Mark Lawerence's Convention Address

I believe our steadfastness will be of service within TEC—if only by challenging the structural conservatism of the theological innovators to face the changes of the future. Even more importantly it will be of service for the Anglican Communion as it moves towards the emerging structures God is providentially shaping. This is the field where the game is being played. So I am confident under God that it is essential to Anglicanism in North America and throughout the world that we in South Carolina are where we are.

But it does present us with a challenge. How do we keep this need for differentiation and truth-telling from dominating our diocesan life in negative ways? How do we balance these three dimensions of our common life as a diocese—(a) the gospel mandate, (b) the call to make Biblical Anglicans for a global age, (c) this need for vigilance toward the unbiblical agendas in TEC? What is the relationship of each to the other—especially in terms of the stewardship of our time, resources and energy

As I have looked for a metaphor to help convey the relationship between these three dimensions of our common life in this Diocese of South Carolina I have reluctantly settled on what I believe is a helpful, if less than noble, one—that is, A Motorcycle with a Sidecar. A metaphor or analogy, as Robert Frost noted years ago, is like an ice cube on a hot skillet. It rides on its own melting until it eventually dissolves. It is important to keep this in mind as I bring this metaphor before us. It is a metaphor I have employed specifically to assist in describing the emphasis we place on these three dimensions of our diocesan life and how they relate to one another. Let me explain. The front wheel of the motorcycle is the Christ’s mandate to proclaim the Gospel, to make disciples, and grow the church. That is the one non-negotiable. Lose that and we might as well close shop. We become salt that has lost its taste and, as Jesus taught, worth nothing but to be thrown under foot. It is the front wheel of our motorcycle and it decides where we as a diocese are to go—the direction of our common life. The back wheel is our God-given calling to help shape Anglicanism in the 21st Century through missional relationships, responsible autonomy and inter-provincial accountability. That is what gives us thrust and drives us toward that future our Lord has called us to help shape. The side car bears the third wheel; this is at present our relationship with The Episcopal Church. It is there; we all know that it is there; at times we appreciate it; at times some of us don’t.

Read it all here-

http://www.dioceseofsc.org/lawrence_address_218_convention.pdf

Bad news evangelicals

From The Christian Century

Modern North American evangelicalism began in reaction. Those who embraced the term fundamentalist reacted against late-19th-century biblical criticism and biology, removing themselves from denominations and other Christian bodies that were less alarmed by such developments. Reacting against perceived liberalism in the realm of political involvement, fundamentalists separated themselves from the social gospel so decisively that they removed almost any hint of social dynamism from the biblical gospel.

In the middle of the last century, neoevangelicals such as Harold Ockenga and Carl Henry sought to nudge fundamentalists (and what we now know as conservative evangelicals) in a more socially aware direction. Yet the movement retained an ongoing vulnerability to its reactionary impulse. Evangelicalism (then and now predominantly white) was slow to support civil rights for blacks. Anticommunism was long a hot node of evangelical galvanization.

A newfangled dispensationalist eschatology (promulgated first in the 19th century) has regularly cycled into prominence through the aegis of the movement, repeatedly reincarnated to react to changed threats. Hal Lindsey proclaimed it in The Late Great Planet Earth in the 1970s and tailored the Chris tian gospel to resist the Soviet Union, European unification and the ecumenical movement. In the 1990s, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins retooled dispensationalism to rescue American conservative Christians from Arabic terrorists, one-world government and moral decline. Pop apocalyptics aside, playing defense has long been a major mode of discourse for evangelical media—arming the faithful against religious cults, then the New Age movement, then feminism, then secular humanism, and so on and so on.

Still, evangelicalism re mains wealthy by any number of quantitative and sociological measurements. How can I suggest that it is in trouble?

It is in deep trouble because it faces a significant cultural and generational shift. Identifying itself with the wedge tactics of the political right, which is now falling (at least for a time) out of power, the movement cannot easily shake the image of being primarily negative and destructive. Indicators show that it is losing attractiveness not only among unconverted fellow Americans, but among its own young.

http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=6484

Ketchum: Want to add years to life? Go to church

A nice story about one of our clergy here in Pittsburgh -Dan Hall

Here's a revelation: Research indicates prayer helps sick people, especially when sick people know others are praying for them.

Believers would say the research confirms the obvious. Yet this little gem of wisdom rated space as news in the current issue of the "Christian Century" magazine. The idea that prayer is more than just a palliative is something the faithful take for granted.

Such research is one more attempt to prove faith, which is impossible. It's like taking a wristwatch apart with a sledge hammer to see how it works. Some researchers call faith a supernatural placebo. If you think it works, it works.

Research done by Dr. Daniel Hall takes things a step further. He's an Episcopal priest who has decided to live his calling as a surgeon in Pittsburgh. He wears "M. Div." (Master of Divinity) after the "M.D." on his hospital coat, but he does not proselytize. He, however, will discuss faith and how it relates to health if anyone asks.

Hall has studied the impact faith has and concludes, among other things, that church attendance can add two or three years to a believer's life. Actually, it only seems that way, especially if you aren't crazy about the hymns or you serve on a church council, vestry or session board. Then it can seem like forever.

More here-

http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20090321/OPINION/903210301

St. Andrew's pastor to be L.I. bishop

The Rev. Lawrence C. Provenzano, pastor of St. Andrew's Church, was elected bishop coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island on Saturday.

Provenzano's election came during the diocesan election convention, which convened at the Cathedral of the Incarnation, Garden City, N.Y.

Provenzano was elected on the second ballot.

"It's very exciting," Provenzano, 54, said Saturday night, though he added "there's kind of a bittersweetness to all this."

"There's a sadness. Longmeadow's been home for over 14 years," said Provenzano, who will remain at St. Andrew's until at least summer. He became pastor in January 1995.

Because the election falls within 120 days of the General Convention, Provenzano must receive the consent of the General Convention (the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops).

He will be consecrated on Saturday, Sept. 19.

Born in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn on Jan. 25, 1955, Provenzano holds a bachelor's from the State University of New York and a master's of divinity from Christ the King Seminary.

http://www.masslive.com/hampfrank/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-18/123770614523460.xml&coll=1

Diocese bishop installed Episcopal flock has a new shepherd

n the borrowed sanctuary of Lubbock's First United Methodist Church, a near capacity crowd of Episcopal clergy and laity welcomed the Rev. J. Scott Mayer as new bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwest Texas late Saturday morning.

Mayer is a 1992 graduate of the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, and a 1977 graduate of Texas Tech University.
On Nov. 22, he was elected by a constitutional majority of electors inside the sanctuary of St. Paul's-on-the-Plains Episcopal Church in Lubbock.

The first ballot earned him 34 of the 47 clergy votes, but only 65 of the 141 votes cast by the lay electorate - six shy of the necessary majority. The results of the second ballot weren't even close: 38 votes from the clergy order, and 90 from the laity.

Four months later, the diocese celebrated in style, with a little help from the Methodists, because none of Lubbock's Episcopal churches are large enough to accommodate the 1,200 attendees.

http://www.amarillo.com/stories/032209/new_news12.shtml

Good Stuff in TEC: Missouri

Churches show love for neighbors, planet by planting vegetables

In the middle of the large, green yard behind Ascension Episcopal Church is a rectangular patch of loamy black.

Spots like that, which will soon sprout green vegetables and herbs, are appearing all around Springfield -- in church yards, backyards, even on public land.

For many of the gardeners, the effort is part of an expression of their spirituality, faith in God and love of their neighbor and the planet.

"To me, it's the heart of the Gospel," says the Rev. Larry Lewis, pastor of Ascension. "And it's an ecological ethic."

Alexander Kofi Washington, a reggae musician, and his artist wife, Moonshadow, are among those working in the church's garden. They recently moved here from Michigan, drawn by the area's active interest in the environment, especially the Well Fed Neighbor Alliance, which meets at the church.

"I've never seen anything like this," Washington says of the community gardens. "People of all backgrounds, spiritually and economically, working together. It's beautiful."

Interest Grows

Master Gardener and member of the Well Fed Neighbor Alliance Shelley Vaugine has been working with churches, community associations, schools, even Boys & Girls Town, to help gardens sprout all around town.

She has seen interest in community gardening grow as the economy worsens. Gardening classes that in previous years drew 20 to 30 people have been filled with 80 to 90 this year, she says.

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20090321/LIFE07/903210314

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Good Stuff in TEC: Connecticut

Teens fast to fight hunger

More than 40 Ridgefield youngsters are getting a taste of hunger this weekend as they participate in the annual “30-Hour Famine” that includes a car wash Saturday morning.

Between 8 a.m. Friday and 2 p.m. on Saturday, 42 teenagers from Jesse Lee Methodist and St. Stephen’s Episcopal churches are going without solid food in an effort to raise money for and awareness of world hunger.

“It’s a neat concept because the kids involved get to experience hunger,” said Neal Bowes, youth minister at Jesse Lee, who is working on the effort with Ali Burnside, youth minister at St. Stephen’s.

The event really started last Sunday when 45 middle and high school students built and erected 1,200 small wooden crosses on the lawn of the Methodist Church at Main Street and King Lane.

One sign amid the crosses says, “Hunger kills 1,200 children under age 5...” and the other, “...every hour.”

The 30-Hour Famine included a concert Friday evening for the participants. On Saturday morning at Jesse Lee, the teens will have a public car wash from 9 to noon. At 2, participants will break their fast with a lunch.

Mr. Bowes said the 42 teenagers who have signed up is “a pretty high number. The kids have really grabbed a hold of this and want to respond.”

http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23249:teens-fast-to-fight-hunger-car-wash-today&catid=46:rfd-local&Itemid=778

You can see all of the Good Stuff posts by clicking on Good Stuff in the labels below.

Good Stuff In TEC: Virginia and Louisiana

Break for Katrina Relief

While many of their friends were at the beach or relaxing at home, the Episcopal campus ministry of Virginia Commonwealth University spent their spring break rebuilding a house in New Orleans. The group of 13 students worked through a program with the Office of Disaster Response of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana.

The program serves homeowners who, for financial or health reasons, are unable to rebuild their houses. According to Pete Nunnally, mission and volunteer coordinator, the program has rebuilt 50 homes since the storm, 20 in the past year.

Rebuild Coordinator Amanda Davis said volunteers are instrumental in the program. The program hosts volunteer groups on a weekly basis. Groups receive basic training and guidance from their assigned crew chiefs. The VCU group spent the week putting sheet rock onto all the ceilings and walls.

http://www.richmond.com/community-focus/26170

You can see all of the Good Stuff posts by clicking on Good Stuff in the labels below.

U.S. Episcopal bishops say church has neglected economic justice

From The Anglican Journal (Canada)-

Episcopal bishops in the United States say their church has been too consumed with internal controversies and therefore failed adequately to address economic concerns.

"We have often failed to speak a compelling word of commitment to economic justice," the bishops wrote in the letter issued after a March 13 to 18 retreat in North Carolina.

The clerics said the 2.2-million-member Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of Anglicanism, has "too often been preoccupied as a Church with internal affairs and a narrow focus that has absorbed both our energy and interest and that of our Communion - to the exclusion of concern for the crisis of suffering both at home and abroad".

The church has been preoccupied with controversies surrounding the 2003 consecration of V. Gene Robinson - an openly gay man with a male partner - as the Episcopal bishop in New Hampshire.

Robinson's consecration stirred reaction within the U.S. church and the worldwide Anglican Communion. Four U.S. dioceses have left the Episcopal Church, while some Anglican bishops from other parts of the world have boycotted events attended by U.S. bishops.

In the letter, the U.S. bishops said, "We have often failed to speak truth to power, to name the greed and consumerism that has pervaded our culture, and we have too often allowed the culture to define us instead of being formed by Gospel values."

http://www.anglicanjournal.com/world/usa/023/article/us-episcopal-bishops-say-church-has-neglected-economic-justice/?cHash=89bf2eed7b

Church of Nigeria in full communion with Anglican Church of North America

From Dallas- (no surprise here)

The Anglican Church of North America, which theological conservatives have organized as an alternative to the Episcopal Church, has been declared to be in full communion by the Church of Nigeria - a province of the Anglican Communion. it's the first province to make such a declaration. Bishop Jack Iker last year led the majority of Episcopal Churches in the Fort Worth Episcopal diocese out of the Episcopal Church, aligning instead with a conservative, Argentina-based province of the Anglican Communion. The Episcopal Church has since reorganized the Fort Worth diocese. Iker and his group are part of the Anglican Church of North America, and the hope is that it will develop into a full-fledged, fully recognized alternative to the Episcopal Church, though many Episcopalians argue that will never happen.

http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/03/church-of-nigeria-in-full-comm.html

Episcopal Diocese sues former parish again

Back in 2003, the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York consecrated a gay bishop and allowed others to perform same-sex blessings.

The Church of the Good Shepherd in Binghamton, an Episcopal parish at the time, disagreed with this move and severed ties. Last year, the Diocese sued for Good Shepherd to leave the church building on Conklin Avenue, and in December, a state Supreme Court judge ruled in their favor.

On Friday, both sides were back in court.

"We've kind of moved on as a congregation and this is almost looking backwards now. So we were dreading it but here it is," said Father Matthew Kennedy, Good Shepherd's head pastor.

This time, the feud centers around a will by former Good Shepherd member Robert Brannan. He died in 1986 and left behind money in a trust fund for his parish.

More here-

http://news10now.com/content/all_news/135984/episcopal-diocese-sues-former-parish-again/Default.aspx

KENYA: Prime minister lambastes churches for 'new elections' call

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has dismissed calls by the National Council of Churches of Kenya for fresh elections, charging that the churches were spreading populist politics that could ruin the country.

"That is the height of hypocrisy," said Odinga on 19 March in the capital, Nairobi. "There are no conditions for free and fair elections."

The Rev. Peter Karanja, the NCCK's general secretary, had the day before said Kenya was facing a crisis of leadership and bad governance under President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga. "The impression and expression of most Kenyans is that they have a moribund president and an ineffective prime minister," said Karanja.

But Odinga said the government had undertaken tremendous work against great odds.

"We took over when the global economic environment was in recession and farmers were unable to plant during the post poll crisis," Odinga said. Kenya needed to evolve institutional reforms that would facilitate a free and fair election, the prime minister stated.

Kibaki, a Roman Catholic, and Odinga, an Anglican, agreed on a coalition government a year ago, after mediation by former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan following weeks of violence that came after disputed elections at the end of 2007. About 1500 people lost their lives in the unrest and another 300 000 were driven from their homes.

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_106291_ENG_HTM.htm

Vince Lascheid, well-known organist, dies

Vince was the answer to the trivia question, "who played for the Pirates longer than anyone in history?"

Vince Lascheid, long-time organist for the Pittsburgh Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium and PNC Park and the Pittsburgh Penguins at Mellon Arena, died overnight.

Mr. Lascheid also played organ at Steelers games at Three Rivers Stadium and at Penguins games from 1970-2003. He is a member of the team's Hall of Fame. There will be a pregame tribute tonight before the Penguins play Los Angeles at Mellon Arena.

Visitation for Mr. Lascheid, 85, will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Laughlin Memorial Chapel, 222 Washington Road, Mt. Lebanon.

His family requests donations to the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, 300 East Swissvale Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15218.

The Pirates are planning a special tribute to Mr. Lascheid, possibly during the home opener April 13, according to the funeral home.

In a statement today, Pirates president Frank Coonelly offered his condolences to the Lascheid family.

"All of us at the Pittsburgh Pirates are deeply saddened by the passing of a long-time member of our Pirates family, Vince Lascheid. Since beginning his career with the Pirates with the opening of Three Rivers Stadium, Vince and his music have been a part of Pirates tradition for more than 38 years.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09079/957106-66.stm

Women theologians barred

From the Church Times in England-

IT HAS emerged that two women theologians, from Pakistan and Tanzania, were refused entry into the UK for the first consultation for Anglican women theological educators from across the Anglican Communion, held in Canterbury between 23 February and 2 March.

The exclusion of the women under lined a growing trend, where people were unable to obtain visas to attend Anglican Communion meetings, a source said this week. Last year, some bishops’ wives were refused visas for the Lambeth Conference.

In the run-up to the conference, a Congolese member of the Lambeth Bible-study team that was to meet in South Africa had first to spend three weeks in Kampala, Uganda, in order to get a visa to enter South Africa, the source said. UK visas from Tanzania were now processed in Nairobi, delaying the process.

In some countries, such as Egypt, visas were no longer dealt with by the British Embassy, but by commercial enterprises, who were less likely to be influenced by the name of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Anglican Communion Office (ACO) had resorted to issuing letters signed by the secretary general, Canon Kenneth Kearon, to give to UK embassies abroad, the source said.
The importance of having all the relevant people at such meetings was emphasised after the Canterbury consultation agreed that “networking amongst women theological edu cators both from within and outside the consultation was identified by all participants as of great significance.”

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=72182

Good Stuff in TEC: New Jersey

African orphans to benefit from fish-n-chips dinner

Nestled in the crook of Africa on the Atlantic Ocean lies the small Republic of Cameroon. It is a poor area, and more than 50% of the population lives below the poverty level and more than 7% of the population carries the AIDS virus. Parental deaths associated with the virus have left more than 250,000 orphans there.

The Benedictine Sisters run a home for orphaned children called the Good Shepherd Home in Bamenda, Cameroon, where the children live and receive medical attention and an education.
As part of its outreach program, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 419 South St., New Providence, is hosting a fish-n-chips Dinner on Friday, March 27, from 5 to 7 p.m. to benefit the Good Shepherd Home. All of the profits from the event will go to benefit the orphaned children there.

"Last year the St. Andrew's fish fry raised more than $1,500 to buy mosquito nets to prevent malaria in Africa," said Diane LaPara, event chairperson. "With the support of the community, we are hoping to raise even more for the Good Shepherd Home this year."

http://www.nj.com/independentpress/index.ssf/2009/03/african_orphans_to_benefit_fro.html

Chaplain killed in car accident in Lakes state

A chaplain of Lakes state, Peter Manyok died in a car accident on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. during the visit of the high bishop of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, Daniel Deng Buol. Four others were injured on the road between Yirol West County and Rumbek Central County, at a small circle beyond Payii bride.

The late chaplain had served the church in Rumbek Diocese for two years, said Rumbek Diocese Bishop Alapayo Manyang Kuctiel De Nhieria.

A land-cruiser Prado was carrying the Bishop of Akot Diocese, Isaac Dhieu Ater, with his wife Rebecca as well as two others follower of the church on Tuesday, following the delegation of the delegations of high bishop who had flown out from Rumbek Central County on Monday to Yirol West County via Awerial county.

The day after the accident, Bishop Nhieria told journalists that he was taking medicines to Yirol West County and his car crashed down there due to the bad roads that caused unbalance to his car. He said that he asked over everyone in the car after the accident happened. He asked people seated by the door on both sides but did not hear any answer from his chaplain who was sitting in the middle. Then Bishop Ater told him that the chaplain is dead.

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article30566

Jerusalem bishop visits Gaza five weeks after being denied entry by Israeli authorities

From Episcopal Life Online-

Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem Suheil Dawani, Greek Catholic Archbishop Elias Chacour and Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan were granted permission to enter Gaza March 10 to make a pastoral visit to the Al Ahli Arab Hospital, an institution of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.
Dawani and Younan had both been denied entry into Gaza by Israeli authorities on February 4 despite having been informed that their request for permits had been granted.

While Israel withdrew its military and settlers from Gaza in 2005, it continues to maintain control over entry into the Palestinian territory via land, air, and sea. A March 10 press release from the U.S. Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., said the bishops had been denied entry because they "are legal residents of the State of Israel," adding that "Israeli citizens and legal residents are prohibited from entering the Gaza Strip for security reasons and out of concern for their safety."

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_106243_ENG_HTM.htm

Episcopal Bishops Say 'Preoccupied' Church Missed Crisis

The Episcopal Church's bishops said Wednesday (March 18) that they have been too "preoccupied" with internal disputes to pay adequate attention to suffering caused by the deepening economic recession.

Gathered in Hendersonville, N.C., March 13-18, for their annual spring retreat, about 125 Episcopal bishops unanimously approved the pastoral letter, the bishops' first joint statement on the dire economy.

"In this season of Lent, God calls us to repentance," the bishops said. "We have too often been preoccupied as a Church with internal affairs and a narrow focus that has absorbed both our energy and interest ... to the exclusion of concern for the crisis of suffering both at home and abroad."

The Episcopal Church, which has about 2.2 million members, has been vexed by an acrimonious debate over biblical interpretation and homosexuality since the 2003 election of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire.

Four dioceses and dozens of churches have left the Episcopal Church since then and Anglicans worldwide have strongly protested the election.
But the bishops said Wednesday that the church's concerns should be more broad.

"We have often failed to speak truth to power," they said, "to name the greed and consumerism that has pervaded our culture, and we have too often allowed the culture to define us instead of being formed by Gospel values."

http://blog.beliefnet.com/news/2009/03/episcopal-bishops-say-preoccup.php

Thursday is a day off.
Posts will resume Friday.

Kent: ecumenical funeral held for medieval 'witch'

A joint Anglican and Catholic funeral service was held in a Kent church on Saturday for a young woman possibly killed as a witch several hundred years ago.

Six years ago, archaologists working in an unconsecrated part of the Hoo St Werburgh parish church grounds discovered the remains of a medieval body.The head was found removed from the body and placed next to it - meaning the girl may have been a criminal, a suicide victim or suspected of witchcraft. They named the girl 'Holly' as she was found under a holly bush.

The Vicar of Hoo, the Rev Andy Harding, made the decision to re-bury Holly and give her a funeral that was most probably denied her at the time of her death.

More than 200 people lined the streets as the horse-drawn carriage made its way through the village to the church.

During the committal, the grave and coffin were blessed by Father Victor Darlington, Catholic priest at the Holy Family church in Hoo.

Speaking after the service Rev Harding said: "It was lovely to see so many people here having been moved by her story. "I believe everybody should receive a respectable funeral."

Funeral director Paul Hawden who helped organised the funeral with several other local companies, said: "It brought the community and people together, it showed a lot of love. Yesterday was really lovely, as long as Holly is at rest now that's the main thing."

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/witch324.html

Our Collective Faith and Heresies 1

From Beliefnet -

The word "heresy" appears on this blog every now and then, and I have long wanted to do a series on heresy and heresies and have now found a perfect reason: B. Quash and M. Ward, Heresies and How to Avoid Them: Why It Matters What Christians Believe . I want to get this conversation started today. I begin with a set of questions:

How do you define "heresy"? Who defines "heresy"? What have you heard -- profound and absurd -- that was called heretical? Do you think it is important to point out heresy? What are the dangers in pointing out heresy?

This book is an edited collection of readable, brief, and incisive chps on various heresies: Arianism, Docetism, Nestorianism, Eutychianism, Adoptionism, Theopaschitism, Marcionism, Donatism, Pelagianism, Gnosticism, Free Spirit, and the book closes with a study of Bibical Trinitarianism and the purpose of being orthodox.

Hauerwas writes the Foreword and makes the following (always provocative) statements:

"Given the diminished state of the Church some Christians might even believe that if we could gain more members by being heretical so much the worse for orthodoxy." But, if orthodoxy "is used as a hammer to beat into submission those we think heterodox" it "betrays itself." So instead of a hammer, "orthodoxy is displayed as an act of love that takes the form of careful speech." There are limits, and not all stick to the limits: "orthodoxy is the hard discipline of learning to say what needs to be said and no more." And this one: "Orthodoxy shows why what we believe cannot be explained but can only be prayed." So Hauerwas.

More here-

http://blog.beliefnet.com/jesuscreed/2009/03/our-collective-faith-and-heres.html

Good Stuff In TEC: Seattle

Language, laws a challenge for indigenous migrants

When immigration agents arrested 16 farmworkers in a mass arrest of illegal immigrants early this year, legal advocates raced to find interpreters for some of the men, a few who spoke only a language called Mixtec.

But by the time an interpreter was found, most of the men were on their way out of the country after signing away their rights to contest deportation _ a procedure they might not have understood.

The deportations alarmed immigrant advocates in this agricultural city 60 miles north of Seattle. It also raised questions about the deportation proceedings for people who speak little Spanish or English.

"There is no way they knew what they were signing. No way," said the Rev. Jo Beecher of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Mount Vernon, one of the advocates who tried to help the men.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/18/language-laws-a-challenge-for-indigenous-migran-1/

You can see all of the Good Stuff posts by clicking on Good Stuff in the labels below.

Kenyan church leaders say northern military operation must end

A report from the Anglican Journal (Canada). Nifty hats on those cattle rustlers!

Kenyan church leaders are urging the government to halt a military operation in the north of the country to recover firearms and 6,000 animals stolen by cattle rustlers.

"We are saying the operation must stop," Anglican Bishop Charles Gaita of Nyahururu told Ecumenical News International. "Those who have stolen other people's animals should return them voluntarily."

On March 5, the government launched the operation in which soldiers are impounding animals allegedly stolen by the Samburu, a pastoralist community, and redistributing them to the purported owners in Meru and Isiolo districts.

Bishop Gaita said, however, the local people had told the church they were being subjected to harassment and brutality. He warned the operation would not solve the problem of cattle rustling in the region.

"The government must look into the root causes of the problem. It must find out why people are stealing each others' livestock, and end the problem once and for all," said Gaita.

The bishop said the cattle rustling had been fuelled by an age-old tradition in which young men from pastoralist communities have raided cattle to raise bride prices, the wealth by a groom or his family to the parents of his intended bride. Bishop Gaita said the young men should be educated about new ways of finding that price.

http://www.anglicanjournal.com/100/article/kenyan-church-leaders-say-northern-military-operation-must-end/?cHash=fdb80f606a

Springfield Bishop Calls for Coadjutor

From the Living Church-

Following approval from the diocesan standing committee, the Rt. Rev. Peter H. Beckwith, Bishop of Springfield since 1992, has called for the election of his successor.

Bishop Beckwith, who will be 70 in September, is required by church law to step down as diocesan bishop after turning 72. Current plans in Springfield call for the election of a bishop coadjutor, which is an assistant bishop with right of succession upon the retirement or death of the incumbent.

According to the canons and constitution of the General Convention of The Episcopal Church, dioceses cannot begin the process to elect a bishop without first receiving consent from a majority of standing committees and bishops with jurisdiction.

Traditionally, dioceses solicit consent from standing committees directly while the Office of the Presiding Bishop takes order for communicating with bishops. It is expected that the House of Bishops will decide whether or not to grant consent for Springfield to hold an election during its spring retreat, which meets through March 18 at the Kanuga Camp and Conference Center near Hendersonville, N.C.

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/3/16/springfield-bishop-calls-for-coadjutor

'Kings': Stylish, tantalizing but not deep

I watched this show Sunday night and liked it. ENS has done a piece on it and here it is-

The second book of Samuel (11:1) calls spring "the time when kings go out to battle" and NBC-TV has also decided it's the time for a new drama series titled "Kings" -- a modern version of the extensive Old Testament accounts of the wars of kings Saul and David.

In its two-hour premiere on March 15 (subsequent episodes will run one hour), the show proved to be a stylish production that referred both to ancient tales and current headlines, but didn't probe particularly deeply into some of the themes it opened.

King Silas, played by Ian McShane with world-weary cunning, rules the kingdom of Gilboa from the capital of Shiloh, which looks like a digitally shined-up New York. The names, with Silas standing in for Saul, are straight from the Good Book. (Saul battled the Philistines near the Gilboa mountain ridge and Shiloh was an ancient center of Israelite worship.)

There is a fair bit of God talk from the beginning, as Silas marks the re-building of Shiloh after wartime destruction by telling a huge celebratory crowd, "It's not popular to speak of God. I do so because I feel blessed. Look at this city we built through war and sacrifice." His personal myth includes a story about a time he saw a great swarm of butterflies gather around his head like "a living crown," which he interpreted as "God's signal to begin." The next logical question, "Begin what?" remains unanswered, but Gilboa's national symbol is a butterfly.

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81827_105986_ENG_HTM.htm

Good Stuff in TEC: Tennessee

Dinner and auction April 18 to benefit Haven of Hope

A community awareness and fund-raising event called "An Evening of Hope" will be held Saturday, April 18, at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Tullahoma.

The event will offer dine dining and a silent auction with proceeds going to Haven of Hope, an area shelter for domestic and dating violence, sexual assault and stalking victims.

The silent auction will begin at 6 p.m. with dinner provided by Emil’s Restaurant at 6:30 p.m. Bidding for the auction items will close at 8 p.m.

Tickets are $25 each or $45 per couple.

According to Mona Mason, director of Haven of Hope, all proceeds will be used to better serve the shelter’s clients and meet their specialized needs.

Anyone interested in purchasing a ticket for the dinner or donating items for the auction or have any questions about the event to contact Stephanie at 723-6408 of Kelly at (931) 968-4994.

"Violence or abuse is never OK," Mason said. "Please contact us at 1-800-435-7739 if you or someone you know is a victim of domestic or dating violence, sexual assault or stalking."

http://www.tullahomanews.com/news/view_article.asp?idcategory=9&idarticle=7663

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Good Stuff In TEC: Montana

Church hosts dinner for unemployed workers, families

People out of jobs because they've been laid off or downsized have something to look forward to.

St. Luke's Episcopal Church, at 119 N. 33rd St. in Billings, is hosting a free dinner on Tuesday at 6 p.m. for unemployed people and their families. The church would like people to RSVP by Friday, at 252-7186, so there will be enough food to go around.

Guest speaker for the dinner will be Dr. Ann Rathe, a Billings psychiatrist, who will speak on "Keeping Your Sanity in a Bad Economy."

Often, people who lose their jobs grapple with a lot of negative feelings, said the Rev. Gary Waddingham, rector of the downtown church.

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2009/03/17/news/local/23-church.txt

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Fifth Episcopal bishop of Northwest Texas to be ordained Saturday

From the Lubbock Texas paper-

Four months after his low-key election as the new bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwest Texas, the Rev. J. Scott Mayer will receive a high-profile ordination Saturday.

The Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and the first woman elected primate in the Anglican Communion, will preside at the ceremony as chief consecrator.

The Rt. Rev. Sam Hulsey, who served the diocese as bishop from 1980 to 1996, and Mayer's predecessor, the Rt. Rev. Wallis Ohl, who served from 1997 until his retirement on Jan. 1, will serve as co-consecrators.

Seventeen additional Episcopal bishops will participate in the consecration, along with Evangelical Lutheran and Mar Thoma bishops.

More here-

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/031809/loc_411196303.shtml

Episcopal Church wins San Diego property case

The California Supreme Court has backed the Episcopal Church and a local diocese against a breakaway San Diego congregation in a closely watched church property case. On March 11, the Court dismissed the petition for appeal of St John’s Fallbrook, upholding the appellate court’s ruling in the case of New v. Kroeger that a vestry may not vote to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church and continue to control over the church property.

“This is a very important decision in favour of the Episcopal Church,” the chancellor of the Diocese of San Diego, Charles Dick, said in a prepared statement as “it vindicates our position that the actions of the dissident congregation were extralegal and in excess of their legal authority.” On Oct 21, the Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a judgment by a San Diego County trial court, which held that California law permitted a vestry to amend parish bylaws in order to quit the Episcopal Church. Using the “neutral principles” approach, which looks only to the property deeds and legal charters, the trial court permitted St John’s Fallbrook to amend its bylaws to remove its accession to the canons of the Episcopal Church.

However, the appeals court held that a parish vestry was not empowered to make this decision as the diocesan canons and national church canons had been incorporated into the parish bylaws. As the parish’s articles of incorporation stated it would continue "perpetually" as a part of the Episcopal Church, a vote by the vestry to leave would be ultra vires. The appeals court accepted the lower court’s use of “neutral principles,” but then said the trial court had erred in not looking at diocesan canons for guidance.

Following a parish vote to quit the Episcopal Church, the Bishop of San Diego, the Rt Rev James Mathes, replaced the vestry, appointing a new board loyal to the diocese. The trial court held this action would not divest the breakaway vestry of control of parish property, but the appellate court decision reversed this ruling, and vested control with the loyalists.

More here -

http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=4120

Leonard Pitts Jr: Americans are losing their religion

We are losing our religion.

That, with apologies to R.E.M., is the startling conclusion of a new study, the American Religious Identification Survey, conducted by researchers at Trinity College of Hartford, Conn. The poll of more than 54,000 American adults found a sharp erosion in the number of people claiming religious affiliation.

A few highlights: The number of people who call themselves Christian is 76 percent, down 10 percentage points since 1990.

Thirty percent of married couples did not have a religious ceremony.

Better than one in four Americans do not expect a religious funeral.

It is important to reiterate that we are talking about overall percentages. In raw numbers, there are actually about 22 million "more" Christians now than in 1990. Still, the trend is clear, particularly as illustrated in one telling statistic: In 1990, 8.2 percent (about 14 million) of us said "none" when asked to specify their religion. Last year, 15 percent (34 million) did.

Some have suggested our loss of faith is due to increased diversity, mobility and immigration. I'm sure there's something to that, but I tend to think the most important cause is simpler: religion has become an ugly thing.

The rest is here-

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2008855719_opina15pitts.html