EYE-ROLL OF THE DAY

Leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Britain attempted to distance the Pope from the sex abuse scandal engulfing the institution, instead pledging that Benedict XVI will “give guidance on the great moral issues of our day” when he visits Britain in September.
....

Although it has official status, the usual trappings of a state visit will be absent. There will be neither a procession in a gilded carriage up the Mall nor a banquet at Buckingham Palace, as the Queen will be in Scotland. The Pope will stay in Church accommodation as is normal when he visits other heads of state around the world.

A snub by the Queen? Perhaps not. Once in Scotland, the royal lady does not like interrupting her visits to return to England. The Queen will receive the pope at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.

The Archbishop of Canterbury today offered an uncharacteristically terse welcome ahead of the visit.

Dr Rowan Williams, recently surprised by the Catholic announcement of a new Anglican Ordinariate in England to tempt dissatisfied Anglicans over to Rome, said: “The Pope's visit will be an opportunity to cement ties not only between the Holy See and the United Kingdom but also the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian churches in Scotland, England and Wales. I look forward particularly to welcoming Pope Benedict to Lambeth Palace on behalf of the Church of England.”

Hmmm. No comment.

H/T to MadPriest for the link to the article in the Times.

BISHOP KATHARINE'S EASTER MESSAGE

Easter 2010

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. (Isa 9:2; Matt 4:16)

The Diocese of Haiti has observed Lent in a very different way this year. When Bishop Duracin and I spoke just before Ash Wednesday, we talked about how this year would be different. He noted that the people of Haiti would need to practice saying Alleluia, so that when Easter came they could enter in with joy. In the midst of grief and darkness, it can be exceedingly difficult to believe that resurrection is a possibility.

Nora Gallagher makes a similar point in her book, Practicing Resurrection.

We are not born with the ability to insist on resurrection everywhere we turn. It takes the discipline and repetition that forms an athlete – in this case, a spiritually fit Christian. We practice our faith because we must – it withers and atrophies unless it’s stretched. We must continue to give evidence of the faith that is within us.

Easter prods and provokes us with an immense stretching exercise. God has renewed a life given to the evil of this world on behalf of those with no other helper. That earth-shattering and tomb-shattering rebirth has planted the seeds of hope in each one of us. Yet those seeds do not produce fruit without struggle.

The people of Haiti are finding new life in the midst of death and struggle. As a nation and a people they have repeatedly practiced resurrection through centuries of slavery, oppression, invasion, corruption, and privation. The joy of their art forms – music and painting in particular – gives evidence of the hope that is within them as a people. They know, deep in their cultural DNA, that God is continually bringing new life out of death. Yet each person must discover and nurture that hope. It is made far easier in community.

The shared hope of a community is essential. Most human beings cannot long survive the evil and death of solitary confinement or a concentration camp. It is the shared sense of suffering and the shared nurture of even tiny embers of hope that offers life. The greatest cruelty of places like Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib is the removal and destruction of such hope. The absence or disconnection from other people as sources of hope leads to suicide and even that mysterious ailment in young children called “failure to thrive.”

The Christian community is about shared hope in resurrection. The citation at the top first buoyed hope among a people exiled in a foreign land, without the support of familiar leaders or places of worship. That people developed a community that could practice its faith in a strange land, insisting that God was present among them even in exile. Jesus insists that that light is present even in the midst of Roman oppression, and that he will gather a community to remember that light and practice seeing and discovering it.

The Christian community is meant to be a mutual hope society, with each one offering courage to another whose hope has waned, insisting that even in the darkest of night, new life is being prepared. That work is constant – it will not end until the end of all things. And still the community persists, year in and year out, in time of earthquake and war and flood, in time of joy and new birth and discovery. Together we can shout, “Alleluia, he is risen! Indeed, he is risen, Alleluia!” even when some among us are not quite so confident as others. For indeed, the body of Christ is rising and risen when even a small part of it can rejoice and insist that God is renewing the face of the earth and light has dawned upon us.

Alleluia! Keep practicing that joyful shout. Someone needs to hear its truth. Alleluia!

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop
The Episcopal Church


Thanks to Ann Fontaine at The Lead

YOUNGER SIMPLER DAYS

 

The picture above of my six grandchildren was taken a good many years ago at a Loyola University reunion here in Thibodaux for alumni from the area. Since I graduated over 50 years ago, it's the only Loyola reunion that I've ever attended. I didn't know anyone there, since most of the alumni were years younger.

One of my grandons, the eldest, I believe, called out, "Drinks to your mouth!" just before I snapped the picture.

 

When I removed the picture from the frame, I found the inspirational poem and drawing behind the picture.

PAINTING THE CHURCH

There was a Scottish painter named Smokey Macgregor who was very interested in making a penny where he could, so he often thinned down his paint to make it go a wee bit further.

As it happened, he got away with this for some time, but eventually the Baptist Church decided to do a big restoration job on the outside of one of their biggest buildings..

Smokey put in a bid, and, because his price was so low, he got the job.

So he set about erecting the scaffolding and setting up the planks, and buying the paint and, yes, I am sorry to say, thinning it down with turpentine..

Well, Smokey was up on the scaffolding, painting away, the job nearly completed, when suddenly there was a horrendous clap of thunder, the sky opened, and the rain poured down washing the thinned paint from all over the church and knocking Smokey clear off the scaffold to land on the lawn among the gravestones, surrounded by telltale puddles of the thinned and useless paint.

Smokey was no fool. He knew this was a judgment from the Almighty,
so he got down on his knees and cried:

"Oh, God, Oh God, forgive me; what should I do?"

And from the thunder, a mighty voice spoke..


(you're going to love this)












"Repaint! Repaint!

And thin no more!"


Thanks to SCG.

IT'S OVER!

Hi all. I recently returned from having a certain medical procedure done to check for colon cancer. Thanks be to God, all is well. I spent an absolutely miserable night "getting ready" for the test, the worst time I've ever had. I'm not due for another colonoscopy for 5 years, at which time I will be 80 years old, if I live that long. When the time comes, I may say to hell with it.

Since I'm still groggy, and I can't type well, I'm heading for a lie-down in hopes of a little sleep, since I didn't sleep much last night.

INTERNATIONAL PI DAY

My husband made a special square strawberry pie to celebrate Pi Day! Nom nom nom - Lara604


Q: What do you get when you cut a jack o'lantern by its diameter?
A: Pumpkin Pi!

Q: What do you get when you take green cheese and divide its circumference by its diameter?
A: Moon Pi.

Q:What do you get when you take the sun and divide its circumference by its diameter?
A: Pi in the sky.

Mathematician: Pi r squared.
Baker: No! Pies are round, cakes are square!


Thanks to Doug.

Image from Lara604 at Flickr.

NO PRISON TIME FOR PRIEST'S MURDERER

From the Daily Comet:

THIBODAUX — A Houma man charged with the August 1992 slaying of a Thibodaux priest won't receive prison time if convicted of the crime, a district judge ruled Thursday.

Derrick Odomes, who was 14 when the Rev. Hunter Horgan III was killed, cannot be sentenced if convicted of first-degree murder in the priest's death, Judge John LeBlanc ruled. State law in 1992, the year of Horgan's murder, forbid juveniles convicted of a crime from serving time past their 21st birthday.

“The law was clear, and the judge basically did what he had to do,” said Lynden Burton, Odomes' New Iberia-based defense attorney.

Odomes was arrested Sept. 17, 2007, more than 15 years after he allegedly stabbed Horgan to death inside St. John Episcopal Church's rectory on Jackson Street in Thibodaux. At the time of his arrest, Odomes was 29.

Judge LeBlanc's decision does not mean Odomes, now 31, would necessarily walk free the day a jury renders a verdict in his murder trial, which is set to begin Aug. 23.

Odomes faces an undetermined amount of prison time, if convicted, for felony theft, issuing worthless checks and obscenity — charges unrelated to Horgan's slaying.

Odomes' continuing troubles with the law indicate that he may not have changed direction and made the decision to become a law-abiding citizen since the horrific crime so many years ago. He could still be a dangerous man.

I was not a member of St. John's Church when Fr Horgan was murdered, but the killing stunned the entire town. I give great credit to the members of the church who, by the grace of God and their own strength and determination, continued to move forward in the work of the Lord in the wake of the trauma.

I pray for the family and friends of Hunter Horgan and for the congregation of St John.

I pray for repentance and a change of heart for Derrick Odomes.

HAVE YOUR PROM IN NEW ORLEANS, KIDS

From WWLTV:

JACKSON, Miss. -- A lesbian student who wanted to take her girlfriend to her senior prom is asking a federal judge to force her Mississippi school district to reinstate the dance it canceled.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi on Thursday filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Oxford on behalf of 18-year-old Constance McMillen, who said she faced some unhappy classmates after the Itawamba County School District said it wouldn't host the April 2 prom.

"Somebody said, 'Thanks for ruining my senior year."' McMillen said of her reluctant return Thursday to Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton.

The lawsuit seeks a court order for the school to hold the prom. It also asks that McMillen be allowed to escort her girlfriend, who is a fellow student, and wear a tuxedo, which the school said also violated policy.
....

At least one supporter has offered to help McMillen and her classmates hold an alternate prom.

New Orleans hotel owner Sean Cummings told The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson he was so disappointed with the school board's decision he offered to transport the students in buses to the city and host a free prom at one of his properties.

"New Orleans, we're a joyful culture and a creative culture here and, if the school doesn't change its mind, we'd be delighted to offer them a prom in New Orleans," he told the newspaper. "Concluding your high school experience should be a joyful one. One shouldn't conclude that experience with all their friends on a
negative note."

I think the kids should think seriously about taking up Sean Cummings' offer. I'll bet they'd have one hell of a party in New Orleans.

HAPPY MOTHERING SUNDAY!

TO ERIKA, SUSAN, RACHEL AND ALL ENGLISH MOTHERS!


"who goes a mothering

finds violets in the lane"

mothering sunday was originally an old english festival honouring the 'mother church'. that later became a day that people honoured their own mothers. servants and apprentices living away from home were given a holiday on the 4th sunday in lent to visit their mothers. they would traditionally bring them flowers and simnel cake.


From Skipping in the Meadow.

FLOWERS BLOOM - LEAVES FALL

 

A lovely blossom from one of our camellia bushes. The wind blew strong, and Grandpère held the flower still.

 

We think the vine is called Yellow Jessamine, but we're not sure. Whatever it's name, the vine grows wild, and the vine, and now the flowers, cover the bare fence boards.

 

All of our oaks look bare, since many of their leaves have fallen.

 

The fallen oak leaves cover the ground.

 

Diana and Grandpère play Diana's favorite game, pull the towel. I tried to play, but my grip is no match for Diana's toothy grip. Away the towel went with Diana quickly, without the least struggle on her part.