EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF NEW YORK ELECTS BISHOP COADJUTOR

The Rev. Canon Andrew Dietsche was elected bishop coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of New York on the 4th ballot. According to his profile, "Andrew Dietsche serves the Diocese of New York already as Canon for Pastoral Care."

Thanks be to God. Prayers, blessings, and best wishes to the new bishop coadjutor and the members of the Diocese of New York.

H/T to Ann Fontaine at The Lead.

EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF CENTRAL FLORIDA ELECTS NEW BISHOP

From the Orlando Sentinal:

The Rev. Gregory Orrin Brewer, rector of the Calvary-St. George's Parish in New York City, was elected Saturday to be the fourth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida.

Brewer will succeed Bishop John W. Howe, who is retiring. Consecration of the fourth bishop of Central Florida is scheduled for March 24, 2012 at First Baptist Church of Orlando, followed by the retirement of Bishop Howe.

Brewer was one of seven candidates for bishop elected by delegates to the diocese's special convention held at Trinity Preparatory School in Winter Park.

Thanks be to God. Prayers, blessings, and best wishes to the new bishop-elect and the members of the Diocese of Central Florida.

H/T to Ann Fontaine at The Lead.

WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA?

Click on the image above for the larger view.

As I was getting ready to post the screenshot of Bishop David Anderson's letter at the American Anglican Council, I noted that Mark Harris had a new post on this very subject. Since I don't have a legal mind, and I don't know quite what to make of this latest move by Bishop Mark Lawrence, I will not post commentary, but rather refer you Mark's post at Preludium.

The South Carolina Episcopalians also address the subject of this latest move as well as earlier actions which indicate that something is afoot in the diocese.

Thanks to Lapin for the link that lead me to David Anderson's letter.

TWO STORIES OF THE DAY

Today she decided to be suitably
ambiguous, so you can think whatever
you like about her (Amount of time
scheduled for the opinions of others =
Zero)

From StoryPeople.

MEETING THE DEVIL

I never met the Devil (yet) but I imagine
it's a pretty scary experience but then
again I guess that's the point.

From StoryPeople.

Yesterday, I was depressed about the state of the church, the state of the country, and the state of the world, so I didn't have the heart to put together blog posts, even if the posts involved mostly copy and paste, thus the combination of stories today. I'm not thinking much about the stuff that depressed me yesterday.

TWO CHURCH OF ENGLAND DIOCESES VOTE THE ANGLICAN COVENANT DOWN

According to Simon at Thinking Anglicans, here and here, the Dioceses of Birmingham and Truro in the Church of England voted down the Anglican Covenant. The votes bring the total to four dioceses in England that have voted against the covenant. 23 dioceses, 50%, must vote FOR the covenant, or it dies.

Earlier, the Dioceses of Wakefield and St Edmundsbury & Ipswich voted against the covenant.

The Dioceses of Lichfield and Durham voted in favor of the covenant.

DEVEREAUX GETS HOME LATE

Devereaux staggered home very late after another evening with his drinking buddy, Landry. He took off his shoes to avoid waking his wife, Betty Lou.

He tiptoed as quietly as he could toward the stairs leading to their upstairs bedroom, but misjudged the bottom step. As he caught himself by grabbing the banister, his body swung around and he landed heavily on his rump. A whiskey bottle in each back pocket broke and made the landing especially painful.

Managing not to yell, Devereaux sprung up, pulled down his pants, and looked in the hall mirror to see that his butt cheeks were cut and bleeding. He managed to quietly find a full box of Band-Aids and began putting a Band-Aid as best he could on each place he saw blood.

He then hid the now almost empty Band-Aid box and shuffled and stumbled his way to bed.

In the morning, Devereaux woke up with searing pain in both his head and butt and Betty Lou staring at him from across the room.

She said, 'You were drunk again last night weren't you?'

Devereaux said, 'Why you say such a mean thing?'

'Well,' Betty Lou said, 'it could be the open front door, it could be the broken glass at the bottom of the stairs, it could be the drops of blood trailing through the house, it could be your bloodshot eyes, but mostly ..... it's all those Band-Aids stuck on the hall mirror.

I didn't see the punchline coming, and I had a hearty laugh on a day when I really needed a laugh.

Don't thank me. Thank Doug.

PRESIDING BISHOP KATHARINE JEFFERTS SCHORI ISSUES STATEMENT ON BEDE PARRY

From the Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs:

November 16, 2011
Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has issued the following statement concerning Bede Parry.

________________________________________

Bede James Parry was serving as organist and music director at All Saints Church, Las Vegas, when I became aware of him. His arrival preceded my own in the Diocese of Nevada.

He approached me to inquire about being received as a priest, having served as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. At the time, he told me of being dismissed from the monastery in 1987 for a sexual encounter with an older teenager, and indicated that it was a single incident of very poor judgment. The incident was reported to civil authorities, who did not charge him. He told of being sent to a facility in New Mexico, serving as a priest thereafter both in New Mexico and in Nevada, and recently (2002) being asked to formalize his separation from the monastery.

In consultation with other diocesan leadership and the chancellor, we explored the possibilities and liabilities of receiving him. I wrote to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Vegas and the Diocese of Santa Fe, receiving brief responses from each bishop, who indicated no problematic behavior. I wrote to Conception Abbey, from whom I received only an acknowledgement that he had served there, been sent for treatment to a facility in New Mexico, and had been dismissed for this incident of misconduct. Neither then nor later did I receive a copy of any report of a psychological examination in connection with his service in the Roman Catholic Church. His departure from the Roman Catholic priesthood had to do with his desire to take up secular employment.

Parry was required to fulfill all the expectations of the canons regarding reception of a priest from another communion in historic succession. He did undergo a psychological exam in the Diocese of Nevada, was forthcoming about the incident he had reported to me, and did not receive a negative evaluation. His background check showed no more than what he had already told us. He was forthcoming about the previous incident in his interviews with the Commission on Ministry and with the Standing Committee.

I made the decision to receive him, believing that he demonstrated repentance and amendment of life and that his current state did not represent a bar to his reception. I was clear that his ministry would be limited to an assisting role, under the supervision of another priest, and like any other diocesan leader, he would not be permitted to work alone with children. Since that time, as far as I am aware, he has served faithfully and effectively as a minister of the gospel and priest of this Church.

The records of his reception are retained by the Diocese of Nevada, and further questions should be directed to Bishop Dan Edwards.

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

Bishop Katharine's statement answers many questions, and I'm grateful for her words. I only wish her statement had been released earlier.

What's missing and what I'd like to have seen in the letter is an offer to make amends to anyone who has experienced abuse from Bede Parry or anyone serving in the Episcopal Church and an invitation to them to step forward with their stories, along with an assurance of confidentiality and compassionate treatment from the church. As I see it, Bishop Katharine missed an opportunity to reinforce the message that all accusations of abuse will be taken seriously by the Episcopal Church.

Was Bede Parry not permitted to work with children at all, or was he under only the ordinary constraints of any adult member of the church not to work alone with children?

Bishop Dan Edwards' letter states:

Nonetheless, the bishop added the restriction that he should not have contact with minors.

I believe in forgiveness and redemption, and Bede Parry should have been welcomed into the church, but I still wonder why he was admitted to the priesthood. I don't doubt Bishop Katharine's intentions to do a good thing, but the policy on abuse of minors should be 'one strike, and you're out', and Parry had his one strike.

H/T to Kurt Wiesner at The Lead.

WHAT ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION?

 

From Juan Cole at Informed Comment:

Not only did the police, at the orders of billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg, abruptly move on the protesters, they are alleged to have deliberately kept the press away, which is clearly unconstitutional if true.

The US constitution prohibits Congress from restricting the right of citizens to assemble peacefully and to petition for redress of grievances. For a history of the relevant US Supreme Court cases, see this link.

The government is also forbidden to interfere with the workings of the free press, so that the NYPD’s attempt to keep reporters away from the scene of their unprovoked attack on the demonstrators compounds the unconstitutionality of it all.

Read the rest at the link above.

The Republicans bang on about their reverence for the Constitution, but when it comes to ousting OWS demonstrators, well, the Constitution be damned.

Further, in another post at Informed Comment, Cole says:

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan let slip in an interview with the BBC that she had been on a conference call with the mayors of 18 cities about how to deal with the Occupy Wall Street movement. That is, municipal authorities appear to have been conspiring to deprive Americans of their first amendment rights to freedom of assembly and freedom to petition the government for redress of grievances.

Likewise, A Homeland Security official let it slip in a phone interview that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security had been strategizing with cities on how to shut down OWS protests. The FBI is said to have advised using zoning ordinances and curfew regulations, and to stage the crackdown with massive police force at a time when the press was not around to cover the crackdown.

Why the panicky response to OWS? The heavy-handedness of the police as they attack, drive out, and arrest the protestors will only add to the list of grievances and will likely draw more supporters to stand in solidarity with them and more protestors to join them.

UPDATE: And what about you, Democrats? Last time I heard Obama was a Democrat. What about the Constitution?
(Added in response to comments to the post pointing out my error in not calling the president to account.)

JESUS AND MO - SSSH...

Author says it's an oldie from 2008.

From Jesus and Mo.

YOU KNOW YOU NEED A NEW LAWYER WHEN...

* You met him in prison.

* During your initial consultation he tries to sell you Amway.

* He tells you that his last good case was a Budweiser.

* When the prosecutors see who your lawyer is, they high-five
each other.

* He picks the jury by playing "duck-duck-goose."

* He tells you that he's never told a lie.


Cheers,

Paul (A.)

I shall remember.

Paul (A.) is such a sport to send me lawyer jokes, him being a lawyer and all.