Davis MacIyalla Granted Asylum In The UK

From Colin Coward at Changing Attitude:

Davis MacIyalla, Director of Changing Attitude Nigeria, has been granted asylum in the UK.

MacIyalla fled Nigeria in 2006 following a series of death threats. After settling in Togo a brief period of calm was followed by further intimidation, culminating in a violent assault in April of this year. In the same week a fellow gay Anglican activist was severely beaten while representing Davis at his sister’s funeral in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

Following his arrival in the UK, to help contribute to the Listening Process ahead of the Lambeth Conference, MacIyalla and the Director of Changing Attitude England, Colin Coward, both received more death threats. British police established that the threats originated outside the UK and MacIyalla decided that he had no option but to seek asylum in Britain.

This afternoon MacIyalla said ‘This is a huge relief. This morning I wasn’t a free man – now I’m safe. My great sadness is for all my brother and sister LGBT Christians back in Nigeria whose lives are still limited and sometimes endangered, just because of who they are.’

The Revd Colin Coward, Changing Attitude’s Director in England said ‘We’re very grateful that the Government has taken seriously the threat to Davis’ life were he to return to Africa. Thanks to his refugee status he can continue to work for LGBT Nigerian Anglicans, along with friends and colleagues from many parts of Africa, from the safety of a base in London.’

The UK Government’s recognition that Nigeria can be a dangerous place for gay Anglicans sits in stark contrast to the view of Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) leaders who until recently denied that that homosexuality existed within their church. They still refuse to condemn violence against LGBT people and continue to deny them a place within the body of the Church.

What great news! Thanks be to God!

Thanks to Erika for the heads-up.

"For The Man Who Has Everything"

Check this out if you're looking for a unique and special gift for that man of yours. Hey! I'm not a man, but if anyone wants to give me this, I'll take it.

Thanks to Lapin for the link.

Feast Of Thomas A Kempis

"Thomas à Kempis on Mount Saint Agnes" (1569)

When God bestows Spiritual comfort, receive it with a grateful heart; but remember that it comes of God's free gift, and not of your own merit. Do not be proud, nor over joyful, nor foolishly presumptuous; rather, be the more humble for this gift, more cautious, and more prudent in all your doings, for this hour will pass, and temptation will follow it. When comfort is withdrawn, do not immediately despair, but humbly and patiently await the will of Heaven; for God is able to restore you to a consolation even richer than before. This is nothing new or strange to those who know the ways of God, for the great Saints and Prophets of old often experienced these changes. ...Indeed, the temptation that precedes is often a sign of comfort to follow. For heavenly comfort is promised to those who have been tried and tempted."To him who overcomes," says God, "I will give to eat of the Tree of Life.

From James Keifer at The Lectionary, a quote from The Imitation Of Christ by Thomas à Kempis:

Readings:

Psalm 34:1-8 or 33:1-5,20-21
Philippians 4:4-9
Luke 6:17-23

PRAYER

Holy Father, who have nourished and strengthened your Church by the writings of your servant Thomas a Kempis: Grant that we may learn from him to know what we ought to know, to love what we ought to love, to praise what highly pleases you, and always to seek to know and follow your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Image from Wiki.

Bishop Jenkins And Bishop Chane Video

View the Lambeth Conference Daily Account by Bishop Charles Jenkins of Louisiana and Bishop John Chane of Washington, DC at Episcopal Life.

UPDATE: Thanks to Jane R at Acts Of Hope for the link.

Fr Jake Reincarnated As Father T

Fr Terry Martin, aka Fr Jake, formerly of Father Jake Stops The World has a new blog called Father T Listens To The World. From Father T:

Welcome!
My name is Terry Martin, also known as "Fr. T." I currently serve as the Program Officer for Evangelism at the Episcopal Church Center. I'm new to this position, so I need your help in discovering creative and innovative strategies for evangelism. Let's talk.

Father T, welcome once again to blogland. We missed you during your brief absence. Fr T wants to talk, so it would be good if you went to talk to him.

UPDATE: From Episcopal Life comes more information about Father Terry Martin and his new job in the Episcopal Church.

From Bishop Gene's Blog

In answer to those who call for Biship Gene's resignation, such as the Archbishop of the Sudan, and those, such as the Bishop of Fort Worth, who call for the resignation of all the bishops who participated in Bishop Gene's consecration, he replies:

First, this is also about the faithful people of New Hampshire who called me to be their bishop. Everyone seems to forget that I am not here representing myself, but rather all the people of the Diocese of New Hampshire, with whom it is my privilege to minister in Christ's name. They have called me to minister with them as their Bishop, and suggestions that I resign ignore the vows that I have taken to serve my flock in New Hampshire. I would no more let them down or reneg on my commitments to them than fly to the moon. We may be the one diocese in the entire Communion who is, for the most part, beyond all this obsession with sex and are getting on with the Gospel. They would be infuriated, as well they should be, if I entertained any notion of resigning. And it is not just Gene Robinson who is being denied representation at the Lambeth Conference, it is the people of New Hampshire who have been deprived of a seat at the table.

Second, those calling for my resignation seem to be under the impression that if Gene Robinson went away, that all would go back to being "like it was," whatever that was! Does ANYONE think that if I resigned, this issue would go away?! I could be hit by a big, British, doubledecker bus today, and it would not change the fact that there are faithful, able and gifted gay and lesbian priests of this Episcopal Church who are known and loved for what they bring to ordained ministry, who will before long be recognized with a nomination for the episcopate (as has already happened in dioceses other than New Hampshire), and one of them will be elected. Not because they are gay or lesbian, but because the people who elect them recognize their gifts for ministry in that particular diocese. We are not going away, as much as some would like us to. That toothpaste isn't going to go back into the tube! Not if the Bishop of New Hampshire resigns. Not if the "offending" bishops leave the Lambeth Conference. Not ever.

Read all of his most recent post, of his morning prayers with the Greyfriars, of the young stewards flocking to him to express their support and have their pictures taken with him. Pray for Bishop Gene. Pray for all of the bishops.

From True Majority - Stop Torture

Dear June,

Ask Senator McCain to oppose torture.

Did you see the news? Yesterday a military judge overseeing the first war crimes trials at Guantanamo refused to consider evidence obtained in "highly coercive environments and conditions."1 So now not only is information acquired through torture unreliable, un-American and immoral, it's also useless.

We're working together with Catholics United and the School of the Americas Watch to bring you the voices of torture survivors and military interrogators who are asking Sen. McCain to regain his moral footing and ban torture.

Torture should not be a partisan issue. It's a question of what America stands for. In 2005, Senator John McCain led the effort to ban any US personnel from engaging in torture.2 Since then, something has changed. Earlier this year, Sen. McCain voted against that very same torture ban.3


For years now, the Supreme Court has been steadily rolling back George Bush's abuses of executive power. Now, it's time for the Congress to reclaim its role of checks and balances and stand up to the Bush administration. We need a bipartisan consensus in Congress against any branch of the US government practicing torture.

Watch this video from Joshua Casteel, a former military interrogator. Then join Joshua and call on Sen. McCain to lead his party by bringing an end to torture in all circumstances.

http://www.TrueMajority.org/NoTorture

Thanks for taking action,

-Ilya

Ilya Sheyman
Online Organizer

Watch And Pray

From Bishop Gene Robinson's blog:

I learned more about today's planned meeting of the House of Bishops and the official thinking behind my not being able to attend. I don't "get" their reasoning, but here it is: (And the fact is, most of our House of Bishops is probably totally unaware of the "negotiations" going on behind the scenes.) The Lambeth planners do NOT consider this a meeting of our House of Bishops. Rather, they say, this is a part of the Lambeth Conference, and therefore, as a non-invitee, I will not be allowed on the premises where the meeting is taking place. It seems a flimsy distinction to me, but I have decided not to pursue it. It really puts all of us in a lose-lose position: if I abide by their ruling, I am excluded; if I fight it or simply show up, then I'm the troublemaker and rebel. If the House of Bishops takes some action on this, necessitating a vote, then it divides our House -- a further and unnecessary division that I refuse to encourage. So no matter how you slice it, someone loses. I have decided, on my own, to let it go, sad as it is. This is not a ditch I feel called to die in. I will just mourn the sadness of it, and move on. (There's something about shaking the dust off your sandals and moving on that I've read somewhere!)

What I want all of you to know is that there are some amazing people in our House of Bishops who are working constantly behind the scenes to support me. Their support means the world to me. They are as dismayed, discouraged and frustrated as the rest of us. They need to play THEIR roles INSIDE the Big Top (the large tent where they are meeting -- the circus reference has been duly noted by everyone!), and I need to play MINE, OUTSIDE, as our beloved ++Katharine told me back in March. So that's what we'll do.

For now, it seems that the best policy for us is to allow the Episcopal bishops to continue with their work behind the scenes and to pray, pray, pray.

I'm not sorry that the emails went out. The message that many of us care about Bishop Gene's inclusion and that we are following the events at Lambeth closely went out to many of our bishops, and that can't be a bad thing.

Thanks to Wayward Episcopalian for the link to Bishop Gene's message.

Bishop Jenkins -"The First Plenary Session"

From Bishop Charles Jenkins, Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana:

The first plenary session of the Lambeth Conference was an important and encouraging time. The Archbishop of Canterbury demonstrated leadership that I would characterize as visionary, brave, biblical, and persevering. Many, many questions are yet to be addressed and some even answered, but I think that all will be heard, even the small voices (like mine) from the side. The Indaba (not pronounced in-da-bar, as one English Bishop tried) groups are a wonderful opportunity for the Bishops, all of the Bishops, to discern the will of God in the various voices and experiences. These groups are not representative of a triumph of process over content nor does the Indaba process represent an attempt to avoid decisions. Rather, this is for us in the west, a new of proceeding. It is an African way taken when the whole village gathers in to face a decision. As for our Western methods of parliamentary law so well defined in the 20th century, how well have this worked for the Church? So, Archbishop Rowan leads us in a new way.

Brothers and sisters, I am more encouraged than I have been in a long time. This Archbishop is showing leadership that I so admire. Continue to pray for us.

Louise and I are living in the dorm, which has certain drawbacks not to be discussed here, but which puts us right near the center of things.

I am off to Bible study.

+Charles

Take Action!

Moved up from the comments:

Dennis said...
I sent emails to the bishops of this diocese (and to the executive administrator they are likely talking to) and to a lot of people in the Presiding Bishop's office.

Please send emails. Supposedly they can check emails.

The emails for the PBs office are:
pboffice@episcopalchurch.org; nrfox@episcopalchurch.org; crobertson@episcopalchurch.org; sjones@episcopalchurch.org

You can find your own bishop's emails at your diocese's website.

Letters need to be sent ASAP.

Dennis is right.