The Episcopal Church Welcomes You

Amelia at My Mother Is a Father posts on the statement by Bishop Stephen Lane of the Episcopal Diocese of Maine in support of voting "No" on Question 1, about which he says:

The passage of Question 1 would deny those [marriage] rights to certain persons on the basis of sexual orientation, and it would create two classes of citizens and deny one group what we believe is best for them and for society.

Bishop Lane's closing words remind all of us who call ourselves Episcopalians of our church's "tagline":

Our tagline of many years, The Episcopal Church Welcomes You, has never seemed more important. I hope and pray the welcome and pastoral care that same-gender couples receive in many of the Episcopal congregations across Maine will open doors to renewed participation in the lives of our congregations and communities.

(My emphasis)

Amen.

Please Pray For Roseann

From Roseann at Give Peace A Chance:

Surgery

On Monday the 12th, I will have vein graft surgery. This is being done for dialysis purposes. I don't want to do it, there is significant risk of bleeding and clotting, but my doc is insisting. With the catheter I have now the risk of infection is great. It is not a matter of IF and infection but WHEN. So what's a girl to do.


Before an Operation

Almighty God our heavenly Father, graciously comfort your servant Roseann in her suffering, and bless the means made use of for her cure. Fill her heart with confidence that, though at times she may be afraid, she yet may put her trust in you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Amazing! - Not Even One Threat!

I wouldn't speak publicly on the subject before October, because, although the hurricane season extends into October, the chances of a devastating hurricane from now on are relatively slim. I hardly spoke of our quiet summer in private for fear of being proved wrong within a week or so.

Thanks be to God.

Photo from NASA.

TGIF - Life Goes On

Amusements for the 95% of the day when you're not working.










How did they do this?










Maybe you ought to do a little work right about now.




From Doug. And did I ever have a time of it to get the pictures and the text situated properly!

Story Of The Day - Stopping Point

How hard is it to make stuff up? she
said. Not hard at all, I said. The real
trick is knowing to stop before you get
confused.


From StoryPeople.

Update On Myron

Friends,

Since Myron has been at Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital, there hasn't been much to report. He spent the first week being evaluated for speech, cognitive, physical and occupational therapies. Now he is in the midst of all of those therapies, and is exhausted at the end of his day.

I went to see him today and he was asleep, and hardly stirred. However, I noticed the trach tube had been removed and so removes an area of concern for me as it is a huge area for infection. The person working with his cognitive abilities says with the amount of brain injury he sustained they are impressed at his capabilities in this area.

I noticed some movement in his left leg, and Maryann assured me the doctors have seen it also, so maybe that is the beginning of movement in that leg. He is still wearing the neck brace and back brace but the Christiana Care physicians said those should be used for 6-8 weeks. His accident was 6 weeks ago today.

Keep him in your prayers,

Blessing to you all,

Sue

Good news, indeed!

Candidates For Bishop In the Diocese Of Louisiana

From the website of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana:

The Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana has announced a final list of six candidates who will stand for election as the 11th Episcopal Bishop of Louisiana on December 5, 2009, at Christ Church Cathedral, New Orleans.

“We are so pleased with the caliber of outstanding candidates who feel called to lead the Episcopal church in south Louisiana,” said David Pitts, chair of the diocesan Episcopate Committee, the group charged with oversight of the nomination process.

The candidates are:

Fr. Kurt Dunkle

Fr. Paul Elliott

Fr. Paul Johnson

Fr. Ken Ritter

Bp. Michael Smith

Fr. Morris Thompson

Biographies are at the website. I have not read them yet.

All of the candidates will visit the diocese in November for “walk-abouts” to give the clergy and lay members of the diocese an opportunity to meet each of the candidates.

Story Of The Day - Nothing More

If there is any secret to this life I live,
this is it: the sound of what cannot be
seen sings within everything that can. &
there is nothing more to it than that.


From StoryPeople.

Prayers Please

In thanksgiving:

My niece Donna came through her surgery for breast cancer well yesterday and is resting comfortably this morning. She will go home sometime today.

From David@Montreal

Before anything, I apologize my beloved Giants of prayer and practice for two prayer calls in one day...

But again this evening, another heads-up from a contact at CBC radio, and an interview with Father Paul Abbass of St. Mary's Church Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

Father Paul is dioesan spokesperson for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and was answering to the news that last week-end his Bishop, returning from a personal trip overseas was found to be in the posession of serious quantities of child pornography on his personal laptop. This discovered in a random search by Canadian border authorities.

This is the same diocese which only months ago made settlement of more than ten million dollars with the surviving victims of clergy abuse ranging over three decades. Antigonish is a relatively small, rural diocese, mainly fishing and agriculture.

What was most extraordinary about the interview with Father Abbas was the humanity and humility of this priest who not only runs a program for addicts, but who also has the charge of five parishes. No 'official talk' , no pontifications- the man was literally staggered by the news still several hours later. His pain for the people of the diocese, for the surviving family members of the victims of abuse who killed themselves and for the surviving victims, for the people of the diocese still recovering from more than two decades of scandal- it was one of the most powerful, most humane expressions I have ever heard out of the Roman Catholic Church- ever. Father Paul is a holy man in a very difficult spot.

So I'm asking your prayers- yes, for Father Paul Abbass, yes, for the people of the Diocese of Antigonish, and for all victims of religously-inpsired sexual abuse, sexual discrimination, misogyny and homophobia.

thank-you beloved Giants.

love always- always Love

David@Montreal

Here's the link to the story in the New York Times.

You Are Welcome

From The Living Church:

The Archbishop of Canterbury has welcomed an endorsement of the first three sections of the Anglican Covenant by the Diocese of Central Florida’s board and standing committee, but said only provinces can officially adopt the covenant.
....

Central Florida also asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to “outline and implement a process by which individual dioceses, and even parishes, could become members of the Anglican Covenant, even in cases where their provincial or diocesan authorities decline to do so.”

Archbishop Williams has no problem with a diocese "endorsing" the covenant, although the endorsement would have no "institutional effect", because “as a matter of constitutional fact, the [Anglican Consultative Council] can only offer the covenant for ‘adoption’ to its own constituent bodies (the provinces).” (My emphasis)

There you have it. A clear statement by the Archbishop. After I'd checked out the link that Ann sent me, I replied to her, "I cannot believe it! It's a miracle!"

Will the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury slow the stampede of dioceses to "endorse" the covenant? Seemingly, "endorse" it is all they can do. Apparently, they can't "become members" of the Anglican Covenant.

Thanks to Mark Harris and Andrew Gerns at The Lead for the link.

UPDATE: From Fr. Dan Martins at the Communion Partners site:

This news is being spun—on both the hard left and the hard right—as a setback to the initiative of the Communion Partners and the signers of the Anaheim Statement. It is, in fact, nothing of the sort. It’s not even news, since this is precisely what the Archbishop told the seven CP bishops who visited him a month ago. Dr Williams is just stating the facts, as dull as they may be.

Read the rest of Fr. Martins' statement at the link.

Well then, I suppose we should all calm down. As the title of Fr. Martins article says "Keep Moving ... Nothing to See Here".

UPDATE 2: And the plot thickens. See Simon Sarmiento at Thinking Anglicans, who references Archbishop Williams' letter to Bishop John Howe in October 2007:

I would repeat what I’ve said several times before - that any Diocese compliant with Windsor remains clearly in communion with Canterbury and the mainstream of the Communion, whatever may be the longer-term result for others in The Episcopal Church. The organ of union with the wider Church is the Bishop and the Diocese rather than the Provincial structure as such.

Well, I said of the recent letter, "I cannot believe it!"