Mr Reynolds: Re 1: which parts are not correct? They are all lifts from your prior comments. Re 2: you spoke of a strategy from LP/John Rees/+ABC to cut off ends of a spectrum. Presumably this was so a middle portion would survive. But what middle portion is there that judges SSBs something everyone can live with? Isn’t this precisely what has been shown unacceptable—not by radical ends of a spectrum but by 80% of the Communion which judges it unacceptable as such and reflective of something other than a genuine Communion. These are obvious facts now established on the ground.
Thanks 10 for claiming as your own that which other people paid for. And thanks TEC for claiming as your own the 30 pieces of silver that even Judas threw away.
What i cannot understand is why this has not landed in criminal court under RICO statues?
#10-
Well if Jon Nelson and Kathleen Wells are the best that you can do then you deserve what you get. Really? That’s the best you can do? Really?
BigTex AC
#9, see#8. This is one reason why his example is meaningless, because in a business, if employees simply refused to work, they would be fired. But not here. Business models will NOT work for teaching because this is NOT a business. I spent 21 years in public education trying to explain this (among other things) to school committees who went right on thinking that if THEY could run a business, they could surely run a damned school.
ˆncidentally, one more thing that #8 ignores is the peculiar inevitability that the football team and the hockey team will’ get the money they want and the English Dept will get the leftovers. And this is true whether the football teams has a winning season or not. Some business. And this is why evaluation must be personal, extended - and exercise in the humanities, not an exercise in business administration. L
If what people wanted was to actually empower students (or patients) rather than to make difficult students and difficult patients feel justified and better about theselves, while they waste everybody’s time, they would do the following.
1. Let students take end of subject exams in all courses (grade school to grad school) and get an appropriate certificate of completion for high school, college etc. This would empower students who manage to on their own learn the entire core curriculum of college to graduate and get on with their lives, without having to submit to the authority of a teacher. The first two years of medical school could be handled similarly, the second two years are an apprenticeship that requires hands on instruction. Similarly, while high school could be easily passed in this fashion, a subsequent degree in auto repair would require a hands on apprenticeship.
This would mean that motivated, highly disciplined 15 year olds could go out and get real jobs and be really independent (“empowered”). The rest, who did not wish to put in the work (or could not) would stay in school until they learned the material from their teachers.
2. Let patients prescribe for themselves all noncontrolled drugs, and order all tests (and pay for them). Let folks who have hypertension, study the material (it’s not that difficult), check their pressures, adjust their meds and do without a physician. Let folks with diabetes, asthma, seizures etc do likewise.
You would still need a physician for most surgeries, however most medical problems could be dealt with at home by “empowered” patients who actually had taken the trouble to study and understand their disease. Many of them could become essentially expert in their fields, and they would frankly enjoy it, and would save vast oodles of money. The rest, who did not wish to put in the work, (or could not) could go see a doctor.
There is a difference between truly being “empowered” to take charge of one’s life, and simply being an abominable nuisance. Unfortunately, the folks at USA today do not understand that difference.
#29. Your questions:
1. The above is correct in part.
2. I am not at all sure I understand this question, but I would like to help so please elucidate.
Ooops! Make that Karen B. Misread the post.
Kendall—Any connection between this and the Morning Prayer collect, “O God, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom”? Just q question if you see this.
This is a little like the “empowered students” that were created back in the late 1960s, and 1970s. Back then teachers had large classes with good discipline even in the ghettos, there was no such thing as ADHD or “bipolar” disease, and students graduated with decent skills. The methodology was top down, with lots of drill, discipline, and the teacher’s word was law.
Then students were “empowered”. This meant that they were encouraged to argue with the teacher, wander around the classroom, and discipline was set aside in favor of discussion, and for those for whom discussion failed, an IEP “diagnosed” ADHD, bipolar illness, conduct disorder and the like.
It worked pretty well for the wealthy. I taught my kids to read at home, (thus side stepping the “gaze and guess” methodologies that produced happy, empowered students who were functionally illiterate). I also tutored math, and taught history and geography not to mention theology to both my kids, and found private schools that allowed me to select a higher functioning group of age mates, and a disciplined classroom setting for them. Furthermore, I refused to permit the schools to test my oldest (who would CERTAINLY have qualified for both mental retardation, ADHD at age 5-10, and for bipolar and conduct disorder at age 12-16. I also refused to permit the schools to test my youngest (who would have qualified for “Asperger’s syndrome). By my refusal, I permitted them to remain mainstreamed in private school, while I tutored them, obtained private speech therapy, and worked on social skills. They are now both normal, and very high functioning (my oldest is a Spanish major in college and a B student working independantly, and has never needed meds. Her IQ is now in the high normal, rather than the subnormal range; My youngest is an A student in 7th grade and is highly popular (after a GREAT deal of work on social skills).
So student “empowerment” worked pretty well for me. I would not have wished the schools beating my kids, and my oldest would certainly have received corporal punishment multiple times, had she grown up in the Washington DC public schools in which I grew up. (I might add that in those DC public schools of the late 1960s, class size was 30-45 students and despite plenty of poor kids (of whom I was one) there was complete quiet, and NOBODY had ADD or other psychiatric illnesses.. There were no sports worth speaking of. For recess we messed about on the playground, or made dolls out of sticks and played house under the trees.
Student “empowerment” has worked less well for those students who are not blessed with wealthy, clued in parents who understand the limitations of psychiatric “diagnoses”. The same public schools which gave me a life long love of reading, and learning together with a healthy terror of being called to the principal’s office now have more than 50% kids with ADHD, bipolar and severe conduct disorders which means that that CANNOT learn. How odd that the US public health service has not come to investige this obvious EPIDEMIC that has struck down our city schools! The schools now have smaller classrooms (under 20 kids), LOTS of “counselors”, lots of gym space with nifty sports teams, complete with uniforms etc, however learning has plummeted while students who are disabled and beyond the teachers help have skyrocketed. But the students are empowered all right. They stand around cursing and arguing with their teachers all the time. So it’s all good right?
When the ignorant of the schools (the students) were “empowed”, one consequence was that “looking good” became more important than making a difference. And there are so many ways to “look good” to the ignorant. “Gaze and guess” reading makes teachers look good as they have happy classrooms filled with kids apparently “reading”. Listening to unhappy, kids stumbling through a passage while reading out loud, and sounding it out does not “look good”. Spanking troublemakers makes teachers look brutal. Telling the same troublemakers that they have ADD and bipolar illnesses and have a DISEASE that they are not responsible for, but which the teacher is also not responsible for makes a teacher look “compassionate”. Another consequence is that those teachers who really cared passionately about the students left, leaving those who were willing to call a struggling child “autistic” rather than risk “looking bad” in charge.
There will be consequences to patient empowerment also. One consequence is that the easiest way to deal with these “empowered patients” is to simply say “I think you are way too complex for little old me”. You are going to need to go to the Mayo clinic. Oh won’t they accept your insurance? Well, you should consider paying out of pocket. Similarly, folks whose insurance expect that a medical visit will take 15 minutes but wish to spend another 1/2 hour discussing their disease will find that the only physician who sees them will be a concierge practice, that forces them to pay for the time they waste. But the biggest losers will be the poor. They will find that for all their new “power” they can’t find a doctor who can help them. They are just too sick. Just like the “empowered” students in my former public school, half of whom now fail to graduate.
Thanks AS Haley—good to see that you’re annoying the right people!
Does anyone note the self-serving inconsistency when the clergy(in this case, a dean) is gagged, yet this vestry and bishop are free to tell the congregation any fractured fairy tale they choose? And the man at the center has no way to defend himself—how convenient for the other wranglers.
Some people’s definition of the Kingdom of God is truly questionable.
I pray there is some redemption in a generous financial settlement for Dean Linder.
The bishop gives the appearance of having looked before he leapt, and is now trying valiantly to clean all the egg off his face. I wish him luck with that.
In the corporate world and military, leaders are(usually—I won’t deny politics) selected based on merit and track record—perhaps a better milieu than “popular vote”.
Prayers for all concerned, especially the Linder family. Does the Inquisition care how hard it is for the Linder kids to watch their Dad under fire? I’m just a peon living in another state, but *I* care.
Thanks, A.S. Haley, you who are so liberal with your advice to those who would wrest from TEC its property, for pointing out that we are paying our lawyers too much. We’ll take it under advisement.
#1, and so goes the Party of No, which is not interested in the welfare of the nation, but only in playing a misguided partisan game.
I should think that the Republicans could come up with something better than “No.”
If I recall correctly, several bishops did try a couple of years ago to get an accounting of legal expenses and sources for those expenses.
Guess how far they got.
#7, what constitutes ‘missions’ is getting protestingly distorted, eh?
One of the things I have mentioned before is: what if your family gave 1M to further the missionary work of the Gospel, only to have mission redefined as litigation, and the money used for that? Surely there are donors’ relatives who would not be happy with this—leaving aside the State Attorney General of NY.
These numbers are outrageous. It is even more outrageous that no one is speaking out about this abuse of power.
Can the Diocese of South Carolina introduce a resolution at the next convention demanding that a full accounting be made?
If I am not mistaken, TEC is also involved in the suit by the TEC Diocese of Fort Worth against the ACNA Diocese of Fort Worth. I think one of the attorneys involved in that suit represents TEC. (And is doing a rotten job, btw.)
I’m not quite getting the either/or proposition here: stores are generally not open when church services are held, so what is wrong necessarily with worship in the morning and shopping afterward? And what about groceries or going to a restaurant? Does that count? Hopefully this demonstrates the silliness of the issue…
I think there is a lot of history behind the chancellor being viewed as the PB’s legal advisor, which is not the same as being counsel to the church. I don’t think that was of much importance until TEC became obsessed with property lawsuits, but the cascades of litigation have put the fuzziness of exactly what the authority of the chancellor is on display. Unfortunately, in the current TEC environment, the PB is pretty much “l’etat, c’est moi”, not that the EC has anyone likely to oppose her, so that is pretty much that. One of the things I would observe about Griswold is that he had been a pastor and cared about people, and was also of a background that viewed his legal advisor as just that, an advisor, that is an employee and servant. He made his own judgments. Schori has never been a pastor, and it shows - she barely considers the orthodox to have any feelings, as the excerpts from her chilling deposition in the Virginia litigation show. And she defers to the chancellor, not the other way around. Of course, as far as stewardship goes, that every dollar they may win in litigation is a dollar someone who is saddened by what TEC has become is not going to give to TEC is completely lost on them, but you know what St. Paul said about confused thinking.
Perhaps the intended ROI is expected to be found in the disposal of the ‘booty’ from these conquests. Is it not ironic that, with the downturn in real estate values and and investment funds, the payday may turn out to be Pyrrhic?
Unfortunately for the cause of accurate journalism, the contents of the article do not support the statement made in the article’s title. Instead the contents portray women as addicted to shopping rather than preferring to attend religious services on Sunday. The contents of the article, however, are worthwhile reading, once one gets beyond the inaccurate and misleading title.
I hope the publication rather than the author is responsible for the title. But would that mean that the Ethics Daily is actually unethical? Perhaps blame it on the Religion News Service instead.
If I were a member of EC I would demand, recorded in the minutes, that KJS reveal the amounts and where they are derived from. EC’s failure to do so leaves them open to civil suit and possible (I would agree very unlikely) criminal prosecution for their breach of fiduciary duty. My suspicion is many of them really do know and just aren’t talking about it. Remeber, EC eliminated the Office of Congregational Development and hired a litigation coordinator. It is sad when your church makes Congress look honest.
I taught high school for almost four years. I put my heart and soul into that job. The kids couldn’t care less. I asked my students every year, “how many of you didn’t try on the STAR test last year because it doesn’t count against your grade?” Most of the class raised their hands. After numerous instances of me finding graphic drawings involving me, being cussed out almost every time I went to confiscate a phone, being yelled at by parents over the phone, admin not backing me up on discipline, and on top of that…being evaluated based on someone else’s effort on some 4-hour test once a year… no way worth the pay. I left that job despising teenagers.
A small question… Are the “strike-thrus” and/or “italics” part of the “official” approved document, or added for this meeting?
The note at the bottom doesn’t say this is the “final” approved version? Just wondering?
Grandmother
Businesses grade employees on their performance all the time. The military seems to be able to do it as well. It seems that the only group that cannot be evaluated on their performance is teachers. Yet as I stated above teachers are expected and required to grade students on their performance. Amazing.
Amen Larry!
“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.”
In particular, this statement,
“...the Presiding Bishop held the view that only she personally, and neither the Council, nor even General Convention, had any authority over litigation.’”
means that the presiding bishop has seized dictatorial, autocratic and non-consultive control of ECUSA.
She is ONLY a bishop who presides over ECUSA’s general confederation of dioceses and for her to have SEIZED these powers is astounding.
Oh my goodness! I have tears in my eyes from laughing so much. Thanks for posting this!
Classic Cosby! I haven’t laughed so hard in ages.
To call this science is comic. The speculation is worth discussing as a set of ideas, but science….? Please. L
This system is not bad in theory. It is simply bad in practice, because the number of abuses and the ease with which they are undertaken will nullify the theoretical benefits. The Rule: There is no substitute for good character and for sound academic training, but the application of these obvious elements to instruction cannot be systematized. Students are not products, the educational system is not factory production line, the application of manufacturing standards to education is incommensurable, and teachers are not workers on the line - unless this is what you want them to be, in which case the system above is excellent and will yield the result you want.
Bad teachers need to be fired. But how can you tell a bad teacher? By having the department chairs and outside evaluators write essays on the teacher’s MO over the process of several years. If the summary of all evaluations is negative, then the teacher should be fired without having to surmount endless obstacles. There is no substitute to personal observation and the written assessment. This is much too simple, much too obvious, much too demanding careful assessment, much too time consuming to be adopted. Larry
Prayers with you all, for grace & peace, discernment & courage.
Nova,
Indeed, what is in the courts is the question of ownership by title. The first phase was to get the civil court to rule that the Diocese of San Joaquin as a Corporation Sole was headed up not by John-David Schofield, but by some other bishop, in this case, Jerry Lamb. The court agreed, but that is now in appeal. The Corp Sole issue would cover all the unincorporated entities associated with the DSJ. That is because, and only because, the diocesan canons specifically state that any title and deed, and all bequests, and other funds, for all unincorporated entities and their facilities are held in trust by the Corp Sole.
In the DSJ case this would include probably close to 80% of all congregation facilities, including St James Cathedral.
The second phase would be going after the incorporated congregations and any other incorporated facilities, that is, incorporated apart from the Corp Sole. These entities hold their own title and deed, and have not been required to forfeit their right to such holding.
The kicker is the Dennis Canon, with question about the formality of its passage by General Convention 30+ years ago, which basically states that ALL properties—no matter who owns them—are held in trust by The Episcopal Church. Whether it truly got passed or not will most likely not get a hearing in civil court. So now the question is, can such a canon claiming trustee status be considered correct? I can tell you this, NOBODY, NO PARISH ORGANIZATION, or other title and deed holding entity was asked, nor was asked for their permission, to CONSENT to such trustee relationship. Nor did “The Episcopal Church” hold those deeds and titles at any time in order for “THEM” (General Convention) to create such a Trust.
So you see, on one side of the legal question is the matter of “ownership”, if you will, that is, the parishes, etc., who hold title and deed free and clear. The other side of the legal matter is not “ownership” per se, but the “intended purpose” of such facilities as expressed by a “held in trust” concept (such a spin, eh? that being the bottom line, being able to hold such title in trust so somebody else can dictate who uses such facilities, and potentially sell them off - just lilke an OWNER might - if revenue was needed).
To respond to such a claim as trustee-ship over incorporated properties, it takes time and money. Time and money to argue a concept that was poorly worded, unwisely slammed through, and could have been dealt with in a much more clear manner.
Now, all of the above demands a working, agreeable relationship between diocese and congregation. The unwritten expectation is that an Episcopal congregation will want to remain as an Episcopal congregation within an Episcopal diocese.
Depending upon the diocese, the manner for becoming a non-Episcopal diocesan congregation is legally possible or not possible.
But the real matter - and it obviously encompasses those congregations willing to remain in association with each other in a particular diocese - is whether or not a DIOCESE can remove itself from The Episcopal Church. The answer - purely Canonically, and thus legally - is “Yes”.
Somewhere in all of that is supposed to be the higher calling of how Christians treat each other. “Let it go” is applicable to both sides of the argument.
#31, you assumed incorrectly.
Katherine (#30), I was making reference to your comment in #23 where you said, “when Americans perceive Muslims in America as people who accept our laws, that will do it.” I know it is dangerous to assume, but, when you said “accept our laws”, I assumed you meant that it would not suffice for American Muslims to simply obey the law to gain acceptance. Rather than chafe against it, they should truly believe that American law is good and just. This led to my challenge as to whether you would apply the same standard to American Christians. Many American Christians obey laws that they believe are unjust and should be changed. Perhaps you are one of them. Do you think it is acceptable for you to work to change laws to conform to your beliefs and world view, but unacceptable for American Muslims to do the same? I’m hoping your answer is no, because then you would be consistent.
If I was a Muslim reading this thread, I think I would conclude that, no matter what I do, there will always be a segment of American society who see me as a second-rate citizen; one not to be trusted. That by virtue of being born into, and raised, in a Muslim family, I will always be viewed through a jaundiced eye – especially if my appearance is Arabic. I think there are an increasing number of people who view Christians in a similar light, so perhaps those who are so derisive towards Muslims today will get a taste of their own medicine in the future.
I find it sad that the most hostile opinions often come from those who claim to be followers of Christ. It would probably be best if I just didn’t visit blogs like this (although T19 is mild and reasonably balanced compared to SFIF). It depresses me.
Because it’s the right thing to do? It seems like 90% of the Communion agrees with us…..or do you dispute that fact, too?
Imagine the power you’d have felt in the sixth grade if you and your classmates knew that bad test scores would get your teacher fired.
Wooohooo!
Nos. 8 and 9, how does this clarify the owership issues? My question is what is the controlling principle that causes ownership to alight with those who decide to leave. Yours is interesting rhetoric, but it is inherently subjective as to who is leaving whom. Where does title lie and on what basis? If the departure is in accord with Diocesan procedures for departing and transferring title, I guess it’s OK, but it still looks, at least from the outside looking in, like a bunch of people setting out on their own course (which may be a perfectly sound decision) and then saying that they have some sort of entitlement to property as a result of that decision. Why would it be probable or appropriate that others would acquiesce in that?
The Republicans should block *any* such proposal, no matter how reasonable. Don’t let the Democrats get any credit for fixing things, or trying to. They had two years to do this.
That’s what the Democrats did to Hoover in 1931-33. They wanted a train wreck and got it. It’s payback time.
Happened to me. I took a $10,000 dollar cut just to have a job after almost a year of unemployment. And I’m working below my education grade of Librarian. But I have a job.
No matter how much spin they put on things, no matter how much they deny that it is they who’ve left us, they can never erase the opinion of 90% of the Anglican Communion and traditional Christianity that they have deserted the faith once delivered and have adopted Arianism.
Well, I’ll say it again: We are substituting the distant and secondaryh for the near and primary. And when we do that, we lose touch with reality at many levels, until life itself fails to become real unless it is virtual. Larry
That was a correct article for two years ago, but now there is a big change. It not only is not up to the doctor what is done, but the patient now has no right either. It is up to the insurance company or the health czar to decide and there is nothing you can do about it. We doctors will always order more than necessary tests because we don’t want a shyster lawyer asking us under oath why we didn’t order it , so we just order it all. It is nice for the patients and family to refuse to have the test and the refusal is documented. Because of all the hassel and decreasing reimbursment doctors will place the patient on a tread mill and see as many as possible with minimal discussion or interchange with the patient. That is a non-reimbursed service, so don’t expect it. Since there is now a hugh shortage of doctors to take a patient, if a patient or family is abusive, they will find that they won’t be seen. I don’t know any doctor who likes all this and many are just opting out retire or cut back severly. But that is what the people voted for so I hope they all enjoy the results of their decision. So sad.
WarrenS, since you’re here for the moment, I don’t understand your references to “the spirit of the law,” and it isn’t anything I said. I think we were talking at cross purposes, mostly, neither understanding the other.
Paula (#27), I could replace the word liberal with conservative in your first paragraph and it would make equal sense. Label are convenient, aren’t they? I prefer to look at individuals, and I am grateful that my Lord does too. Although labels are convenient in politics for demonizing one’s opponent, I rarely meet someone in real life who I could neatly fit into a liberal or conservative (or any other) category without doing violence to them. But labels are the American way.
MichaelA, there is a letter “from some of the bishops of the province of Central Africa and South Africa” whose text is here. The letter is unsigned. How many bishops from these two provinces support the minority position is unclear. The CAPA communique does not call for the expulsion of the TEO. It also is not does not include signatures. It is incorrect to say that the “two provinces demurred.”
These two provinces are the ones that the TEO has delivered the majority of its lucre to.
I am trying to understand what Mr Reynolds is saying. This much one can conclude from his prior notes on blogs:
1. John Rees, chancellor to the ABC, stated publicly that the ‘strategy’ of Lambeth Palace was to ‘cut off ends of a spectrum’;
2. Canon Rees made such a statement on behalf of Lambeth Palace, and Mr Reynolds claims we are all to know that this was so and no mystery; Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams also was on board;
3. In earlier notes, we heard this even more explicitly;
4. ACI was supposed to be an ally in this LP/Rees/ABC strategy, but ACI did not do so and ‘fed schismatics’ instead.
Two questions (and many stated in earlier T19 posts) might be answered by Mr Reynolds:
1. Is the above correct?
2. What are we to understand is the ‘neither end of a spectrum’ portion of the Communion? This portion Mr Reynolds claims Canon Rees/Lambeth Palace/+RDW sought to encourage. It embraces SSBs and a new teaching on Christian marriage, but is not ‘hard right’ or ‘hard left’. Who was being encouraged in the Communion by this strategy; which constituencies hold this view, they must not be on ends of a spectrum, etc?
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