STORY OF THE DAY - STRICT FOLLOWERS

Trying to follow in the footsteps of the
masters, but it's a lot harder than it
looks because even though they had the
same size feet as us, they weren't
looking down the whole time while they
walked to make sure they were doing it
right.

From StoryPeople.

A FEW GOOD WORDS FROM GILES FRASER

From the Church Times:

THE reader will, I hope, excuse me if I do not address the complicated issues that currently beset St Paul’s Cathedral. Suffice to say, when you sit in the middle of a storm, and a great deal of misinformation is flying about, you are thrown back on the fundamentals of your faith.

No one ever said that following Jesus would be easy. In fact, as Christians, we are given fair warn­ing that the opposite is likely to be the case. And so it turns out.

But one of the most interesting things about these challenging times is how scripture comes alive. Indeed, I do not remember the Bible ever speaking to me as vividly as it does today. As the saying goes, I don’t read scripture: scripture reads me.
....

St Paul’s Cathedral takes its name from a man of faith who knew a thing or two about being caught up in an extraordinary whirlwind. May I ask you all to pray for all those who live and work in — and indeed those who are now camped around — this wonderful place? May we all be a beacon of God’s love and mercy in a complicated world.

Having written that sentence, I realise that I have never used a column to ask for prayer. Perhaps, after all, this column is not a clever exercise in issue avoidance. Perhaps for all my years of being a column­ist, it has taken a crisis to show me what I have always wanted to say.

Drawing by Adrian Worsfold who writes at Pluralist Speaks.

H/T to Simon Sarmiento at Thinking Anglicans.

UPDATE: Alan Rusbridger at the Guardian has a wonderful interview with Giles Fraser. No quotes. Just read it all.

ANOTHER SHAME

From Dennis on Facebook:

From my lecture this afternoon: Of all of the nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) only three (the US, Mexico and Turkey) lack universal health care. Every other developed nation in the world has it. And Mexico and Turkey are both in the process of implementing universal care. In four years America will be the ONLY country in the developed world without universal care.

Why can't the US, the richest country in the world, implement universal health care?

MR CATOLICK FROM THE STEPS OF ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL

Brilliant! This may be Mr CatOLick's best video ever.

Should you have any difficulty at all understanding Mr C's every word, please click the link to his website, where he's posted a transcript, along with the video.

MEANWHILE HERE IN THE US - SHAME!

Oakland, California



From the Marine Times:

An uncle of an Iraq War veteran injured when anti-Wall Street protesters clashed with police in Oakland, Calif., said he was appalled by officers’ action.

A hospital spokesman says the 24-year-old veteran and Wisconsin native, Scott Olsen, was upgraded to fair condition and moved into an intensive care unit on Thursday.
Related reading

His uncle, George Nygaard, tells The Associated Press from Wisconsin that Olsen’s parents were heading to California on Thursday morning.

Olsen apparently suffered a fractured skull Tuesday in a march with other protesters toward Oakland City Hall. The demonstrators were trying to re-establish a presence in the area of a disbanded protesters’ camp when they were met by officers.

It’s not known exactly what type of object struck Olsen or who might have thrown it, although the group Iraq Veterans Against the War said officers were responsible for his injury.

Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said officials will investigate whether officers used excessive force.

Atlanta, Georgia



My hands are not clean. We own investments. Still, my sympathy lies with the Occupy Wall Street protestors. The injustices are too great to brush away. The disparities in income between the rich and the working poor are too monstrous to ignore. That's not to speak of those who have no work, those who are stuck in part-time jobs, and those who are underemployed.

Why can't the protestors occupy public space and show themselves? None of the people with the power to change the sorry situation are listening. Can they close their eyes, too? Why can't the police let the protestors be, so long as they're peaceful?

"The bank is something more than men, I tell you. It's the monster. Men made it, but they can't control it." John Stinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath

H/T to Counterlight for the videos.

GILES FRASER RESIGNS AS CANON CHANCELLOR AT ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL

From the BBC:

The canon chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral has resigned from his post.

Dr Giles Fraser has been sympathetic to the Occupy anti-capitalist protest camp outside, which has led to the cathedral's closure.

Dr Fraser said on Twitter: "It is with great regret and sadness that I have handed in my notice at St Paul's Cathedral."

The Dean of St Paul's, the Right Reverend Graeme Knowles, said he was "sorry to see him go".

St Paul's, which closed last week, could reopen to the public on Friday. A decision will be made later.

Good for Dr Fraser. It's sad that he is no longer in the inner circle of decision-making at St Paul's, but the others probably were not listening to him anyway.

Drawing of Giles Fraser by Adrian Worsfold who writes at Pluralist Speaks and says of Giles Fraser, "His view of the Church was of peace, of bias to the poor and the right to protest." Amen.

Do read Mark Harris' post on Giles Fraser titled 'Canon Giles Fraser, The best of what we can be'.

ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL TO REOPEN ON FRIDAY

From Reuters:

London's St Paul's Cathedral is expected to reopen to the public on Friday, a week after church leaders closed its doors for the first time since World War Two, blaming safety risks posed by anti-capitalism protesters camped outside.
....

The Dean of St Paul's, the Right Reverend Graeme Knowles, said he hoped the church would reopen with a service on Friday, subject to a final decision on Thursday.

However, he said he still wanted the protesters to pack up their campsite and that court action was still being considered.

H/T to Peter Carey at The Lead.

As I said at The Lead, 'There now, that wasn't so hard, was it, lads? Once again, the £££ will flow in. Oh, and worshipers can worship.'

HOW TO MAKE WOMEN EXERCISE

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

STORY OF THE DAY - PARADISE

I could never live in Paradise, she said. I
don't look that good naked.

Oh dear! I'm afraid I'm ruled out, too. :-(

From Story People.

MORE ON ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL IN LONDON

According to Ann Fontaine at The Lead, the Times in London is reporting that Canon Giles Fraser will resign if the Occupy the Stock Exchange protestors are evicted.

...Dr Giles Fraser, who is responsible for the cathedral’s relations with the financial institutions of the City of London, is understood to be prepared to quit should it take legal action against the 200 tents forming an increasingly permanent-looking settlement on its land.
....
A resignation from Dr Fraser would make him a martyr for the anti-capitalist cause and prove hugely embarrassing to the cathedral and the Church. If the cathedral does not try to oust the protesters, however, it will be forced into the humiliating position of reopening with the tents still in place, or remaining closed for months — putting events such as the Remembrance Day services at risk and losing the cathedral about £16,000 a day in tourist revenue.

Only subscribers can read the article online.

We'll wait and see how the story develops.

The Guardian editorial titled 'City and cathedral: The whited sepulchre' blasts the dean and chapter of St Paul's Cathedral for threatening an injunction to remove the protestors.

If the dean and chapter continue their steps towards evicting they will be playing the villains in a national pantomime. There will be legal battles and, eventually, physical force. At every step, the cathedral authorities will be acting in the service of absurdity and injustice. Yet this is where the logic of their position is leading them. They must see this, and stop. Jesus denounced his Pharisaic enemies as whited sepulchres, or shining tombs; and that is what the steam-cleaned marble frontage of St Paul's will become if the protesters are evicted to make room for empty pomp: a whited sepulchre, where morality and truth count for nothing against the convenience of the heritage industry.

Ouch! Read it all. I can't say I disagree with the editorial.

H/T to Simon Sarmiento at Thinking Anglicans.

UPDATE: I have to wonder why the members of the staff of the cathedral don't talk to the protestors. It's all open letters and press releases. Good heavens! Go amongst them and talk to them.

UPDATE 2: In the comments, themethatisme, who writes at Conscientisation, but not very often, provides the link to the supporters of St Paul's Cathedral. Verrry interesting. I couldn't find my name or theme's name.