STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT OBAMA ON THE KILLING OF DAVID CATO

From the White House:

I am deeply saddened to learn of the murder of David Kato. In Uganda, David showed tremendous courage in speaking out against hate. He was a powerful advocate for fairness and freedom. The United States mourns his murder, and we recommit ourselves to David’s work. At home and around the world, LGBT persons continue to be subjected to unconscionable bullying, discrimination, and hate. In the weeks preceding David Kato’s murder in Uganda, five members of the LGBT community in Honduras ... to strongly support human rights and assistance work on behalf of LGBT persons abroad. We do this because we recognize the threat faced by leaders like David Kato, and we share their commitment to advancing freedom, fairness, and equality for all. ...

The Primates of the Anglican Communion are gathered in Dublin. It would be a good thing to hear a few words from them on the killing.

H/T to Jim Burroway at Box Turtle Bulletin.

"DAVID KATO, MY FEARLESS FRIEND...."

By Blogger Nsubuga in the Guardian:

I first met David in school. I know he was a few years ahead but apart from that, my memory fails.

I didn't know he was gay. I was yet to put meaning to the impulses I felt then. I knew I was different, but couldn't see the same difference in anyone else.

Later, when I was as "out" as I could be in Uganda's secretive gay community, we met again. We were having a party. My partner had organised it. And David Kato Kisule was the stranger claiming to be gay who wanted to crash the party.
....

I felt like crying when the news came of the death of a friend, confidant, fellow activist. And the manner of his death: horrible. Someone entered his home in the middle of the day and hit him with a hammer. Two blows to the head.
....

By the time Rolling Stone came out, David was so well known outside the community that they thought it fitting to put his photo on the front page. He was one of the three people who sued the paper. On 3 January, they won the case, securing us a small victory.

But in Uganda, such exposure has a price. In court, David was chased by anti-gay activists. Strangers knew he was gay. Even at home in Mukono they also knew.

Read it all.

May David rest in peace and rise in glory.

May God give comfort, consolation, and the peace that passes understanding to all who loved David.

Pray that justice may be done. Pray for the murderer.

Pray that David's death may be the inspiration for many to work to bring about change in Ugandan society, politics, and religion.

UPDATE: read Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's statement on David Kato's murder at The Lead.

SNIDE JOURNALISM

Earlier today, Lapin sent me the link to this particularly nasty bit of snide journalism by Damian Thompson in his blog at the Telegraph:

The Most Rev Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, has given a most revealing interview to the Houston Chronicle in which she says that Anglican churches in Africa have polygamous members and, um, that’s basically OK. I mean, not ideal, but a man can keep his wives if he wants to, though not add to his collection.
....

Well, I suppose her Church was founded by a man with six wives…

Here's the Q&A from the Houston Chronicle:

Q: How does that play in more conservative parts of the world? Do you follow one set of beliefs here, and other cultural values in other parts of the world?

A: That's really the name of the game with Anglicans. One of our primary issues during the Reformation was that worship had to be in a language the people could understand. We take context really seriously, because we take incarnation, the presence of God in the flesh, very seriously. He appears to us in different ways in places. I'll give you a contrasting example. In the 1980s, the Anglican community started to wrestle with the issue of polygamy in Africa. Polygamy is not an issue here, except in very small pockets of Utah and Arizona, and the church has taken a very different position. We said no. In Africa, the church doesn't officially recognize polygamy. They certainly have polygamous members of their churches. In some places, they say the man can't take additional wives once he becomes a Christian, but he isn't forced to divorce the wives he already has. The children generally are recognized as full members if they want to be baptized.

In some instances, there was good reason for permitting married, male converts to Christianity to keep the wives they already had. Had the wives and children been abandoned, many of them would have been viewed as outcasts in their societies, women with no status, left without protection.

Obviously, Thompson doesn't do nuance well. Thompson is Roman Catholic. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

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OH SWEET!

From the Church of Ireland:

On Sunday 30th January at 9.00am, the Most Revd Dr Katharine Jefferts-Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the USA, will preach at the Sung Eucharist in Christ Church Cathedral (please note the earlier time).

Dr Jefferts Schori is in Ireland attending a conference of the Primates of the Anglican Communion which is being held at the Emmaus Retreat Centre in Swords, Co. Dublin.

Speaking of the bishop’s visit, the Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, the Very Revd Dermot Dunne said “It is truly a delight and a historic moment for the cathedral to welcome Dr Jefferts-Schori who has done so much for the Anglican Communion in areas of minority inclusion”. (My emphasis)

Dear me! What will Rowan think?

H/T to John Chilton at The Lead.

UGANDAN LGTB ACTIVIST MURDERED

Jim Burroway at Box turtle Bulletin reports that David Kato Kisuule, LGTB activist in Uganda, was murdered.

David Kato was a spokesperson for Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) and one of the plaintiffs (or applicants) in the successful lawsuit seeking a permanent injunction against the Ugandan tabloid Rolling Stone (no relation to the U.S. publication of the same name). Kato was one of three applicants who had been named by the tabloid under a headline tagged “Hang Them!”

Few details are available a this time.

Lord, have mercy!

ONE STUDENT'S COMING OUT

From the Advocate:

At a “Breaking the Silence”-themed assembly to honor Martin Luther King Jr., a high school senior used the opportunity to come out to the entire school and discuss the importance of diversity and acceptance and speak out against antigay bullying in schools.

“I’m terrified to share my message,” Kayla begins. “I’m afraid of losing friends and losing loved ones. I’m afraid of losing my reputation at this school and the way people look at me. This speech will change my life forever, but I hope that my words can change more.”

Watch Kayla in the video at the link above. Her words are moving and powerful.

Thanks to David@Montreal for the link.

QUEEN'S "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY" - ON THE UKULELE?!!!

The performance by Jake Shimabukuro is amazing and lovely.

Once again, thanks to Paul (A.).

HARD TIMES ALL AROUND

St Francis de Sales Church

From NOLA.com:

For sale: distinctive home or office space featuring stained-glass windows, flying buttresses, vaulted ceilings and a wide-open floor plan perfect for entertaining large crowds.

Interested? You might just be the buyer the Archdiocese of New Orleans is looking for.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond announced this week that the Catholic Church is selling or leasing 13 vacant properties, including seven churches. They are: Annunciation, Blessed Sacrament, Incarnate Word, St. Francis de Sales, St. Maurice and St. Simon Peter, all in New Orleans, and San Pedro Pescador on Florissant Highway in St. Bernard Parish.

The properties were either destroyed in Hurricane Katrina or closed during a post-storm reorganization in 2008, archdiocesan spokeswoman Sarah Comiskey McDonald said. But, unlike St. Henry's and Our Lady of Good Counsel, the properties for sale were not churches whose closings touched off angry protests, she said.

The Roman Catholic Church is not alone. Other congregations are having to sell their buildings, too. I'm glad St. Henry's and Our Lady of Good Counsel are not for sale. If you click the link above, you will see that the parishes appeared to be viable and were paying their way, and that it was rather the shortage of priests in the RCC which led to their closure.

CHURCH BUILDING FUND

The young Episcopal rector was preoccupied one Sunday with thoughts of how he was going to ask the congregation to come up with more money than they were expecting for repairs to the church building. He was even more distraught to find that the regular organist was sick, and a substitute had been brought in at the last minute.

The substitute wanted to know what to play. "Here's a copy of the service," the priest said impatiently. "But, you'll have to think of something on your own to play after I make the announcement about the finances."

During the service, the rector paused and said, "Brothers and Sisters, we are in great difficulty; the roof repairs cost twice as much as we expected, and we need $4,000 more than we've received to date. If there are any of you here who can pledge $100 or more to the building fund, please stand up."

At that moment, the substitute organist played Hymnal 1982 No. 720 - "The Star Spangled Banner."

And that is how the substitute became the regular organist!


Cheers,

Paul (A.)