Robert Duncan, former Episcopal bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, gave an interview to Christianity Today from the alternative universe in which he functions. The title is "The Comeback Bishop", and it's worth a read. He spoke quite a few quotable words, but those which jumped out and grabbed me were his words about Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.
How should we best interpret the recent silence of Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams?
Sometimes silence is golden. Not so long ago I wrote to him and thanked him for his silence. The silence could suggest two things. It could suggest an indifference, which I don't think is the issue. Or it could suggest a diplomatic response in which it's clear that the sands are shifting. The Archbishop of Canterbury and I have had regular contact, and that will continue. He is redefining his own role by his silence. He redefined the role of the Lambeth Conference. Those redefinitions are necessary in light of the emergence of a global communion. The existing Anglican structures are largely colonial. I acknowledge his authority to exercise his role the way he sees it, actually diminishing his role substantially for the future of the communion.
In my humble opinion, the ABC has, on too many occasions, spoken on matters about which he'd better have been silent and not spoken of matters in which his words could have had great influence for good. Also, it's difficult for me to see how the ABC's new concept for a world-wide Anglican "church" diminishes his own role substantially, as Robert Duncan concludes.
Robert Duncan is most certainly not shy about admitting that he will be the primate of the new Anglican province to be established in the US. I suppose the reason for the title of the piece references that admission. Upon reflection, perhaps, I should have titled my post "Bishop of the Province of Spin".
And I haven't even touched upon the matter of the authority of Bishop Clumber, bishop of the One True Diocese of Pittsburgh.
H/T to the Episcopal Café for the link to CT.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Guard Your Reputation, Lord!
From CNNPolitics.com:
At a McCain rally in Davenport, Iowa, the pastor who prayed the invocation spoke these words:
“There are millions of people around this world praying to their god—whether it’s Hindu, Buddha, Allah—that his opponent wins, for a variety of reasons. And Lord, I pray that you will guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their God is bigger than you, if that happens,” said Arnold Conrad, the former pastor of Grace Evangelical Free Church in Davenport.
Surpassing strange.
At a McCain rally in Davenport, Iowa, the pastor who prayed the invocation spoke these words:
“There are millions of people around this world praying to their god—whether it’s Hindu, Buddha, Allah—that his opponent wins, for a variety of reasons. And Lord, I pray that you will guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their God is bigger than you, if that happens,” said Arnold Conrad, the former pastor of Grace Evangelical Free Church in Davenport.
Surpassing strange.
Monday, October 13, 2008
And Here's Another - Fr. Steve Niskanen
On the same day that Fr. Geoff Farrow spoke from the pulpit in Fresno, California, to say that he could not, in conscience, support Proposition 8, which would ban same-sex marriages, Fr. Steve Niskanen, another Roman Catholic priest, from San Gabriel Mission in the Los Angeles archdiocese, spoke out against the proposition.
From the California Catholic Daily:
Another priest has broken ranks with California’s bishops on the Protect Marriage initiative, telling his parishioners in the church’s weekly bulletin, “I cannot in conscience unequivocally support Proposition 8.”
....
“I deeply respect and submit to the authority of our bishops and the force of traditional Catholic teaching limiting sexual relations to the love and life-giving commitment of heterosexual marriage. But I cannot in conscience unequivocally support Proposition 8 because I cannot in my heart of hearts say with certainty, at this time, that God would not call His gay and lesbian children into a faithful and life-long covenant with one another.”
I offer my prayers and support to Fr. Steve.
UPDATE: The website at the above link allows comments. The majority are against Fr. Steve's action. You may want to leave a few words. Be nice.
From the California Catholic Daily:
Another priest has broken ranks with California’s bishops on the Protect Marriage initiative, telling his parishioners in the church’s weekly bulletin, “I cannot in conscience unequivocally support Proposition 8.”
....
“I deeply respect and submit to the authority of our bishops and the force of traditional Catholic teaching limiting sexual relations to the love and life-giving commitment of heterosexual marriage. But I cannot in conscience unequivocally support Proposition 8 because I cannot in my heart of hearts say with certainty, at this time, that God would not call His gay and lesbian children into a faithful and life-long covenant with one another.”
I offer my prayers and support to Fr. Steve.
UPDATE: The website at the above link allows comments. The majority are against Fr. Steve's action. You may want to leave a few words. Be nice.
Happy Thanksgiving, My Canadian Friends!!
BONNE ACTION DE GRÂCE, MES AMIS CANADIENS!!
I tried to find a definitive history of Canada's thanksgiving celebration, but each account that I found was different. One of the articles mentioned "turmoil" in settling on the official history of the holiday in Canada. If any of you Canadians provide a link to a good historical source, I'll add it in an update.
UPDATE: Tim Chesterton provided this link to a history of the Canadian holiday.
Another Brave Man
Lt. Colonel Darrel J. Vandeveld resigned as a prosecutor in the military tribunals at Guantamano Bay. He's the fourth prosecutor to resign. His Army career is finished.
Vandeveld's claims are particularly explosive.
In a declaration and subsequent testimony, he said the U.S. government was not providing defense lawyers with the evidence it had against their clients, including exculpatory information -- material considered helpful to the defense.
Saying that the accused enemy combatants were more likely to be wrongly convicted without that evidence, Vandeveld testified that he went from being a "true believer to someone who felt truly deceived" by the tribunals. The system in place at the U.S. military facility in Cuba, he wrote in his declaration, was so dysfunctional that it deprived "the accused of basic due process and subject[ed] the well-intentioned prosecutor to claims of ethical misconduct."
Vandeveld was warned by his superiors not to speak out until he is formally released from the military, but before the warning by his superiors, he said in an email to the LA Times:
"I don't know how else the creeping rot of the commissions and the politics that fostered and continued to surround them could be exposed to the curative powers of the sunlight," he said. "I care not for myself; our enemies deserve nothing less than what we would expect from them were the situations reversed. More than anything, I hope we can rediscover some of our American values."
Vandeveld corresponded with Fr. John Dear, a Roman Catholic priest and peace activist, who advised him to do the right thing. Vendeveld describes himself as a conformist. Up until now, he always received glowing evaluations from his superiors. Read the article. He's a man of faith, a Roman Catholic, who, in the end, followed his conscience.
Vandeveld's claims are particularly explosive.
In a declaration and subsequent testimony, he said the U.S. government was not providing defense lawyers with the evidence it had against their clients, including exculpatory information -- material considered helpful to the defense.
Saying that the accused enemy combatants were more likely to be wrongly convicted without that evidence, Vandeveld testified that he went from being a "true believer to someone who felt truly deceived" by the tribunals. The system in place at the U.S. military facility in Cuba, he wrote in his declaration, was so dysfunctional that it deprived "the accused of basic due process and subject[ed] the well-intentioned prosecutor to claims of ethical misconduct."
Vandeveld was warned by his superiors not to speak out until he is formally released from the military, but before the warning by his superiors, he said in an email to the LA Times:
"I don't know how else the creeping rot of the commissions and the politics that fostered and continued to surround them could be exposed to the curative powers of the sunlight," he said. "I care not for myself; our enemies deserve nothing less than what we would expect from them were the situations reversed. More than anything, I hope we can rediscover some of our American values."
Vandeveld corresponded with Fr. John Dear, a Roman Catholic priest and peace activist, who advised him to do the right thing. Vendeveld describes himself as a conformist. Up until now, he always received glowing evaluations from his superiors. Read the article. He's a man of faith, a Roman Catholic, who, in the end, followed his conscience.
October Surprise?
From the Times Online:
Some key decision makers in Israel fear that unless they attack Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities in the next few months, while George W Bush is still president, there will not be another period when they can rely on the United States as being anywhere near as supportive in the aftermath of a unilateral attack.
According to the Guardian, Olmert asked Bush in May to support an Israeli attack on Iran. In a rare moment of enlightenment and rational thinking, Bush refused.
Bush's decision to refuse to offer any support for a strike on Iran appeared to be based on two factors, the sources said. One was US concern over Iran's likely retaliation, which would probably include a wave of attacks on US military and other personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as on shipping in the Persian Gulf.
That is exactly right. But we must not dismiss the idea that this could happen before Bush leaves office, or even before the election. In May, the Republicans were not facing the loss of the election, nor the market meltdown. They very much need a distraction.
Then too, the Israelis may not wait for our permission.
Thanks to Lapin for the link.
Some key decision makers in Israel fear that unless they attack Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities in the next few months, while George W Bush is still president, there will not be another period when they can rely on the United States as being anywhere near as supportive in the aftermath of a unilateral attack.
According to the Guardian, Olmert asked Bush in May to support an Israeli attack on Iran. In a rare moment of enlightenment and rational thinking, Bush refused.
Bush's decision to refuse to offer any support for a strike on Iran appeared to be based on two factors, the sources said. One was US concern over Iran's likely retaliation, which would probably include a wave of attacks on US military and other personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as on shipping in the Persian Gulf.
That is exactly right. But we must not dismiss the idea that this could happen before Bush leaves office, or even before the election. In May, the Republicans were not facing the loss of the election, nor the market meltdown. They very much need a distraction.
Then too, the Israelis may not wait for our permission.
Thanks to Lapin for the link.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Francis Sayre Jr, Former National Cathedral Dean, Dies
From the New York Times:
The Very Rev. Francis B. Sayre Jr., who in his 27 years as dean of the National Cathedral in Washington raised his sonorous voice against McCarthyism, segregation, poverty and the Vietnam War while presiding over construction of the cathedral’s majestic Gloria in Excelsis Tower, died Oct. 3 at his home on Martha’s Vineyard, in Massachusetts. He was 93.
He was the grandson of Woodrow Wilson and was born in the White House.
On the fight for civil rights:
...he urged his parishioners to join the struggle. He invoked the Prophet Elijah’s Old Testament challenge, “How long will ye go limping between the two sides?” Then he said, “That question, chilling in its candor, probes rather painfully; and I’m afraid we’ve been doing a good bit of limping ourselves, and the testing may not be far off.”
Of Joe McCarthy and his supporters:
...one of a crew of “pretended patriots” and said, “There is a devilish indecision about any society that will permit an impostor like McCarthy to caper out front while the main army stands idly by."
May he rest in peace and rise in glory.
The Very Rev. Francis B. Sayre Jr., who in his 27 years as dean of the National Cathedral in Washington raised his sonorous voice against McCarthyism, segregation, poverty and the Vietnam War while presiding over construction of the cathedral’s majestic Gloria in Excelsis Tower, died Oct. 3 at his home on Martha’s Vineyard, in Massachusetts. He was 93.
He was the grandson of Woodrow Wilson and was born in the White House.
On the fight for civil rights:
...he urged his parishioners to join the struggle. He invoked the Prophet Elijah’s Old Testament challenge, “How long will ye go limping between the two sides?” Then he said, “That question, chilling in its candor, probes rather painfully; and I’m afraid we’ve been doing a good bit of limping ourselves, and the testing may not be far off.”
Of Joe McCarthy and his supporters:
...one of a crew of “pretended patriots” and said, “There is a devilish indecision about any society that will permit an impostor like McCarthy to caper out front while the main army stands idly by."
May he rest in peace and rise in glory.
Did You Know...
that the sons of the Israelites wore earrings as they wandered through the desert?
Aaron said to them, ‘Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’
Exodus 32:2
I did not take note of that before today.
Aaron said to them, ‘Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’
Exodus 32:2
I did not take note of that before today.
What Is Good?
‘With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:6-8
The passage above is one of my favorites in all the Bible. Walter Bruggemann talked about it in the DVD which we saw in our adult class last week, along with this passage from Psalm 50:
‘Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt-offerings are continually before me.
I will not accept a bull from your house,
or goats from your folds.
For every wild animal of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the air,*
and all that moves in the field is mine.
‘If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and all that is in it is mine.
Do I eat the flesh of bulls,
or drink the blood of goats?
Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,*
and pay your vows to the Most High.
Call on me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.’
Bruggemann said (paraphrase), "God says to us, 'You may serve me, but you may not use me. You have nothing to give me that I need.'"
Amen.
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:6-8
The passage above is one of my favorites in all the Bible. Walter Bruggemann talked about it in the DVD which we saw in our adult class last week, along with this passage from Psalm 50:
‘Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt-offerings are continually before me.
I will not accept a bull from your house,
or goats from your folds.
For every wild animal of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the air,*
and all that moves in the field is mine.
‘If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and all that is in it is mine.
Do I eat the flesh of bulls,
or drink the blood of goats?
Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,*
and pay your vows to the Most High.
Call on me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.’
Bruggemann said (paraphrase), "God says to us, 'You may serve me, but you may not use me. You have nothing to give me that I need.'"
Amen.
Beauty And The Beer
Husband and wife are shopping in Safeway when the man picks up a dozen bud lites and sticks it into the trolley.
'What do you think you're doing?' asks the wife.
'They're on special, only $10 for 12 cans,' he says.
'Put them back. We can't afford it,' says the wife and they carry on shopping. A few aisles later the woman picks up a $20 jar of face cream and sticks it into the trolley.
'What do you think you're doing?' asks the man.
'It's my face cream. It makes me look beautiful,' she says.
The man replies, 'So does the 12 bottle bud lites and it's half the damn price!'
Don't blame me, blame Doug.
'What do you think you're doing?' asks the wife.
'They're on special, only $10 for 12 cans,' he says.
'Put them back. We can't afford it,' says the wife and they carry on shopping. A few aisles later the woman picks up a $20 jar of face cream and sticks it into the trolley.
'What do you think you're doing?' asks the man.
'It's my face cream. It makes me look beautiful,' she says.
The man replies, 'So does the 12 bottle bud lites and it's half the damn price!'
Don't blame me, blame Doug.
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