JINDAL APPOINTS TONY PERKINS TO LAW ENFORCEMENT COMMISSION

Tony Perkins has worn many hats throughout his life: television reporter, police officer, Louisiana state representative, head of a certified hate group. But the president of the viciously homophobic Family Research Council earned a new title this week when Gov. Bobby Jindal appointed him to the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement, which awards grants, trains officers, and regulates law enforcement throughout the state.

According to CenLamar:

Tellingly, although Perkins was appointed nearly three weeks ago, Governor Jindal’s office kept things quiet; the appointment was first revealed by Woody Jenkins, a man who is best known in Louisiana for his three quixotic campaigns for the United States Senate. Indeed, according to multiple sources, Governor Jindal’s office had repeatedly denied or refused to acknowledge Perkins’s appointment until only yesterday, when it became the subject of national news.

Why the secrecy?  Is Bobby Jindal ashamed of the appointment?  If he's not, he should be.

Perkins hasn’t exactly mellowed out in recent years. While he’s no longer courting white nationalists and white racists, Perkins now spends a great deal of of time and energy lambasting gays and lesbians, or scientists who believe in evolution and vaccines, or people who simply strive toward ecumenical fairness and love.

Is there someone around carrying less negative baggage than Perkins for Jindal to appoint?  I'm sure there's an angle here, something in it for Bobby, but if his goal is a position of power outside Louisiana when his term expires, then the appointment could be viewed as taking things too far.  Perhaps Jindal and David Vitter will switch places, though I heard through the grapevine that the two are not the best of friends, so I'm not certain either would support the other if there was a Republican alternative.

TOP SECRET CONCLAVE TO ELECT POPE

The Sistine Chapel, which will be closed to visitors for the duration of the papal conclave, is being readied for occupation by the College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church when they gather to elect a new pope.  Along with the mandatory oath of secrecy taken by all the cardinals before official meetings begin, security to prevent leaks through electronic devices will be put in place in the Sistine Chapel.

Yet while the world will primarily notice the familiar four rows of tables lining the chapel's sides to the rood screen, the most intense piece of the preparation literally begins at ground level – as in 2005, a whole-room platform will be built to lift the floor and provide for the installation of a warren of signal-jammers underneath to ensure that the voting site is kept free of any attempt at wireless communication. 

The jammers likewise surrounded the Domus Sancta Marthae last time to maintain, but given the degree of technological evolution over the last eight years, the de-bugging operation at this Conclave – both to maintain its secrecy and keep the cardinals out of contact with the world – promises to be ever more intense, and is likely to include the confiscation of all devices belonging to the electors before the voting begins. 

Charles Pierce at his Esquire blog asks why the intense emphasis on secrecy.

We are told repeatedly that the cardinal-electors fulfill their office at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. (Even silly American TV reporters repeat this, whether they believe it or not.) That being the case, why is it necessary to cloak the work of the Spirit in secrecy? Scripture tells us that the Spirit is available to us all. It came upon the disciples and the first thing they did was run right out and proclaim it, gobsmacking the daylights out of the people who'd come to Jerusalem just to buy a goat or two.

Exactly.  What is so secret about the movement of the Holy Spirit that The Clan of the Red Beanie (Thank you, Charles) must conduct the business of electing a new pope under tight security?  Of course, word will get out.  The princes of the Roman Catholic Church are not entirely above harmless leaks about the process, and not long after the election, we'll be reading articles and a little later entire books about what took place inside the walls of the Sistine Chapel. 

NO WHITE SMOKE YET

It is reported that the Crown Nominations Commission cannot agree on a candidate for Archbishop of Canterbury.  See The Lead, headlined Times source on ABC nomination: "A decision is not imminent".

According to Ruth Gledhill in the Times:

The body responsible for choosing the next Archbishop of Canterbury has failed to agree who should be the successor to Dr Rowan Williams.

Despite a three day session, aided by prayers invoked on Twitter with the hashtage #prayforthecnc, the 16-member committee has been unable to decide on who should take on the job that the present incumbent today implied was “impossible”.

CHOOSING THE NEW ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

The body responsible for choosing Rowan Williams's successor as archbishop of Canterbury will meet on Wednesday amid great secrecy and speculation that an Old Etonian former oil executive may become the 105th man to sit on the throne of St Augustine.

As the 16 voting members of the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) gather at a secret location for a final two-day meeting, Justin Welby, the bishop of Durham, has emerged as one of the leading candidates to take over when Williams stands down at the end of the year.

That choosing the man (for now) to lead the Church of England, to perform whatever other duties are assigned to the head of the established church in England, and to serve as Primus inter pares of the churches of the Anglican Communion is in the hands of 19 people, 15 men and 4 women (3 non-voting members), on the CNC in secret proceedings in a secret place seems strange to most members of the Episcopal Church in the US, where our presiding bishop and all bishops are chosen in a more open and democratic process.

At one time, the concern of Episcopalians in the US about which person was chosen as ABC was for the sake of our sisters and brothers in England, but ++Rowan Williams changed all that with his interference in the governance of our church and his attempt to impose the odious Anglican Covenant on all the churches in the Anglican Communion.

Prayer for the Crown Nominations Commission

A Prayer to be used for the Crown Nominations Commission on the 26th and 27th September 2012 as they consider the appointment of the new Archbishop of Canterbury

Almighty God,
you have given your Holy Spirit to the Church
to lead us into all truth:
bless with the Spirit's grace and presence
the members of the Crown Nominations Commission.
Keep them steadfast in faith and united in love,
that they may seek your will, manifest your glory
and prepare the way of your kingdom;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.
Amen.