Police Raid Grace And St. Stephen's Church

From the Colorado Independent:

More than 20 police officers raided the landmark Grace Church and St. Stephen’s in downtown Colorado Springs on Wednesday, marking the latest in the ongoing criminal investigation into whether the controversial Rev. Don Armstrong embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Colorado Springs Gazette reports that police raided Grace Church and St. Stephen’s Wednesday morning as part of the ongoing criminal investigation and seized financial records and computers.

The development is the latest in a complex story involving Armstrong and his followers who split form[sic] the Episcopal Church and joined the Episcopalian[sic] Diocese of Nigeria, whose archbishop once supported a law imposing five-year prison terms for gays and their supporters. Since then, Armstrong and his faction have kept physical possession of the historic and architecturally inspiring Grace Church and St. Stephen’s. The Episcopal Church of Colorado wants it back.
....

Read on about the Rev. Armstrong, who dodged a banana cream pie thrown at him and apparently parked illegally to buy a frappucino. As the reporter says, "Things have recently gotten a bit kooky."

Thanks to Lapin.

An Old Picture Of Me From Another Life

You didn't know that I was once in the movie business, did you? B-movies, I believe they were called, but I think that was a bit unfair. They seemed fine to me. I'm on the right in my Whirlpool Hollywood-Maxwell Bra. And I'm on the left holding the guy down with a gun. I can't quite remember the plot, but I'm wondering if the bra didn't do it for me, and the only way I could get a man was with a gun, although Annie Oakley says otherwise. My arm around his neck seems more fond than hostile, don't you think? You'll note that the movie is in color, too.

The picture is blurry, but if you click on it you'll get a clearer view. The words on the left say:

FLAMING PASSIONS AGAINST A BACKGROUND OF WEIRD ADVENTURE

Renz found the poster of the old movie and very kindly sent it to me.

UPDATE: I keep trying to get the poster clearer, but on second and third thought, it may be better left blurry. Clarity here may not fall into the category of "a good thing".

Proof That Men Have Better Friends

Friendship among Women:

A woman didn't come home one night. The next morning she told her husband that she had slept over at a friend's house. The man called his wife's 10 best friends. None of them knew anything about it.

Friendship among Men:

A man didn't come home one night. The next morning he told his wife that he had slept over at a friend's house. The woman called her husband's 10 best friends. Eight confirmed that he had slept over, and two said he was still there.

For your Black Friday morning pleasure.

UPDATE: Thanks to Doug.

Thought For The Day

Christianity is not so much a religion of optimism as a religion of hope.

Jane Redmont in When In Doubt, Sing.

I'm reading the book now, slowly, along with other books and magazines. Yes, I read more than one book at a time. Jane's book is quite good. You should buy it and read it. Buy from your locally owned bookstore, if you'd like to support them.

Giving Thanks

This picture from our back yard shows a satsuma tree with an orange tree behind it. I'm thankful to God and to Grandpère for the satsumas and oranges, and especially for the fresh orange juice that GP squeezes.

I'm thankful for my faith, my family and friends, my health, my home, my new president-elect, and all the bountiful riches in my life. The choicest riches are those which cannot be bought with money.

Prayer of General Thanksgiving

Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer, p.101)

In honor of our Native American brothers and sisters:

An Iroquois Prayer

We return thanks to our mother, the earth, with sustains us. We return thanks to the rivers and streams,which supply us with water. We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases. We return thanks to the corn, and to her sisters, the beans and squash, which give us life. We return thanks to the bushes and trees, which provide us with fruit. We return thanks to the wind, which, moving the air, has banished diseases. We return thanks to the moon and the stars, which have given us their light when the sun was gone. We return thanks to our grandfather He-no, .., who has given to us his rain. We return thanks to the sun, that he has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye. Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit, in whom is embodied all goodness, and who directs all things for the good of his children.

A Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Thanks to Diane and her post titled What We See for the inspiration to post the Iroquois prayer.

And The Winner Is....

In this corner is Ruth Gledhill in the London Times:

A conservative province in the Anglican church faces “punishment” this week for offering a safe haven to conservatives.

Senior bishops and laity meeting in London are to consider suspending the Anglican church in South America for taking rebel US dioceses under its wing.

The move will bring the Anglican Communion closer to a formal split. Early next month, rebel conservatives are expected to finalise plans for a new Anglican province in the US, to sit as a parallel jurisdiction alongside the existing Episcopal Church.

Unless this new province is recognised as part of the Anglican family by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams and the other 38 primates, it will in effect become a new Anglican church.

In a further indication that the liberals are winning the Anglican wars, The Episcopal Church of the US, which was suspended at a previous meeting, is expected to be welcomed back into the fold after sticking by its pledge not to consecrate any more gay bishops

And in this corner is Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefforts-Schori at Episcopal Life:

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was among those attending the JSC meeting, which was held behind closed doors at the Anglican Communion Office and Lambeth Palace in London. She noted that a November 26 report in The Times of London newspaper, that suggested the JSC had discussed plans to discipline the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone for its recent incursions into other provinces, was untrue. "The subject has not come up," she told Episcopal News Service.

And the good news:

Anglican Communion provinces have until the end of March 2009 to respond to the St. Andrew's Draft. The Covenant Design Group will next meet in London in April 2009 and is expected to issue another draft which will be reviewed by the ACC during its May meeting. The ACC could decide to release that version to the provinces for their adoption.

Jefferts Schori told a recent meeting of the Episcopal Church's Executive Council that if the ACC decides to do so, she will "strongly discourage" any effort to bring that request to the 76th General Convention in July.

"My sense is that the time is far too short before our General Convention for us to have a thorough discussion of it as a church," Jefferts Schori told the Executive Council on October 21.

I said that I'd believe it when it happened that the senior bishops would discipline "the Anglican church in South America for taking rebel US dioceses under its wing". Is it possible that it will not happen? Was Ruth wrong? Someone needs to explain to Ruth the difference between a province and a church.

"Puttin' On The Ritz" - Wooster And Jeeves

With thanks to LapinBizarre.

"Seeking Sanctuary"

Several New Orleans Catholic churches celebrate their last mass before being closed by the Archdiocese on Sunday. Dina Zelden weeps as she holds her son William during the final Mass at St. Henry's Church.

From Bruce Nolan Times-Picayune:

A month after parishioners in two Uptown Catholic parishes seized their churches to forestall their closure, their occupations have settled into steady, volunteer-organized rhythms of care and vigilance that appear to have kept both buildings occupied without a break.

After four weeks, parishioners and sympathizers still sit quietly in around-the-clock shifts at St. Henry Catholic Church, and less than a mile away, at Our Lady of Good Counsel.

It is a stalemate of sorts: Parishioners have vowed to occupy both churches until they can appeal their fate to whomever succeeds Archbishop Alfred Hughes. He closed both parishes Oct. 26 as part of a major reorganization of Catholic worship after Hurricane Katrina.
....

At both churches, up to 100 parishioners still gather each Sunday to say the rosary together without benefit of a priest. At St. Henry's last week most, but not all, said they attended Mass somewhere else in addition to coming to church there.

Together again, parishioners gather around the Sunday comforts of coffee and doughnuts. They greet and encourage each other. Their lay leaders brief them on organizational details.
....

At St. Henry, a 152-year-old parish of about 325 families, a core group of church-sitters numbers 80 or more, including some who volunteer several times a week to sit overnight, or through four-hour daytime shifts, said Ann Farmer, one of two volunteer coordinators.

At Good Counsel, parishioner Mary Alice Sirkis, whose grandparents were parishioners, and whose grandfather helped build either the church or the accompanying school, said that parish, with about 400 families, has 70 volunteers so far.

Those numbers would certainly make for a viable parish in the Episcopal Church, but with their priest shortage, I presume that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans has trouble staffing the churches, so they decided to combine three parishes into one.

I have a great love for old churches, perhaps too much love for them, for they are just buildings, and I like to see them used for their original purpose. However, I realize that's not always possible.

In the solitude, some say history, legacy and memory bear down on them. "I find when I'm in church, I don't feel I'm alone," Sirkis said. "I'm with my grandmother again."
....

At St. Henry, Cynthia Robidoux lays her air mattress in front of a side altar honoring the mother of Christ.

"The Mary Suite, she calls it," said Hagardorn, her husband.
....

The archdiocese's position is that the parishes are closed; priests of the archdiocese are not permitted to minister in those churches. Instead, parishioners of both communities are encouraged to join and help establish a new Catholic community called Good Shepherd Parish at nearby St. Stephen's Church.

I offer my prayers and support that the parishioners and the archdiocese may come to a peaceful agreement on the future of the two parishes.

The Times-Picayune is fortunate to have Bruce Nolan, an excellent religion reporter, who is diligent in his background research and, unlike many in the media, still does nuance, which has mostly gone out of favor.

Other Names Meme

1. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names): Anne Joseph
2. NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mother’s dad, father’s dad): Lawrence René
3. STAR WARS NAME: (the first 2 letters of your last name, first 4 letters of your first name): Bujune
4. DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal): Blue Cat
5. SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you live): Florence Thibodaux
6. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite alcoholic drink, optionally add “THE” to the beginning): The Green Wine (Yuk!)
7. FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name): Juer
8. GANGSTA NAME: (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite cookie): Pecan Praline Snackwell
9. ROCK STAR NAME: (current pet’s name, current street name): Diana Rienzi
10. PORN NAME: (1st pet, street you grew up on): Ginger Laharpe

The Gansta name is really lame. The porn name is the best. I like the rock star name, too.

H/T to Fran.

Lieberman Sees The Light

From Yahoo News:

HARTFORD, Conn. – Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman took another step Tuesday toward mending his relationship with Democrats, saying that Barack Obama's actions since winning the presidency have been "just about perfect."

"Everything that President-elect Obama has done since election night has been just about perfect, both in terms of a tone and also in terms of the strength of the names that have either been announced or are being discussed to fill his administration," Lieberman said during a visit to Hartford.

Whoops! Obama actions are "just about perfect" now, and yet Joe spent much of the campaign trashing him. Well then, Joe made a grave miscalculation. You might even call it a huge mistake. Or was he in a fog? Whatever. He's seen the light now.

Lieberman said he believes the rift between himself and the party stemmed mainly from his support of President Bush's policy in Iraq and will close as that becomes less of an issue.

Sure, Joe. That's all it is. Your ugly words about Obama have nothing to do with the ill will that you experience now. You may be right about the majority of your Democratic colleagues in the Senate, but not for many of us outside of the Senate. We think what you did was shameful. And now we're to believe you when you say that Obama's actions since the election which, by the way, he won, despite your claims that he was not up to the job, are "just about perfect". No, Joe. I don't think so.

H/T to Jane R.