Beaufort County Episcopal church reactions vary to bishop's letter on same-sex blessings

From South Carolina-

Not all local Episcopal Church leaders agree with a recent letter from the diocesan bishop strongly opposing same-sex blessings, but they said they will comply.

The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina circulated the letter to his Lowcountry congregations Sunday, condemning the actions of the national Episcopal church on same-sex blessing and gender issues and said he would open talks this week about the future of the diocese in the U.S. church.

The letter from the Rt. Rev. Mark J. Lawrence is the clearest indication yet that he does not believe the conservative diocese can tolerate the latest changes in church doctrine approved at the 77th General Convention of the Episcopal Church that just concluded in Indianapolis.

The Rev. Jeffrey Miller, rector of The Parish Church of St. Helena in Beaufort, and the Rev. Charles Owens III, rector of The Church of the Cross in Bluffton, said they fully support and approve of Lawrence's letter and views.

Read more here:

http://www.islandpacket.com/2012/07/17/2137637/beaufort-episcopal-church-reactions.html#storylink=cpy

In 'Lent Madness,' saints vie for the Golden Halo

From St. Louis-

As college basketball fans prepare for March Madness, a holier tournament already has Christians rooting and cheering this Lenten season.

For three years running, "Lent Madness" has taken to the Internet as a competition between Episcopal saints in a single-elimination bracket tournament resembling the one followed by March Madness fans.

This Lenten devotional, first created by the Rev. Tim Schenck on his blog "Clergy Family Confidential," allows readers to learn about and vote for the saints presented daily on the website, with the winning saints moving closer to the coveted prize of the Golden Halo.
"I was looking for a fun way to embrace the Lenten season," said Schenck, rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Hingham, Mass.

"Lent doesn't have to be all doom and gloom," said Schenck. His goal, he says, is to help people "connect with the risen Christ during this season" and to "have a bit of fun in the process."
Combining his love of sports and passion for the saints, the Lent Madness competition includes 32 holy men and women from the Episcopal Calendar of Saints. The saints move through the Round of the Saintly Sixteen, the Elate Eight and the Final Four. After the championship, the winning saint is crowned with the Golden Halo on the Wednesday before Easter.

Read more:

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/in-lent-madness-saints-vie-for-the-golden-halo/article_4339fd04-f245-59ea-86f1-6986dd4ad12f.html#ixzz1oiLvLpnq

Guest Commentary: Church Should Remain With Episcopal Diocese

From Falls Church-

As descendants of John Trammell, who donated land for the Falls Church Episcopal Church, my brothers and I strongly believe the property should remain with the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia as it has for over 270 years. From our research and family histories, there is nothing to indicate that John Trammell intended anything other than that the land be used by the established, traditional church of that time, whose vestry would include George Washington and other establishment figures.

The official website of the church states in the lead paragraph of the section on its history: "The first church to be built after it was established by the Colonial General Assembly in 1732 was a wooden building on this site as a part of Truro Parish. It was completed in 1734 by Richard Blackburn on land donated by John Trammell. Until that time, this area was served by [a] clergyman who lived near present-day Quantico, and the nearest church was Occoquan Church near Lorton."

Our great (6) grandfather (that is our great-grandfather's great-grandfather's grandfather), the John Trammell cited above, carved out enough land from his 250 acre farm for the new church to be built and deeded that land to what would become the Episcopal Church for that purpose. The historical marker at 312 Park Avenue in Falls Church notes the gift from the Trammell tract.
John Trammell's farm was near what is now the intersection of Routes 7 and 29 in downtown Falls Church on land he had acquired in the 1720s.

He was the son of indentured servants, Thomas and Dorothy Trammell, who, as teenagers, had secured their 1670 passage to the New World. After his four years of indenture, Thomas successfully sued for his freedom and then moved his family up the Potomac from Westmoreland County, where he and Dorothy had originally come, arriving at the area of the falls of the Potomac. Their children and grandchildren helped settle this area of northern Virginia, homesteading various parcels of land in what are now Arlington, Falls Church, Fairfax and Loudon Counties.

More here-

http://www.fcnp.com/commentary/local/9424-guest-commentary-church-should-remain-with-episcopal-diocese.html

Mortal Follies: Episcopalians and the Crisis of Mainline Christianity

From The American Spectator-

Virginia's Supreme Court recently ruled against conservative former Episcopal Church congregations trying to keep their property as members of a new theologically orthodox Anglican denomination. Hundreds of local churches across America are agonizing over whether to remain in the old and increasingly heterodox Episcopal Church or depart, potentially losing venerable church properties.

Former Dallas Morning News editor and current syndicated columnist William Murchison remains in the old denomination. He published his book about the Episcopal Church just in time for the denomination's implosively historic 2009 General Convention, which officially sanctioned gay clergy and same-sex unions. Himself a long-time active Episcopalian in the theologically orthodox Diocese of Dallas, and partial to the church's Anglo-Catholic wing, Murchison sagely traces the church's fall from America's most culturally elite church to an increasingly marginal, though still highly entertaining religious sideshow.

More here-

http://spectator.org/archives/2010/08/03/killing-a-church

Food pantry receives $22,000 grant for walk-in freezer

From Buffalo

The Bread of Life Food Pantry is getting more space – freezer space, that is.

A recently-received grant for more than $22,000 from the Episcopal Diocese provided the food pantry with the necessary funding to purchase a walk-in freezer.

The new freezer will replace the 11 “household type, chest freezers,” that the pantry has been using, said Pam McFadden, a food pantry board member.

“Many were old and they didn’t always work as well as a commercial one,” she said.

The household freezers also did not provide enough storage space for meat. In fact, for the past five years, McFadden said the pantry has had to turn away donated meat due to insufficient storage space.

“Plenty of meat was offered to us,” she said. “There was not enough capacity for it.”

Because they have not had the space to store meat, McFadden said the Food Pantry runs out each year around July.

Her husband, Johnnie Pond, chairman of the Bread of Life Food Pantry board, initiated the plan to get a new freezer.

“He said, ‘what we need to do is put a project together to get a new freezer,’” McFadden said of Pond. “I think primarily just because he was convinced it could be done, it went forward.”

More here-

http://www.buffalobulletin.com/articles/2010/07/21/elsewhere_in_the_bulletin/doc4c472d0049afa050021893.txt

Cæli enarrant | Catholicism, Part 6: Evangelical

From The Living Church- Christopher Wells


This is the last installment proper of the present series, and is meant to explicate, in terms of contemporary ecclesial identities and locations, something of the “heart” of Catholicism. We tend to think of evangelicalism as inherently Protestant, and perhaps on that count alone opposed to whatever Catholicism must be. To be sure, in the last 200 or so years, many self-nominated evangelicals and Catholics have borne out this sort of an oppositional stance in their theology and in their relations (or lack thereof) with one another.

As recently as the mid-1990s, American evangelical leaders were castigated by their confreres for consorting with Roman Catholics in the Evangelicals and Catholics Together initiative of Richard John Neuhaus and Charles Colson that has continued to produce remarkable consensus statements on longstanding points of disagreement (mission, justification, Scripture and tradition, the communion of saints, Mary) between Christians in the modern West. And Roman Catholic authorities have sometimes returned the favor, as in occasional dismissals of evangelical groups as intrusive and unwelcome “sects” that lack any ecclesial basis or substance (notwithstanding Trinitarian baptism, plus devotion to Christ and Scripture as God’s Word).

More here-

Episcopal Relief and Development reaches out in wake of Chilean earthquake

From Episcopal Life Online-

Episcopal Relief and Development is reaching out to dioceses affected by the magnitude-8.8 earthquake that hit Chile on Saturday, Feb. 27, killing at least 700 people.
The quake struck off the Pacific coast at 2:34 a.m. local time at a depth of nearly 22 miles. The epicenter was approximately 60 miles northwest of Chillan, Chile and 220 miles southeast of Chile's capital, Santiago. Chile is located along the Pacific Rim's "Ring of Fire," where the Nazca and South American tectonic plates cross.

The agency reported that the capital lost basic services such as water, electricity and telephones, and that Chilean authorities are working closely with emergency crews to address local needs. The quake affected an estimated 2 million people.

Some 90 aftershocks have been reported, including a 6.3-magnitude quake in Argentina.

A tsunami warning issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center for the entire Pacific region has been canceled, but residents of many affected nations are still waiting to return to their homes around coastal areas. Caution has been advised as changes in sea level and unusual currents may characterize Pacific waters in the coming days.

Episcopal Relief & Development said it is "reaching out to dioceses in the affected areas to determine the best course of action," and asked for continued prayers for those affected.

The Diocese of Chile is located in the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone of America, which also includes dioceses in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_119814_ENG_HTM.htm

EAU CLAIRE, FOND DU LAC: Dioceses call merger resolution 'premature'

From Episcopal Life Online-

The Episcopal dioceses of Eau Claire and Fond du Lac, located in the state of Wisconsin, will not ask the upcoming meeting of General Convention for permission to merge.
A June 26 news release from the two dioceses said that presenting the July 8-17 General Convention in Anaheim, California, with a resolution to merge, or junction, the two "would be premature."

Fond du Lac Bishop Russell Jacobus said June 29 in an interview with Episcopal News Service that Eau Claire "is not at the point of being able to do any serious discussions or planning."

Eau Claire has been without a bishop since Keith B. Whitmore left in April 2008 to become assisting bishop in the Diocese of Atlanta.

Representatives of the two dioceses, which encompass the northern two-thirds of the state, met in January 2008 "to discuss common mission opportunities because of similar ministry challenges, comparable demographics and shared heritage of the dioceses," according to the joint news release. The idea of junction came up during this meeting.

In the fall of 2008, both diocesan conventions passed resolutions seeking consent to begin the juncture process from General Convention. Those resolutions were passed "with an understanding that consent of General Convention was the necessary first step in the process of discernment," rather than the immediate creation of a new diocese, according to the release.

Research by the chairs of each diocese's constitution and canons committees showed that the dioceses' understanding of the junction process "contradicted the understanding of our conventions when they passed their enabling resolutions," the joint statement said.


More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_111513_ENG_HTM.htm

Bishop: Prayers Needed Amid Honduras Turmoil

From The Living Church-

The Bishop of Honduras has written to the House of Bishops, asking their prayers for his country after Sunday’s ouster of President Mel Zelaya.

“So far, the entire clergy, lay leadership and our families are all well,” the Rt. Rev. Lloyd Allen wrote on June 29 in an e-mail to the House of Bishops.

The Rev. Canon Kathleen Pennybacker, the Diocese of Central Florida’s canon to Honduras, told the Central Florida Episcopalian that Bishop Allen and the diocese’s mission groups in Honduras that she contacted were carrying on with their work but trying to avoid nonessential travel, and trips to the capital, Tegucigalpa.

“We knew this was coming,” Canon Pennybacker said. “Everyone was prepared, and it’s pretty quiet right now, but we don’t know how it will all develop.”

Bishop Allen reported “political tension” in Honduras centered around President Zelaya’s plans to hold a “non-binding referendum which opponents said would open the gate for him to rewrite the constitution to run for re-election despite a one-term limit.”

“I predict that you will be hearing a lot more about all that has happened,” Bishop Allen said. “A month ago the country was shaken by a 7.1 earthquake and now this. What next, and how much longer can this impoverished country survive?”

He added that the events of recent days would set the country “back in time, which will take us many years to recover and regain confidence in international eyes.”

Bishop Allen called upon The Episcopal Church “to keep this diocese and the Honduran people highly in prayers. I really don't know what the future will bring. The Honduran delegation is ready to participate with you all at General Convention. However, if the course of actions does not improve in the next few days, I may have to reconsider.”


http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/6/30/bishop-prayers-needed-amid-turmoil-in-honduras

Former cathedral congregation happy in its new home

When the Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan sold the former Cathedral of Christ the King to Valley Family Church in 2007, its congregation experienced what it felt like to be homeless.

"We were nomads for a while," said Jim Warner, of Kalamazoo, a longtime member of the Parish Church of Christ the King who serves on its vestry, the group that helps to manage the affairs of the church.

Service times
The Parish Church of Christ the King, at the intersection of Texas Drive and Eighth Street, in Texas Township, holds services at 7:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. Sundays. For more information, visit www.parishchurch.org or call (269) 344-1500.

"It was a truly sad day in our church when we lost the cathedral."

"Losing that building was difficult," agreed Linda Adamcz, 54, of Kalamazoo, who has been part of the congregation since the early 1990s. "There were so many memories there."

The church lost more than half of its attendees in the transition, but the remaining group of about 50 worshippers stayed closely knit.

They worshipped initially in the atrium of Bronson Athletic Club, in Texas Township and after that in classrooms at the Spring Arbor University site on Ninth Street just south of Stadium Drive.

Then, after nearly two years of searching, they found a permanent place to call home -- a quaint, white church building at the intersection of Texas Drive and Eighth Street that used to house Texas Corners Bible Church. More recently, for 12 years, the building housed Heaven's Gate gift shop, which owner Sue Catherman closed in early 2008, taking her business online.

Catherman said she is happy to see the building come full circle. "I'm so thrilled to see it become a church again," she said. "I think it's a perfect fit."

More here-

http://www.mlive.com/living/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2009/06/former_cathedral_congregation.html

Episcopal Diocese head to take leave, then retire

From Newsday-

An internal battle in the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island apparently has ended with Bishop Orris Walker Jr. taking a leave of absence and setting a retirement date of Nov. 14.

The Rev. Richard Brewer, head of the diocese's Standing Committee, would not say what happened, but he said that Walker had stated at public events that he had been urged to resign earlier this year but had refused.

But now Walker, 66, has taken a leave of absence, and will permanently leave his post in November, according to a diocesan announcement. His leave went into effect June 1.

Walker did not respond to telephone messages and a visit to his house seeking comment. "He's chosen not to offer any of his own comments at this time," said diocesan spokesman Canon Kris Lee.

Church officials are saying little publicly about the nature of the dispute or how they resolved it. Walker's leave was announced in a statement on the diocesan Web site. He has publicly acknowledged an alcohol problem in the past. Also, some parishioners, who ask not to be named, complain about how he managed the diocese.

More here-

http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/friday/news/ny-libish1812889903jun17,0,780487.story

Trinity Episcopal Church, Pawtuxet 3: The rectors

From Rhode Island-

Much of the growth and success of Trinity Episcopal Church at 139 Ocean Ave. in the Cranston section of historic Pawtuxet is due to the dedicated and talented rectors that have provided such excellent leadership. From the time of the first rector, Rev. Samuel W. Webb, who came from Grace Church in Providence to Trinity Chapel in 1884, to Rev. P. Wayne Runner, the church has received the necessary guidance and support it needed.

One of the most outstanding leaders in Trinity’s history was Rev. J. Hugo Klaren, the first full-time Trinity rector. It was during his tenure as pastor that the building was erected. Those who followed Rev. Klaren, such as Mr. Worthington, Rev. John H. Robinette, Frederick Hicks and Rev. Frank J. Landolt, contributed their special talents to take the church well into the 20th century.

In 1960 Rev. Harrington M. Gordon came to Trinity Church to serve the congregation and remained for over three decades. Those who attended Trinity during those years still identify the church with this prelate. He led the way through the difficult periods of change in 1960 and was its longest lasting rector. Church members, such as Henry A.L. Brown, who joined Trinity in 1962, found Father Gordon’s guidance over the years to be invaluable. He preferred the title “Father” to “Mister” and this title continues to be used by his successor, Rev. Runner, who came to Trinity in 1995 and is the current rector.

Father Runner is well aware of the influence of Father Gordon and realizes the responsibility placed upon him to continue to keep Trinity Church on the move. In speaking of his calling to the ministry, Rev. Runner feels that “God mugged me for three years.” He meant that’s what it took for him to make the commitment to be an Episcopal priest. He had been teaching 4th grade students for 15 years and was unsure as to what his role in the Episcopal Church should be. When he finally decided to go to study for the priesthood, he thought his wife and mother would be surprised. He found, instead, that they expected it and just wondered when he would decide. He credits his wife as being “God’s instrument” in getting him to his present place in life.

More here-

http://www.warwickonline.com/pages/full_story?page_label=home_top_stories_news&id=2745762&widget=push&instance=home_news_right&article-Trinity%20Episcopal%20Church-%20Pawtuxet%203-%20The%20rectors%20=&open=&

New Bishops Prepare for General Convention

Thirty-seven bishops, including five Canadians, one from Scotland, and one from Ireland, recently joined six episcopal faculty members and 10 guest instructors in North Carolina for a College for Bishops’ residency program.

The three-year Living Our Vows program is designed to support the spiritual health and personal development of new bishops. A series of three residential retreats is complemented by peer coaching with an experienced bishop, according to a news release.

The bishops, grouped in three classes according to the date of their consecration, attended sessions May 18-22 in media training and a “holistic approach to communications strategies” for the July General Convention. David Booth Beers, chancellor to the Presiding Bishop, led a study of the polity of The Episcopal Church, and Sally Johnson, chancellor for the president of the House of Deputies, focused on proposed revisions to the church’s disciplinary canons.

“The episcopacy is a unique and demanding vocation with a steep learning curve,” said the Rev. Margaret Ann Faeth, associate professor at Virginia Theological Seminary and one of the retreat speakers. “Over the past two years, I have been impressed with the commitment of the new bishops and their eagerness and receptivity to the program.”


http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/6/1/new-bishops-prepare-for-general-convention

Five things to know about Pentecost

I've heard of "Tiffany" parishes but "Cashmere" ?

As minister of two Cashmere churches — Grace Lutheran Church and St. James Episcopal Church — the Rev. Rob Gohl is well-versed in the liturgical calendar. The Christian holiday of Pentecost, which commemorates the birth of the church, is this Sunday.

"For our churches, Pentecost is probably the third most-celebrated holiday behind Easter and Christmas," says Gohl. "It’s a celebration of the Holy Spirit."

Gohl shares the Pentecost story below:

http://wenatcheeworld.com/article/20090529/FAM/705299864/1001/NEWS04?Five-things-to-know-about-Pentecost

World's 'cutiest' priest becomes an Anglican

From the London Times-

Father Alberto Cutié, the Roman Catholic priest who has been a cause of some international scandal since captured on film cuddling his girlfriend, now his fiancé, on a beach, has been accepted into The Episcopal Church in the US. It is likely he will go on to become an Episcopal priest. As The Lead reports, Father Cutié and his fiance were received into the worldwide Anglican Communion by the Bishop of Southeast Florida, the Right Rev Leo Frade, a fellow Cuban.

Frade explained why he had done this: 'We have been talking to him as friends. We've known each other from the year 2000. We are both Cubans, and dealing in ecumenical and also trying to bring a peaceful change in Cuba. And he became more and more interested in our church, and showed that interest, and with time, about two years, it has been a long search for him, because he did not want to leave the Catholic faith.'

Father Cutié's former Archbishop, Miami's Most Rev John Favalora, is disappointed by his priest's actions. He is also disappointed by TEC's response. He says he was not told by Father Cutie of his intention to defect. He said the new Episcopalian remains a Catholic priest but cannot exercise his ministry as a priest and further, is not released from his vow of celibacy.

In a statement he said: 'Catholic faithful of Saint Francis de Sales Parish, Radio Paz and the entire Archdiocese of Miami, I again say that Father Cutié’s actions cannot be justified, despite his good works as a priest. This is all the more true in light of today’s announcement. Father Cutié may have abandoned the Catholic Church; he may have abandoned you. But I tell you that the Catholic Church will never abandon you; the Archdiocese of Miami is here for you.

More here-

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/05/worlds-cutiest-priest-becomes-an-anglican.html

Financial probe baffles rector of local church

The rector of an Anglican church is "surprised and baffled" by a judge's decision that a regional diocese investigate whether a local parish mishandled money after it withdrew from the Episcopal denomination.

"The judge's statement is absolutely not true," said the Rev. Matthew Kennedy, pastor of Church of the Good Shepherd in Binghamton. "We have nothing to hide. I want to answer their questions."

Supreme Court Judge Ferris D. Lebous, who earlier this year ruled the central New York diocese was entitled to Good Shepherd's property, said diocesan allegations the parish misused an endowment should be investigated.

Lebous said the diocese has "every right" to investigate and directed Kennedy and the church's treasurer to appear for deposition.

Kennedy said the diocese advised him of its intent to investigate.

A diocesan official in Syracuse refused to comment in reply to a reporter's question for specific information.

Instead, the Rev. Karen C. Lewis wrote in an e-mail, "I'm not sure if we want to do anything with this inquiry - this guy (reporter) is not known for his accurate and fair reporting."

Neither Lewis nor Bishop Gladstone Adams replied to a subsequent e-mail requesting specific information about the Press & Sun-Bulletin's reporting.

More here-

http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20090525/NEWS01/905250356/Financial+probe+baffles+rector+of+local+church

St. Louis churches confront first swine flu weekend

The Episcopal Church has posted two educational resources online, "What is Swine Flu?" and "Planning for Pandemic Influenza." Bishop George Wayne Smith, leader of 14,000 members of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, said he expected church leaders "to use pastoral sense," and had not contacted them with any directives about what to do, or not to do, this weekend.

"If the situation worsens and this threatens us locally, I will be in direct contact with our congregations," Smith said.

Sherry Habben, director of connectional ministries for the the United Methodist Church's Missouri Conference, said leaders will leave it up to the state's 850 churches to decide what precautions to take.

"We have not officially put an alert out there," Habben said. "We would have to confer with some of our health personnel and health wards, and if anything it would be more of a suggestion at that point, rather than something we'd force them to do."

The Rev. Linda Harris, senior pastor of University United Methodist Church in University City, said she had no plans to worship differently this weekend. "At this point, it will be a normal Sunday," she said. "Obviously if there's an outbreak in St. Louis, we'd be thinking differently about what precautions to take. But we're not there yet and we don't want to worry people."

More here-

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/keepthefaith/story/BD100DFF3B593685862575A9007C74E1?OpenDocument

Religion thriving in Cuba, Episcopal bishop says

Note: I was there in 2001 and found a very vibrant if isolated church.

The idea of religion prospering in a communist country defies credibility, but, according to Bishop Frank T. Griswold III, the former head of the Episcopal Church in the United States, that’s exactly what’s happening in Cuba.

Griswold, who from 1998 to 2006 was the 25th presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church, has made three trips to the island nation in the past few years and finds that “there’s no overt hostility to religion.”

“Recently,” he reported, “particularly after the recent hurricanes, the [Cuban] government is realizing that the social services that many of the churches provide [and] rural projects of sustainable agriculture, that all these are positives.”

Griswold, 71, lives in Chestnut Hill, having returned to the community where he served as rector of the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields from 1974-1985. Following his time at St. Martin’s, he served as bishop of Chicago, where he remained until elected the Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop at its General Convention held in Philadelphia in 1997.

Griswold went to Cuba to visit a diocese that was originally part of the American Episcopal Church. It is now overseen by the Metropolitical Council, which is made up of the primate of Canada, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and the archbishop of the West Indies.

More here-

http://chestnuthilllocal.com/issues/2009.04.16/news2.html

US Episcopal head remembers earthquake victims in Italy Easter visit

Remembering the earthquake that devastated the Italian town of L'Aquila in the Abruzzi region, US Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori marked Easter Day in Florence. Solange De Santis of Episcopal Life Media reports.

"The Easter question for us is always, do we recognize what we're seeing? Can we see newly risen life in L'Aquila? … Can we see Jesus in unexpected joy?" she said in a sermon delivered at St James Church, the so-called "American church" in Florence celebrating the end of its centennial year. (The full text of the Presiding Bishop's sermon is available here.)

Referring to the day's Gospel reading from the book of John, Jefferts Schori noted that the first two disciples to discover that Christ's body was gone from the tomb returned home and did not understand what they had witnessed. Mary Magdalene, who stayed by the sepulchre to grieve, saw the resurrected Christ, but at first did not recognize him. When she did, she then went to tell the disciples.

"In Easter, God has reworked the nature of creation. Death is no longer the end of things. We live in the assurance that the deaths in Abruzzi are being turned for life, even though we may not see or recognize it for a long time. That hope is sustained in communities like this one - where the resurrected one keeps that hope lively in some so that it may inflame and infect others' despair," she said.

More here-

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/9230

Metal detectors at church?

Parishoners attending Easter services at St. John's Episcopal Church in Lafayette Square were a bit surprised when they were told that they had to go through one of two magnetometers set up at the entrance way during the 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. services.
As little girls raised there arms in there flowery gowns and parents emptied their wallets into bins, they learned that there would be four surprise guests - President Barack Obama, his wife Michelle and their two daughters, Sahsha and Malia joining them at the 11 a.m. mass. All four took communion from Rev. Luis Leon, rector, who was leading the 15th Easter service of his career.
His sermon included a reference to his hatred for the New York Yankees, but not of Obama.
However at both the 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. service, Robert Black offered the prayers of the people saying:

Guide and bless us in our work and play, and shape the patterns of our political and economic life; we pray for Barack, our President, the leaders of Congress, and the Supreme Court, and all who are in authority; for Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, and the Middle East, that all people may be filled through the bounty of your creation.

The first black president apparently chose a predominantly white church to attend, as the White House pool report indicates that at least 90 perccent of attendees were white. Following the service the president and first lady stopped briefly to greet parishoners, before exiting where a large crowd of onlookers had gathered behind police barracades, hoping to catch a glimpse of the first family.

Only writers from the print and wire pool were permitted inside, so no video, audio or photographs are available.

http://www.examiner.com/x-1527-NY-Government-Examiner~y2009m4d12-Metal-detectors-at-church