In your mercy, please pray for the repose of the soul of Margret Fielding, one of Wes' "spare" sisters.
She lost her battle with cancer on Wednesday and is being buried this afternoon.
We are on our way to Texas this evening for the memorial service tomorrow.
Give rest, O Christ, to thy servant with thy saints, where sorrow and pain are no more, neither sighing, but life everlasting.
Friday, August 01, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
We may have Spoken To Soon.
It seems we spoke to soon about good ol' Benedict XVI.
Now, I am not one of those who thinks that he is evil. Rather I think he's playing the radical traditionalists (Rad Trads) in the Roman communion like a fiddle.What he doesn't say is far more telling than what he dose. He has this tendency to give to the rad trads with one hand and take with the other. For example:
"You all want the Tridentine Mass? Fine, but you can only use it under these rules, and it is now defined as NOT the normative Mass."
"No women clergy!" But no reason other than Papal authority in the statement. No mention of the "fitness" of women or anything like that. The question has been freed up for future Popes.
He has also, finally, thrown a lasso around that bucking bronco that is the American RC's tendency to act as if the Mass ala a Peter Paul and Mary concert will pack the kids in. If nothing else, we may have seen the end of Polyester Butterfly chausables. If for no other reason, he may have earned canonization.
With that said, Damian Thompson, the editor in chief of the catholic herald, has this to say:
The Catholic Church will expand its provision of "Anglican Use" parishes in the United States in order to allow whole communities of traditionalist Anglicans into the Roman fold, a senior Catholic archbishop has announced.
The Most Rev John J Myers, Archbishop of Newark and Ecclesiastical Delegate for the Pastoral Provision, told a conference of ex-Anglicans on Friday that "we are working on expanding the mandate of the Pastoral Provision [of Catholic parishes using Anglican-inspired services] to include those clergy and faithful of 'continuing Anglican communities'.
"We are striving to increase awareness of our apostolate to Anglican Christians who desire to be reconciled with the Holy See. We have experienced the wonder of several Episcopal bishops entering into full communion with the Catholic Church and we continue to receive requests from priests and laity about the Pastoral Provision."
You can read the rest of his thoughts on his blog here.
This makes me wounder exactly what the old boy is playing at? I still have a hard time with the idea he takes Anglo-Catholics all that seriously, in particular those who come over. If you read the rest of Mr. Thompsons Blog you'll see what I mean about a distrust and distaste for these guys in the Roman World.
Things are going to be interesting.
Anyway, happy Our Lady of Mt Carmel day. Don't watch the EWTN Mass on the repeat tonight if you'd like to hear a good sermon on the feast though.
Now, I am not one of those who thinks that he is evil. Rather I think he's playing the radical traditionalists (Rad Trads) in the Roman communion like a fiddle.What he doesn't say is far more telling than what he dose. He has this tendency to give to the rad trads with one hand and take with the other. For example:
"You all want the Tridentine Mass? Fine, but you can only use it under these rules, and it is now defined as NOT the normative Mass."
"No women clergy!" But no reason other than Papal authority in the statement. No mention of the "fitness" of women or anything like that. The question has been freed up for future Popes.
He has also, finally, thrown a lasso around that bucking bronco that is the American RC's tendency to act as if the Mass ala a Peter Paul and Mary concert will pack the kids in. If nothing else, we may have seen the end of Polyester Butterfly chausables. If for no other reason, he may have earned canonization.
With that said, Damian Thompson, the editor in chief of the catholic herald, has this to say:
The Catholic Church will expand its provision of "Anglican Use" parishes in the United States in order to allow whole communities of traditionalist Anglicans into the Roman fold, a senior Catholic archbishop has announced.
The Most Rev John J Myers, Archbishop of Newark and Ecclesiastical Delegate for the Pastoral Provision, told a conference of ex-Anglicans on Friday that "we are working on expanding the mandate of the Pastoral Provision [of Catholic parishes using Anglican-inspired services] to include those clergy and faithful of 'continuing Anglican communities'.
"We are striving to increase awareness of our apostolate to Anglican Christians who desire to be reconciled with the Holy See. We have experienced the wonder of several Episcopal bishops entering into full communion with the Catholic Church and we continue to receive requests from priests and laity about the Pastoral Provision."
You can read the rest of his thoughts on his blog here.
This makes me wounder exactly what the old boy is playing at? I still have a hard time with the idea he takes Anglo-Catholics all that seriously, in particular those who come over. If you read the rest of Mr. Thompsons Blog you'll see what I mean about a distrust and distaste for these guys in the Roman World.
Things are going to be interesting.
Anyway, happy Our Lady of Mt Carmel day. Don't watch the EWTN Mass on the repeat tonight if you'd like to hear a good sermon on the feast though.
Pope rides to Rowan's rescue
Exclusive: Vatican shuns defectors and backs calls for Anglican unity
By James Macintyre, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
The Pope is leading an unprecedented drive by the Roman Catholic Church to prevent the fragmentation of the worldwide Anglican Communion ahead of the once-a-decade gathering of its 800 bishops, which begins today, The Independent has learnt.
In his first public comments on the Lambeth Conference, Pope Benedict XVI has warned Anglican leaders that they must find a "mature" and faithful way of avoiding "schism". On top of this the Pope has:
* Sent three cardinals to the conference in Canterbury, including one of his top aides from the Vatican, to act as personal intermediaries between the two churches;
* Let it be known that he does not support the defection of conservative Anglicans to the Roman Catholic Church;
* Given behind-the-scenes support to the Archbishop of Canterbury's attempts to hold together the conservative and liberal wings of the Anglican Church, including at face-to-face meetings in Rome.
Read the rest here
One can imagine that this will not be well received in some quarters. I also think that this is in no small part because he's already facing complaints about married Clergy in the Latin Rite. I also think that what ever plans he really has for the future of the Roman Church would only be complicated by a pack of priests who have a proven track record of not wanting to go along with a program if it doesn't match what they want exactly.
By James Macintyre, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
The Pope is leading an unprecedented drive by the Roman Catholic Church to prevent the fragmentation of the worldwide Anglican Communion ahead of the once-a-decade gathering of its 800 bishops, which begins today, The Independent has learnt.
In his first public comments on the Lambeth Conference, Pope Benedict XVI has warned Anglican leaders that they must find a "mature" and faithful way of avoiding "schism". On top of this the Pope has:
* Sent three cardinals to the conference in Canterbury, including one of his top aides from the Vatican, to act as personal intermediaries between the two churches;
* Let it be known that he does not support the defection of conservative Anglicans to the Roman Catholic Church;
* Given behind-the-scenes support to the Archbishop of Canterbury's attempts to hold together the conservative and liberal wings of the Anglican Church, including at face-to-face meetings in Rome.
Read the rest here
One can imagine that this will not be well received in some quarters. I also think that this is in no small part because he's already facing complaints about married Clergy in the Latin Rite. I also think that what ever plans he really has for the future of the Roman Church would only be complicated by a pack of priests who have a proven track record of not wanting to go along with a program if it doesn't match what they want exactly.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Cardinal Newman to be reinterred in preparation for sainthood
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
The Vatican has ordered that the body of Cardinal Newman, the Church of England’s most renowned convert to Roman Catholicism, be exhumed and reinterred in a marble sarcophagus, where it can be more easily venerated by the faithful.
The Causes of Saints wants the remains of John Henry Newman, who died in 1890, to be moved from a secluded cemetery and placed in the Birmingham Oratory, part of the English Oratory movement that he founded.
The declaration, expected in December, could coincide with the announcement of a new deal for English traditionalists who want to “go over” to Rome with their congregations in protest at moves to consecrate women bishops in the Church of England.
The Cardinal, already a Venerable, is expected to take the next step up the ladder to sainthood this year when Pope Benedict XVI declares him “Blessed”. He would be the ideal saint for converts to Rome. He was the founder of the Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement revival in the 19th century and advocated a “via media” for the Church of England. But eventually he could no longer walk it himself and was received by Rome in 1845, and created a cardinal eventually.
read the rest at the Times.
Well, the homophobia and need to gaudy display by Rome as it pens it's doors to their soon to be converts overcomes poor J.H. Newman's wish to buried in the same grave with Ambrose St James.
The Vatican has ordered that the body of Cardinal Newman, the Church of England’s most renowned convert to Roman Catholicism, be exhumed and reinterred in a marble sarcophagus, where it can be more easily venerated by the faithful.
The Causes of Saints wants the remains of John Henry Newman, who died in 1890, to be moved from a secluded cemetery and placed in the Birmingham Oratory, part of the English Oratory movement that he founded.
The declaration, expected in December, could coincide with the announcement of a new deal for English traditionalists who want to “go over” to Rome with their congregations in protest at moves to consecrate women bishops in the Church of England.
The Cardinal, already a Venerable, is expected to take the next step up the ladder to sainthood this year when Pope Benedict XVI declares him “Blessed”. He would be the ideal saint for converts to Rome. He was the founder of the Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement revival in the 19th century and advocated a “via media” for the Church of England. But eventually he could no longer walk it himself and was received by Rome in 1845, and created a cardinal eventually.
read the rest at the Times.
Well, the homophobia and need to gaudy display by Rome as it pens it's doors to their soon to be converts overcomes poor J.H. Newman's wish to buried in the same grave with Ambrose St James.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Assize day
175 years ago today the Rev. John Keble preached a sermon to Assize Court while it was sitting in Oxford.
This was not an extraordinary event. The Church of England is the Establish Church of the Kingdom and the preacher was one of the most renown Churchmen of his era. He was only the second person in the History of Oxford to achieve a "Double First" and was the Professor of Poetry.
What was exceptional was the content of the sermon. He, against all precedent since the 17th century, preached a sermon with content.
The first two paragraphs of the Sermon follows:
On public occasions, such as the present, the minds of Christians naturally revert to that portion of Holy Scripture, which exhibits to us the will of the Sovereign of the world in more immediate relation to the civil and national conduct of mankind. We naturally turn to the Old Testament, when public duties, public errors, and public dangers, are in question. And what in such cases is natural and obvious, is sure to be more or less right and reasonable. Unquestionably it is mistaken theology, which would debar Christian nations and statesmen from the instruction afforded by the Jewish Scriptures, under a notion, that the circumstances of that people were altogether peculiar and unique, and therefore irrelevant to every other case. True, there is hazard of misapplication, as there is whenever men teach by example. There is peculiar hazard, from the sacredness and delicacy of the subject; since dealing with things supernatural and miraculous as if they were ordinary human precedents, would be not only unwise, but profane. But these hazards are more than counterbalanced by the absolute certainty, peculiar to this history, that what is there commended was right, and what is there blamed, wrong. And they would be effectually obviated, if men would be careful to keep in view this caution:—suggested everywhere, if I mistake not, by the manner in which the Old Testament is quoted in the New:—that, as regards reward and punishment, God dealt formerly with the Jewish people in a manner analogous to that in which He deals now, not so much with Christian nations, as with the souls of individual Christians.
Let us only make due allowances for this cardinal point of difference, and we need not surely hesitate to avail ourselves, as the time may require, of those national warnings, which fill the records of the elder Church: the less so, as the discrepancy lies rather in what is revealed of God's providence, than in what is required in the way of human duty. Rewards and punishments may be dispensed, visibly at least, with a less even hand; but what tempers, and what conduct, god will ultimately reward and punish,—this is a point which cannot be changed: for it depends not on our circumstances, but on His essential, unvarying Attributes.
I have ventured on these few general observations, because the impatience with which the world endures any remonstrance on religious grounds, is apt to show itself most daringly, when the Law and the Prophets are appealed to. Without any scruple or ceremony, men give us to understand that they regard the whole as obsolete: thus taking the very opposite ground to that which was preferred by the same class of persons two hundred years ago; but, it may be feared, with much the same purpose and result. Then, the Old Testament was quoted at random for every excess of fanatical pride and cruelty : now, its authority goes for nothing, however clear and striking the analogies may be, which appear to warrant us in referring to it. The two extremes, as usual, meet ; and in this very remarkable point : that they both avail themselves of the supernatural parts of the Jewish revelation to turn away attention from that, which they, of course, most dread and dislike in it: its authoritative confirmation of the plain dictates of conscience in matters of civil wisdom and duty.
The entire text is here.
This is generally seen as the beginning of the Oxford Movement. It would trigger the Tracts for the Times under the editorship of John H. Newman and caused a stir that lasts to this day. The Movement was defined by it's belief in the catholic heritage of the Church of England and her daughter churches, it's adherence to the Church Fathers and a distrust of evangelicals and "enthusiasts" alike. They were dedicated to expanding the missionary impulse of the Church and to reenergize the moribund Establishment. The current shape of the Book of Common Prayer for the Episcopal Church relates to the work of the Movement, as do the Prayer Books of most of the Anglican communion.
In light of the anniversary and the upcoming Lambeth Conference (another piece of the legacy of the Movement), many are spending an hour in prayer for the continuance of the Movement and the health of the Anglican Communion.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
The Hidden History of Women's Ordination: Female Clergy in the Medieval West
Hat tip to Mark Harris over at PRELUDIUM
I want this book!
I also suggest that anyone interested in the topic do so as well. A few of my readers might want to send it to colleges of theirs.
The Blurb on the book follows:
"The Roman Catholic leadership still refuses to ordain women officially or even to recognize that women are capable of ordination. But is the widely held assumption that women have always been excluded from such roles historically accurate?
In the early centuries of Christianity, ordination was the process and the ceremony by which one moved to any new ministry (ordo) in the community. By this definition, women were in fact ordained into several ministries. A radical change in the definition of ordination during the eleventh and twelfth centuries not only removed women from the ordained ministry, but also attempted to eradicate any memory of women's ordination in the past. The debate that accompanied this change has left its mark in the literature of the time. However, the triumph of a new definition of ordination as the bestowal of power, particularly the power to confect the Eucharist, so thoroughly dominated western thought and practice by the thirteenth century that the earlier concept of ordination was almost completely erased. The ordination of women, either in the present or in the past, became unthinkable.
References to the ordination of women exist in papal, episcopal and theological documents of the time, and the rites for these ordinations have survived. Yet, many scholars still hold that women, particularly in the western church, were never "really" ordained. A survey of the literature reveals that most scholars use a definition of ordination that would have been unknown in the early middle ages. Thus, the modern determination that women were never ordained, Macy argues, is a premise based on false terms.
Not a work of advocacy, this important book applies indispensable historical background for the ongoing debate about women's ordination. "
I want this book!
I also suggest that anyone interested in the topic do so as well. A few of my readers might want to send it to colleges of theirs.
The Blurb on the book follows:
"The Roman Catholic leadership still refuses to ordain women officially or even to recognize that women are capable of ordination. But is the widely held assumption that women have always been excluded from such roles historically accurate?
In the early centuries of Christianity, ordination was the process and the ceremony by which one moved to any new ministry (ordo) in the community. By this definition, women were in fact ordained into several ministries. A radical change in the definition of ordination during the eleventh and twelfth centuries not only removed women from the ordained ministry, but also attempted to eradicate any memory of women's ordination in the past. The debate that accompanied this change has left its mark in the literature of the time. However, the triumph of a new definition of ordination as the bestowal of power, particularly the power to confect the Eucharist, so thoroughly dominated western thought and practice by the thirteenth century that the earlier concept of ordination was almost completely erased. The ordination of women, either in the present or in the past, became unthinkable.
References to the ordination of women exist in papal, episcopal and theological documents of the time, and the rites for these ordinations have survived. Yet, many scholars still hold that women, particularly in the western church, were never "really" ordained. A survey of the literature reveals that most scholars use a definition of ordination that would have been unknown in the early middle ages. Thus, the modern determination that women were never ordained, Macy argues, is a premise based on false terms.
Not a work of advocacy, this important book applies indispensable historical background for the ongoing debate about women's ordination. "
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Somebody explain to me why the English Anglo-Catholics think Rome is going to welcome them with open arms?
I mean I now understand that they have adopted a magical realism view of Apostolicae curae and can eve side step Ad Tuendam Fidem and wear blinders when it comes to the recent statement from the Vatican about them being the only "true" Church. What gets me is the desperation when you bring it all up and present it as a seamless garment, as it were. The anger and wild eyed denials is beyond me.
I mean I now understand that they have adopted a magical realism view of Apostolicae curae and can eve side step Ad Tuendam Fidem and wear blinders when it comes to the recent statement from the Vatican about them being the only "true" Church. What gets me is the desperation when you bring it all up and present it as a seamless garment, as it were. The anger and wild eyed denials is beyond me.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Dr Rowan Williams stands tall in the Church
By Jonathan Wynne-Jones
The Guardian
It was a little after half past ten when the Archbishop of Canterbury shuffled up the steps of the pulpit in York Minster to address the hushed congregation.
After six years in the post, this could well become a defining moment for Dr Rowan Williams - the time when the real Archbishop appeared before his Church.
He has been weighed down by the crises that have engulfed the Anglican communion virtually ever since his arrival at Lambeth - pulled this way and that by the warring factions in the battles over homosexuality and women bishops.
Today, however, he grew in stature as the sermon went on, emerging by the end of it as the leader that the Anglican communion so desperately needs - compassionate yet direct and vulnerable yet firm.
Referring to the story of Joseph being thrown down into a waterless pit and left for dead by his brothers, the archbishop attempted to reach out to all those, in and outside the Church, who feel deserted.
In a sermon charged with emotion and feeling, but delivered with poise and unflinching stoicism, he set out his inclusive, all embracing vision for the Church.
"What would Jesus do is a good question to ask," he said. "Where would Jesus be is just as good.
"Who would Jesus be with? He is going to be with those who feel the waterlessness of their position.
"With those traditionalists feeling the Church is falling away from them.
"He will be with those in a very different part of the landscape who feel that things are closing in, that their position is under threat, that their liberties are being taken away by those anxious and eager to enforce their ideologies in the name of Christ."
There has been much grandstanding and posturing, talk of defection and challenges to the archbishop's leadership, but in a couple of sentences he rose above all of that.
He was reassuring the traditionalists opposed to women bishops that they would not be isolated and offering his support to those who feel threatened by fundamentalism on both sides of the different debates.
But he went further: "He will be with the gay clergy who wonder what their future is in a Church so anxious and tormented about this issue."
It is a shame that extending support to homosexuals in the Church should be a bold move, but it was and the Minster's congregation knew that; particularly considering that conservative Anglicans have just formed a rival church in response to the liberal attitude of the Western churches on the issue.
However, Dr Williams is not going to be cowed anymore into trying to appease everyone. That was what came across from his sermon.
He has done his best to keep everyone within the Anglican fold since he was made Archbishop, but now he is going to say what he thinks. And what he feels.
The Church shouldn't be just about issues, but about people, he seemed to say.
In what many read as a poignant tribute to his best man, a journalist who recently committed suicide, he made this case powerfully.
"He [Jesus] will be with those people in the press gallery who are trying to keep their minds on their business while dealing with any number of complex personal issues, who may be afflicted by private anxieties, grief, and losses that will never be noticed by those who take them for granted as they go about their business."
By the end of his sermon many of the congregation were close to tears. Others were celebrating that the archbishop seemed like a man transformed.
Yesterday, the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, rallied to the defence of his friend and colleague, saying that the "ungracious" attacks by conservative Anglicans on Dr Williams had "grieved" him deeply.
He was offering him a hand to climb out of the "waterless pit" that his Anglican "brothers" have put him in.
Today, the Church saw a leader, who seemed freed and who is now standing tall.
By Jonathan Wynne-Jones
The Guardian
It was a little after half past ten when the Archbishop of Canterbury shuffled up the steps of the pulpit in York Minster to address the hushed congregation.
After six years in the post, this could well become a defining moment for Dr Rowan Williams - the time when the real Archbishop appeared before his Church.
He has been weighed down by the crises that have engulfed the Anglican communion virtually ever since his arrival at Lambeth - pulled this way and that by the warring factions in the battles over homosexuality and women bishops.
Today, however, he grew in stature as the sermon went on, emerging by the end of it as the leader that the Anglican communion so desperately needs - compassionate yet direct and vulnerable yet firm.
Referring to the story of Joseph being thrown down into a waterless pit and left for dead by his brothers, the archbishop attempted to reach out to all those, in and outside the Church, who feel deserted.
In a sermon charged with emotion and feeling, but delivered with poise and unflinching stoicism, he set out his inclusive, all embracing vision for the Church.
"What would Jesus do is a good question to ask," he said. "Where would Jesus be is just as good.
"Who would Jesus be with? He is going to be with those who feel the waterlessness of their position.
"With those traditionalists feeling the Church is falling away from them.
"He will be with those in a very different part of the landscape who feel that things are closing in, that their position is under threat, that their liberties are being taken away by those anxious and eager to enforce their ideologies in the name of Christ."
There has been much grandstanding and posturing, talk of defection and challenges to the archbishop's leadership, but in a couple of sentences he rose above all of that.
He was reassuring the traditionalists opposed to women bishops that they would not be isolated and offering his support to those who feel threatened by fundamentalism on both sides of the different debates.
But he went further: "He will be with the gay clergy who wonder what their future is in a Church so anxious and tormented about this issue."
It is a shame that extending support to homosexuals in the Church should be a bold move, but it was and the Minster's congregation knew that; particularly considering that conservative Anglicans have just formed a rival church in response to the liberal attitude of the Western churches on the issue.
However, Dr Williams is not going to be cowed anymore into trying to appease everyone. That was what came across from his sermon.
He has done his best to keep everyone within the Anglican fold since he was made Archbishop, but now he is going to say what he thinks. And what he feels.
The Church shouldn't be just about issues, but about people, he seemed to say.
In what many read as a poignant tribute to his best man, a journalist who recently committed suicide, he made this case powerfully.
"He [Jesus] will be with those people in the press gallery who are trying to keep their minds on their business while dealing with any number of complex personal issues, who may be afflicted by private anxieties, grief, and losses that will never be noticed by those who take them for granted as they go about their business."
By the end of his sermon many of the congregation were close to tears. Others were celebrating that the archbishop seemed like a man transformed.
Yesterday, the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, rallied to the defence of his friend and colleague, saying that the "ungracious" attacks by conservative Anglicans on Dr Williams had "grieved" him deeply.
He was offering him a hand to climb out of the "waterless pit" that his Anglican "brothers" have put him in.
Today, the Church saw a leader, who seemed freed and who is now standing tall.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Pittsburgh bishop has abandoned communion of Episcopal Church, Title IV Review Committee says
[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church's IV Review Committee has certified that Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan has abandoned the communion of the church.Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori informed Duncan on January 15 of the certification and sent him a copy.
Her letter told Duncan that she sought the canonically required permission from the House's three senior bishops with jurisdiction to inhibit him, based on the certification, from the performance of any episcopal, ministerial or canonical acts.
"On 11 January 2008 they informed me that such consents would not be given at this time by all three bishops," Jefferts Schori wrote.
"Pursuant to the time limits stated in Canon IV.9, the matter will not come before the House of Bishops at its next scheduled meeting in March 2008, but will come before the House at the next meeting thereafter," the Presiding Bishop wrote in her letter.
"I would, however, welcome a statement by you within the next two months providing evidence that you once more consider yourself fully subject to the doctrine, discipline and worship of this Church," Jefferts Schori wrote in her letter to Duncan.
The three senior bishops with jurisdiction -- Leo Frade of Southeast Florida, Peter Lee of Virginia, and Don Wimberly of Texas -- did give their permission on January 11 for Jefferts Schori to inhibit Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin Bishop John-David Schofield in another case where the Title IV Review Committee certified an abandonment of the communion of the church. The House will consider the case matter involving Schofield in March.
The time limit to which Jefferts Schori referred is a two-month period afforded to bishops subject to such a certification to retract their acts, demonstrate that the facts alleged in certification are false, or renounce their orders by way of Title IV, Canon 8, Sec. 2 or Title III, Canon 12, Sec. 7.
The Title IV Review Committee told Jefferts Schori on December 17 that a majority of its nine members agreed that Duncan had abandoned the communion of the church "by an open renunciation of the Doctrine, Discipline or Worship of this Church."
The Review Committee's certification from Upper South Carolina Bishop Dorsey Henderson, committee chair, said that the committee received submissions alleging Duncan's abandonment of communion from "counsel representing individuals who are either clergy or communicants in the Diocese of Pittsburgh" and from the Presiding Bishop's chancellor, David Beers, and his colleague, Mary E. Kostel. They asked the Review Committee for a determination.
Some 40 pages of material submitted by Pittsburgh counsel, which allegedly "trace the course of Bishop Duncan's actions from the meeting of the General Convention in 2003 through the most recent Annual Convention of the Diocese" in early November, is included in the committee's certification and is available here.
Pittsburgh's" diocesan convention November 2 gave the first of two approvals needed to enact a constitutional change to remove language in the diocesan constitution stating that the diocese accedes to the Episcopal Church's Constitution and Canons as the church's constitution requires.
The Presiding Bishop sent Duncan a prior to the convention, asking him to retreat from his advocacy of the changes.
The first section of Title IV, Canon 9 says that a bishop abandons the communion of the Episcopal Church if he or she takes one of the following actions:
- "open renunciation of the Doctrine, Discipline, or Worship of the Church;"
- "formal admission into any religious body not in communion with the
same;" or - "exercising episcopal acts [which include primarily Holy Orders and Confirmation] in and for a religious body other than the Episcopal Church or another Church in communion with the Church so as to extend to such body Holy Orders as this Church holds them, or to administer on behalf of such religious body Confirmation without the express consent and commission of the proper authority in this Church."
In addition to Henderson, the 2007-2009 Title IV Review Committee includes Bishop Suffragan David C. Jones of Virginia, Bishop C. Wallis Ohl Jr. of Northwest Texas, Bishop Suffragan Bavi E. Rivera of Olympia, Bishop James Waggoner of Spokane, the Rev. Carolyn Kuhr of Montana, the Very Rev. Scott Kirby of Eau Claire, J.P. Causey Jr. of Virginia, and Deborah J. Stokes of Southern Ohio.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
A Return to Tradition : US News and World Report 12/24/07
A new interest in old ways takes root in Catholicism and many other faiths
By Jay Tolson
Posted December 13, 2007
Worshipers come to St. Mary, Mother of God in downtown Washington, D.C., for various reasons, but many say that a big draw is the Tridentine Latin mass that is said here every Sunday. Soon, St. Mary may be less well known for that distinctive liturgical offering than for the number of big-name government and media types that occupy its pews. Now that Pope Benedict XVI has loosened the restrictions on churches that want to observe the pre-Vatican II rite, more parishes are availing themselves of the option. Call it part of a larger conservative shift within the church—one that includes a renewed emphasis on such practices as personal confession and reciting the rosary as well as a resurgent interest in traditional monastic and religious orders.
But this shift extends beyond the Roman Catholic Church. In Richardson, Texas, the congregation of Trinity Fellowship Church participates in something that would have been considered almost heretical in most evangelical Protestant churches five or 10 years ago: a weekly Communion service. An independent, nondenominational church of some 600 members, Trinity Fellowship is not the only evangelical congregation that is offering a weekly Eucharist, saying the Nicene or Apostles' creeds, reading the early Church Fathers, or doing other things that seem downright Roman Catholic or at least high Episcopalian. Daniel Wallace, a professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, which trains pastors for interdenominational or nondenominational churches, says there is a growing appetite for something more than "worship that is a glorified Bible class in some ways."
Something curious is happening in the wide world of faith, something that defies easy explanation or quantification. More substantial than a trend but less organized than a movement, it has to do more with how people practice their religion than with what they believe, though people caught up in this change often find that their beliefs are influenced, if not subtly altered, by the changes in their practice.
Put simply, the development is a return to tradition and orthodoxy, to past practices, observances, and customary ways of worshiping. But it is not simply a return to the past—at least not in all cases. Even while drawing on deep traditional resources, many participants are creating something new within the old forms. They are engaging in what Penn State sociologist of religion Roger Finke calls "innovative returns to tradition."
You see this at work quite clearly in the so-called emergent communities, new, largely self-organizing groups of young Christian adults who meet in private homes, church basements, or coffeehouses around the country. So free-form that many don't even have pastors, these groups nevertheless engage in some ancient liturgical practices, including creedal declarations, public confession, and Communion. They may use a piece of a bagel as the body of Christ, but the liturgy is a traditional anchor in services that may include films, skits, or group discussions of a biblical topic.
More Hebrew. The return to traditional forms and practices is occurring not only in the big tent of Christianity. In Judaism, too, in addition to a small but detectable surge in the Orthodox denomination, the most observant branch of the faith, even the moderate Conservative and the progressive Reform denominations are shifting toward the older ways, including the use of more Hebrew in the services or stricter observance of the Halakha (Jewish law). Many young adults who are joining the Jewish equivalent of the Christian emergent communities, the independent minyanim (plural of minyan, the quorum required for communal worship), are drawn in part by the commitment to traditional liturgical practices and observances. Reform may still be the largest Jewish denomination in America, but much of the faith's vitality is devoted to recapturing those traditions that modernizers dismissed as relics.
The state of traditionalism in Islam is more difficult to capture. On one hand, more young Muslims are embracing outward symbols of their devotion—women wearing head scarves, men growing beards. Many are also more observant of the duties of the faith, whether saying the five daily prayers or fasting during Ramadan. But it is hard to say whether all of this signals a return to traditional Islam or the embrace of a highly puritanical reformist Islam associated with Wahhabi and Salafist teachings—teachings that many Islamic scholars find contrary to the deeper traditions of the faith. Indeed, Ali Gomaa, the grand mufti of Egypt, and some Islamic scholars in America argue that an informed understanding of sharia (Islamic law) is the best antidote to extremism and fundamentalism. The uncertainty, of course, is whether their views will find a wider following among contemporary Muslims.
Read the rest here
A new interest in old ways takes root in Catholicism and many other faiths
By Jay Tolson
Posted December 13, 2007
Worshipers come to St. Mary, Mother of God in downtown Washington, D.C., for various reasons, but many say that a big draw is the Tridentine Latin mass that is said here every Sunday. Soon, St. Mary may be less well known for that distinctive liturgical offering than for the number of big-name government and media types that occupy its pews. Now that Pope Benedict XVI has loosened the restrictions on churches that want to observe the pre-Vatican II rite, more parishes are availing themselves of the option. Call it part of a larger conservative shift within the church—one that includes a renewed emphasis on such practices as personal confession and reciting the rosary as well as a resurgent interest in traditional monastic and religious orders.
But this shift extends beyond the Roman Catholic Church. In Richardson, Texas, the congregation of Trinity Fellowship Church participates in something that would have been considered almost heretical in most evangelical Protestant churches five or 10 years ago: a weekly Communion service. An independent, nondenominational church of some 600 members, Trinity Fellowship is not the only evangelical congregation that is offering a weekly Eucharist, saying the Nicene or Apostles' creeds, reading the early Church Fathers, or doing other things that seem downright Roman Catholic or at least high Episcopalian. Daniel Wallace, a professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, which trains pastors for interdenominational or nondenominational churches, says there is a growing appetite for something more than "worship that is a glorified Bible class in some ways."
Something curious is happening in the wide world of faith, something that defies easy explanation or quantification. More substantial than a trend but less organized than a movement, it has to do more with how people practice their religion than with what they believe, though people caught up in this change often find that their beliefs are influenced, if not subtly altered, by the changes in their practice.
Put simply, the development is a return to tradition and orthodoxy, to past practices, observances, and customary ways of worshiping. But it is not simply a return to the past—at least not in all cases. Even while drawing on deep traditional resources, many participants are creating something new within the old forms. They are engaging in what Penn State sociologist of religion Roger Finke calls "innovative returns to tradition."
You see this at work quite clearly in the so-called emergent communities, new, largely self-organizing groups of young Christian adults who meet in private homes, church basements, or coffeehouses around the country. So free-form that many don't even have pastors, these groups nevertheless engage in some ancient liturgical practices, including creedal declarations, public confession, and Communion. They may use a piece of a bagel as the body of Christ, but the liturgy is a traditional anchor in services that may include films, skits, or group discussions of a biblical topic.
More Hebrew. The return to traditional forms and practices is occurring not only in the big tent of Christianity. In Judaism, too, in addition to a small but detectable surge in the Orthodox denomination, the most observant branch of the faith, even the moderate Conservative and the progressive Reform denominations are shifting toward the older ways, including the use of more Hebrew in the services or stricter observance of the Halakha (Jewish law). Many young adults who are joining the Jewish equivalent of the Christian emergent communities, the independent minyanim (plural of minyan, the quorum required for communal worship), are drawn in part by the commitment to traditional liturgical practices and observances. Reform may still be the largest Jewish denomination in America, but much of the faith's vitality is devoted to recapturing those traditions that modernizers dismissed as relics.
The state of traditionalism in Islam is more difficult to capture. On one hand, more young Muslims are embracing outward symbols of their devotion—women wearing head scarves, men growing beards. Many are also more observant of the duties of the faith, whether saying the five daily prayers or fasting during Ramadan. But it is hard to say whether all of this signals a return to traditional Islam or the embrace of a highly puritanical reformist Islam associated with Wahhabi and Salafist teachings—teachings that many Islamic scholars find contrary to the deeper traditions of the faith. Indeed, Ali Gomaa, the grand mufti of Egypt, and some Islamic scholars in America argue that an informed understanding of sharia (Islamic law) is the best antidote to extremism and fundamentalism. The uncertainty, of course, is whether their views will find a wider following among contemporary Muslims.
Read the rest here
Friday, August 31, 2007
There is an oft repeated bit of data that the derivation of the term "Faggot" for gay men derives from the practice of throwing homosexuals on the pyres of witches/heretics. The problem is that, when I was researching the views on sexuality in the middle ages I couldn't actually find a reference to it in the scholarly literature. When I was combing through the inquisitional documents from the time period I also couldn't find a single reference. Same for the chronicles. None of these documents hesitated to mention any number of other practices, but this one was no where to be seen. Indeed, the uses in Europe tend that "faggot" and its cognates tend to mean "cigarette" or the more obscure use of a unit of measurement. The fact that the main root of American English (British English) has no reference to sexuality for the term is telling. The OED points out that use for a gay man is American in derivation, which is also quite telling.
Digging around I found that the derivation is kind of weird. The use of the term for a person meant "indigent old woman" and was a contraction of "faggot gatherer' (i.e.: a person who made money gathering wood).Probably the derivation of the term is from there. The source of the Urban Legend comes from a rather poorly written and researched book entitled Another Mother Tongue by Judy Grahn. <
Digging around I found that the derivation is kind of weird. The use of the term for a person meant "indigent old woman" and was a contraction of "faggot gatherer' (i.e.: a person who made money gathering wood).Probably the derivation of the term is from there. The source of the Urban Legend comes from a rather poorly written and researched book entitled Another Mother Tongue by Judy Grahn. <
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
From the NYT:
August 29, 2007 Op-Ed Contributor
A Saint’s Dark Night
By JAMES MARTIN
THE stunning revelations contained in a new book, which show that Mother Teresa doubted God’s existence, will delight her detractors and confuse her admirers. Or is it the other way around? The private journals and letters of the woman now known as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta will be released next month as “Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light,” and some excerpts have been published in Time magazine. The pious title of the book, however, is misleading. Most of its pages reveal not the serene meditations of a Catholic sister confident in her belief, but the agonized words of a person confronting a terrifying period of darkness that lasted for decades.
“In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of loss,” she wrote in 1959, “of God not wanting me — of God not being God — of God not existing.” According to the book, this inner turmoil, known by only a handful of her closest colleagues, lasted until her death in 1997. Gleeful detractors may point to this as yet another example of the hypocrisy of organized religion. The woman widely known in her lifetime as a “living saint” apparently didn’t even believe in God. It was not always so. In 1946, Mother Teresa, then 36, was hard at work in a girls school in Calcutta when she fell ill. On a train ride en route to some rest in Darjeeling, she had heard what she would later call a “voice” asking her to work with the poorest of the poor, and experienced a profound sense of God’s presence. A few years later, however, after founding the Missionaries of Charity and beginning her work with the poor, darkness descended on her inner life. In 1957, she wrote to the archbishop of Calcutta about her struggles, saying, “I find no words to express the depths of the darkness.” But to conclude that Mother Teresa was a crypto-atheist is to misread both the woman and the experience that she was forced to undergo. Even the most sophisticated believers sometimes believe that the saints enjoyed a stress-free spiritual life — suffering little personal doubt. For many saints this is accurate: St. Francis de Sales, the 17th-century author of “An Introduction to the Devout Life,” said that he never went more than 15 minutes without being aware of God’s presence. Yet the opposite experience is so common it even has a name. St. John of the Cross, the Spanish mystic, labeled it the “dark night,” the time when a person feels completely abandoned by God, and which can lead even ardent believers to doubt God’s existence.
During her final illness, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the 19th-century French Carmelite nun who is now widely revered as “The Little Flower,” faced a similar trial, which seemed to center on doubts about whether anything awaited her after death. “If you only knew what darkness I am plunged into,” she said to the sisters in her convent. But Mother Teresa’s “dark night” was of a different magnitude, lasting for decades. It is almost unparalleled in the lives of the saints. In time, with the aid of the priest who acted as her spiritual director, Mother Teresa concluded that these painful experiences could help her identify not only with the abandonment that Jesus Christ felt during the crucifixion, but also with the abandonment that the poor faced daily. In this way she hoped to enter, in her words, the “dark holes” of the lives of the people with whom she worked. Paradoxically, then, Mother Teresa’s doubt may have contributed to the efficacy of one of the more notable faith-based initiatives of the last century. Few of us, even the most devout believers, are willing to leave everything behind to serve the poor. Consequently, Mother Teresa’s work can seem far removed from our daily lives. Yet in its relentless and even obsessive questioning, her life intersects with that of the modern atheist and agnostic. “If I ever become a saint,” she wrote, “I will surely be one of ‘darkness.’ ” Mother Teresa’s ministry with the poor won her the Nobel Prize and the admiration of a believing world. Her ministry to a doubting modern world may have just begun.
James Martin is a Jesuit priest and the author of “My Life With the Saints.”
August 29, 2007 Op-Ed Contributor
A Saint’s Dark Night
By JAMES MARTIN
THE stunning revelations contained in a new book, which show that Mother Teresa doubted God’s existence, will delight her detractors and confuse her admirers. Or is it the other way around? The private journals and letters of the woman now known as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta will be released next month as “Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light,” and some excerpts have been published in Time magazine. The pious title of the book, however, is misleading. Most of its pages reveal not the serene meditations of a Catholic sister confident in her belief, but the agonized words of a person confronting a terrifying period of darkness that lasted for decades.
“In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of loss,” she wrote in 1959, “of God not wanting me — of God not being God — of God not existing.” According to the book, this inner turmoil, known by only a handful of her closest colleagues, lasted until her death in 1997. Gleeful detractors may point to this as yet another example of the hypocrisy of organized religion. The woman widely known in her lifetime as a “living saint” apparently didn’t even believe in God. It was not always so. In 1946, Mother Teresa, then 36, was hard at work in a girls school in Calcutta when she fell ill. On a train ride en route to some rest in Darjeeling, she had heard what she would later call a “voice” asking her to work with the poorest of the poor, and experienced a profound sense of God’s presence. A few years later, however, after founding the Missionaries of Charity and beginning her work with the poor, darkness descended on her inner life. In 1957, she wrote to the archbishop of Calcutta about her struggles, saying, “I find no words to express the depths of the darkness.” But to conclude that Mother Teresa was a crypto-atheist is to misread both the woman and the experience that she was forced to undergo. Even the most sophisticated believers sometimes believe that the saints enjoyed a stress-free spiritual life — suffering little personal doubt. For many saints this is accurate: St. Francis de Sales, the 17th-century author of “An Introduction to the Devout Life,” said that he never went more than 15 minutes without being aware of God’s presence. Yet the opposite experience is so common it even has a name. St. John of the Cross, the Spanish mystic, labeled it the “dark night,” the time when a person feels completely abandoned by God, and which can lead even ardent believers to doubt God’s existence.
During her final illness, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the 19th-century French Carmelite nun who is now widely revered as “The Little Flower,” faced a similar trial, which seemed to center on doubts about whether anything awaited her after death. “If you only knew what darkness I am plunged into,” she said to the sisters in her convent. But Mother Teresa’s “dark night” was of a different magnitude, lasting for decades. It is almost unparalleled in the lives of the saints. In time, with the aid of the priest who acted as her spiritual director, Mother Teresa concluded that these painful experiences could help her identify not only with the abandonment that Jesus Christ felt during the crucifixion, but also with the abandonment that the poor faced daily. In this way she hoped to enter, in her words, the “dark holes” of the lives of the people with whom she worked. Paradoxically, then, Mother Teresa’s doubt may have contributed to the efficacy of one of the more notable faith-based initiatives of the last century. Few of us, even the most devout believers, are willing to leave everything behind to serve the poor. Consequently, Mother Teresa’s work can seem far removed from our daily lives. Yet in its relentless and even obsessive questioning, her life intersects with that of the modern atheist and agnostic. “If I ever become a saint,” she wrote, “I will surely be one of ‘darkness.’ ” Mother Teresa’s ministry with the poor won her the Nobel Prize and the admiration of a believing world. Her ministry to a doubting modern world may have just begun.
James Martin is a Jesuit priest and the author of “My Life With the Saints.”
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
WEEEEE!
Five nominees for the 12th Bishop of Chicago were received from the Bishop Search Committee and announced Aug. 28, 2007 by the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago’s governing body, the Standing Committee, subject to completion of background checks:
The Rev. Jane S. Gould, Priest-in-Charge / Rector, St. Stephen’s Memorial Episcopal Church, Lynn, Mass.
The Rev. Jeffrey D. Lee, Rector, St. Thomas Church, Medina, Wash.
The Very Rev. Tracey Lind, Dean, Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio
The Rev. Margaret R. Rose, Director of Women's Ministries, The Episcopal Church
The Rev. Timothy B. Safford, Rector, Christ Church, Philadelphia
Additional candidates can be nominated through a petition process overseen by the Standing Committee. Information about that process is available online at http://www.bishopforchicago.org.
And there we are. Trust the Diocies that gave us +Frank Grizwald to now ratchet up the stress right befor the House of Bishops meeting. If the color above was unclear, the following will make it obvious:
August 28, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Integrity Responds to List of Candidates for Bishop of Chicago“The big news today is that discernment has trumped discrimination in the Diocese of Chicago,” said Integrity President Susan Russell. “The inclusion of the Very Rev. Tracey Lind on the list of five extraordinarily qualified candidates for Bishop of Chicago is a bold step forward and a sign of hope and encouragement not only to LGBT Episcopalians but to the whole church. Her experience and leadership make her an excellent candidate and Integrity applauds the Diocese of Chicago for not allowing the forces advocating bigotry over ability to dominate their nomination process.It is long past time for the Episcopal Church to acknowledge that B033 -- the 2006 resolution designed to prevent the election of a gay or lesbian bishop – has failed in its attempt to balance the unity of the Anglican Communion on the backs of the LGBT faithful. There is no turning back on the full inclusion of the baptized into the Body of Christ – only moving forward into God’s future as an Episcopal Church committed to mission and ministry, to unity in diversity.Integrity extends congratulations to all the candidates, any one of whom will make a fine bishop for the Episcopal Church. The Diocese of Chicago’s diverse list of qualified candidates is a sign of the end the ‘season of fasting’ at the expense of the vocations of gays and lesbians in the Episcopal Church and the whole church should rejoice and be glad in that!”
What this means is that the HOB meeting in New Orleans will be even less fruitful as the tension will be made more and more palpable. This is only going to put everybody on the defensive, except for the network and So-called "Windsor bishops," this will put them on the attack. Once again, we have handed weapons to the enemy and God knows they are going to use them.
Before anyone gets all righteous and starts talking about “justice” and “doing the right thing” let me just say that there is doing the right thing, and doing it for the wrong reasons. I cannot help but think that this is a deliberate act of Boomer style defiance. Instead of pausing to think, they have handed righteous indignation to further cloud the meeting. This serves no matter what we may think of the Dean as a candidate, her going forward in the process is an irresponsible act that will make more trouble. We must thank Chicago for showing us how to do the right thing for the wrong reasons and at the wrong time.
Five nominees for the 12th Bishop of Chicago were received from the Bishop Search Committee and announced Aug. 28, 2007 by the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago’s governing body, the Standing Committee, subject to completion of background checks:
The Rev. Jane S. Gould, Priest-in-Charge / Rector, St. Stephen’s Memorial Episcopal Church, Lynn, Mass.
The Rev. Jeffrey D. Lee, Rector, St. Thomas Church, Medina, Wash.
The Very Rev. Tracey Lind, Dean, Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio
The Rev. Margaret R. Rose, Director of Women's Ministries, The Episcopal Church
The Rev. Timothy B. Safford, Rector, Christ Church, Philadelphia
Additional candidates can be nominated through a petition process overseen by the Standing Committee. Information about that process is available online at http://www.bishopforchicago.org.
And there we are. Trust the Diocies that gave us +Frank Grizwald to now ratchet up the stress right befor the House of Bishops meeting. If the color above was unclear, the following will make it obvious:
August 28, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Integrity Responds to List of Candidates for Bishop of Chicago“The big news today is that discernment has trumped discrimination in the Diocese of Chicago,” said Integrity President Susan Russell. “The inclusion of the Very Rev. Tracey Lind on the list of five extraordinarily qualified candidates for Bishop of Chicago is a bold step forward and a sign of hope and encouragement not only to LGBT Episcopalians but to the whole church. Her experience and leadership make her an excellent candidate and Integrity applauds the Diocese of Chicago for not allowing the forces advocating bigotry over ability to dominate their nomination process.It is long past time for the Episcopal Church to acknowledge that B033 -- the 2006 resolution designed to prevent the election of a gay or lesbian bishop – has failed in its attempt to balance the unity of the Anglican Communion on the backs of the LGBT faithful. There is no turning back on the full inclusion of the baptized into the Body of Christ – only moving forward into God’s future as an Episcopal Church committed to mission and ministry, to unity in diversity.Integrity extends congratulations to all the candidates, any one of whom will make a fine bishop for the Episcopal Church. The Diocese of Chicago’s diverse list of qualified candidates is a sign of the end the ‘season of fasting’ at the expense of the vocations of gays and lesbians in the Episcopal Church and the whole church should rejoice and be glad in that!”
What this means is that the HOB meeting in New Orleans will be even less fruitful as the tension will be made more and more palpable. This is only going to put everybody on the defensive, except for the network and So-called "Windsor bishops," this will put them on the attack. Once again, we have handed weapons to the enemy and God knows they are going to use them.
Before anyone gets all righteous and starts talking about “justice” and “doing the right thing” let me just say that there is doing the right thing, and doing it for the wrong reasons. I cannot help but think that this is a deliberate act of Boomer style defiance. Instead of pausing to think, they have handed righteous indignation to further cloud the meeting. This serves no matter what we may think of the Dean as a candidate, her going forward in the process is an irresponsible act that will make more trouble. We must thank Chicago for showing us how to do the right thing for the wrong reasons and at the wrong time.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
If one were to wander over to Ft Viagra today or to David Virtue’s site you’ll find out that the Arch Bishop of York has told off the African Bishops and their compatriots. Rather than accept the admonition, and take time to remove the log from their on eyes, they have lashed back. They’ve started up their normal chant of “Heretic, apostate” and are repeating all of their talking points. I’ve noticed that the keener the cut is, the more shrill their little litany of complaints, accusations and recriminations gets. They’ve now turned on Sentamu. During the GC in Columbus last year he was the darling of the Donatist, neo-puritan set. Now he’s been cast into the fire. They are lashing around blindly, and pulling all of their big rhetorical guns out. Some have even dug up the misquote of the Presiding Bishops speech where she quotes Dame Julian of Norwich.
The hyperbole and confusion of terms is not all that surprising. I mean these are people, from the comments that I scanned, reject mystical theology and the idea that the Fathers had no issues with connecting Jesus with the feminine Hokmah/Sophia of Ecclesiastes.
The widening declarations are paralleled by the Arian and Donatist movements from the early centuries of the Church. So certain were they of their correctness that they flailed about with all kinds of colorful phrases against the orthodox. As they slide down further into their particular combination of the two (a few of the commenters, in their insistence of male only language, damages their connection to the way the Fathers showed the preexistence of the Son – and well, I’m on the record about the rampant Donatism).
None of this is surprising simply because they started on such shaky ground to begin with. As their fantasy world begins to fade they will feel the need to lash out in increasingly strong, and imprecise, language to stave off fear and to help cement group identity.
As a side note, I think that the “reaserters/reappraisers” terms are far too limited. Kendall+ was trying to neaten up the conversation, which is admirable, but it places far to many controls on the conversation. It lumps far to many disparate theological visions into two, artificial camps. It also ignores, to all our peril, the large group who don’t care to much. I had one elderly lady in my parish say, ruefully, “When can we get back to being Church? When can we all share the joy again?” She’s tired, and worn by it all, and I think we all are. We’re being worn down and the danger of it all is that we will all share in the anger and hate.
The hyperbole and confusion of terms is not all that surprising. I mean these are people, from the comments that I scanned, reject mystical theology and the idea that the Fathers had no issues with connecting Jesus with the feminine Hokmah/Sophia of Ecclesiastes.
The widening declarations are paralleled by the Arian and Donatist movements from the early centuries of the Church. So certain were they of their correctness that they flailed about with all kinds of colorful phrases against the orthodox. As they slide down further into their particular combination of the two (a few of the commenters, in their insistence of male only language, damages their connection to the way the Fathers showed the preexistence of the Son – and well, I’m on the record about the rampant Donatism).
None of this is surprising simply because they started on such shaky ground to begin with. As their fantasy world begins to fade they will feel the need to lash out in increasingly strong, and imprecise, language to stave off fear and to help cement group identity.
As a side note, I think that the “reaserters/reappraisers” terms are far too limited. Kendall+ was trying to neaten up the conversation, which is admirable, but it places far to many controls on the conversation. It lumps far to many disparate theological visions into two, artificial camps. It also ignores, to all our peril, the large group who don’t care to much. I had one elderly lady in my parish say, ruefully, “When can we get back to being Church? When can we all share the joy again?” She’s tired, and worn by it all, and I think we all are. We’re being worn down and the danger of it all is that we will all share in the anger and hate.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
As a note to the following:
There is a custom that a Diocesan Bishop signs his or her name in the following fashion:
+Robert Maryland, or +Irish Utah
The Bishop of Pittsburgh, the Right Reverend Robert Duncan, would be:
+Robert Pittsburgh.
Yesterday I was feeling lazy and typed in +Bob.
It then occurred to me that we call our Bishop “Plus Bob” every so often.
That lead me to note that “Plus Bob Pittsburgh” fit the meter of a song many of us know. As such, I give you the following:
Who Lives in a See City that Starts with a “P?”
Plus Bob Pittsburgh!
Abhorring, Dogmatic and Censorious is he!
Plus Bob Pittsburgh!
If ecclesial nonsense is something you wish,
Plus Bob Pittsburgh!
then watch his Vicarage go and dehisce!
Plus Bob Pittsburgh! (X3)
Plus Bob Pittsburgh!
There is a custom that a Diocesan Bishop signs his or her name in the following fashion:
+Robert Maryland, or +Irish Utah
The Bishop of Pittsburgh, the Right Reverend Robert Duncan, would be:
+Robert Pittsburgh.
Yesterday I was feeling lazy and typed in +Bob.
It then occurred to me that we call our Bishop “Plus Bob” every so often.
That lead me to note that “Plus Bob Pittsburgh” fit the meter of a song many of us know. As such, I give you the following:
Who Lives in a See City that Starts with a “P?”
Plus Bob Pittsburgh!
Abhorring, Dogmatic and Censorious is he!
Plus Bob Pittsburgh!
If ecclesial nonsense is something you wish,
Plus Bob Pittsburgh!
then watch his Vicarage go and dehisce!
Plus Bob Pittsburgh! (X3)
Plus Bob Pittsburgh!
Monday, February 12, 2007
From the Reverend Father Andrew Gren's blog.
An Excerpt:
Read the rest of it. His treatment of N.T. Wright for his interview with Ruth Gledhill, the Anne Coulter of religion, is priceless. Lets face it, the man may be a brilliant New Testament scholar but The Right Reverend, The Honorable Nicholas Thomas Wright, Prince Bishop of Durham not only suffers from the peculiar blood poisoning found amongst those who wear funny purple shirts but apparently has yet to find a miter big enough for his head. The tittle probably dosen't help engender a Christ like sense of humility either.
The Nigerians, feeling ever so helpful, have gone and had a special session of their Synod. They resolve, in part:
I DO hope that, when all of this sad sham ends, some one pulls ol' +++Rowan aside and says "see what you get for caving into bullies?"
An Excerpt:
"Some of the Primates say they won't sit in the same room with other Primates and so, as a result, at a meeting of the Anglican Communion there will not be a Holy Communion so that Communion members won't be in the position of ex-communicating themselves or one another from the Communion during Communion.
There is talk of a massive protest by members of the mothers union of Tanzania. They are protesting because somehow the relationship of a bishop and his partner in New Hampshire, not to mention that couple sitting quietly in pew #32 last Sunday is, as we speak, undermining the fabric of the institution of marriage in Tanzania.
Just think. Our Primate and Presiding Bishop will have face all this, as if the pressure of being the first woman primate weren't enough. She has been called everything from a heretic to an apostate to a blasphemer. So if they don't talk to her, it certainly won't be because she's a woman, which is such a relief."
Read the rest of it. His treatment of N.T. Wright for his interview with Ruth Gledhill, the Anne Coulter of religion, is priceless. Lets face it, the man may be a brilliant New Testament scholar but The Right Reverend, The Honorable Nicholas Thomas Wright, Prince Bishop of Durham not only suffers from the peculiar blood poisoning found amongst those who wear funny purple shirts but apparently has yet to find a miter big enough for his head. The tittle probably dosen't help engender a Christ like sense of humility either.
The Nigerians, feeling ever so helpful, have gone and had a special session of their Synod. They resolve, in part:
The Synod welcomed the report from the Bishop of CANA (Convocation of Anglicans in North America) and the increasing number of congregations and clergy who are now part of this important missionary initiative of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). We welcome them as full and constituent members of our Anglican Communion family. We rejoice in their faithful witness during these turbulent times. We are saddened to hear that the profound division in the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia has now led to the unholy situation where an Episcopal Bishop has initiated costly legal action against churches whose only offence is seeking to remain true to the “faith once for all delivered to the saints.” We assure them that we stand with them and will continue to uphold them with our prayers.How nice of them to embrace the Virginia Schismatics as "full and constituent" members of the Communion when +++Rowan has called them "unhelpful." While "unhelpful" may sound a bit tame, in Rowan speak, it's the equivalent of a temper tantrum.
They go on to laud the Most Reverend "I'm so humble it embarrasses people" Peter ++Abuja:
All of this in in the same vein that the so-called Global South Primates are going to try and take over the meeting.Aparently, they are all for authoritarian behaviour when it's THEIR authority. Seriously boys and girls, these are guys with some sevier issues with authority. The Nigerians now say that THEY, and they alone, define the Anglican Communion. The fact that this little amendment to their Constitution was forced through at the same, specal meeting the other two quoted resolutions were passed, I think points to just how they want this to go down. ++Akinola will declare that ++Katherine has cooties, and so he won't be able to sit down with her. The other GS types will also leave, in support of their leader. This will leave +++Rowan up the proverbial creek. What happens next will be in the Bearded One's pontifical lap.
On a side note, the meeting took place in the State of Sokoto in Northern Nigeria. The warm welcome of the delegates by Sultan Muhammadu Saad Abubakar III seems to shed some light onto the "We're defending ourselves against mob's of angry muslims who hate us more because of the gay thing." Namely, it dosen't seem to quite jive all the way. Also, rumor has it that Bishop Duncan, this time attending the Primates meeting officially and not under the cover of vacationing, has let it slip that he's expecting a "realignment" to be the de facto result of the maneuverings in Dar Es Salaam. He's then going to force those Loyal to TEC out of their buildings, completing the acts of theft committed by the IRD. He may have to then explain himself to a Federal Judge, but details, details.
The Synod notes with great delight the visionary, purposeful and dedicated leadership given by our Primate, the Most Reverend Peter J. Akinola. Worthy of special note is his unflinching resolve to uphold the authority of the Word of God against onslaughts from modern apostles of false doctrines. The Synod assures him of our prayers and enthusiastic support.They also voted to comend the Archbishop's dress sense and to condem the use of croped trousers at this years men's fasion shows in Milan. They then all got up and sang "I'm a Little Tea Pot" at the "request" of their beloved Primate.
All of this in in the same vein that the so-called Global South Primates are going to try and take over the meeting.Aparently, they are all for authoritarian behaviour when it's THEIR authority. Seriously boys and girls, these are guys with some sevier issues with authority. The Nigerians now say that THEY, and they alone, define the Anglican Communion. The fact that this little amendment to their Constitution was forced through at the same, specal meeting the other two quoted resolutions were passed, I think points to just how they want this to go down. ++Akinola will declare that ++Katherine has cooties, and so he won't be able to sit down with her. The other GS types will also leave, in support of their leader. This will leave +++Rowan up the proverbial creek. What happens next will be in the Bearded One's pontifical lap.
On a side note, the meeting took place in the State of Sokoto in Northern Nigeria. The warm welcome of the delegates by Sultan Muhammadu Saad Abubakar III seems to shed some light onto the "We're defending ourselves against mob's of angry muslims who hate us more because of the gay thing." Namely, it dosen't seem to quite jive all the way. Also, rumor has it that Bishop Duncan, this time attending the Primates meeting officially and not under the cover of vacationing, has let it slip that he's expecting a "realignment" to be the de facto result of the maneuverings in Dar Es Salaam. He's then going to force those Loyal to TEC out of their buildings, completing the acts of theft committed by the IRD. He may have to then explain himself to a Federal Judge, but details, details.
I DO hope that, when all of this sad sham ends, some one pulls ol' +++Rowan aside and says "see what you get for caving into bullies?"
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