DRAMA - MYSTERY - SECRETS - SUSPENSE!

Letter to the members of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina from Bishop Mark Lawrence.

Click on the letter for the larger view.

In other words, we have a secret.  We know you are anxious and concerned, but we can't allay your anxiety and concern quite yet, because it would be imprudent to reveal the secret at this time.  Sorry about that.  Although the decision has been made, the situation remains fluid and requires discernment, thus you must be patient for a while longer.

Unless the letter is written in code that only the in-group in the diocese understands, the gist of the communication is so very immature that it could have come from a child of elementary school age were the language less high-flown.  One is left puzzled wondering if the decision (whatever it is) was premature.  Is it possible the course of action could change in response to discernment on the fluid situation?  The bishop assures the members of the diocese that the leaders "are progressing" and have not "stopped or dropped the ball".  If the decision is already made, then why the hesitation in disclosure?

But why am I surprised?  The letter is typical +Mark Lawrence.  Will he or won't he take the diocese and himself out of the Episcopal Church?  The bishop or any member of the diocese is free to leave the Episcopal Church at any time, as the church does not hold its members in chains.  My guess is that the "discernment" is about finding a way to take church property with them if and when they depart the Episcopal Church and a way for the diocese to claim to be still a part of the Anglican Communion.  Of course, I could be wrong, and I hope I am.  The matter remains of the vows +Lawrence made at his ordination as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, I,Mark Lawrence, chosen Bishop of the Church in South Carolina, solemnly declare that I do believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, and to contain all things necessary to salvation; and I do solemnly engage to conform to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Episcopal Church.

H/T to Mark Harris at Preludium, who brought the letter to my attention.

IDLE THOUGHTS OF A RETIREE'S WANDERING MIND

I planted some bird seed.

A bird came up.

Now I don't know what to feed it

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I had amnesia once---or twice

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I went to San Francisco .

I found someone's heart. Now what?

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Protons have mass?

I didn't even know they were Catholic.

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All I ask is a chance to prove that money can't make me happy

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If the world were a logical place, men would be the ones who ride horses sidesaddle.

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What is a "free" gift?

Aren't all gifts free?

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They told me I was gullible

and I believed them.

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Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to merge his car onto the freeway.

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Experience is the thing you have left

when everything else is gone.

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One nice thing about egotists:

they don't talk about other people.

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My weight is perfect for my height--

which varies.

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I used to be indecisive.

Now I'm not sure.

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How can there be self-help "groups"?

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If swimming is so good for your figure,

how do you explain whales?

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Show me a man with both feet firmly on the ground,

and I'll show you a man who can't get his pants off.

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Is it me --or

do buffalo wings taste like chicken?

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TODAY IS THE OLDEST YOU'VE EVER BEEN,

YET THE YOUNGEST YOU'LL EVER BE,

SO ENJOY THIS DAY WHILE IT LASTS.

Thanks to my brother-in-law, who promised to send me only his best.

LGTB ROMAN CATHOLICS IN SAN FRANCISCO WORRY

Next week, a key player in the passage of Proposition 8 — a man who has decried the "contraceptive mentality" of modern life — will become the leader of the Catholic Church here in the city that thrust same-sex marriage onto the national stage, the birthplace of the Summer of Love.
....

But many gay and lesbian Catholics worry that they will be marginalized after [Salvatore] Cordileone's arrival. Oasis California, the Episcopal Church's gay ministry, convened a meeting recently at a Castro District bar to discuss how spiritual people should respond to the "architect of Prop. 8" coming to town.

One easily understands why LGTB Roman Catholics worry.

But in a recent interview at the headquarters of the Oakland diocese, where he has served as bishop for three years, Cordileone was more direct: Gays and lesbians who are in sexual relationships of any kind, he said, should not receive the sacrament of Holy Communion, the central ritual of Catholic life.

"If we misuse the gift of sexuality, we're going to suffer the consequences," he said, "and I firmly believe we are suffering the consequences."

What consequences?  Hurricanes?   No, I suppose not.  Earthquakes perhaps since he's in San Francisco.  Did the archbishop-designate take lessons from Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell (May God rest his soul!)?

And though he strives to deliver Catholicism's absolutes in as nuanced a fashion as possible, Cordileone said, people need to understand that "the church is not going to change its teaching. ... The solution isn't to say, 'Well, I'm just going to disagree and continue being a Catholic.' That's not how we arrive at holiness."

Nuance will not cut it for the archbishop-to-be.   Cordileone's message comes across loud and clear.  His message echos that of Pope Benedict:

Cordileone was appointed to head the high-profile Diocese of San Francisco by Benedict — who, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, drafted a key 1986 letter that outlined Catholic doctrine about homosexuality.

"Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin," Ratzinger wrote, "it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder."

That teaching, Cordileone said, still holds.

If LGTB Roman Catholics in the archdiocese see Cordileone's appointment as a slap in the face, who can blame them?  And don't let the smile on Cordileone's face in the photo fool you.  Unless LGTB Catholics play by the church's rules, they are not welcome at the table of the Lord...so the RC Church says.  You know what?  It's the Lord's table, not the table of the pope or any Roman Catholic prelate or clergy, and no human of whatever position or denomination has the right to withhold the sacrament of the Lord's body and blood from another human being.  Of course, that's just my opinion.

Photo from Wikipedia.

UPDATE: My Facebook friends reminded me that just last month Archbishop-elect Cordileone was arrested for DUI in San Diego after he failed a sobriety test.  He has issued an apology.    

RUTHIE FOSTER - "JOY"

I meant to post the video last night, but I never got around to it.  Enjoy.

STORY OF THE DAY - NEW AGE

We're already in the new age, she said to me. What
does that mean? I said & she laughed. It means you 
can stop waiting & start living, she said, but after she 
left I waited a little while more just to be safe  

From StoryPeople.

WEEKLY REMINDER

A LITTLE STORY ABOUT DESMOND TUTU

In his book Engaging the Powers, Walter Wink discusses the use of humor and wit in conflict situations and tells the following story about Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa:

Sometimes wit can have a barb, as when Bishop Desmond Tutu was walking by a construction site on a temporary sidewalk the width of one person.  A white man appeared at the other end, recognized Tutu, and said, "I don't give way to gorillas."  At which Tutu stepped aside, made a deep sweeping gesture, and said, "Ah yes, but I do."

Now isn't that just like dear Tutu?

HA HA HA

I don't know whom to credit, and I hope I'm not violating copyright.

Thanks to Paul (A.).

LITTLE LORD WILLARD

How little Lord Willard aspires to rule!
So proudly attended the plutocrat school
with Dad’s reputation and money in hand,
sharp pencils and spreadsheets assembled a band
of legal and fiscal finaglers supreme
to pillage and plunder and finance his dream;
outsourcing, bankruptcy and capital gain
with zero concern and a cold hard disdain
for regular workers, producers of goods
on low or lost wages destroyed neighborhoods,
called stealing “creating”, insisted on stealth
to cover the truth of raw arrogant wealth
despising “other,” not so clever as their own
at gaming the system, reaping seed once sown
with intent to encourage the average
to strive, help the poor to rise, not leverage
the risk of vultures too greedy even to wait
for the maimed to expire their hunger to sate.
With ambition not limited by conscience,
Lord Willard, now Mitt, purchased the governance
of an unlikely state full of blue Democrats,
“fixed” the budget with fees, a no tax technocrat
without learning the first rule political:
voters are people, not trends or cyclical
losses deleted with the click of a mouse,
a lesson critical to win the White House.
Public service not mentioned in this current
election, but Mitt, demoted to servant
might just be the ticket to inject something
humble into his bubble of pretending
his elitist view is best for a country
of equals humoring his kind, the fake gentry.

(Marthe G. Walsh - September 2012)

Marthe calls the poem doggerel.  I call it Romney to a T. 

SCATTER GARDEN AT ST JOHN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Julie Green carving the cross

Residents will soon have a new way to remember their deceased loves ones in Thibodaux.

St. John’s Episcopal Church on Jackson Street is putting the finishing touches on a scatter garden, which will eventually be home to countless cremated ashes.

“We want it to be a place where you can come visit your ancestors who are there,” said the Rev. Ron Clingenpeel, priest in charge for St. John’s, which dates back to 1843. “It is a place where one can encounter God, holiness and a real sense of peace in their lives, knowing this is where their loved ones are.”

The scatter garden will be a space where families can spread the ashes of their loved ones and go to remember them in the following years, Clingenpeel said.

The cross that will stand in the scatter garden is beautiful.  Julie, a parishioner, is a true artist, and her carving is a work of art.  And what a fine idea to have the scatter garden at St John's.

Enclosure walls of the future scatter garden

The grounds of the scatter garden are unfinished. All that's complete are the brick wall segments that will define the garden area.

My family knows of my wish to be cremated...not yet, of course,...but I had not decided where I wanted my ashes scattered.  I knew I did not want them placed in a container on the mantlepiece, and with the advent of the scatter garden, my decision was easy.

UPDATE: The intention is to scatter the ashes, but if family and friends of the deceased would prefer burial of the ashes in a biodegradable container, then that will be an alternative.  Of course, the garden will be made beautiful with landscaping.