A.S. Haley—Tiptoeing Through the Tulips: Lack of Oversight for ECUSA’s Lawsuit Expenses
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Frank Kirkpatrick, professor of religion at Trinity College, wrote in a survey article in 2008 that "there were, as of December [2007], 55 [Episcopal Church] property disputes in one state or another of resolution around the country." (You may find a listing of those lawsuits in this post from August 2008, and see also the latest report from the American Anglican Council.) Of those fifty-five lawsuits, I estimate that ECUSA itself was a party to about half of them. Thus from the five lawsuits to which it was a party as Bishop Griswold ended his term in November 2006 (the Pawley's Island case in South Carolina, the three Los Angeles lawsuits, and a case involving St. James Church in Elmhurst, in the Diocese of Long Island), the number increased by five times in the first full year of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's term.

Under Bishop Jefferts Schori, ECUSA did not just passively stand by as the property disputes emerged, and allow the diocese involved to carry the laboring oar. It aggressively prosecuted the cases in both California and Virginia, joined in filings in Connecticut, Georgia and New York (where it intervened as the DFMS against St. Andrew's, in Syracuse, and filed an amicus brief in this case in New York's highest court), became enmeshed in additional litigation in San Diego and Colorado, and threatened litigation against the dioceses of San Joaquin, Fort Worth and Quincy if they dared to withdraw from the Church. (The latter two threats were issued by the Presiding Bishop's Chancellor on his own initiative, as discussed in this earlier post.)

There are no records in the minutes of the Executive Council during this period to show that it was ever consulted before any of these multiple filings in the name of the Church took place; as quoted in the previous post, the Presiding Bishop held the view that only she personally, and neither the Council, nor even General Convention, had any authority over litigation. Thus she simply gave her Chancellor free rein -- and ECUSA's legal bills began to mount exponentially.

Read it all (and please note it is part of a series all parts of which need to be perused).

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori • TEC Bishops • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts-Quincy • TEC Conflicts: Fort Worth • TEC Conflicts: Pittsburgh • TEC Conflicts: San Joaquin • TEC Departing Parishes • TEC Data • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Stewardship • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

September 2, 2010 at 7:00 am - 13 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

A (Little) More on Today’s Diocese of South Carolina Clergy Day
Posted by Kendall Harmon

From here:

Bishop Lawrence has called for a meeting of all parochial clergy of the diocese who have seat, voice and vote at the Convention for Thursday, September 2, 2010. The meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m. at St. Paul's in Summerville. In preparation for the meeting clergy are asked to review a copy of the Title IV canon changes passed at the last General Convention. This will be central to tomorrow's discussions. View the document. Clergy are encouraged to bring a printed copy of the document with them to the meeting.



Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009 • TEC Bishops • TEC Parishes • TEC Polity & Canons • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * South Carolina

September 2, 2010 at 6:47 am - 3 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

A Prayer for the Feast Day of Martyrs of New Guinea
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Almighty God, we remember before thee this day the blessed martyrs of New Guinea, who, following the example of their Savior, laid down their lives for their friends; and we pray thee that we, who honor their memory, may imitate their loyalty and faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Spirituality/Prayer

September 2, 2010 at 4:27 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

A Thanksgiving Prayer to Begin the Day
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Glory be to God in the highest, the Creator and Lord of heaven and earth, the preserver of all things, the Father of mercies, who so loved mankind as to send his only begotten Son into the world, to redeem us from sin and misery, and to obtain for us everlasting life. Accept, O gracious God, our praise and thanksgiving for thine infinite mercies towards us; and teach us to love thee more and to serve thee better; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

--Gavin Hamilton

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Spirituality/Prayer

September 2, 2010 at 4:12 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

A Prayer for the Feast Day of David Pendleton Oakerhater
Posted by Kendall Harmon

O God of unsearchable wisdom and infinite mercy, who didst choose a captive warrior, David Oakerhater, to be thy servant, and didst send him to be a missionary to his own people and to execute the office of a deacon among them: Liberate us, who commemorate him today, from bondage to self, and empower us for service to thee and to the neighbors thou hast given us; through Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Spirituality/Prayer

September 1, 2010 at 4:30 am - 1 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

A Prayer to Begin the Day
Posted by Kendall Harmon

O Thou in whom all things live, who commandest us to seek thee, and art ever ready to be found: To know thee is life, to serve thee is freedom, to praise thee is our souls’ joy. We bless thee and adore thee, we worship thee and magnify thee, we give thanks to thee for thy great glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

--St. Augustine

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Spirituality/Prayer

September 1, 2010 at 4:15 am - 3 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

(Living Church) Apolitical Inclusion at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Hollywood
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Using a two-sides-of-the-coin approach — traditional liturgy and social outreach — St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Hollywood, has found success in a transitory neighborhood and an often anti-religious culture. In the process, it has become a model for catechetical training, new-member retention and fundraising.

“If you want snobby ‘privileged at prayer’ go to Beverly Hills,” said longtime parishioner Michael Ensign. “We’re a funny little outpost at Hollywood and Gardner; a real ship of fools. But we’re clear about who we are. We’re messy and very human, but in messiness is God.”

Ensign has been at the church for 22 years. He is a career actor and veteran of too many movies and television series to list (including Big Love, CSI, and Boston Legal).

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Parishes • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Evangelism and Church Growth • Pastoral Care

August 31, 2010 at 3:33 pm - 3 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Your prayers Requested for a Diocese of South Carolina Clergy Day September 2
Posted by Kendall Harmon

It is one part of a very full fall.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * South Carolina

August 31, 2010 at 6:33 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Diocesan-led worship begins at St. Matthew’s, Abbotsford after split
Posted by Kendall Harmon

The size of the congregation more than met expectations. Some in attendance were visitors whose homes are not in Abbotsford. The service ended at 8:45am. At this initial service of renewed diocesan worship at St. Matthew’s a post service coffee time in the parish hall had not been planned, but members of the ANiC congregation which use the St. Matthew’s church building had thoughtfully set-up tables for a post service coffee time and had made the kitchen available. 17 of those in attendance at the service did go for breakfast/coffee at a nearby restaurant. Organizing and on-site “Coffee Time” will happen in the near future.

The ANiC leaders representing their community were cordial and cooperative and did an outstanding job of setting up the Parish Hall for worship. The ACoC congregation were not required to replace chairs or re-organize the space. Arrangements for future Sundays may differ. The ANiC leadership agreed to the use of the piano to add a musical component to the worship and that may come to pass in future weeks.

Read it all.

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

August 31, 2010 at 5:41 am - 4 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Manchester Evening News—Vicars to be told how to spot sham marriages
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Vicars in Greater Manchester are to be coached on how to spot bogus marriages.

The UK Border Agency is issuing guidance to clergy across the north west after a spate of fake weddings were exposed during immigration raids.

In recent months, immigration teams have swooped on a number of suspected sham ceremonies in local register offices following tip-offs that brides and grooms did not even speak the same language.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Liturgy, Music, Worship • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Marriage & Family • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

August 31, 2010 at 5:20 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

RNS—Church court convicts pastor on same sex marriage charges
Posted by Kendall Harmon

A Presbyterian court on Friday (Aug. 27) found a retired California pastor guilty of violating church rules and her ordination vows by performing same-sex marriages while it was briefly legal in the state in 2008.

The Rev. Jane Spahr, 68, did not deny presiding at as many as 16 ceremonies, even though her denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA), prohibits ministers from stating, implying or representing same-sex unions as marriages.

The Napa, Calif.-based Permanent Judicial Commission of the Presbytery of the Redwoods found Spahr guilty by a 4-2 vote, concluding she persisted in a "pattern or practice of disobedience."

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Liturgy, Music, Worship • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Sexuality • Civil Unions & Partnerships • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Presbyterian • Sexuality Debate (Other denominations and faiths) • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

August 31, 2010 at 5:00 am - 9 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

A Prayer for the Feast Day of Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Everliving God, who didst call thy servants Aidan and Cuthbert to proclaim the Gospel in northern England and endued them with loving hearts and gentle spirits: Grant us grace to live as they did, in simplicity, humility and love for the poor; through Jesus Christ, who came among us as one who serves, and who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Spirituality/Prayer

August 31, 2010 at 4:27 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

A Prayer for the Feast Day of Saint Aidan
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Everliving God, who didst call thy servants Aidan and Cuthbert to proclaim the Gospel in northern England and endued them with loving hearts and gentle spirits: Grant us grace to live as they did, in simplicity, humility and love for the poor; through Jesus Christ, who came among us as one who serves, and who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Spirituality/Prayer

August 31, 2010 at 4:15 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Elizabeth Lowry reviews Juliet Nicolson’s new book on the aftermath of WWI, “The Great Silence”
Posted by Kendall Harmon

"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old"—we are all familiar with Laurence Binyon's lament for the fallen of World War I. "The Great Silence" is the less-known story of the aftermath of that war: of those who were left and who did grow old. It complements Juliet Nicolson's earlier account, in "The Perfect Summer," of the golden period prefacing the outbreak of hostilities, an interlude of prosperity that only served to throw the horror of the conflict and the social disintegration that followed into sharper relief.

Of the five million British servicemen who went out to fight in the European trenches, 1.5 million came back with permanent injuries and disfigurements; others were traumatized in less immediately obvious ways. Taking stock, the Illustrated London News wrote at the time that the war had "destroyed millions of men, broken millions of lives, ruined great cities and hamlets"; it had left "a belt of earth ravaged, crowded the world with maimed men, blind, mad, sick men, flinging empires into anarchy." Those who did return, anticipating the "land fit for heroes" promised by the British Prime Minister Lloyd George, found that neither glory nor reward were forthcoming. The economy had collapsed, jobs were scarce and housing was in short supply. Once the euphoria following the Armistice had run its course, the silence that descended when the guns finally stopped was largely one of stunned bewilderment.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Death / Burial / Funerals • * Culture-Watch • Books • History • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

August 30, 2010 at 5:31 pm - 10 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Monday Morning Open Thread—What was the Best Adult Education Class you have ever Attended and why?
Posted by Kendall Harmon

I am interested in the following: where was it offered, who taught it, what aids did you use if any (book, video), how long did it last (both the classes themselves as well as the overall course), and, most especially, WHY did it have such a big impact on you? Any other details are of course welcome. Many thanks--KSH.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Adult Education • * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • Religion & Culture

August 30, 2010 at 7:20 am - 11 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Lutheran Church split follows years of infighting
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Fierce fighting among some Lutherans culminated in Friday's formation of the North American Lutheran Church, the nation's newest church body. The church has strong ties to a little-known ministry in the Twin Cities and a new seminary in Brookings.

The battles have included scorching accusations of blasphemy, "devilish" behavior and the leader of a reform group declaring that last year's vote on gay clergy amounted to the biblical sign of the beast: 666.

It's not the sort of thing typically seen among Lutherans, the low-key Christians that Garrison Keillor jokes about on his radio show. They prefer to sit in back pews and project an image of grace and peace.

Read it all

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Lutheran • Sexuality Debate (Other denominations and faiths)

August 29, 2010 at 12:01 pm - 3 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

CNN—Author: More teens becoming ‘fake’ Christians
Posted by Kendall Harmon

If you're the parent of a Christian teenager, Kenda Creasy Dean has this warning:

Your child is following a "mutant" form of Christianity, and you may be responsible.

Dean says more American teenagers are embracing what she calls "moralistic therapeutic deism." Translation: It's a watered-down faith that portrays God as a "divine therapist" whose chief goal is to boost people's self-esteem.

Dean is a minister, a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and the author of "Almost Christian," a new book that argues that many parents and pastors are unwittingly passing on this self-serving strain of Christianity.

Read it all

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Youth Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Teens / Youth • * Theology

August 29, 2010 at 4:49 am - 7 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Religion and Ethics Newsweekly—Hurricane Katrina’s Five-Year Anniversary in New Orleans
Posted by Kendall Harmon

KIM LAWTON, correspondent: About 20 minutes outside New Orleans, worshippers gather at First Baptist Church in Chalmette, the largest city in St. Bernard Parish. It’s a pretty typical Southern Baptist Sunday morning service.

REV JOHN DEE JEFFRIES (Preaching at First Baptist Church, Chalmette, Louisiana): Lord, what’s going on? Lord, why?

LAWTON: But that belies the incredible journey this congregation has made since Hurricane Katrina. More than half of the churches in St. Bernard Parish still haven’t come back, and most of them probably never will. First Baptist is not only back, but reinventing itself to help a community still struggling to recover.

Read it all

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Pastoral Care • * Culture-Watch • Hurricane Katrina • Religion & Culture • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Baptists

August 28, 2010 at 1:26 pm - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Jake Dell (Living Church)—Tabletop Pastoral Care
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Christ Church uses remarkably simple equipment to take prayer to the people in southeast Schenectady, New York.

I arrived at the church at 9 a.m. with Torre Bissell and we set up a 4-by-4 folding table with five chairs.

“Put it here,” Torre said, pointing to the crack in the sidewalk that must have been the property line. “That way no one can say we’re on the sidewalk. And point chairs this way, facing out. That way people don’t feel trapped.”

And that was it. A laminated sign reading “Prayer Table” flapped from the front. Torre pulled out a pen and paper and jotted down my name and his and the day’s date. Then he pulled out a bag of wooden crosses and laid out a few along with a thin paperback English Standard Version New Testament.

Read it all

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Parishes • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Pastoral Care • Spirituality/Prayer

August 28, 2010 at 10:31 am - 2 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Rodney Clapp (Christian Century): Hard of listening
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Is hearing or the failure to hear a matter of responsibility and culpability, or is it not? Maybe another family story will help sort this out. Eight years ago, I suffered an ear infection that led to a puncturing of the eardrum. A doctor wanted to test how much damage had been done, so I was ushered into a sound-proof booth and administered a number of tests. When we were finished, I asked the technician about the results. She replied that, for a 45-year-old man, my hearing was slightly above average.

"Well, isn't that interesting," I said. "Now I have medico-scientific proof that my wife and daughter are wrong. They think I'm getting hard of hearing." The technician didn't miss a beat. "There is a difference between hearing and listening," she said.

So there you have it: there is a distinction between hearing and listening. We may have functioning hearing organs and still fail to listen to what others are saying. Put differently, hearing is a matter of physical endowment, but listening is a skill at which we can work to become better, more adept.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Spirituality/Prayer • * Theology • Pastoral Theology

August 28, 2010 at 6:29 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Notable and Quotable
Posted by Kendall Harmon

"Vainly does the preacher utter the Word of God exteriorly unless he listens to it interiorly."

--Saint Augustine, Sermon 179, I

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Parish Ministry • Preaching / Homiletics • * Theology • Theology: Scripture

August 28, 2010 at 6:00 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

A Prayer for the Feast Day of Augustine of Hippo
Posted by Kendall Harmon

O Lord God, who art the light of the minds that know thee, the life of the souls that love thee, and the strength of the hearts that serve thee: Help us, following the example of thy servant Augustine of Hippo, so to know thee that we may truly love thee, and so to love thee that we may fully serve thee, whom to serve is perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Spirituality/Prayer • * International News & Commentary • Africa

August 28, 2010 at 5:29 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

John Farrell (WSJ): Catholics and the Evolving Cosmos
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Certainly Catholic theologians have not been shy about addressing the questions that evolution raises for doctrines like original sin and the immateriality of the soul. In the 1960s, Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner re-interpreted Genesis in light of evolution, arguing that the story of Adam and Eve needed to be read metaphorically.

John Haught at Georgetown writes that the new cosmology of the expanding universe and the evolution of life require a more dynamic sense of God's role in a world that is still not complete, a work in progress. Father Denis Edwards at Flinders University in Australia treats the second person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, as a more active partner in the development of the evolving cosmos.

Whether the arguments of the theologians will move a future pope to broaden the Catholic Church's acceptance of evolution remains to be seen. So far, Pope Benedict XVI has not shown the same interest in evolution as his predecessor.

But on this 60th anniversary of "Humani Generis", Pius XII deserves credit for having the foresight to openly address the science when so many other denominations were either in deep denial or not interested in the challenge evolution poses for Christianity.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • * Culture-Watch • History • Religion & Culture • Science & Technology • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic

August 27, 2010 at 11:32 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

CEN—New bishop raises questions about the ACNA’s commitment to Anglicanism
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Charges the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has abandoned the historic episcopate by receiving a bishop from the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches (CEEC) without re-consecrating him are unfounded, the traditionalist province-in-waiting tells The Church of England Newspaper.

On July 31, American church commentator Robin Jordan charged the ACNA with having abandoned the historic episcopate when its Provincial Council of Bishops voted on June 9 to receive the Rt. Rev. Derek Jones as a bishop in good standing. Formed in 1995, the CEEC is an American Protestant denomination that has found a niche blending charismatic worship with liturgies drawn from the Book of Common Prayer, and is not normally numbered among the Anglican breakaway churches in the United States.

However, a review of Bishop Jones’ episcopal antecedents by the CEN finds that while a number of his consecrating bishops would not be recognized by Anglicans, his descent from a Brazilian bishop whose episcopal orders were recognized by Pope John XXIII places him within the apostolic tradition.

Read it all (subscription required).

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • * Theology • Ecclesiology • Sacramental Theology

August 27, 2010 at 7:52 am - 32 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

A Prayer for the Feast Day of Thomas Gallaudet and Henry Winter Syle
Posted by Kendall Harmon

O loving God, who willest that everyone should come to thee and be saved: We bless thy Holy Name for thy servants Thomas Gallaudet and Henry Winter Syle, whose labors with and for those who are deaf we commemorate today; and we pray that thou wouldst continually move thy Church to respond in love to the needs of all people; through Jesus Christ, who opened the ears of the deaf, and who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Spirituality/Prayer

August 27, 2010 at 4:30 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

(Miami Herald) Miami pastors pray, strategize over inner-city violence
Posted by Kendall Harmon

The wake-up call comes after a series of police-involved shootings since early July that have left four men dead and a community asking hard questions.

On July 5, a rookie police officer shot and killed DeCarlos Moore in Overtown as Moore disobeyed an order and returned to his car. He had no weapon.

The most recent case involved Tarnorris Tyrell Gaye, 19, who was shot and killed last Friday by the same officer who shot and killed a man during a sting-gone-bad nine days earlier.

That day, police say, 16-year-old Joell Lee Johnson was killed during an undercover police operation involving holdups of fast-food deliverers after the teen pointed a gun at the officer.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • City Government

August 26, 2010 at 11:30 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Auckland gets first female Anglican dean
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Jo Kelly-Moore, 42, was welcomed as the new Anglican Dean of Auckland at a service at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell.

Family and friends watched as she was brought in by parishioners of St Aidan's Anglican Church in Remuera, where she has been a vicar since 2004.

She is the first woman to be made an Anglican dean in Auckland, and the second woman to be made an Anglican dean in New Zealand's history.

The first female and current dean of the Waiapu Anglican Cathedral in Napier is The Very Reverend Helen Jacobi.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Women

August 26, 2010 at 6:30 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Rosemary McLeod—Euthanasia is really suicide with better manners
Posted by Kendall Harmon

John Pollock says it's unfair that he could ask for euthanasia in some countries, but not here, when he finally finds his suffering intolerable.

He has told New Zealand Doctor magazine that the law should be changed so that people have the comfort of knowing they can control their death, and says many doctors already practise euthanasia: a third of them admit to having hastened death....

Unlike Dr Pollock, perhaps, I see a difference between hastening inevitable death compassionately and killing, and I can't reconcile having a doctor who treats me as a living person one minute having the right to kill me the next.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Death / Burial / Funerals • * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • Law & Legal Issues • Life Ethics • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

August 26, 2010 at 6:10 am - 1 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Anglican Diocese of Bathurst Parish Celebrates its 140th anniversary
Posted by Kendall Harmon

On May 5 1870, O’Connell-born priest Samuel Edward Marsden became the first Australian-born Bishop when he was welcomed and installed as the Bishop of the new Anglican Diocese.

At that time the diocese spanned the length of NSW, from the Queensland border to the Riverina in the south.

Today it still covers an area of 215,000 square kilometres, or the equivalent of Great Britain.

The former rector of Kelso Samuel Marsden (great grandson of Bishop Marsden), speaking about his namesake said; “In thinking of the person, Samuel Marsden, rather than the Bishop, it’s been intriguing for me to think of him as being born and brought up at O’Connell Plains, coming to school here in Bathurst and then at a very early age, moving to the UK to continue his education, to be ordained, and then to minister in the tiny little hamlet of Bengeworth on the River Avon.”

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History

August 26, 2010 at 5:50 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Merryn Williams (Oxford Times)—Two lives of John Henry Newman
Posted by Kendall Harmon

When John Henry Newman died in 1890, he left instructions that he should be buried with another priest, his friend Ambrose St John, and he also made it clear that he wished his body to decay.

However, in 2008 the Catholic Church opened the grave, hoping to find bones which could be venerated. But there were no human remains. His physical being is gone for good, but his writings are still important.

Two new books have appeared in the run-up to the Pope's visit next month to Birmingham to beatify him — John Cornwell’s Newman’s Unquiet Grave: The Reluctant Saint (Continuum, £18.99 ) and Anthony Mockler’s John Henry Newman: Fighter, Convert and Cardinal (Signal Books, £9.99).

Both the authors are Catholics, but Mockler — owner of Milton Manor, near Abingdon — is quite orthodox, whereas Cornwell is a former trainee priest who has written critical biographies of two modern popes.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • * Culture-Watch • Books • Religion & Culture • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Benedict XVI

August 26, 2010 at 5:33 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

A Prayer to Begin the Day
Posted by Kendall Harmon

O God, Who didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise, and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Spirituality/Prayer

August 26, 2010 at 4:15 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Wisconsin’s Holy Apostles Episcopal Church Locked in a debate with their town over property taxes
Posted by Kendall Harmon

It's church versus state in a local taxation battle.

Episcopal church officials say the property tax assessment on land next to Holy Apostles Church on the Oneida Indian Reservation is unlawful because it's designated a cemetery.

Village of Hobart assessor Mike Denor says 23 acres that have a 2010 property tax obligation of about $600 are mostly woods, and even calling it a cemetery "is kind of a stretch."

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Parishes • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Church/State Matters • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Taxes • Politics in General • City Government

August 25, 2010 at 11:34 am - 2 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

A Prayer to Begin the Day
Posted by Kendall Harmon

O God, who knowest that we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but that all our sufficiency is of thee: Assist us with thy grace in all the work which we are to undertake this day. Direct us in it by thy wisdom, support us by thy power; that doing our duty diligently, we may bring it to a good end, so that it may tend to the greater glory of thy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Spirituality/Prayer

August 25, 2010 at 4:20 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

LA Times: Presbyterian Church court tries minister who performed same-sex marriages
Posted by Kendall Harmon

A lesbian minister, who officiated at more than a dozen same-sex weddings during the brief window gay marriage was legal in California, goes to trial Thursday before a Presbyterian court, charged with violating her denomination's constitution.

The case of the Rev. Jane Adams Spahr has gained national attention because "what is being tested is the definition of marriage" in the Presbyterian faith, said the Rev. Carmen Fowler, president of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, a conservative organization that opposes same-sex marriage.

Spahr's trial, which will be held in Napa, begins less than three weeks after a federal court judge ruled that California's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. And it underscores the awkward position in which changing civil law places many clergy members.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Liturgy, Music, Worship • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • Civil Unions & Partnerships • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Presbyterian • Sexuality Debate (Other denominations and faiths)

August 24, 2010 at 4:46 am - 6 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

A Prayer for the Feast Day of Saint Bartholomew
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Almighty and everlasting God, who didst give to thine apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach thy Word: Grant that thy Church may love what he believed and preach what he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God for ever and ever.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Spirituality/Prayer

August 24, 2010 at 4:26 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

A Prayer to Begin the Day
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Dear Jesus, help me to spread Thy fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with Thy spirit and love. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of Thine. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Thy presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus. Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be a light to others.

--Mother Theresa (1910-1997)

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Spirituality/Prayer

August 24, 2010 at 4:15 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

A Chicago Fourth Presbyterian Church Adult Education Offering—Journeys in Film and Literature
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Check it out to see which film(s) and book(s) were chosen.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Adult Education • * Culture-Watch • Books • Movies & Television • Religion & Culture • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Presbyterian

August 23, 2010 at 4:50 pm - 2 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

RNS: New Catholic Mass approved for 2011 roll-out
Posted by Kendall Harmon

The most sweeping changes to the Catholic Mass in 40 years will be rolled out in 2011, the U.S. bishops announced Friday (Aug. 20) after receiving formal approval from the Vatican.

The new English-language translation of the Roman Missal, the official text of prayers and responses used in the Mass, will be implemented on Nov. 27, 2011, the first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of a new liturgical year.

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Vatican approval was granted on June 23, with additional changes approved on July 24.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Liturgy, Music, Worship • Parish Ministry • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic

August 23, 2010 at 3:31 pm - 11 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Shay Gaillard on expository preaching
Posted by Kendall Harmon

....let me tell you why I think the lectionary is insufficient for shaping “Biblical Anglicans for a Global Age” or whatever your vision of discipleship is:

1. The whole Bible is not read in the Sunday lectionary.

2. Difficult texts are eliminated from the lectionary.

3. Controversial texts are eliminated from the lectionary.

4. Lectionary texts are a set up for preachers to think isogetically about preaching; in the same way, lectionary reading also allows the congregation to go for years without hearing biblical texts in their contexts.

5. The traditional idea of lectionary preaching from the previous generation makes one of two mistakes. It either only preaches from the Gospel texts thus eliminating the 2 Tim. 3:16 understanding of Scripture. There are people who can go for years or a lifetime without hearing a sermon on the Old Testament. The other mistake of lectionary preaching is to try and force a common thread through the four (or three) readings that does not exist exegetically. For every sermon I preach on a biblical text, there are supporting texts. The lectionary readings tend to force the preacher towards finding that support in the appointed texts.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * South Carolina • * Theology • Theology: Scripture

August 23, 2010 at 7:02 am - 22 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

A.S. Haley—The Via Media Movement: No Orthodoxy—We’re Episcopalian!
Posted by Kendall Harmon

We see in this set of facts, as early as 2004, a recurring pattern. While professing to honor diversity -- and indeed, to seek "unity in diversity" -- the groups allied with Via Media have always taken root only in those dioceses led by orthodox clergy who stoutly resisted the ordination to the episcopacy of individuals in a noncelibate relationship outside of Holy Matrimony as defined (and still defined) by the Book of Common Prayer. For thus upholding the rubrics of the BCP, they have been accused of fomenting schism within ECUSA, sued, deposed and hounded from the Church.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Identity • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: Central Florida • TEC Conflicts: Fort Worth • TEC Conflicts: Pittsburgh • TEC Conflicts: San Joaquin • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • * South Carolina • * Theology • Ecclesiology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

August 23, 2010 at 6:20 am - 2 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

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