MAGNIFICENT SALISBURY CATHEDRAL

Salisbury Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Salisbury Cathedral is the most exquisite example of Gothic architecture I've seen in my life. Its symmetry, its relative simplicity, with little fussiness, its perfect proportions, its awe-inspiring upward thrust, all that and more served to make my visit to the great edifice a visual and spiritual joy.

The gorgeous vaulted and painted ceiling

The view down the nave toward the altar

The magnificent baptismal font, designed by William Pye and installed in 2008, has the following inscription:

'DO NOT FEAR FOR I HAVE REDEEMED YOU. I HAVE CALLED YOUR NAME, YOU ARE MINE. WHEN YOU PASS THROUGH THE WATERS I WILL BE WITH YOU. AND THROUGH THE RIVERS THEY SHALL NOT OVERWHELM YOU'

Read more about the font at the Salisbury Cathedral website.

All photos are from Wikipedia, with the exception of the font, which is mine.

And then, and then, as if the beauty of the cathedral were not enough, Cathy and I attended Evensong, sung by the choir of St Mark's Episcopal Church Choir from Berkeley, California, of which our long-time online friend, susan s, is a member. susan is third from left on the front row in the picture below. Imagine! I had to go to England to meet my fellow-citizen.

The choir from St Mark's sang beautifully. What a lovely finale to our visit to Salisbury Cathedral.

What a day! Earlier Cathy and I lunched with susan s., Erika, Laura (of Lay Anglicana) and her husband Robert, which lunch I will write about in due time. Chronological order is decidedly not my way of writing about my travels. Sorry about that.

JESUS AND MO - A TOUGH ONE

From Jesus and Mo.

FOR COUNTERLIGHT

A letter to Time magazine. I removed the name of the writer, because I don't want trouble from Texas Pride.

Thanks to Lapin.

TO THE BISHOPS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

From the US Conference of Catholic Bishops:

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) sharply criticized a new HHS “preventive services” mandate requiring private health plans to cover female surgical sterilization and all drugs and devices approved by the FDA as contraceptives, including drugs which can attack a developing unborn child before and after implantation in the mother’s womb.

“Although this new rule gives the agency the discretion to authorize a ‘religious’ exemption, it is so narrow as to exclude most Catholic social service agencies and healthcare providers,” said Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

Didn't we know this was coming? And swiftly, because the statement was probably written even before the formal announcement of the federal mandate for health insurance programs to offer no co-pay coverage for birth control.

Dear Bishops:

I sharply criticize you for not minding your own business and tending to your own flock. Is it because your flock, for the most part, don't follow your out-of-touch rules on birth control that you seek to control the lives of those of us outside the fold? Well, stop it! We're sick and tired of your interference in our lives. MYOB!

Thanks to whiteycat for the link.

DEAR MR PRESIDENT AND DEMOCRATIC MEMBERS OF CONGRESS:

You gave away the store in your "negotiations" with Republicans. Why bother with the circus mockery of "negotiations"? Just give the Republicans what they want up front.

Sadly, it seems we have truly come to the end of two-party governance. We now have the Republican Party and the Republican-lite Party (aka the Democratic Party). Where do we go from here?

GOOD NEWS AMIDST THE BAD

From TPM:

The Obama administration announced on Monday that health insurance plans must cover birth control with no copays, among other reproductive health care services, as preventative care for women. The requirement will apply to health care plans beginning on or after August 1, 2012. The announcement comes just a month after Health and Human Services released a recommendation that sought to expand preventative services for women under Obama's health care law.

In addition to birth control, the expansion will cover breast pumps for nursing mothers, an annual "well-woman" physical, including screening for the virus that causes cervical cancer, HIV, and gestational diabetes, as well as counseling for domestic violence.

Too bad women have to wait a year for the coverage, but better late than never. These policies should not have had to be mandated by the federal government. If not to provide better health care for women, the insurance companies should have seen these policies as in their own self-interests to reduce overall costs in the long haul. Ah, but few business take the long view these days.

THE HYDRA WON'T DIE

From Jim Burroway at Box Turtle Bulletin:

When Uganda’s Eighth Parliament came to an end last May, the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill died with it. Almost immediately, M.P. David Bahati vowed to resurrect the bill in the Ninth Parliament. Two weeks ago, Frank Mugisha of Sexual Minorities Uganda told reporters and bloggers that there are persistent reports that the bill may be resurrected sometime in mid- to late-August. Ugandan MP Otto Odonga, who has said that he would apply to be a hangman even if it were his own son who was gay and at the gallows, confirmed to Warren Throckmorton that the bill will be brought back “perhaps by the end of August,” and that it would pick up “from where the last parliament ended.”

Read the rest of the post over there.

What will it take to bring to their senses people so filled with hate that they want to kill fellow citizens because of who they are? In his Presidential Address to General Synod of the Church of England in July 2011, Archbishop Rowan Williams praised the Anglican churches in Congo and Kenya for acting as the last refuge for oppressed people in the countries. Where is his call for the Anglican Church of Uganda to be the last refuge for GLTB people in the country, who are, even now, being persecuted and killed? Why the strange silence?

Image from Wikipedia.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Why do I once again feel that I live in the country of no hope?

PLEASE PRAY FOR JOE AND ALISA WALKER AND THEIR FAMILY

From Tim Chesterton at Faith, Folk and Charity:

Those of you who pray, please pray for my good friend and colleague Joe Walker. Joe is married to Alisa and is the father of four school age children, Emily, Adam, Sarah Joy, and Justin; he is also the rector of St. Timothy’s Anglican Church here in Edmonton. Back in June Joe was diagnosed with a particularly aggressive and fast-acting form of cancer; he has one fast-growing tumour in the small intestine and another on the liver. For various reasons his cancer is inoperable, and from a medical point of view all that can be done is to keep him as comfortable as possible.

Joe’s wife Alisa has recently sent out this letter and asked that it be passed around.

You can read the letter at Tim's blog, which is linked above.

May God the Father bless Joe, God the Son heal him, God the Holy Spirit give him strength. May God the holy and undivided Trinity guard his body, save his soul, and bring him safely to the heavenly country; where God lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

Sanctify, O Lord, those whom you have called to care for Joe, especially Alisa. Strengthen them by your life-giving Spirit, that by their ministries the health of the community may be promoted and your creation glorified; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

LITTLE GIRL ON A PLANE

An atheist was seated next to a little girl on an airplane and

He turned to her and said, "Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger."

The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, "What would you want to talk about?"

" Oh, I don't know," said the atheist. "How about why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death?" as he smiled smugly.

"OK," she said. "Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?"

The atheist, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea."

To which the little girl replies, "Do you really feel qualified to discuss why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death, when you don't know shit?"

And then she went back to reading her book.

Thanks to Ann.