Anniversary Of The Bombing Of Nagasaki

Sixty-three years ago today, President Harry Truman gave the order for an atomic bomb to be dropped on the Japanese city, three days after the bombing of Hiroshima.

PRAYER FROM HOLY TRINITY CHURCH IN NAGASAKI:

For those who died in the atomic bombing
O Lord God of all in this world and of all who have passed from it, we now remember and pray for all those who passed from the world through the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, especially the 29 believers of Nagasaki Holy Trinity Church, and we entrust their souls into the deep tenderness of your hands. We ask that we may not let their sacrifice be in vain, but may always be enabled to seek after the peace that you give. We ask this through the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Let us pray in remembrance of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and all who died in it, especially those from this church: Goto Giichiro, Goto Teruko, Hayashida Yukie, Hayashida Shizue, Hayashida Baku, Hayashida Masako, Hayashida Akiko, Shin Tamie, Shin Fujiko, Iga Yukitomo, Miyamoto Fuji, Miyamoto Tomoko, Miyamoto Hiroshi, Miyamoto Fumiko, Miyamoto Hiroko, Miyamoto Tomoko, Miyamoto Noritoshi, Date Masumi, Date Hideko, Date Toru, Date Akio, Tagawa Yasuji, Tagawa Tsuru, Tagawa Sadanori, Tagawa Sai, Ishibashi Tomoe, and two whose names are lost.

A prayer for all those who are still suffering from after-effects, especially those victims of the atom bomb from Korea and other Asian countries who do not receive assistance from Japan.
O Lord of deep tenderness, your son Jesus Christ has through the cross removed the dividing barriers of hatred and opened up a way to reconciliation in you, so that all people can live in peace as members of your family. Please take pity on all those in all lands, and especially those from neighbouring Asian countries, who are still suffering from the atomic bombing, and fulfil all their needs. We ask this through the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

A prayer for the abolition of nuclear weapons
O God our heavenly father, because of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, we know how terrible these weapons of slaughter are, how they destroy people's lives from the very root, and how they cause suffering to people over a long time. There are now in the world nuclear weapons capable of causing ruin and destruction that would be many times more terrible. Please O Lord, guide the hearts of the people of the world, so that a peace can be realised that comes not from weapons and a balance of military might but from dialogue, and so that all forms of nuclear weapons may vanish from the face of the earth. We ask this through the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Thanks to Le Bestiare for the reminder.

Image from Wiki.

A Palate Cleanser From Bishop Gene

From Bishop Gene's final post at Canterbury Tales From The Fringe:

I selected two quotes from the final post to entice you click the link to read the whole post.

Scotland was exhausting, but a real joy! The welcome at the Cathedral in Glasgow (pictured above) was phenomenal, with a packed church, despite a few protesters outside. The Edinburgh Festival of Spirituality and Peace, beneath the castle that dominates the city, is a remarkable offering by St. John's Church and the Interfaith Council. It was my privilege to speak at its opening event, and then address a packed audience of 300+ on the first evening. Numerous other events and interviews filled up my time, but it was a wholly welcoming and warm atmosphere. Scotland was a wonderful place to once again celebrate the eucharist, something denied me in England for three weeks -- the same Church who gave America its first bishops, when the English bishops refused to do so. The Scots reminded me that, in doing so, THEY, not the English, created the Anglican Communion!

Those of us in the Episcopal Church owe a tremendous debt to the Scottish Church that we should never, ever forget. And hundreds of years later, the Scottish Church welcomed Bishop Gene to preach and preside at the Eucharist, and what a welcome it was!

Clearly, the value of the Conference was the sharing of stories among the bishops about how they are trying to live out the Gospel in their contexts, and how the actions of one Province affect the life and ministry of another. My diocese and I were denied that experience, and so I can only learn from the stories of those conversations from others. But this, it seems to me, is the essence of Communion. To stay independent enough to be able to follow God's will as best we can discern it, in OUR context, while staying connected and caring deeply about how that plays out across the Communion.

It's truly unfortunate that Bishop Gene (of all people!) was not permitted to share his story and the stories of his people in the Diocese of New Hampshire. Oh yes, it was. Bishop Gene's picture of the Anglican Communion is much more to my liking than the Archbishop of Canterbury's world-wide Anglican Church.

But please read the entire post.

My Therapy Session

For now, I seem to be mentally blocked from posting anything substantial until I tackle the specific parts that trouble me the most in the The Archbishop of Canterbury's concluding Presidential Address at the Lambeth Conference. If you like you can skip this post and write it off as my therapy session, because it will, very likely, be boring to most people.

The archbishop says:

What I am saying, in effect, is that every association of Christian individuals and groups makes some sort of ‘covenant’ for the sake of mutual recognition, mutual gratitude and mutual learning.

Of course we do. First of all, we have the New Covenant of Our Lord Jesus Christ, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself." We have the Creeds, in which we affirm our beliefs each time we gather in a Eucharistic celebration. Then, we have the Baptismal Covenant. Each time a Baptism takes place in a church, those baptized and the members of the congregation who are present affirm the Baptismal Covenant. Why another covenant? I don't see the need.

But let me turn briefly to another dimension of all this, so as to draw in considerations of other matters we’ve discussed. I have just said something of what might be involved in a covenanted future, and I believe - as I said on Thursday - that it has the potential to make us more of a church; more of a ‘catholic’ church in the proper sense, a church, that is, which understands its ministry and service and sacraments as united and interdependent throughout the world.

Now I find that statement downright scary. One of the reasons that I moved from the Roman Catholic Church to the Episcopal Church was my discomfort with the top-down governance in the RCC. This statement increases my suspicion that the archbishop and others in positions of authority want to move toward a more authoritarian structure in the Anglican Communion.

Speaking for myself, I don't want to be a world-wide Anglican Church. I want to remain an Anglican Communion. The world-wide Anglican Church is a pretty big pill to swallow, especially after the archbishop has already said:

A fellow-Christian may believe they have a profound fresh insight. They seek to persuade others about it. A healthy church gives space for such exchanges. But the Christian with the new insight can’t claim straight away that this is now what the Church of God believes or intends; and it quite rightly takes a long time before any novelty can begin to find a way into the public liturgy, even if it has been widely agreed. Confusion arises when what is claimed as a new discernment presents itself as carrying the Church’s authority.

The archbishop seems to be pushing a fresh insight, so how can he "claim straight away that this is now what the" Anglican Communion intends? Of course, the archbishop uses the expression "Church of God", instead of Anglican Communion, which confuses me further. "Church of God", "world-wide Anglican Church", Anglican Communion, which is it?

In 1998, the Windsor Report called for the moratoria on same-sex blessings and consecration of new bishops in faithful, partnered same-sex relationships. In 2008, the archbishop asks for the same moratoria. For how long? Ten more years? Until the next Lambeth? Until the "mind of the church" comes together? Until kingdom come?

But that’s a powerful reminder that a global church and a global faith are not just about managing internal controversy. Our global, Catholic faith affirms that the image of God is the same everywhere - in the Zimbabwean woman beaten by police in her own church, in the manual scavenger in India denied the rights guaranteed by law; in the orphan of natural disaster in Burma, in the abducted child forced into soldiering in Northern Uganda, in the hundreds of thousands daily at risk in Darfur and Southern Sudan, in the woman raising a family in a squatters’ settlement in Lima or Buenos Aires. This is the Catholic faith : that what is owed to them is no different from, no less than what is owed to any of the rest of us. That was the faith to which we witnessed in our march in London. And if the message of this Conference is silent about this, something has gone very wrong.

Aside from the "global church" thingy, it's a fine statement of what the Anglican Communion should be about, except that he neglects to mention the affirmation of "the image of God" in those who are arrested, tortured, beaten, and killed, even in his own land and my land, in the name of homophobia. What about them, Archbishop Williams?

In the months to come, we will see, according the archbishop, the appointment of a Pastoral Forum to support minorities (which minorities?), an Anglican Consultative Council meeting, a Primates Meeting, and a meeting of the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates and the ACC. In addition, in the year 2009, the Episcopal Church will meet at General Convention. Many meetings. We shall see.

Well, that seems to be enough for now. Catharsis! Perhaps, now I can move on.

Just The Headline

"Mayor says NOAH Probe reveals some 'discrepancies'"

Read the article and weep. A related post on the subject is here.

UPDATE: Edited to provide a link to the article. Duh!

UPDATE 2: According to WWL-TV, the FBI, HUD, and the US Attorney's office have begun an investigation into NOAH's "discrepancies".

Friday Words From Maxine

And another.


Same source as below. It's silly Friday so far.

It's The Pen In The End

A very tired nurse walks into a bank,

Totally exhausted after an 18-hour shift.

Preparing to write a check,

She pulls a rectal thermometer out of her purse

And tries to write with it.

When she realizes her mistake,

She looks at the flabbergasted teller

And without missing a beat, she says:

"Well, that's great....that's just great....

Some asshole's got my pen!"

From Doug.

I'll Be There

Rising Tide III, A Conference On the Future of New Orleans, August 22-24

This year will be my third attendance at the conference. The first two were very good, and this year's conference promises to be even better. I met all the "need-to-know" New Orleans bloggers there, along with bloggers who come from a distance, because they care about New Orleans and continue write about it, so the country does not forget the tragedy of Katrina and the federal flood and the disastrous aftermath of neglect, corruption, and abuse by the powers of government at every level. The bloggers are a great bunch. I won't name names, because I'm sure to leave someone out.

I've read the excellent book by keynote speaker, John Barry, Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America.

If you're in the neighborhood, or even if you're not, you might want to plan to be there. You can register through PayPal at the link above.

"Oh Really, O'Reilly?"

Video from Robert Greenwall at Fox Attacks.

A Crying Shame

From the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Doris Grandpre knows exactly who gutted her 7th Ward house last year, then helped her start rebuilding the single shotgun where she lived for three decades before Hurricane Katrina.

"There was David. You got Christopher. Then there was Jason. Oh, and Simon," Grandpre, 76, said this week, recalling the student volunteers who came from Boston and Seattle to tear out her plaster walls and save the few precious items the flood did not destroy.

"I call them my little angels," she said.

It appears, however, that another crew has taken credit for demolition work at Grandpre's house. City records show that Hall & Hall Enterprises, the highest-paid contractor in Mayor Ray Nagin's home remediation program, billed the city $7,830 for gutting and boarding up the house and cutting the grass at the St. Anthony Street property.

The house is one of at least seven addresses that appear on two lists detailing post-storm remediation. One list belongs to the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana's Office of Disaster Response, which organized volunteers from across the country to come to New Orleans and provide free home remediation services, such as gutting and boarding up homes, to residents in need of help.

The level of corruption, incompetence, and lack of oversight by the city officials in New Orleans is mind-boggling. Think FEMA on a smaller scale. No wonder folks get Katrina fatigue. The Jericho Road program of the the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana works to provide housing for the people of New Orleans and organize the many volunteers who have given generously of their time and talents, and both groups have done great work, only to have contractors paid for work they did not do.

On Tuesday the Times-Picayune reported:

Stacey Jackson, the embattled former director of a city-financed program [NOAH] aimed at easing blight, bought four blighted properties herself through another city program two years ago but has done little or nothing to get them back into commerce.

Just last month, a company controlled by Jackson and her sister sold one of the four properties, an empty double lot at 1925-31 Sixth St., to a charity group that has been praised by City Hall and others for building new homes for first-time buyers in Central City.

The charity, Jericho Road Episcopal Housing Initiative, paid Jackson's company $20,000 for the land, three times what Jackson paid for it in 2006. As it happens, Jericho Road had been trying to get control of the land back then, but lost out to Jackson.

In fact, Jericho Road thought it had the property in 2006, having been awarded it by City Hall under a program designed to give nonprofit groups land adjudicated to the city because of unpaid taxes. But as the Jericho Road was trying to clear title to the Sixth Street property, the group learned the land was unavailable because Jackson had already staked a claim on it with the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, according to Brad Powers, Jericho Road's executive director.

Powers, whose group has built about 17 houses in the neighborhood since Hurricane Katrina, said he is glad Jericho Road finally purchased the double lot, where it will build two houses. But Powers said he regrets that the difference in the 2006 price and the 2008 price will accrue to Jackson, when his group could have spent it instead on building more affordable housing.

"Is it painful to have to spend $20,000" knowing the history? he asked rhetorically. "Yes, it's painful."

I'm sure it's painful, and it's a travesty that this sort of operation was allowed to continue for so long. How about reparation money from Stacey Jackson to the Jericho Road program? I'll wager my blood pressure soared to new heights as I wrote this post.

I hope that this news does not discourage the workers and volunteers in the Jericho Road program. From this one relatively small program, the result is 17 families in homes of their own, with more to come.

Comments Disappear

Is anyone else on Blogger having problems with comments disappearing? I know that they come in, because I get an email for each comment, but they don't show up on the blog, or they disappear after posting. I don't want folks to think I'm deleting their comments. My post "Colonialism and Anti-Colonialism" had comments, and now they're gone. Note to all: It's not me. It's Blogger