Leading conservative clergy have declared their support for a motion at this week's General Synod which would ally the Church with the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).

This was formed in opposition to the consecration of Gene Robinson, the first openly homosexual bishop, and the actions of liberals in the Episcopal Church of the US, which is the official Anglican body.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained

And...the unemployment rate fell 0.3% to 9.7%. This of course means that more people are dropping out of the labor pool, and it also means they will at some point come back.

On the negative side, a loss of 22,000 jobs is nowhere close to the 100,000 new jobs that are needed just to hold unemployment steady. 41% of those unemployed have been so for over 6 months.

And quoting David Rosenberg:

“While there will be many economists touting today’s report as some inflection point, and it could well be argued that we are entering some sort of healing phase in the jobs market just by mere virtue of inertia, the reality is that the level of employment today, at 129.5 million, is the exact same level it was in 1999. And, during this 11-year span of Japanese-like labour market stagnation, the working-age population has risen 29 million. Contemplate that for a moment; fully 29 million people competing for the same number of jobs that existed more than a decade ago. That sounds like pretty deflationary stuff from our standpoint.

“Not only that, but consideration must be taken that in 2009, we had a zero policy rate, a $2.2 trillion Fed balance sheet and an epic 10% deficit-to-GDP ratio. You could not have asked for more government stimulus. Yet employment tumbled nearly 5 million in 2009.”

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Globalization • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • * International News & Commentary • Europe • Greece

Here’s a sign of the times: when Jenny Sanford sat down to tell her young sons that their father, Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, was having an affair, one of them reacted in an unusually worldly way.

“Oh my gosh,” exclaimed 13-year-old Bolton Sanford. “This is going to be worse than Eliot Spitzer.”

--Janet Maslin in her book review in this past Thursday's NY Times

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Marriage & Family • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * South Carolina • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

There are a total of 20 pictures--look at them all (slideshow link to the right once you get there).

Filed under: * General Interest • Animals

You really need to take the time to listen to it all (just over 65 minutes).

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • * Culture-Watch • History • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Presbyterian • * Theology • Anthropology • Theology: Scripture

[Reinhold] Niebuhr is getting attention again because he has a fan in the Oval Office.

In a widely cited New York Times column, President Obama called Niebuhr his "favorite philosopher." But how precisely has Niebuhr's philosophy influenced Obama and his handling of everything from health care reform to fighting terrorists?

The answer may be seen by looking at Obama's first year in office, several scholars, and a relative of Niebuhr's, suggest.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • Office of the President • President Barack Obama • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

Among other attributes, she or he must have found grace in personal failure, an experience that can make one a better leader, Tendick says. "We're hoping the applicants have dealt with failure in a way that has helped them to grow and learn."

One's response to failure also can be a barometer of humility, which undergirds many of the other attributes Episcopalians are looking for in a leader, he says.

Among those listed are: a love for sharing the story of Jesus Christ and embracing the guidance

of the Holy Spirit; compassion; integrity; communication skills; welcoming of diversity; experience with rural and remote populations; and a willingness to learn about Western and LDS cultures.

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Update: According to National Church statistics, the Average Sunday Attendance of the Diocese of Utah has gone from 1,924 in 1998 to 1,612 in 2008, a decline of 16%.

Another update: The U.S. Census calculates that Utah had a population of 2,233,169 in 2000 and as of 2009 now has 2,784,572, a growth of 24.69%.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops

Check it out.

Average Sunday Attendance has gone from 7,224 in 1998 to 6,428 in 2008, a decline of some 11%.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • TEC Data • TEC Diocesan Conventions

We have a system of funding the ministry of our diocese that is, in my judgment, broken. It is a system that can, and I stress the word can here, lead to resentment and distrust. We have an “asking” that is graduated based on the size of a parish’s budget. So some allegedly contribute a lower or higher percentage than others based on their respective size. I say “allegedly,” because not every congregation meets its full asking. So, the percentages do not mean that much except to potentially create resentment. I know what clergy do. I have sat in those chairs like you for 26 years. You get the convention report and you know where your parish stands, so you check to see where the other guys are. And if your parish has met its full asking and some other parish has not, you are resentful. It is hard not to be.

And often the larger parishes resent the fact that they contribute a higher percentage than the smaller ones do. And since there are no consequences for not contributing what you are asked, the system is set up to be fundamentally distrustful. A few years ago some leaders of the Diocese improved the formula and it is definitely better now. But that improvement did not fundamentally address the brokenness of the system.

My friends, we must create a system that makes sense and is fair to all. It has to be a system that requires a sacrifice from all of us for the good of the Body. It has to be a system that is not onerous in its percentage. It has to be a system with mutual accountability. It has to be a system that leaves no room for resentment and mistrust.

If we do not address this soon, we will not have the resources to fund diocesan ministries. Ministries we need in order to be a healthy, growing diocese.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Stewardship

Through his half-hour speech at the DeSoto Savannah Hilton, [Bishop Scott] Benhase set ministerial goals and addressed the diocese's financial struggles.

Revenue in 2010 was expected to decline 4 percent, mostly due to a smaller carry-forward from the previous year, according to a financial report posted on the diocese's Web site.

The budget showed tithing - described as "pledges"- remained about the same.

"Some of the financial challenges we face are due to the larger economic recession in which this country still suffers," he said.

But some problems preceded the recession, he said.

"It's been there much longer. We've been drawing on past financial reserves to fund current ministry. This must stop."

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Evangelism and Church Growth • Stewardship • * Theology • Seminary / Theological Education

Antje Newby went back to work in September, but she has still not escaped the burden imposed by nine months of unemployment.

Mrs. Newby and her husband were forced to walk away from their home in suburban Detroit and are now living here in a rented house with their three children. They are bracing for a huge tax bill in the spring because of early withdrawals they made on her 401(k) and taxes they still owe on unemployment benefits. Their credit is in tatters, and their 16-year marriage showed cracks they are still trying to repair.

“We’re not done living through the fallout of all of that,” Mrs. Newby said, four months into her new job as an account director of an advertising agency here.

The wound of unemployment, as her family has learned, is not cauterized so quickly, and lives do not simply go back to the way they were.

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Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--

The US economy is in a mess – even if growth has resumed, and bankers are once again receiving huge bonuses. More than one out of six Americans who would like a full-time job cannot get one; and 40% of the unemployed have been out of a job for more than six months.

As Europe learned long ago, hardship increases with the length of unemployment, as job skills and prospects deteriorate and savings gets wiped out. The 2.5-3.5 million foreclosures expected this year will exceed those of 2009, and the year began with what is expected to be the first of many large commercial real-estate bankruptcies. Even the Congressional Budget Office is predicting that it will be the middle of the decade before unemployment returns to more normal levels, as America experiences its own version of “Japanese malaise....”

Three things can make a difference: a second stimulus, stemming the tide of housing foreclosures by addressing the roughly 25% of mortgages that are worth more than the value the house, and reshaping our financial system to rein in the banks.

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Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • The 2009 Obama Administration Bank Bailout Plan • The 2009 Obama Administration Housing Amelioration Plan • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • The Fiscal Stimulus Package of 2009 • The September 2008 Proposed Henry Paulson 700 Billion Bailout Package • The U.S. Government • Budget • The National Deficit • Politics in General • House of Representatives • Office of the President • President Barack Obama • Senate

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is affirming that the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church stand together on many current social issues.

The Russian Orthodox leader stated this Tuesday while addressing a bishops' meeting of his Church in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral, Interfax reported.

He observed: "We [together with the Roman Catholic Church] have similar positions on many problems facing Christians in the modern world. They include aggressive secularization, globalization, and the erosion of the traditional moral principles.

"It should be noted that on these issues Pope Benedict XVI has taken a stance close to the Orthodox one."

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Filed under: * Religion News & Commentary • Ecumenical Relations • Other Churches • Orthodox Church • Roman Catholic

...the cardinal did not fail to point out that the modern relationship between secularism and Christianity serves a needed purpose for the purification and maturation of Christianity: "Christianity also needs the critical voice of secular Europe, asking hard questions, sometimes nasty questions, questions we should not try to escape or avoid.

"It does Christianity good to listen to the questions of secular society and be challenged to answer them. It wakes the Christians up and challenges them. It questions Christianity's credibility. And Christianity needs to be questioned.

"It is good for us to be held accountable."

He explained that the critical questioning of the secular world presses Christianity to become what it is called to be, and helps to purify what is incoherent between its words and deeds. "And why?" he asked. "Because deep down, the secular West longs for an authentic Christianity, and hopes for a Christianity that is credible through its life."

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Europe • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Other Faiths • Secularism

Attacks on Jews in the UK reached record levels in 2009, according to figures compiled within the community.

The Community Security Trust (CST) said it had recorded 924 incidents over the year, 55% more than the previous high of 598 incidents in 2006.

The organisation, which monitors incidents against Jewish people and organisations, said the rise was linked to last year's Gaza conflict.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown described the figures as "deeply troubling".

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Violence • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Judaism

A Virginia inmate claims in a lawsuit that prison officials violated his right to exercise his religious beliefs when they refused to let him order a sermon on compact disc.

The Rutherford Institute filed the lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of Kyle Mabe, who is challenging a Virginia Department of Corrections directive allowing inmates to receive music CDs but not spoken-word CDs. No hearing has been scheduled yet in U.S. District Court in Norfolk.

Larry Traylor, a spokesman for the prison system, said he was not aware of the lawsuit and that he cannot comment on pending litigation. He was also unable to immediately explain the rationale for the department's CD policy.

According to the lawsuit, Mabe tried to order a CD with a Christian sermon titled "Life Without a Cross" from Still Waters Ministries of Kentucky while he was an inmate at St. Brides Correctional Center in Chesapeake last September. He says the sermon was not available in written form.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Prison/Prison Ministry • Religion & Culture

So what is the general synod?

The national assembly of the Church of England - in effect its parliament. Established in 1970, it replaced the Church Assembly and continues a tradition of synodical government dating from medieval times.

Is there anything unusual about it?

It is the only body with powers delegated from parliament to pass so-called "measures" which are incorporated into English law. They have the full force and effect of an act of parliament and can apply to any Church-related matter. The arrangement exists because the Church of England is the "established" or state Church.

How does the process work?

MPs and peers can vote to agree or reject a measure, but cannot amend it. Once agreed by both houses of parliament, it goes for Royal Assent and becomes law.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE)