GARY AND TRACY RICHARDSON'S WEDDING FLASH MOB

What do you think? I like it. Obviously, the approval of those in attendance was not 100%. At YouTube Gary says, "Debby that was just my A. Betty at a very old age needing the loo bless her?"

Andrew Brown in the Guardian:

The couple in this video were not churchgoers, and had lived together for years before they got married. They only went to a church after it was suggested by the stately home where they held their reception. But they managed to get a ceremony there that did both solemnity and joy, which are things that weddings need.

Aside from the disco dance, the wedding service followed the traditional marriage liturgy of the Church of England.

Brown adds:

I doubt that [Kate] Bottley will ever become a bishop. At the moment she is not even a full-time parish priest. She works three days a week looking after three rural churches, and two days a week as a chaplain. But it isn't bishops who will keep the church of England going.

You go, Kate!

GEORGE, THE GOLFER

The was a man named George who got a new job.  His fellow employees always met for a round of golf every Saturday.  They invited George to join the group and meet them at 10:00 Saturday morning.  George replied that he would love to join them, but he might be ten minutes late.

On Saturday morning George was there at exactly 10:00.  He golfed right-handed and won the round.

Next Saturday rolls around, and George says that he will be there, but he may be ten minutes late again.  He shows up right on time, golfs left-handed, and wins the round.  This continues for the next few weeks, with George always saying that he may be ten minutes late, and then always winning the round golfing, either left- or right-handed.

The other employees are getting tired of this, and decided to ask him what the deal was.  They said, ''George, every Saturday you say you may be ten minutes late.  You never are.  Then you show up and golf either right-handed or left-handed, and you always win.  What is up with that?''

George replies, ''Well, I am a very superstitious kind of guy.  Every Saturday when I wake up, I look over at my wife.  If she is sleeping on her left side, I golf left-handed.  If she is sleeping on her right side, I golf right-handed.''

''Well,'' one of the employees questioned, ''What happens if she is lying on her back?''

George replies, ''Then I am ten minutes late.''


Cheers,

Paul (A.)

Paul (A.) is a wicked, wicked man.

UPSTAIRS LOUNGE FIRE MEMORIAL SERVICE - 40 YEARS AGO TODAY

 

On Saturday afternoon, I attended the memorial service for the people who died in the fire at the UpStairs Lounge, a gay bar in New Orleans. The cover of the service bulletin shows the names of the people who died in the fire.  The listing of  "Unknown White Man" (three in number) is especially poignant.  Fr Bill Richardson, the then rector of St George, who presided at a memorial service for the dead a short time after the tragedy, was also remembered.

Fox8 in New Orleans covered the event. (Don't turn away at the "Fox" label; the news coverage by the local station is quite different from Fox News on the cable channel.)

June 24, 1973, an arsonist set fire at the bottom of the staircase leading to the Upstairs Lounge, a known gay bar.  "The bartender at the time got 20 victims out of the back of the bar," explained Wil Coleman of Pride New Orleans Celebration.

Flames trapped patrons on the second floor.  Others could see out the windows and reach out, but they couldn't physically get out.  "The windows were all barred and people couldn't get out." said New Orleans resident Mary Christie.  "What a horrible thing, and the fact that they had no sprinkler systems," she said.

Twenty-nine people died in the fire.  Three others died later of their injuries.  The final death toll was 32.
 
The Upstairs Lounge fire was the worst fire in New Orleans, and its impact was far-reaching not only because of the tremendous loss of life in this building, but it sparked a gay rights movement in this city.
....

[Fr Richard] Easterling and others gathered for a mass at St. George's Episcopal Church uptown Saturday to remember all 32 victims, including three people who were never identified. The day after the fire on June 25, 1973, St. George's held a memorial for the survivors and loved ones when no one else would.

I agree with the writer's conclusion that the tragic deaths in the fire lit a spark to begin the movement on the local scene toward equality and justice for LGTB persons.  Fr Bill Richardson's courage in agreeing to hold the memorial service at St George Episcopal Church 40 years ago placed the Episcopal Church squarely in its midst.  Many, even those within the movement, are not aware of this pivotal event in the history of the struggle for gay rights.

I commend the station for their coverage of the 40th anniversary of the tragedy.  The video report of the Fox8 news segment may be seen at the link above. 

Last week, I put together a group of quotes about the tragedy, which includes more information.

ARCHDRUID EILEEN 'SPLAINS IT ALL ABOUT THE SUPERMOON

Archdruid Eileen answers questions about the supermoon.

Q - What exactly is the Supermoon?

A - It's when the Moon suddenly becomes much larger than normal. This makes it considerably brighter and more massive.

This one snippet will serve to send you over to the site of the Beaker Folk to read the rest of the Q&A.

Last night the moon was beautiful and appeared full, but I gather tonight is the night.

The photo is from NASA and was not taken tonight.

UPDATE: The supermoon was gorgeous here this evening.

EXACTLY

 

THAT'S OUR BOBBY

Funding for the disabled and arts programs fell out of the $25 billion state spending plan Friday with the stroke of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s veto pen.

The governor deleted $4 million aimed at whittling down a waiting list for home-based services for the developmentally disabled. Parents of disabled children pleaded with legislators during the session to shorten the list. Some could wait 10 years before receiving services.
....

After issuing the vetoes, the governor flew to California for Republican National Committee meetings.

Jindal also stripped money for children’s clinics, family violence programs and an organization that helps the disabled become more independent through technological tools.

Do your dirty work and run, Guvna.  You don't want to be in Louisiana, anyway.  The trail of wreckage you leave behind is so ugly that maybe even you don't want to look.  What's next once your term is up?  Since you have your eyes on a prize on the national scene, why not now?  Is there a powerful Republican out there who will make you an offer you can't refuse right at this moment?  Not every governor completes her/his term.  Take Sarah Palin.  I'm sure a good many people in Alaska thought, "Take Sarah Palin.  Please!" 

40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UPSTAIRS LOUNGE FIRE - JUNE 24, 1973

The UpStairs Lounge arson attack occurred in 1973 at a gay bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States, and resulted in the deaths of 32 people due to direct immolation or inhalation of fumes. It was started with Ronsonol lighter fluid on the steps near the entrance. The most likely suspect was a man who had been thrown out of the bar earlier that day; he was never sentenced.  It was the deadliest arson attack to take place in New Orleans at that time, and one of the deadliest attacks on LGBT people in United States history.

On Sunday, June 24, 1973, the final day of Pride Weekend,^] a group of members of the Metropolitan Community Church, a pro-LGBT Protestant denomination, had held services inside the club located on the second floor of a three-story building at the corner of Chartres and Iberville Streets, after which the club had hosted free beer and dinner for 125 patrons. At the time of the evening fire, some 60 people were listening to pianist David Gary's music and discussing an upcoming MCC fundraiser for the local Crippled Children’s Hospital. The UpStairs Lounge was a temporary home of the MCC, the nation’s first gay church that had been founded in Los Angeles in 1969.

Jesus in Love Blog has a wonderful post on the the musical titled "Upstairs" written and composed by Wayne Self commemorating the tragedy.

Louisiana playwright and composer Wayne Self spent five years weaving together the stories of the UpStairs Lounge fire victims and survivors. The result is a dramatic musical that opens tomorrow (June 20) in New Orleans. He says his work takes the form “of tribute, of memorial, even of hagiography.”

The musical "Upstairs" brings back to life people such as MCC assistant pastor George “Mitch” Mitchell, who managed to escape the fire, but ran back into the burning building to save his boyfriend, Louis Broussard. Both men died in the fire. Their bodies were found clinging to one another in the ashes. In the musical, Mitchell sings a song called “I’ll Always Return”

On Saturday, I plan to attend the memorial mass at St George Episcopal Church in New Orleans, Below is the announcement from the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana.

St. George's to Offer Memorial Mass to Mark 40th Anniversary of Upstairs Lounge Fire

   

On Saturday, June 22nd, at 2 PM St. George's Episcopal Church of New Orleans will offer a memorial mass marking the 40th anniversary of the tragic fire at the Upstairs Lounge. The fire claimed the lives of 32 people and left devastated those of many more in the New Orleans gay community. The liturgy is offered to the glory of God in loving memory of those who died and also in thanksgiving for Father Bill Richardson's courageous work in according to the dead a proper burial and to the living a pastoral ministry of sympathy and support.

At The Episcopal Café, Deacon Ormonde Plater, a friend of Bill Richardson, on the occasion of his death:

A Saint has died: The Rev. William P. Richardson, 98, rector of St George's, New Orleans, from 1953-1976, died peacefully last night at 10:48 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. George’s on Monday, Oct. 8, at noon.

Among the gay community in the United States, Bill Richardson is honored as a hero.

The post at the Café includes a letter from Bill Richardson to Integrity about his decision to hold the memorial service at St George.

Next morning a member of the MCC called to ask if they could have a memorial service that evening at St. George's. I agreed, providing they would not make a big splash over it. The Rev. Troy Perry [Founder and Moderator of MCC] flew in that evening and assisted with the service. Some 80-90 persons attended. I warned the TV people not to take pictures, and asked the reporters to play it low-key. They did.

Bishop Iveson B. Noland, who was later killed in a plane crash in New York, phoned me early the next morning. He said, "Bill, this is the Bishop. Have you read the morning paper?" I said, "Yes, Bishop, I have." "Is it true that the service was at St. George's Episcopal Church?" "Yes, Bishop, it was." "Why didn't they have it in their own church?" he asked. I replied, "For the simple reason their own small church holds about 18 persons. Without any publicity we had over 80 present." "What am I to say when people call my office?" I replied, "You can say anything you wish, Bishop, but do you think Jesus would have kept these people out of His church?"

I heard later the Bishop had a hundred calls, and I got hate calls and letters. Only one member of our vestry supported me. Later, I was stopped on the street by many persons thanking me for doing such a Christian thing.

EXODUS INTERNATIONAL TO SHUT DOWN

From the Huffington post:

Exodus International, a large Christian ministry that claimed to offer a "cure" for homosexuality, plans to shut down.

In a press release posted on the ministry's website Wednesday night, the board of directors announced the decision to close after nearly four decades.

“We’re not negating the ways God used Exodus to positively affect thousands of people, but a new generation of Christians is looking for change -- and they want to be heard,” Exodus board member Tony Moore said.

And not a minute too soon.  Good riddance.  The harm caused by organizations of this sort is incalculable.  Guilt, self-hatred, suicide...I could go on.  Saying you're sorry is not enough.

I wonder how much the decision had to do with lack of  funding.

UPDATE: See nakedpastor for the visual.

FROM MY KITCHEN WINDOW

 

What I see from my kitchen window.

What I want to see from my kitchen window.

The palm plant is a giant, which completely hides the view of the beautiful oak tree in my back yard, so it must go.  Grandpère summoned help to cut the palm low or to the ground, as it is now too large for him to handle alone.  I love all my oak trees, four of them, but especially the two in the back yard, which are the oldest.  When we built 30 years ago, we repositioned our house on the lot to save the oak in the picture.

 

The sun was bright the afternoon I took the pictures, so bright that the color of the roses shows only in the shaded part of one picture.  GP dug up the bushes from New Roads, and replanted them here in Thibodaux, where they thrive all on their own, without the TLC that roses usually demand in our humid climate.  I suspect the hardy roses are an older, non-hybrid variety, but I could be wrong.

WITHER GOETH THE ACNA?

Excerpts from Archbishop Robert Duncan's address to the Provincial Council of the ACNA.

The Anglican Church in North America continues to secure its place in global Anglican circles.  The amazing work of the Anglican Relief and Development Fund is a huge part of the story: 134 development projects in 36 nations, alongside of millions of dollars of relief work in global disasters, has shown the Anglican world that we desire to be agents of the transforming love of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.  In a different way, as a GAFCON/GFCA Province we are full partners with a majority of the world’s Anglicans.  Twice a year I participate in the GAFCON/GFCA Primates Council.  An even larger constellation of Anglican Provinces – the so-called Global South – also always includes our leadership in their global gatherings.  The Church of England continues to follow-through on the General Synod motion of 2010, a follow-through that, I am convinced, will lead to the recognition of our orders within another year or so.  Recently I spent four and a half hours with the Archbishop of Canterbury, at his invitation.  Last week I spent five hours of private time with the Primate of Nigeria, deepening our relationship and commitment to one another.  The role of the Anglican Church in North America in GAFCON 2 in October in Nairobi – some one-hundred-thirty-four of us – will be an immensely significant one.  The Anglican Church in North America is a significant player on the Global Anglican stage.  (My emphasis)

Regarding Duncan's confidence that the Church of England will recognize ACNA's orders within a year or so, who am I to say it won't happen?  At first, I thought the juxtaposition of Duncan's mention of the two meetings - four and a half hours with the Archbishop of Canterbury and five hours with the Primate of Nigeria - was a bit strange, but perhaps not. 

Lionel Deimel, to whom I am indebted for the link to Robert Duncan's address, has further interesting commentary about the content of the speech, especially with regard to the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh and the ACNA's choice of Nashotah House for their meeting.