Monday, December 18, 2017

A bishop, a blanket and a bridge-building trip to China

From Pittsburgh-

Bishop Dorsey McConnell, who leads the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, recalls that when he was growing up decades ago, he used to gaze at a hand-made Mongolian saddle blanket that was draped on a rocker in the family den.

The blanket featured a pattern of an antlered reindeer, craning its neck to reach a leaf on a tree.

“I would study that reindeer,” wondering if it would “ever reach that leaf,” Bishop McConnell said.

Only over time did he come to understand the historic significance of the blanket.

The bishop’s father, John Paul McConnell, was an Army Air Forces brigadier general during World War II. Gen. McConnell served as chief of staff of an Allied command that made treacherous flights across the Himalayas, helping the Chinese in their resistance against the Japanese occupiers.


More here-

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2017/12/16/pittsburgh-episcopal-diocese-bishop-mcconnell-blanket-China-zedong-world-war-II/stories/201712160010

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