Retired bishop to lecture on Flannery O'Connor

From North Carolina-

A retired Episcopal bishop and a disabled Catholic woman from Georgia who's been dead for half a century might seem an odd couple. For the Rt. Rev. Henry N. Parsley Jr., it's a match made in heaven.

Parsley, the retired bishop of Atlanta, will speak on “Encounters with Grace” (the lecture's title) in the fiction of Flannery O'Connor at 7 p.m. Friday in the St. James Great Hall at 25 S. Third St. Admission is free.

“Her stories, in a way, are parables,” said Parsley, who has been vacationing at a family-owned cottage at Wrightsville Beach. “Her fiction is transformative.”

O'Connor (1925-1964), who died of complications from lupus before the age of 40, received a posthumous National Book Award for her collected stories. Parsley chuckled as he recalled one of O'Connor's favorite remarks: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd.”
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http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20130415/ARTICLES/130419771

Episcopal Bishop Henry N. Parsley reflects on humility during Lent

From Alabama-

Some people give up something for Lent, like a favorite food.

Alabama Episcopal Bishop Henry N. Parsley brings something extra with him during Lent.
"I carry a stone in my pocket," Parsley said on Ash Wednesday as he opened the Lenten preaching series at Cathedral Church of the Advent. He held it in his fingers and showed it to the congregation as he stood in the pulpit. "It reminds me I have no right or need to cast the first stone. I'm no less a sinner than anyone else."

Lent is the penitential season leading up to Easter, which will be celebrated by most Christians this year on April 4. It's a season of 40 days, not counting Sundays, in which the church urges penitence and self-examination.

"The season of Lent is meant to bring us to review our sinfulness," Parsley said. "It's simply knowing that you're mortal and fallible and not God."

Giving up meat or chocolate or carrying a stone are practices meant to serve as reminders.

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http://blog.al.com/living-news/2010/02/episcopal_bishop_henry_n_parsl.html

Bishop Henry Parsley Jr. announces retirement from Episcopal Diocese of Alabama

From Alabama-

The Rev. Henry N. Parsley Jr., bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, today announced his plan to retire at the end of 2011.

Parsley became bishop-coadjutor in 1996, serving under Bishop Robert Miller, and became Bishop of Alabama in 1999.

"Fifteen years is a long, full tenure for a diocesan bishop and I believe that my decision to retire in two years is in the fullness of time for the diocese and me," Parsley said in a news release. "When I retire I will have gone to seminary 41 years ago and been ordained nearly 39 years. It continues to be a fascinating life's work."

His announcement today came during his address to the Diocesan Convention, held this year at the Marriott Shoals Hotel in Florence.

More here-

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/02/bishop_henry_parsley_jr_announ.html