West Africa Anglicans To Ordain Women

From Ghana Broadcasting Organization:

The Arch-Bishop of the Province of West Africa and Accra Diocese of the Anglican Church Most Rev. Dr. Justice Offei Akrofi has declared that the Diocese of Accra has finally agreed to the ordination of women as Priests of the Church. He said the issue which has been on board for almost 10 years is a breakthrough for the Accra Diocese. He made this known at the closing ceremony of the 20th Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Accra.

Good news, indeed! Thanks be to God. Once again, we are reminded that Anglican Africa is not a monolith.

Thanks to David@Montreal for the link.

Please Pray

Jim said...

I guess this is as good a thread as any. Please pray for Luella. She is nearly 80 and was in emergency surgery after a trip and fall broken hip Saturday. She came through the surgery OK and is now in recovery. She is Sue-z's and my friend. Pray also for strength and comfort for Brad her husband who is deeply worried for her. She is a heart patient and takes Plavix so any surgery carries a hemorrhage risk.

FWIW
jimB

Greetings Of The Day

For Fathers

Let us praise those fathers who have striven to balance the demands of work, marriage, and children with an honest awareness of both joy and sacrifice. Let us praise those fathers who, lacking a good model for a father, have worked to become a good father.

Let us praise those fathers who by their own account were not always there for their children, but who continue to offer those children, now grown, their love and support. Let us pray for those fathers who have been wounded by the neglect and hostility of their children.

Let us praise those fathers who, despite divorce, have remained in their children's lives. Let us praise those fathers whose children are adopted, and whose love and support has offered healing.

Let us praise those fathers who, as stepfathers, freely choose the obligation of fatherhood and earned their step children's love and respect. Let us praise those fathers who have lost a child to death, and continue to hold the child in their heart.

Let us praise those men who have no children, but cherish the next generation as if they were their own.

Let us praise those men who have "fathered" us in their role as mentors and guides.

Let us praise those men who are about to become fathers; may they openly delight in their children.

And let us praise those fathers who have died, but live on in our memory and whose love continues to nurture us.

Kirk Loadman


The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

(Numbers 6:24-26)

Thought For The Day - Richard Rohr

We all have to find a Source for our loving, and then find places to give that love away.

From "Daily Meditation".

A Day Of Mourning

Today is a day of mourning. I am so very sad for the people of Iran. The images in the graphic video of the young woman (named Neda?), who was shot and died, stay with me. I can't shake them. Another video of a shooting is up at Huffington Post now.

Then the revelation that 26 civilians were killed in Afghanistan by mistake, because US troops did not follow proper procedures, and the 25 dead, including 3 US soldiers, from a bomb in Iraq, following the 41 killed yesterday, and an estimated 1 billion hungry people in the world. Is there no end to sorrow and misery? No, there is not, but we must find a way to go on, "that we may not...be overcome by adversity."

Update on Neda from a blogger friend who wrote about her "sister":

Yesterday I wrote a note, with the subject line "tomorrow is a great day perhaps tomorrow I'll be killed." I'm here to let you know I'm alive but my sister was killed...


I'm here to tell you my sister died while in her father's hands
I'm here to tell you my sister had big dreams...
I'm here to tell you my sister who died was a decent person... and like me yearned for a day when her hair would be swept by the wind... and like me read "Forough" [Forough Farrokhzad]... and longed to live free and equal... and she longed to hold her head up and announce, "I'm Iranian"... and she longed to one day fall in love to a man with a shaggy hair... and she longed for a daughter to braid her hair and sing lullaby by her crib...

my sister died from not having life... my sister died as injustice has no end... my sister died since she loved life too much... and my sister died since she lovingly cared for people...

my loving sister, I wish you had closed your eyes when your time had come... the very end of your last glance burns my soul....

sister have a short sleep. your last dream be sweet.

Thanks to Anne Marie in the comments for calling my attention to the note.

Pray For The People Of Iran

The Huffington Post is live-blogging the protests in Iran which have turned violent. I watched a terrible and graphic video of a young woman who was shot, apparently today.

Pray for the people of Iran.

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

"Memo To The President"

From Robert Reich at TPM:

Mr. President:

Momentum for universal health care is slowing dramatically on Capitol Hill. Moderates are worried, Republicans are digging in, and the medical-industrial complex is firing up its lobbying and propaganda machine.

But, as you know, the worst news came days ago when the Congressional Budget Office weighed in with awful projections about how much the leading healthcare plans would cost and how many Americans would still be left out in the cold. Yet these projections didn't include the savings that a public option would generate by negotiating lower drug prices, doctor fees, and hospital costs, and forcing private insurers to be more competitive. Projecting the future costs of universal health care without including the public option is like predicting the number of people who will get sunburns this summer if nobody is allowed to buy sun lotion. Of course the costs of universal health care will be huge if the most important way of controlling them is left out of the calculation.

Read the details at TPM.

Take the inclusion of the public option issue to the people, President Obama. Three out of four of the citizens want universal health care. You're in the bully pulpit now. Use the pulpit to make your case. Don't count on the Democrats in Congress to get this done without strong leadership from you with the citizens of the country standing behind you.

Folks, I'm afraid the public option is in the process of being squeezed out of the health care plan because of pressure from the drug companies, the health insurance companies, and the AMA, all of whom give big bucks to the members of Congress.

Here's something you can do. Sign the petition in support of including the public option in health care legislation.

Thanks to Paul the BB for the reminder.

Down Memory Lane

Atrios takes us for a walk down memory lane with the US Congress.

From CNN:

In a major victory for the White House, the Senate early Friday voted 77-23 to authorize President Bush to attack Iraq if Saddam Hussein refuses to give up weapons of mass destruction as required by U.N. resolutions.

Hours earlier, the House approved an identical resolution, 296-133.

The president praised the congressional action, declaring "America speaks with one voice."

What were the Democratic Congress critters thinking? Why did they join in such numbers in the madness of King George - 29 "ayes" out of 50 in the Senate? The House Democrats were a bit bolder, with only 82 "ayes" out of the 208 who voted.

"No Words Necessary" - Get ready to smile.

It doesn't matter how many people you send this to, just remember, if it made you smile, your friends will smile too! Spread some Happiness, we all need to share a smile.

And I send it to you, my dear readers, and wish you a Happy Friday!

Dedicated to my good friend Pablito, who goes all soft and squishy about babies.

Thanks to Susan S.



Voila! Well, it only right, if this is your favorite, Susan.

Why The Green?

From the AP:

Hundreds of thousands of protesters dressed in black and green flooded the streets of Tehran on Thursday in a somber, candlelit show of defiance and mourning for those killed in clashes after Iran's disputed presidential election. The massive march — the fourth this week — sent a powerful message that opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has the popular backing to sustain his unprecedented challenge to Iran's ruling clerics.

Even President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, named the landslide winner in the June 12 election, appeared to take the growing opposition more seriously and backtracked on his dismissal of the protesters as "dust" and sore losers.
....

Many in the huge crowd walked silently and lit black candles as night fell. Others wore green wristbands or ribbons and carried flowers as they filed into Imam Khomeini Square, a large plaza in the heart of the capital named for the founder of the Islamic Revolution, witnesses said.

From Azadeh Moaveni at The Daily Beast titled "Iranians to Obama: Hush":

But in conversations with friends and relatives in Tehran this week, I've heard the opposite of what I had expected: a resounding belief that this time the United States should keep out. One of my cousins, a woman in her mid-30s who has been attending the daily protests along with the rest of her family, viewed the situation pragmatically. “The U.S. shouldn't interfere, because a loud condemnation isn't going to affect Iranian domestic politics one way or the other. If the supreme leader decides to crackdown on the protests and Ahmadinejad stays in power, then negotiations with the United States might improve our lives.”

I heard these sentiments, remarkably thoughtful for such a passionate moment, echoed from many quarters. President Barack Obama's outreach to Iran, and his offer of a mutually respectful dialogue, has raised the possibility of better relations for the first time in years, and many Iranians worry that a false step might jeopardize that prospect altogether. A friend of mine who studies public relations in Tehran noted that other American allies in the Gulf, Arab dictatorships with no pretence of democracy, are thriving economically. “In the end, a dictatorship that doesn't face U.S. sanctions is better off than one that does,” she said. “Now that after 30 years it seems that we have a chance to negotiate with America, it would be a shame if we lost the chance.”

And will the Republicans now STFU with their calls for Obama to "do more" to show support of the protesters?

H/T to Juan Cole.

UPDATE: From AFP via TPM:

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Friday for an end to street protests over last week's disputed presidential election, siding with declared winner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Making his first public appearance after daily protests over the official results, Khamenei ruled out any major fraud in the conduct of the poll and warned that the defeated candidates would be held to account over any renewed violence on the streets.
....

The opposition has been planning a new mass rally in Tehran on Saturday, to be addressed by the Ahmadinejad's principal challenger, moderate former premier Mir Hossein Mousavi.

There was no immediate word from the reformist clerical association which is organising the rally on whether they still planned to go ahead.