Churches bringing financal help to credit crunched communities

Religious groups are increasingly being used to dispense financial and legal advice as the credit crunch increasingly bites into British communities.

Churches, synagogues and mosques are starting to run their own programmes to help those affected by debt problems.

Last month, Anglican clergy met Christian debt counselling charities, including Christians Against Poverty, to take part in a workshop on supporting those who are in debt.

Jack Maple, community ministry adviser for the Diocese of London, speaking to the Financial Times, said, “We were alarmed by the number of referrals … Apparently Christians Against Poverty have 3,500 new referrals every day.”

The charities are running training programmes to help parishes provide advice and practical support to those struggling with debt in the midst of the financial crisis.

At St Paul’s Church in Shadwell, London, a non-profit advisory service called the Money Advice Centre has been set up and is run by eight volunteers trained to give financial advice.

Churches are optimistic that the economic crisis is leading more people to God as people search for answers to the troubles in their life.

Last year, the annual “Back to Church Sunday”, in which congregants invite lapsed Christians to church services, saw 37,000 new people come to church services, nearly double the number of newcomers in 2007.

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/churches.bringing.financial.help.to.credit.crunched.communities/23045.htm

Eschew discrimination for total development – Bishop

The Right Reverend Daniel Yinkah – Sarfo, Anglican Bishop of Kumasi has called on Ghanaians to eschew tribalism, divide and rule politics and victimization.

He said there was no way one could avoid any group of people or individuals and achieve the proper development of a country.

The Bishop was delivering an Easter message at the Saint Cyprian’s Anglican Cathedral, in Kumasi.

He said events in the country called for national repentance and reconciliation among all Ghanaians, irrespective of ethnic backgrounds and political persuasions.

“Without peace, love, unity and stability no nation, including Ghana, can develop," he added.

The Right Rev. Yinkah Sarfo emphasized that Jesus Christ rose from the dead as a victory over all that threatened humanity and over Satan sin and death.

He said, “Jesus has paid the penalty for our wrongs and so let us appropriate our redemption by repenting and accepting him as our Lord and saviour.”

The rest is here-

http://news.myjoyonline.com/news/200904/28703.asp

Day of reflection, appreciation in Majors

Major League Baseball's very emotional 2009 season became even more poignant on a truly moving Monday that saw sudden and painful departures, a long-awaited arrival, a soon-to-be-stunning gesture and a memorable on-the-field feat.

Baseball lost two distinct yet very different personalities Monday with the passing of Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Kalas and former Rookie of the Year Mark Fidrych.

Kalas, the 73-year-old Phillies play-by-play man, NFL Films voice and all-around Philadelphia icon, collapsed in the broadcast booth at Nationals Park in Washington and died soon after.

Throughout baseball, fellow Hall of Fame broadcasters, star players and regular fans touched by Kalas' life and work remembered him as a master of his craft and a prince of a man.

"What a sweetheart," said Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona, who got to know Kalas while skippering the Phillies from 1997-2000. "A voice that is unmatched. ... Philadelphia can be a tough town, but I'm sure they'll really pour out some emotion for Harry."

For many of Kalas' colleagues, it was only fitting that he died doing what he loved to do.

The rest is here-

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090414&content_id=4261342&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

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

Episcopal property case goes to appeals court

An official with the Anglican District of Virginia says it's sad, but not surprising, that the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia have appealed a judge's ruling in a case over property rights.

Recently, a judge ruled that the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV), a group of conservative churches that split from the Episcopal Church over its liberal policies, could stay in their church buildings.

Jim Oakes, vice chair of the ADV, says while it is necessary to defend their interests in court, it is also a shame that millions of dollars are being spent on agendas that do not advance the Great Commission.

"We've been victorious in every ruling the trial court issued. We are very confident of our legal positions going forward...[but] this is not a battle we want to be in," he notes. "We had hoped and prayed we could settle it peacefully; we wanted to do so. We tried to negotiate and reach a settlement with the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, and our efforts have been constantly rebuffed."

Still, Oakes says the conservative churches are continuing to spread the love and message of Christ, even in the midst of the legal trials.

More here-

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=484204

Who are these Guys?

Duke goes distance as Pirates take home opener, 7-0

Zach Duke pitched a complete-game gem, Freddy Sanchez doubled three times and Adam LaRoche and Ryan Doumit homered as the Pirates opened their 2009 home schedule in style with a 7-0 humbling of the Houston Astros this afternoon at PNC Park.

Duke raised his record to 2-0 by limiting Houston to four hits, striking out five and walking two for the first complete game by a Pirates pitcher in a home opener since John Candelaria did it in 1978.

Every player in the starting lineup, including Duke, had at least one hit as part of the Pirates' total of 14.

It marked just the third victory in the Pirates' past 16 home openers, the first since 2004. Overall, they are 71-52.

The Pirates leaped ahead in the first when Sanchez's double off the fence in right-center -- umpires ruled fan interference -- was followed by a flyout that moved him to third and Doumit's two-run single through the right side.

Sanchez started the five -run rally with a double in the third, too, this time down the third-base line. Nate McLouth singled him home and, one batter later, LaRoche sent a two-strike, 87-mph fastball just above the Clemente Wall for his second home run.

When Brandon Moss followed with a single off that same wall, Moehler was lifted because of a sprained right knee.

Tim Byrdak relieved and walked his first two batters before getting Duke to bounce into a forceout at home. With bases still loaded, Nyjer Morgan's grounder up the middle was muffed by shortstop Miguel Tejada and skipped into center for a two-run single that made it 6-0.

More here-

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09103/962556-100.stm

Take me out to the ball game

There is a segment of the sporting public that believes if you go to Pirates game you’re some kind of ninny, who is only attracted by bobbleheads and fireworks. That’s nonsense and a ridiculous generalization.

Yes, bobbleheads and fireworks attract people to PNC Park. That doesn’t mean everyone who shows up is interested in sideshows and not baseball.

I haven’t done all the necessary homework, but I’m guessing most, if not all, of the teams in MLB use the same or similar promotions to attract fans.

I also believe that before the days of regular sellouts, the hard-core, tough guy Penguins crowd was attracted to Mellon Arena by bobbleheads.

There’s nothing wrong with bobbleheads and there’s nothing wrong with going to baseball games in Pittsburgh.

As another baseball season opens in Pittsburgh today, allow me to reflect, as I have before in the Post-Gazette sports pages, on why I enjoy going to PNC Park, both as a journalist, who gets in for free, and as a fan, who pays for his ticket.

more-

http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/bobsmizik/archive/2009/04/13/take-me-out-to-the-ball-game.aspx

Most people believe in life after death, study finds

From the London Telegraph

A survey of 2,060 people showed 53 per cent believe in life after death, 55 per cent believe in heaven and 70 per cent believe in the human soul.

The study carried out between October and November last year for the public theology think tank Theos also showed nearly four in 10, or 39 per cent, believe in ghosts and more than a quarter (27 per cent) believe in reincarnation.

A further 22 per cent believe in astrology or horoscopes and 15 per cent believe in fortune telling or Tarot, the research revealed.

Half of people in London, the highest proportion in the UK, believe in ghosts, the survey showed.

Scotland had the highest number of people who believe in fortune telling or Tarot at 18 per cent and Wales had the highest proportion of people who believe in reincarnation at 32 per cent.
Theos said the comparison with the 1950s was "especially striking".

In 1950, it said, only 10 per cent of the public told Gallup that they believed in ghosts, and just 2 per cent thought they had seen one.

More here-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/5144766/Most-people-believe-in-life-after-death-study-finds.html

FALLBROOK: Bishop presides on Easter for returning Episcopal worshippers

Update from San Diego

When the Rt. Rev. James Mathes, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego, stepped to the lectern to deliver his Easter Sunday sermon, it was not a typical message, and his listeners were not a typical congregation.

The 200 congregants who packed into the tiny sanctuary and overflowed onto the patio Sunday at St. John's Episcopal Church in Fallbrook had not met in a formal service at the North Iowa Street building since summer 2006, when the church split over a variety of doctrinal and leadership issues.

So Mathes' message was simple: "Welcome home."

Three hours later, a similar service began across town, under the direction of the Rev. Don Kroeger.

The opening prayer was the same, many of the call-and-response readings were the same, but among the 125 people celebrating Easter inside a borrowed evangelical sanctuary, there was a sense of no turning back.

While the first group was celebrating its first Sunday back in the disputed Iowa Street building, the latter congregation was marking its second weekend after having to leave that building when a lawsuit over its split with St. John's ended quietly last month.

The rest is here-

http://www.northcountytimes.com/articles/2009/04/12/news/inland/fallbrook/z801785f4ff55410488257582007c73fc.txt

Obamas just visiting St. John's Episcopal Church for Easter

From the Chicago Sun Times. (I love the line about the "communal goblet")

The Obama family attended Easter services Sunday at St. John's Episcopal Church across from the White House -- but still have not picked a new spiritual home.

In what was probably the most painful episode of President Obama's quest for the White House, the Obama family quit Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ at the end of May 2008.

Obama dropped his membership in the church where he was married and his children baptized because of swelling controversies involving the Rev. Jeremiah Wright peaking as Obama was closing in on the Democratic primary nomination over Hillary Clinton.

The Obama family has been without a home church since.

Joshua Dubois, the head of White House Faith Office, said in a statement on Sunday, "The First Family has not made a decision yet on which church they will formally join in Washington, but they were honored to worship with the parishioners at St. John's Episcopal Church and at 19th Street Baptist Church earlier this year."

According to the pool report, Obama, first lady Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia all took communion, standing in line and smiling while waiting their turn while congregants sneaked peeks. It appears they dipped the wafer in the chalice of wine and did not drink from the communal goblet.

More-

http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/1523918,CST-NWS-church13.article

Anglican Church of Sudan condemns tribal conflicts in Jongle

Bishops of the Anglican Church of the Sudan condemn elements behind tribal clashes in Jonglei State Thursday at a rally prelude to the Good Friday. The faithful thronged Bor Town Freedom Square only to break down when religious leaders exhaust biblical terms in condemning cattle raiding, counter-raiding and child abduction along tribal lines.

Politicians, whom the Bishops accused of allowing crimes with impunity, never attended the historical religious gathering. The Archbishop of the Church of the Sudan Dr. Daniel Deng Bul leads the mission to the troubled State. Jonglei State is marred with tribal clashes over cattle riches; claiming hundreds of lives monthly - nearing daily in the last few days. The visit also comes in the Holy Week of Easter which marks Jesus’ death and resurrection. The week also ends Lent, the 40-day fasting period.

Bishop Paul Yugusur, the Assistant Bishop of Torit Diocese and the Deputy Chairperson of the (peace) mission leave the door open for the faithful whose tribes mates have link with criminals executing indiscriminate killing; saying:

"If you obey God, He will bring blessing to this land, He will bring a lot of cattle to this State and you will bear a lot of children but if you disobey Him, He will bring curse to you and your generations" but "the choice is yours."

The rest is here-

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article30838

Obama plans include Easter Sunday trip to church

From the Boston Globe-

President Barack Obama and his family are looking for a new church, but his decision represents more than merely settling on a pew. The Obamas planned to attend Easter services Sunday, marking the president's first visit to a Washington church since taking office in January. Aides have been secretive about which church the first family will attend, citing security and the desire not to disrupt services for other worshippers.

They also caution that the church Obama visits might not signal that the president has decided on a permanent place of worship. Obama's choice of a permanent pastor is sure to draw scrutiny, given his history with a pastor in Chicago whose bombastic sermons almost destroyed Obama's presidential bid. "On one level, I think he's just getting acclimated to DC. He's still feeling things out. Easter is a very important day in the Christian calendar; he's a Christian," said J. Kameron Carter, who teaches theology and black church studies at Duke University. "But you are the president. Whatever decision he makes is going to be analyzed with a fine-tooth comb against the backdrop of the Rev. Wright."

More-

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/04/11/obama_heads_to_church_for_easter_sunday/

Episcopal Church tries to follow Jesus' model

Opinion from Hawaii-

As a rabbi, Jesus talked a lot. He did not merely parrot "the law and the prophets," but, in the finest rabbinical traditions, he would quote Holy Writ and comment upon, enlarge upon, rephrase and sometimes posit something new. "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath," and, "On these two hang all the law and the prophets" are examples of new thinking on Jesus' part.

In these early years of the 21st century, there are plenty of religious talkers. Some people hurl verbal scriptural bombs at many issues and, sadly, at various persons, groups and indeed whole faith communities. In my adopted Episcopal Church, there is a small group decreeing that the "church is apostate" and has departed the true ways of the Anglican tradition, though there is no agreement on just constitutes "Anglican tradition"!

Part of what lured me from fundamentalist evangelical upbringings toward the Episcopal Church is what seems to be the target of a small but noisy minority: the notion that thinking for oneself is more important than parroting dogma learned presumably at the time of confirmation. Some in the Episcopal Church insist that "The 39 Articles" (found in our Prayerbook 1979) are indeed binding statements of the "true faith and order of the Episcopal Church." Few have read these 39 articles, and most ignore them as being "historic documents of the church for another time and circumstance."

It is the notion that Jesus was a "walker" that has fascinated me. Instead of remaining in his mother's newly bought home in Capernaum, Jesus literally walked all over Roman Palestine and the neighboring political entities. His walking was not only to talk, which he did frequently, nor was it only for prayer and meditation, which he frequently was described as doing. Jesus healed the sick, welcomed the outcasts, debated the Pharisees, fed the hungry, healed the lepers, talked to women, visited Samaria (where people considered "half-Jews" lived and worshipped) and generally kicked the slats of rigid Pharisaic Jewish thinking.

More-

http://www.starbulletin.com/features/20090411_on_faith.html

It may not seem a time for jokes, but there is a long tradition of laughter at Easter

From the Londodn Guardian-

As Thought for the Day begins on Radio 4, there's often a sudden shift from the relaxed style of the main presenters to the slightly solemn preaching mode of the religious speaker. Rabbi Lionel Blue might be able to achieve a light-hearted humour, but the mainly Christian speakers tend to come over as a bit po-faced. It's a big turn-off, probably literally so for many listeners. So, is there something deeply incompatible about Christianity and humour?

As St Chrysostom wrote in the fourth century: "Jesus wept, both over Lazarus and over the city, and he was deeply moved over the fate of Judas. And this indeed one may often see him do, but nowhere laugh nor smile even a little." Chrysostom recommends his hearers to weep over their sins, and so be saved.

Umberto Eco picked up this theme in his novel The Name of the Rose, in which he imagined the fanatical monk Jorge de Burgos taking extreme measures to prevent Aristotle's long-lost book on comedy becoming known, because, as he says to the monk-detective William of Baskerville, "if one day someone, brandishing the words of the Philosopher ... were to raise the art of laughter to the condition of a subtle weapon, if the rhetoric of conviction were to be replaced by the rhetoric of mockery, if the topic of the patient construction of the images of redemption were to be replaced by the topic of the impatient dismantling and upsetting of every holy and venerable image - oh, on that day, even you, William, and all your knowledge, would be swept away!"

More here-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/11/christian-preachers-easter-laughter

Easter Smile

Making out shapes by the dawn light of Easter

From the London Telegraph-

The Bank Holidays on each side of Easter Sunday are the only ones that do not fall at the same time each year. Unlike Christmas, our only other remaining religious holiday, Easter is determined by the moon. So is Passover, which began on Thursday. There must have been a full moon in the sky while Jesus lay in the tomb that Friday night at the Passover. On the first Easter morning, Mary Magdalen set out for the sepulchre of Jesus while it was still dark. In the picture (below) by Giovanni Gerolamo Savoldo in the National Gallery, London, she is shown swathed in a grey silk wrapper against the chill, with the dawn light, which scarcely catches the undersides of the clouds, reflected in its highlights.

Mary Magdalen is the first person who is recorded as seeing Jesus after his Resurrection. At first she does not know what she has seen. In the Gospel reading that millions of Christians, Anglican and Catholic, will hear in church tomorrow morning, she finds the tomb of Jesus empty, and weeps in her distress. Then, she turns round and sees Jesus standing there, but "supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, 'Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him.' " It is only when he calls her by her name that she recognises him. This is a moment of intense psychological drama. The dim light of dawn alone did not make Mary Magdalen mistake Jesus for the gardener. It is the sort of thing that someone who thought him dead would do, in a state of distress.

More-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/5137366/Making-out-shapes-by-the-dawn-light-of-Easter.html

Supreme Court dismisses suit , St. John’s Anglican congregation moves, changes name

Report from San Diego-

After a lawsuit over legal possession of church property was dismissed by the California Supreme Court, the pastor and congregation of St. John’s Anglican Church vacated the premises of St. John’s Episcopal Church on Iowa Street March 29.

The group has moved their services to Living Waters Christian Fellowship Church on Reche Road and taken on a new name, Christ Church of Fallbrook.

Members of St. John’s Episcopal have now reclaimed the Iowa Street premises.

The California Supreme Court dismissed a petition for review filed by the former members of St. John’s Episcopal Church of Fallbrook and remanded the case with instructions for the Fourth District Court of Appeal to republish the opinion it had previously issued in favor of the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego and the Episcopalians of St. John’s Church.

The lawsuit’s dismissal means that St. John’s Episcopal regains legal possession of not only its church building and property but also the financial records.

The Anglican Church disassociated from the diocese and the Episcopal Church USA because of theological differences, which drew international attention because of similar issues facing the Episcopal Church and worldwide Anglican Communion.

“I’m overjoyed with this result, which will finally allow the Episcopalians of St. John’s to return to their church,” said Bishop James Mathes, the San Diego Episcopal Bishop. “The Episcopal Church will continue its ministry of following Jesus as an inclusive, servant church. All are welcome at St. John’s; there is room enough in God’s house for everyone.”

http://www.thevillagenews.com/story/36956/

The other side of Rome: Homeless people in the Eternal City

From the LA Times-

Apart from the ancient monuments and great art, there is a side of Rome tourists would rather not see: the homeless. Some 7,000 people sleep on the streets of the Eternal City, 75% of them non-Italians, according to the city council. They congregate in the historic center and around railway stations.

The sad fact was driven home to me this winter, when a young man and woman took up residence on the front porch of a little church next to my apartment building. Every night they spread out cardboard beds, and in the morning they aired their blankets on the wall behind the Forum of Augustus.

My district has always had homeless people — familiar, seemingly harmless neighbors without a fixed address. But this couple had strikingly filthy habits and an antagonistic edge. Sometimes they cursed passersby and routinely left unspeakable debris on the stoop. I’m ashamed to admit that I was horrified — and a little frightened. A clerk at a nearby hotel told me the police couldn’t force them to leave and when social service workers approached them the couple refused help.


Later I visited the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center at the Episcopal Church of St. Paul’s Within the Walls near Termini train station. For the last 17 years, it has opened its crypt to political refugees who come to Italy in the backs of trucks or the holds of boats from distressed places like Afghanistan, Nigeria and Ivory Coast. Lacking legal documents, work and money, most of them sleep on the streets.

The rest-

http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/the-other-side-of-ro-4353/

Church Organ Plays For First Time Since 9/11

There's video as well-

An antique organ at St. Paul's Chapel in Lower Manhattan was played publicly for the first time Friday since being badly damaged on September 11, 2001.
The nearly 1,700-pipe organ was played during a special open rehearsal Friday morning, and will be heard during two Easter Sunday services at the Episcopal house of worship.

"It's a traditional instrument for the church so we're excited it's going to be played soon," said organist Marilyn Haskel. "We do a lot of different kinds of world music here at St. Paul's, and we use drums and piano, we sing a cappella without accompaniment, and the organ is going to add another dimension to that."

Those on hand during Friday's rehearsal were glad the organ once again.

"When you come to this church you expect the organ and when it's not been here it's been missed, so this is wonderful," said parishioner Eileen Zatal.

"Every church needs an organ, right? I mean, without an organ it's not a church," said another parishioner.

"It puts me in a different mood, a special mood when I hear organ music," said a third.

The organ was built in 1964 for the chapel, an annex of Trinity Church which served as a refuge for recovery workers immediately following the World Trade Center terrorist attacks.

More here-

http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/97178/church-organ-plays-for-first-time-since-9-11/Default.aspx

Blessings Over Broadway

From the Ne York Times-

ON a bustling stretch of West 46th Street near Seventh Avenue, nestled among pubs and ethnic restaurants, sits the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, an Episcopal neo-Gothic structure completed in 1895.

Many passers-by and even neighborhood regulars barely notice the place. But once inside, visitors are transfixed by its jewel-box interior, adorned with flickering votives, dramatically lighted statues, gilded paintings set in little niches and a ceiling painted deep blue with golden stars.

New York is filled with hundreds of such places, relatively undiscovered churches that provide havens of solitude during a busy work day or an escape from the harsh realities of a troubled economy. Midtown alone is home to dozens.

On West 37th Street just off Broadway is the Church of the Holy Innocents, home to a classic Old World Roman Catholic parish. The main altar is graced with a monumental fresco by Constantino Brumidi, celebrated for his paintings in the United States Capitol in Washington.

More here-

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/nyregion/thecity/12sanc.html?_r=1&ref=thecity

Easter

Holy Saturday

Good Friday

Nichols at Westminster will be ‘open to C of E’

From the Church Times

THE MAN appointed by the Pope to the most senior position of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has promised to nurture an “open” relationship with Anglican leaders.
Last week, Pope Benedict XVI named the Most Revd Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Birmingham, as Archbishop of Westminster, succeed ing Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor.

He will be installed in Westminster Cathedral on 21 May, Ascension Day, but will remain in Birmingham until then. Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor, who is 76, and has resigned on grounds of his age, will act as apostolic administrator of the archdiocese until that date.

After his appointment was announced on Friday, Archbishop Nichols, who is 63, told reporters that he was committed to furthering ecumenical dialogue, despite differ ences on issues such as the ordination of women.
He said that “great strides” had been made towards unity in recent years, and that it was vital that the Churches continued jointly to translate their “inspiration of faith” into “solid action”.
“Yes, there are profound theological issues which in some ways have become sharper, and we have to keep addressing those and keep an open relationship with the Church of En gland,” he said. “That will no doubt exercise our minds and our generosity; but the most important thing is that Christians continue to work together, and inspire each other.”

Archbishop Nichols, as chairman of the Department for Education and Formation of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, has previously joined forces with Anglican bishops in defence of church schools.

More here-

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=73131

Virginia Appeals Lower Court Ruling

The Diocese of Virginia filed an appeal April 7 with the Virginia Supreme Court seeking to overturn a lower court ruling which found that nine congregations which voted to leave The Episcopal Church between December 2006 and January 2007 were entitled to retain possession of their local church property.

The congregations subsequently joined together as the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), a North American missionary outreach of the Anglican Church of Nigeria.

In a news release, the diocese said it is challenging the lower court decision on a number of grounds including:

Whether it is constitutional for a court to impose a congregational majority rule requirement on hierarchical churches, against their faith and traditions;
Whether neutral principles should be used for resolving property disputes between congregations and denominations; and
Whether property may be held in trust for hierarchical churches.

Several national churches and local judicatory religious groups filed friend of the court briefs in support of The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia the following day.

The CANA congregations must file a response by April 29. The Virginia Supreme Court is not required to take up the case. It is scheduled to consider petitions for appeals July 14, Aug. 26, Oct. 21 or Dec. 9, according to the diocese’s release.

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/4/9/virginia-appeals-lower-court-ruling

Sudan: Tribalism Frustrating Peace Work, Anglican Head Says

It cost Sudan the lives of more than 2 million people to the war but the nation is still divided by tribalism, corruption and nepotism, the head of the Anglican Church has said.

In his Easter message, Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul Yak of the Episcopal Church of Sudan challenged Christians to be "the light of the world, shining like stars in the darkness, so that we can achieve the goals of our nation. Let us throw away tribalism, corruption and hatred, as we the new? are born again and put on our new selves."

He reminded the faithful that they were a new tribe of God joined together by deep and unchanging loyalty and friendships. Archbishop Deng decried the conflicts among Sudanese communities which are delaying the process of peace-building.

"Quarrelling over land and cattle is causing us to continue fighting in Sudan. This is a betrayal of this land and our heroes who fought for us to enjoy it."

He appealed to all Christians in the Sudan to take Christ's words of peace and unity seriously and recognise the Gospel mandate to take the lead in bringing peace back to the nation.

"I am appealing to our communities that tribalism has become a major concern in our nation, and that if we are not very careful it will destroy the unity of our country. The division of people along ethnic lines is a very dangerous weapon that can be used against our communities by the enemies of peace."

More here-

http://allafrica.com/stories/200904090821.html

Family claims accused Staten Island cleric took money intended for headstone

The Rev. William Blasingame, the resigned Episcopal priest who's accused of stealing more than $84,000 from his church, is now accused of pocketing money one parishioner's family paid him for her headstone.

In 1999, Blasingame, 66, who until January pastored the prominent North Shore Episcopal church, told one woman that she could bury her aunt's ashes on the church grounds as long as she paid him $500 for a grave marker, the New York Post reported today.

It was 83-year-old Vera Farley's dying wish to have her final resting place be on the stately Stapleton grounds where she faithfully went to church for many years. But after paying the $500, her niece never heard from Rev. Blasingame again.

"It dawned on me that he took Aunt Vera's money," Ms. Farley's niece, Doris Harris, told the paper. "I'm very disappointed. Church people don't do this to their members. It's hard to believe that someone of his stature would do this to a loyal member of St. Paul's.

Her aunt's ashes still rest in a box on a bookshelf between a crucifix and a Virgin Mary statue in Ms. Harris' home.

Rev. Blasingame stole a total of $84,537 over the three years starting in January 2005, and spent it on plastic surgery, Botox injections and prescription drugs, authorities contend. He could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted at trial of the two felonies with which he is charged, second-degree grand larceny and second-degree criminal possession of stolen property.

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/accused_staten_island_cleric_r.html

Church Defectors Seek to Divert Building Funds to Legal Defense

Facing an appeal filed this week to the Virginia Supreme Court of decisions made in their favor at the circuit court level last year, defectors from the Episcopal Church, USA, occupying the historic Falls Church property downtown in the City of Falls Church, are asking parishioners for permission to loot the church's building fund to pay for a legal defense.


In a letter to contributors to the so-called "Southgate Building Fund," leaders among the defectors, now aligned with the Council of Anglicans in North America (CANA), obtained this week by the News-Press, are asking for authorization to redirect the contributions to "defending our congregation and its property, and our sister (defecting-ed.) congregations in the Anglican District of Virginia against the lawsuits initiated against us by the Episcopal Church."

In an ironic twist, contributors to the "Southgate Fund," set up for purposes of funding the demolition of the long-vacant Southgate Shopping Center and construction of a new "parish life center" on the site, include a number of former Falls Church Episcopal members against whom the defectors' legal defense is being mounted.

"This is outrageous," one such member wrote to the News-Press, noting that she and her husband, and about 25-30 others expelled from the Falls Church property by the defectors, "who in good faith donated money to help rebuild the Southgate property, will have their money used against them."

http://www.fcnp.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4334:church-defectors-seek-to-divert-building-funds-to-legal-defense&catid=13:news-stories&Itemid=76

Bishop to shine shoes at St Pancras Station

A bishop and a chaplain will be shining the shoes of commuters at London's St Pancras international train station as an act of servanthood on to mark Maundy Thursday today.

The event will raise money for the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe, which is supporting impoverished communities in the midst of political crisis.

Shining shoes will be Bishop Michael Doe, General Secretary of the Anglican mission agency USPG, and St Pancras chaplain the Rev Jonathan Barker.

Rev Barker said: “We want to remind people through this event that, even though we are going through hard times in this country, there are people in other countries who have it even tougher.

"I was a parish priest for a year in Zimbabwe, in1991, and what is happening there now is completely disastrous.

"However, in Holy Week, we want to show that redemption is possible. USPG is working with the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe, so that is a good charity to support."

Money raised at the shoe-shine will help to support projects run by the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe, including orphanages, feeding programmes and hospitals.

Bishop Doe explained: “Jesus washed the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday, on the evening before Good Friday. In doing so, he demonstrated to his followers that they should be servants, willing to live in humility and work for the good of others. This was his new commandment or, in Latin, ‘mandatum’ – from which comes the term ‘Maundy’ Thursday.”

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http://www.christiantoday.com/article/bishop.to.shine.shoes.at.st.pancras.station/23016.htm