats as a result of his open and clear criticism of the government, his condemnation of local police brutality and his defence of human rights" in Zimbabwe.

http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/news.cfm/2008/10/31/ACNS4538

Million-plus expected for Phillies parade

The celebration continues for the Phillie's fans. For you soccer fans out there, the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series this week. Does anyone know what the mascot (Phillie Fanatic) is?

It's OK to say the word now.
Parade!

And, oh, how we've waited for this one.

The only other time the Phillies won a World Series, in 1980, fans threw boxloads of computer punch cards and shredded paper from office windows onto Broad Street.

Today, you're more likely to see water-soluble, eco-friendly confetti flying around.

Police expect more than a million people to converge on Center City to watch the Phillies take their noontime victory ride on flatbed trucks from 20th and Market Streets, around City Hall, and down Broad Street to Citizens Bank Park.

An hour-long rally at the ballpark, expected to begin at 1:45 p.m., will be telecast live to fans across the street at Lincoln Financial Field. Gates at both stadiums will open at 10 a.m., but only fans with tickets will be allowed in. The free tickets were snapped up within an hour of becoming available on the Phillies' Web site yesterday.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_left_story/20081031_Million-plus_expected_for_Phillies_parade.html

Hearing the Chief Rabbi speak recently, I found myself wishing my own church had someone like him at the top

From the Guardian-

I am an Anglican. (Have you noticed, incidentally, how members of the Church of England refer to themselves with that specific term rather than as "a Christian" – too preachy, too smug – or "a Protestant" – too tub thumping. Enoch Powell described himself as an Anglican but refused to describe himself as a Christian saying "that was for others to judge".)

Despite being an Anglican I don't regard believing in God as an easy or straightforward matter. Believing in miracles is challenging. Even when they are well-documented, for instance the resurrection of Christ, for which there were hundred of witnesses. I'm not sure that I find much help from Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, in nurturing my faith.

But what really brought home to me the deficiencies of Williams was nothing he did, but a talk I went along to hear recently by the Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks, hosted by the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust. Previously I had only heard him over the airwaves while sitting in the bath when he came up in the rota to do Thought for the Day. Hearing him give a full lecture was an altogether different matter. He's a tremendously powerful orator whose authority came not from trickery but clear thinking.

The rest is here-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2008/oct/30/judaism-anglicanism-rabbi-jonathan-sacks

Lemming Pledge #7

Gay-blessing apology

More from the Church Times (England)

THE RECTOR of St Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield, the Revd Dr Martin Dudley, has issued a statement of apology to the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Richard Chartres, for conducting the blessing of a gay relationship at the church on 31 May. He confessed that it was “inconsistent” with the pastoral guide lines issued by the Bishops in 2005.

He does, however, declare that he is “profoundly uneasy” with much of the content of the Bishops’ statement, “which anecdotal evidence suggests is being widely, though discreetly, dis regarded in this Diocese [London] and elsewhere”. It is open to differing interpretations, he says.

The high-profile service followed the civil-partnership ceremony be tween the Revd Peter Cowell and the Revd Dr John Lord, and was attended by 300 people. It used a liturgy closely modelled on the 1662 Book of Common Prayer marriage service.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York reprimanded Dr Dudley in a joint statement soon afterwards, which said that clerics who disagreed with the Church’s teaching were “not at liberty simply to disregard it”. Bishop Chartres also warned Dr Dudley: “St Bartholomew’s is not a personal fiefdom”

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=65642

Bishops’ approval of Covenant hangs in the balance

From the Church Times (England)

THE RESPONSES of the bishops at the Lambeth Conference to the Anglican Covenant were made public last week by the Covenant Design Group. More than half the bishops said they believed that the current draft hit the right balance between interdependence and centralisation in the Anglican Communion.

A Lambeth Commentary on the Saint Andrew’s Draft for an Anglican Communion runs to 33 pages, and was compiled by the Covenant Design Group at its meeting in Singapore in September. It gathers up the views of the bishops who attended Lambeth, and sets out the group’s brief reaction to them. The group has circulated it to all the provinces of the Communion, in order “to assist in their discernment and response” to the Covenant. They have until 9 March to respond.

Provinces are being asked whether they can “in principle” commit themselves to the Covenant process. The Design Group is seeking to find out what this would involve for the provinces, and whether they require significant changes to be made to the draft to help it through their syn odical processes.

More here-

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=65589

Good Stuff in TEC: Louisiana

Instruments and cameras for guns

NEW ORLEANS -- "Horns for Guns," which trades musical instruments or cameras for weapons, will be held in two New Orleans locations on Saturday.

The gun exchange will be staged from 2-5 p.m. at Central City Progressive Baptist Church, and at the Treme Community Center.

Organizers say they'll take the guns with no questions asked.

Those turning in guns will be offered free music and photography lessons through the Roots of Music and Gulf South Photography organizations.

Derrick Tabb of the Rebirth Brass Band says that New Orleans has to put something other than a gun in the hands of kids to protect the city's uniqueness.

Sponsors of the event include the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana, New Orleans Police Department, Recovery School District and various musicians.

http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=9271098

More on Bishop Ackerman

Episcopal News Service story on Keith Ackerman

Shortly before members of the Diocese of Quincy's governing synod are expected to consider voting to leave the Episcopal Church, diocesan Bishop Keith Ackerman announced his retirement, effective November 1.
The announcement was made October 29 in a news release from the standing committee of the diocese, the governing body that has been serving as the ecclesiastical authority since early August when Ackerman began a sabbatical. The sabbatical was to conclude November 1.

"Bishop Ackerman has reached this decision after much thought and prayer. The bishop and his wife, Jo, conferred with his physicians, many trusted friends and the standing committee before making this decision," the release said.

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_102055_ENG_HTM.htm

Good Stuff in TEC: Virginia

A small blurb in the Washington Post

St. Peter's Episcopal Church is offering a course that provides a step-by-step method for Christians to identify their spiritual gifts. The class will meet from 9:30 to 10:15 a.m. on Sundays for four weeks, starting this Sunday. Enrollment is free, and a handbook is available for $12 at the first class. 37018 Glendale St., Purcellville. Register in advance by calling 540-338-7307 or e-mailing office@stpetes.net. The Web site is http://www.stpetes.net.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/28/AR2008102803813.html

Bishop Ackerman to Resign Saturday

From The Living Church- Keith is a good friend and he will be in our prayers.

The Rt. Rev. Keith L. Ackerman, Bishop of Quincy since 1994, has informed the diocesan standing committee of his intention to resign effective Nov. 1, one week before the annual synod votes for a second and final time to leave The Episcopal Church and realign with another Anglican province.

The timing of his resignation announcement comes after much thought and prayer, as well as consultation with his physicians, family and friends, according to the Rev. John Spencer, diocesan media officer and vicar of St. Francis’ Church, Dunlap, Ill. Fr. Spencer said Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was sent news of Bishop Ackerman’s resignation plans this morning.

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2008/10/30/bishop-ackerman-to-resign-saturday

600 say farewell to officer

In the same church where Paul Book and his wife exchanged wedding vows just months ago, the 21-year-old apprentice San Angelo police officer was paid last respects Wednesday morning by nearly 600 people.

Friends and family packed into Emmanuel Episcopal Church, and more filled a separate overflow room. Lines of people in blue uniforms stood guard along the walls of the church and outside.

When Book was in the San Angelo Police Academy, he would come home and talk for hours about his day at the academy, said Chandice Book, 21, Paul's wife, during an interview after his death.

http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2008/oct/30/600-say-farewell-to-officer/

World Series: Phils Win

It took three days to complete nine innings of baseball after the rain suspended Game 5, but in the end, it was all worth it, because the Phillies defeated the Rays in five games to win the 2008 World Series. Pedro Feliz delivered the go-ahead run in the seventh that sealed the clincher.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2008_10_27_tbamlb_phimlb_1

INDIA: Religious leaders renew calls for end to Orissa violence

Attacks by Hindu extremists on minority Christians in the Orissa district of eastern India have entered their third month, amid renewed calls from religious leaders for an end to the cycle of violence that has claimed around 60 lives, left more than 18,000 injured and rendered 50,000 homeless.

"As followers of the One who taught 'blessed are the peacemakers,' Anglicans around the world decry the violence in Orissa and reiterate our passionate commitment to religious freedom and tolerance and to the principle that no one in this world should be persecuted because of their faith," Bishop C. Christopher Epting, the Presiding Bishop's deputy for ecumenical and interfaith relations, told ENS October 29.

Pope Benedict XVI, addressing pilgrims gathered October 26 in St. Peter's Square, Vatican City, called on political and religious leaders to help end such acts of "cruel violence" against minority Christians in some parts of the world, especially in Iraq and India.

http://www.episcopal-life.org/81808_102039_ENG_HTM.htm

The economy and pledging to the church

A general overview abut how the current crisis in the economy is affecting giving.

However, many churches rely on income from investments for their financial health and are already slashing their 2009 budgets.

Kurt Barnes, treasurer of the 2.2 million-member Episcopal Church, said the value of the denomination's endowment funds, which cover 5 percent of the annual budget, have declined by 30 percent this year. Some staff at Episcopal headquarters in New York offered to take a pay freeze, but church administrators declined, saying it wouldn't be fair to the employees.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i84i8b7x-3G6rr7A8TilALhbaKxgD944AA9O0

Lemming Pledge #6

All the Lemming postings can be found by typing "Lemming" into the blog's search engine.

Childish behavior

An interesting piece on being powerful or being a child from the Christian Century.

In heaven we can ask Paul himself, but in the meantime I'm rooting for nepioi, infants. Gentle does not fit the prickly, irascible Paul very well, although in one of his fits of braggadocio he might have fudged a little. Paul was more infantlike, and I don't mean that in any warm, fuzzy way. Martin Luther spoke the truth when in 1538 he looked at his family of six children, ages four to 12, and remarked, "Christ said we must become as little children to enter the kingdom. Dear God, this is too much. Must we become such idiots?" I seem to remember incessant screaming at ungodly hours, being thrown up upon, never getting anything done and staggering wearily through the day with a soiled spot on the shoulder of my jacket.

Never forgetting Paul's total lack of modesty, we set out to live differently. John Chrysostom instructed his congregation on how to win over unbelievers: "Let us astound them by our way of life. This is the unanswerable argument. Though we give 10,000 precepts in words, if we do not exhibit a far better life, we gain nothing. It is not what is said that draws their attention, but what we do. Let us win them therefore by our life." You'll miss a few parties; you won't get invited certain places. Most adults on the prowl for a quiet evening prefer peace and quiet and therefore will not get near the baby. It's OK. In The Lord of the Rings, the wise wizard Gandalf tells the hobbits, "Let folly be our cloak." Folly worked pretty well for Jesus, Paul, St. Francis and a holy host of others . . . or we might say it didn't "work well," but was faithful and strangely powerful in an infant, toddling kind of way.

http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=1392

Church should help poor, not blame rich

From the London Telegraph. (Take that House of Bishops)

We don’t notice the House of Bishops condemning the money-makers when there’s a cathedral roof to be repaired or an Anglican conference to be subsidised. More broadly, these pious primates don’t object to there being plenty in the public purse for overseas development, healthcare and social provision, all of which naturally benefit from prosperous markets.

The trouble with some of today’s bishops is that they are steeped in the immature student politics of class warfare of the Sixties and Seventies. They have none of the grand vision of a social gospel that informed Archbishops Charles Gore and William Temple in the economic deprivations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/10/28/dl2804.xml

Good Stuff in TEC: Idaho

Project finds homes for homeless

For the chronically homeless, the life change is sudden and profound.

"Today, God has seen fit to bless you," James Hamilton's counselor told him last month on a day that Hamilton began in a fusty bunk bed in a Washington homeless shelter.

By nightfall, Hamilton's permanent home was a quiet one-bedroom apartment in an iffy neighborhood in Southeast Washington, for which the city pays a HUD-subsidized $900 a month plus utilities.

It's furnished with a new $1,200 furniture set, including a green plush sofa, bureau and end tables. It also comes with a new oak kitchen table and chairs, a bed, linens and a $300 Target gift certificate for incidentals.

Hamilton, a lean and chatty 51-year-old, hawks newspapers at a Washington subway station from 6 until 10 each morning. In the afternoons, he helps a clothing distributor make deliveries to fancy retailers.

In between, Hamilton spends a lot of time at Grace Episcopal Church in Georgetown, his spiritual home. With its help, he's now enrolled in an educational lay-ministry course at Wesley College Seminary in Washington. He types his papers at a nearby public library.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/102/story/551716.html

You can see all of the good stuff posts by typing good stuff into the blog's search engine.

Good Stuff in TEC: New Jersey

Lunch program sees rise in meals served

"Everyone is welcome" to come in for a meal, Rosenthal said.

According to Rosenthal, the program served 23,200 people and 34,908 meals from January through December 2007. He said he is already seeing an increase in the number of meals being served this fall and expects that number to rise as the economy continues to struggle.

The program has also distributed 1,100 Bibles in English and Spanish, hats, gloves, scarves, jackets, T-shirts, socks and toiletries.

The Open Door hot lunch program is one of the largest soup kitchens in Monmouth and Ocean counties, according to Rosenthal. As more people stop by for a meal, the program's costs have risen.

More Here-

http://newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2008/1029/front_page/012.html

You can see all of the good stuff posts by typing good stuff into the blog's search engine.

World Series Game 5 to be played Wednesday

Game 5 of the 2008 World Series will not resume Tuesday due to inclement weather, Major League Baseball announced. Game 5 is now tentatively scheduled to resume on Wednesday evening at 8:37 p.m. ET, weather permitting.

In a statement, Commissioner Bud Selig said: "While obviously we want to finish Game Five as soon as possible, the forecast for today does not allow for us to continue the game this evening.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081028&content_id=3650918&vkey=ps2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Valley's split Episcopal dioceses hold separate conventions

Report from San Joaquin on the two conventions this past weekend.

They weren't together this year. They were separated in different towns -- 33 miles apart.

For the first time in 49 years, two conventions were held for delegates who previously met at one convention under the governing body of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, based in Fresno.

At the 2007 convention, the last time delegates were together, they seceded from the U.S. Episcopal Church over differences with the national body's approval of same-sex blessings, ordination of a gay bishop, the role of women in the church and the authority of Scripture.

The result was a breakaway diocese now aligned with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A remaining diocese made up of congregations that didn't want to split is still connected to the U.S. Episcopal Church.

This weekend, they had their first conventions apart. Delegates from the 37 congregations aligned with the Anglican province met Friday and Saturday at St. James' Cathedral in Fresno. Delegates from the 17 congregations remaining with the Episcopal Church will end their three-day convention today at Church of the Saviour in Hanford.

http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/517459.html

El Paso Church chooses to leave TEC Bill Frey says property stays in the diocese

Bill Frey who is currently the Bishop of Rio Grande was the Dean of Trinity Seminary and is very much a conservative. Looks like there might be a fight in Rio Grande as well.

EL PASO - St. Francis-on-the-Hill in West El Paso has elected to leave the Episcopal Church, according to an announcement by the Very Rev. Mark Goodman of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande in Albuquerque.

The vestry of St. Francis-on-the-Hill in El Paso voted Oct. 21 to leave the Episcopal Church, with a majority in favor of the action, Goodman said.
"This decision comes after meetings between the congregation, the president of the standingcommittee and the assisting bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande, the Right Rev. William Frey," Goodman said.

"At those meetings, Bishop Frey and Canon Kelly made it clear to the congregation that, if they made the decision to leave the Episcopal Church, they could not take their property with them."

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_10829287?source=most_emailed

World Series Game 5: Suspended in the sixth- Rays 2, Phils 2

Further signs of the impending Apocalypse - game five of the World Series is suspended because of rain. They'll get it in some time. For you soccer fans out there baseball is the only major sport that's not on the clock.

For the first time in Major League Baseball history, a World Series game has been suspended. Rain halted Game 5 of the Fall Classic in the bottom of the sixth inning on Monday night when the field at Citizens Bank Park was deemed unplayable.

The tarpaulin was pulled across the infield at 10:40 p.m. ET, with the Phillies and Rays tied, 2-2. There is no set time when it is expected to be removed. That is a matter that only Mother Nature can answer -- not the Phillies, the Rays or even the office of the Commissioner.

The unprecedented situation creates at least one more night in the tale of the 2008 Major League season. With more inclement weather forecast for the Philadelphia area, a resumption time remains indefinite. At the directive of Commissioner Bud Selig, the game will be resumed "when weather conditions are deemed appropriate."

More here-

rticle.jsp?ymd=20081027&content_id=3649539&vkey=ps2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Executive Council Resolution regarding Pittsburgh and San Joaquin

The following is the resolution of the Executive Council recognising and supporting those in the Diocese of Pittsburgh and San Joaquin, committed to staying in the Episcopal Church. The Executive Council is "General Convention at rest".


Resolved, That up to $700,000 of undistributed accumulated income and appreciation be made available in calendar year 2009 from one or more of the following trust funds established to support the missionary work or mission work of the Church,

TF#756 Lloyd, Ethel. S., Bequest of (1996)
TF#200.2 The St. leger Fund (1909)
TF#492 Hopkins, Theresa B., Bequest of (1936)
TF#723 Zabriskie Memorial Fund (1961)
TF#814 Boyd, Lizzie E. Fund (1978)
TF#656 Monteagle, Lydia Paige, Bequest of (1953)
TF#678 Olden, Sarah E., Bequest of (1955)
TF#860 Gregg, Ellen F., and David McM. Memorial Fund (1982)
TF#540 Seager, Schuyler F., Gift of (1941)

And be it further

Resolved, That these funds be used to provide financial assistance during calendar year 2009 in the Diocese of San Joaquin, the Diocese of Pittsburgh, and other similarly situated dioceses for clergy salaries and other expenses; and be it further

Resolved, That in the light of the action of the Presiding Bishop in deposing the Rt. Rev. Robert W. Duncan as Bishop of Pittsburgh for abandoning the communion of this Church, the Executive Council joins with the Presiding Bishop in recognizing the Rev. James Simons, the Rev. Jeffrey Murph, and Ms. Mary Roehrich as the current Standing committee of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, and designates a portion of the funds referred to in the first Resolve be sued to provide financial assistance during calendar year 2009 to the current leadership of the Diocese of Pittsburgh for clergy salaries and other expenses; and be it further

Resolved, That the Executive Council joins with the Presiding Bishop in recognizing The Rev. Keith Axberg, The Rev. Glenn Kanestrom, Ms. Cindy Smith, Mr. John Ledbetter, The Rev. John Shumaker, Mr. Richard Jennings, Ms. Beryl Simkins, and The Rev. Tim Vivian as the current Standing committee of the Diocese of San Joaquin and designates a portion of the funds referred to in the first Resolve be used to provide continued financial assistance to the current leadership of the Diocese of San Joaquin, as well as to the leadership of other similarly-situated dioceses, for clergy salaries and other expenses during the calendar year 2009; and be it further

Resolved, That the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church commends the work of all those involved in supporting the efforts by Dioceses to exercise their pastoral and fiduciary responsibilities in regard to the ownership of properties and funds; and be it further

Resolved, That the disbursement of these funds from one or more of the above trusts be made by the Presiding Bishop and the Treasurer.

Explanation:
Some members of the Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of San Joaquin and Pittsburgh have opted to leave the Church. The remaining members of these dioceses-lay and ordained-find they have reduced resources from which to care for one another and to reach out to those who do not know the Gospel of Christ. Ordained ministers, who provide an ongoing pastoral presence to the continuing Episcopalians, not face insecurity with respect to their salaries.

The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ—through prayer and worship, proclaiming the Gospel, and promoting justice, peace and love. These dioceses have become fertile areas for mission work.

The Executive Council authorized a draw of up to $500,000 to fund similar work in 2008. Through October, nearly $421,000 had been expended to support mission in the dioceses of San Joaquin, Fort Worth and Pittsburgh. These disbursements were reviewed and approved by legal counsel, who confirmed that the disbursements complied with the terms and conditions of the trusts.

The undistributed appreciation in the above named trust funds totaled an estimated $3.0 million as of 9/30/08.


This copy of the resolution is not a “certified” copy, but reproduced from the hard copy of the resolution in the same language passed by Council on October 23, 2008 in Helena, MT.

Should the Church be disestablished?

From the London Times - (You got to love the hat!)

"In the British Constitution, Church and State are joined. The Queen is head of both. There are 26 Anglican bishops in Parliament.

Anglicanism used to mean Cranmer and Hooker and Tillotson and Warburton and Paley. Malthus and Sydney Smith were Anglican priests. These were men who combined distinction in theological and secular learning with a broadly tolerant outlook.

Nowadays, priests and bishops seem to be less interested in preaching the Gospel than in preaching an embarrassingly naïve socialism.

It may be arguable that the true message of Christ is socialist. It may also be argued that the laws of supply and demand are as much part of the Divine Order as the laws of motion – and that Christians cannot validly pronounce on either without some study of the secular sciences that have uncovered them. If this is true, it is not enough for an Anglican priest to read The Guardian, announce that “God is love” and then make other than embarrassing pronouncements on interest rates and distribution of property.

The rest is here-

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/public_sector/article5003179.ece

Good Stuff in TEC: Florida

Churches unite to help homeless families in south Palm Beach Count

Delray Beach - A coalition of religious congregations has promised to feed and shelter displaced families, filling a gap in Palm Beach County's limited network of assistance to the homeless.

The Family Promise of South Palm Beach County program is set to open Sunday at St. Gregory's Episcopal Church in Boca Raton. It offers housing on its campus for four families or as many as 14 people.

Seven other religious congregations in Boca Raton and Delray Beach will house the families on a weekly rotation, each assembling a cadre of volunteers who will cook, buy supplies and offer friendship.

The homeless families will sleep at the congregations each night and head for the Family Center at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church in Delray Beach during the day. The second floor of a former convent there will serve as a place to get counseling and lunch and look for apartments and jobs.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flppromise1026pnoct27,0,4713190.story

World Series Game 4: Phils 10 -Rays 2

Philly is on the verge of winning it all. In Game four even their pitcher Joe Blanton (shown chugging home) had a home run. For you soccer fans out there, pitchers tend not to be very good hitters although no one is sure why.

This is the moment every player imagines when he arrives at spring training in February.
This is the motivation he uses through a grueling six-month season.

"The goal is to play and win a World Series," lefthander Jamie Moyer said last night at Citizens Bank Park, where the Phillies mashed four home runs to beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 10-2, in Game 4. "And now we're one win away from that. Talk about motivation."

The Phillies have a lead of three games to one in the best-of-seven series, with Cole Hamels on the mound tonight for Game 5. It couldn't set up any better, and Philadelphia knows it. The city is abuzz as the Phillies are on the cusp of winning their first World Series championship since 1980, and just their second in the franchise's 126 seasons.

One more win and the city will celebrate its first major sports championship since the 76ers won the NBA title in 1983.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/20081027_Phillies_beat_Rays_in_Game_4.html

Just becaues we lost

Steelers Lose. Safety was really painful. OK let's just dance around the family room. Click on the link and enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeOqD3uMIRsv=EeOqD3uMIRs

Lemming Pledge #5

Good Stuff in TEC: North Carolina

St. John's Episcopal helps unemployed

One maxim for today's economic times is that unexpected job loss can happen to anyone. When faced with sudden unemployment, many people find themselves ill-prepared for re-entry into the job market or to cope with the emotional and financial aspects of job loss.

That's where Job Hunters can help. Born out of a large-scale layoff in 1988 by a major Charlotte manufacturer, Job Hunters was established by St. John's Episcopal Church as a support network for downsized workers.

During the past 20 years, volunteer church members have helped shape the program into one of Charlotte's most respected and sought-out networking and support groups for area job-seekers. A free community service offered by the church as one of its ministries, Job Hunters provides assistance to all who seek it, regardless of religious affiliation, and has no religious content or requirement.

David Griffith, principal with Fortune Personnel Consultants of Charlotte, is a church member and has been a Job Hunters volunteer for the past 15 years. He has witnessed first-hand the impact the network has had.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/277/story/276382.html

Episcopal split may lead to bitter property dispute

Pittsburgh Tribune article about the impending litigation in the diocese of Pittsburgh. If you look below (several posts) there are reports about how this playing out in California and New York. Ephraim Radner says, "This is just a mess".

A legal battle over church property could be an expensive and long one.

"You have to look at each church's documents and try to understand the agreement between the church and the diocese," said Munson, an attorney who represented St. James the Less, a historic Episcopal church in Philadelphia, in a case that reached the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and could serve as the legal backdrop for a property fight here.

Those agreements could vary from parish to parish and parcel to parcel, she said. The state Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that St. James the Less, which voted to leave the national church in 1999, retained legal title to its property and that its members and vestry, rather than the bishop, were required to act as the trustees and to use the property for the benefit of the diocese.

"This is just a mess," said the Rev. Ephraim Radner, a leading Episcopal conservative and professor of historical theology at Wycliffe College in Toronto. "It will take years and hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's a terrible scandal, a waste of resources,"

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_595286.html

World Series Game 3: Phils 5- Rays 4

The first pitch wan't thrown until after 10 PM because of a rain delay but the Phils win a close one with a run in the bottom of the ninth to take a one game lead in the World Series.


But in the eighth, with the Phils up by 4-3, Upton legged out an infield single on a slow bouncer to shortstop Jimmy Rollins. Then, in a flash, Upton stole second and third bases on back-to-back pitches against Madson, who did a poor job of holding him on.

Upton took second without a throw. Then he stole third and kept going, coming across to score an unearned run when catcher Carlos Ruiz's low throw deflected off third baseman Pedro Feliz for an error.

It marked the second and third stolen bases for the game for Upton, making him the first American League player to steal three bases in a single World Series game. It marked the fourth time overall that one player had three steals, and the first since Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals did it in 1968.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/20081026_Upton_undoes_pen_s_success.html