Anglican Yinzer

Penn State, Blogging and Me

2011-11-09T16:46:00.003-05:00

I am a Penn State alum (BA History 1973), and my wife Gale and Son Greg are also Penn Staters. Only daughter Hannah went off the reservation -- and she has a better job than all of us! She is a Senior Fashion Designer at Ralph Lauren And I love the Penn State Nittany Lions. Until recently my ring tone on my cell phone was the Penn State Fight Song-- Roar, Lions, Roar! I am saddened disgusted, angry and flabbergasted at the recent events that have come to light at my alma mater. I am almost ashamed to say I attended PSU.

That being said, it has forced me to do some soul searching. I have to question how I spend my time for Christ. Does my blogging edify Him and build His Kingdom? Would my time be better spent building up my parish and raising up new leaders and evangelists? The answer to me is a no-brainer. I will be mothballing the blog at least for the foreseeable future. Thanks to all who have posted.

Peace of Mind: Both Priceless and Price-less

2011-11-06T15:44:00.011-05:00

My friend Bruce Robison of the TEC-Pgh Diocese informed me in a comment on my blog entry,“The 146th Convention of the Diocese of Pittsburgh" that the more liberal candidate Moni McIntyre defeated the more conservative candidate Jim Shoucair in the clergy order for the open slot on the Standing Committee by a one vote margin. This makes Bruce the only “conservative” cleric left on that TEC-Pgh body. Moni, Leslie Reimer and George Werner are the other priests. In 2009 three of the four Standing Committee clergy were conservative, now three of four are liberal. And Jim is probably among the most, if not the most respected of the conservative clergy in the TEC-Pgh diocese. And if he can't get elected, well . . . .! Bruce has said that electing Jim or Moni makes little difference, they were both very respected and supported. Maybe little difference for TEC-Pgh but perhaps a big difference for us.

It seems Jim Simons’ Grand Scheme for Pittsburgh to be a voice of orthodoxy in TEC has, in three short years, run out of gas. All I can say to the conservatives in TEC-Pgh: "How’s staying in working for you?" Other than ensuring a continuing national voice for Dr. Simons, I am not sure you gained much.

Bishop Price in his recent letter said: “the Episcopal Diocese will continue to invite all former Episcopalians to return to active participation in the Episcopal Church, and will continue to reassure all ACNA congregations who may be receptive to this message of reconciliation that if they did choose this path there would be no repercussions.” While I appreciate Bishop Price’s sentiment, I don’t agree that returning to the Episcopal Church represents a biblical understanding of reconciliation, as I understand it. Reconciliation is based on mutual respect and recognition. Offering us reconciliation while refusing to recognize our diocese and insisting on disaffiliation is disingenuous at the very least.

To put the shoe on the other foot, I could just as easily say to Jim Shoucair and the other conservatives in TEC-Pgh. "Let's be reconciled. You’re more than welcome to realign into the ACNA and the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh even now. We miss you and we still love you! And we won't charge you anything nor will there be any repercussions either". That, however, is where the similarity ends. We don't claim your parishes property and never have and never will.

Please know our diocese not only has put the Episcopal Church in the rearview mirror, for many they’ve thrown that rearview mirror away. It’s all behind us and we’re ever moving forward – we’ve never been better. So come on over you won’t regret it one bit. You just have to get over not having that Cadillac pension plan and perhaps not being able to keep your buildings. It’s costly in that sense but you can never put a price tag on the peace of mind that will come your way.

UPDATED: Darien Church Seeks Judgment in Dispute with Episcopal Connecticut Diocese

2011-11-06T06:58:00.008-05:00

Christopher Leighton the rector of St Paul's Darien has been my friend for over thirty years and is the former rector of the parish I pastor, St David's. He served in the Diocese of Pittsburgh for over fifteen years.

Darien Church Seeks Judgment in Dispute with Episcopal Connecticut Diocese

November 5, 2011

St. Paul's Church, Darien, is seeking the advice of the Connecticut Superior Court at Stamford, in a declaratory judgment action regarding the legitimacy of a trust that the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut claims it has regarding the Parish's Darien church grounds and assets.

In a recent letter to St. Paul's, the Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas, the Bishop of Connecticut, stated that St. Paul's property is being held in trust by the Diocese and the national Church, a reference to a church law known as the Dennis Canon. That canon law was not adopted until 1979 by the General Convention of the American Episcopal Church.

The filing in the Superior Court specifically seeks to know the details of the purported theocratic trust, in particular the identity of its beneficiaries, and whether it may be enforced since it is a violation of the doctrine of separation of church and state. The legal issue to be determined is whether a civil court should regard a religious document as taking precedence over a parish's legal deed when a theological dispute arises. The issue brings into play the neutrality of the legal system in church matters, as well as the rights of parishioners as citizens, to determine their own course without government interference. The Parish contends that a theocratic trust cannot be enforced because to do so would violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article Seventh of the Connecticut Constitution.

St. Paul's, for its part, takes the position that it remains an "Episcopal Church in the Anglican Communion" as it has for 53 years. The Parish's legal request comes in the context of a worldwide dispute, in which most Anglicans and many Episcopalians in Communion with them, including St. Paul's Parish, have affirmed themselves to be in sharp and basic disagreement with the American Episcopal Church regarding issues of faith and morals. The divisions in the Communion are over the role of Christ in achieving salvation and recent actions which would compel acceptance of minority views on human sexuality and the use of churches for performing same sex marriages.

St. Paul's Church holds a distinctive place in the history of the American church as a harbinger of spiritual renewal in an era of mounting secularism. Detailing this role, was a 1980 book by Bob Slosser, titled Miracle in Darien. The Parish now seeks to stay focused on its historic mission. It still desires to work in good faith with Bishop Douglas and any visitor designated by the Archbishop of Canterbury to help effect an amicable resolution of the legal issues.

The Rev. Christopher P. Leighton is the rector of St. Paul's. Fr. Christopher, a charismatic joined St. Paul’s in October, 1998, as the church’s fourth Rector. He is a native of Boston, Massachusetts.

UPDATE: The Anglican Curmudgeon comments on historic context and legal issues here

http://accurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2011/11/litigation-diocese-of-connecticut.html

The 146th Convention of the Diocese of Pittsburgh

2011-11-05T15:15:00.010-04:00

The 146th Convention of the Diocese of Pittsburgh is being held today by two diocese, the TEC-Pgh diocese and the ACNA Diocese. No matter to me as I am sure they are much different gatherings but both well intended.

Our ACNA diocese welcomed 21 new parishes, congregations and congregations in formation to be part of our goodly fellowship. We now stand at 82 congregations. the largest we've ever been, even before the minority of parishes that left us in 2008.

It was awesome to have folks from far and wide --nothing like diversity within unity! This morning Gale and I ate breakfast at the Comfort Inn in East Greensburg where we stayed with the white female pastor of an African American parish in Cleveland OH, the Rev Connie Harris. I have known Connie since the early 1990s when we attended a PEWSAction Renewal Conference in Virginia Beach. They just left their building in downtown Cleveland and are starting over in another former Methodist Church nearby. The new church is located on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, which Connie said was a sign to her people that God was directing their move. She told me the Senior Warden recalled the words of Martin Luther King Jr when they left: "Free at last, free at last, Thank God Almighty we're free at last!"

We began our gathering last night with an awesome service of Holy Communion led by Bishop Duncan in the basilica at St Vincent's College. Even this Anglican Protestant was impressed with the facility and the blended worship. It was truly the convergence of the three streams of Anglicanism --charismatic, catholic and evangelical. The convention banquet followed. We were shoehorned into the main room of the Fred C. Rogers Center for a rather good banquet meal. (similar gatherings usually feature the rubber chicken circuit type offerings). To me it's rather humorous that two of the newest facilities at St. Vincent's are named for deceased Protestants: Presbyterian minister and TV personality Mr. Rogers and Winnie Palmer the wife of PGA golfer Arnold Palmer. Both Arnie and Fred must have given heavily to the school.

As part of the awards and acknowledgements after dinner, all the new congregations were presented with Terrible Towels --always a hoot. Bishop Louis Brant of the RC Diocese of Greensburg welcomed us and brought greetings from his people . The evening concluded with the Rt Rev Neil Lebahr, wife Marcia and former Senior Warden Harry Parsons as the keynoters, addressing us on the convention theme, "After the Exodus". Neal is the newly installed bishop of the new ACNA Diocese of the Gulf in north Florida. Marcia is a native Pittsburgher, having grown up in Sewickley. All in all a great night.

My bud Deacon Tara Jernigan has a good report on the convention here

http://freerangeanglican.blogspot.com/2011/11/diocesan-convention.html

As does friend Dr. Jeremy Bonner here

http://catholicandreformed.blogspot.com/2011/11/discerning-promised-land-anglican.html

An Old Chestnut: Butt Prints In The Sand

2011-11-02T21:39:00.006-04:00

One night I had a wondrous dream,
One set of footprints there was seen,
The footprints of my precious Lord,
But mine were not along the shore.
But then some strange prints appeared,
And I asked the Lord, "What have we here?"
Those prints are large and round and neat,
"But Lord, they are too big for feet."
"My child," He said in somber tones,
"For miles I carried you along.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
But you refused and made me wait."
"You disobeyed, you would not grow,
The walk of faith, you would not know,
So I got tired, I got fed up,
And there I dropped you on your butt."
"Because in life, there comes a time,
When one must fight, and one must climb,
When one must rise and take a stand,
Or leave their butt prints in the sand."

author unknown

The Pee Bee Needs to Come Clean

2011-10-31T08:29:00.006-04:00

From the liberal leaning blog the Episcopal Cafe comes the following blog entry:

"A lead is not a story, more on the Bede Perry Case"

A story has been making the rounds in the last few days that purports to demonstrate that Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori knew that the Bede Parry, a former Roman Catholic monk, had sexually abused minors and was likely to do so again when she received him as a priest into the Episcopal Church while she was serving as the Bishop of Nevada.
Read it all
http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/presiding_bishop/a_lead_is_not_a_story_more_on_1.html

All Saints Music Festival at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Highland Park (Pittsburgh) PA

2011-10-29T08:41:00.002-04:00

I am the organist of St. Andrew's Highland Park. I write to solicit a mention on your blog/newspaper/webpage of our seventh annual All Saints Music Festival at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Highland Park.

The events:

Tuesday, 1 November:, 8:00pm A service of Lessons and Carols for All Saints, sung by St. Andrew's Parish Choir, with guest conductor Thomas Octave

Thursday, 3 November, 8:00pm Choral Evensong for All Saints, sung by St. Andrew's Choristers (Matthew Derby, Director), followed by a brief concert of German Song by the Bloomfield Liedertafel (Edward G. Helgerman, Director)

Friday, 4 November, 8:00pm Bach by Candlelight. The Goldberg Variations, and Unaccompanied Suite for Cello. Nathan Carterette, piano, Rowena Gutana, cello

Sunday, 6 November Festival Orchestral Eucharist for All Saints. Schubert: Mass in G Major, sung in the context of the liturgy. St. Andrew's Parish Choir, and the Pittsburgh Festival Orchestra. Guest Conductor Thomas Octave

It's a lonely world out there, and this is really great stuff. Any help you could give would be most sincerely appreciated.

All best,

Peter Luley

Organist-Choirmaster, St Andrew's

From IRD: Episcopal Church Drops Below Two Million Members

2011-10-26T23:27:00.004-04:00

"Despite all its liberal cheer leading about inclusiveness, the once influential Episcopal Church is a dwindling, nearly all white, increa-singly gray-headed denomination with a grim future, absent divine intervention." -- Jeff Walton, Spokesman for IRD's Anglican Action Program

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Once a flagship denomination of American mainline Protestantism, the U.S.-based Episcopal Church has for the first time in decades reported membership below two million.

Self-reported statistics provided by the denomination this month show that the church has dropped from 2,006,343 members in 2009 to 1,951,907 in 2010, the most recent reporting year. The loss of 54,436 members increases the annual rate of decline from 2 percent to 3 percent, outpacing the most recently reported declines in most other mainline churches. The church's 10-year change in active members has dropped 16 percent.

A branch of the otherwise fast-growing 80 million member worldwide Anglican Communion, the third largest family of Christian churches globally, the Episcopal Church had also seen a steady decrease in the number of parishes, losing or closing over 100 in 2010, as well as a drop in attendance from 682,963 in 2009 to 657,831 in 2010, a 4 percent drop. Fifty-four percent of all U.S. Episcopal Churches suffered attendance loss over the prior year. Over the last decade, attendance was down 23 percent. The denomination, which once claimed over 3.5 million members as recently as the mid-1960s, has lost over 40 percent of membership even while the U.S. population grew by over 50 percent. A statistical summary provided by the Episcopal Church can be viewed here. Jeff Walton, spokesman for IRD’s Anglican Action Program, commented:

"The drop below 2 million members is noteworthy, but the precipitous drop in attendance is even more dramatic, boding poorly for the Episcopal Church’s future. Almost one-quarter of Episcopalians who were in the pews in 2000 have vanished.

"Departures to other churches have fueled Episcopal decline, as have decreasing baptisms and its graying population.

"These statistics contrast sharply with more theologically conservative Anglican churches in the global south, many of which are witnessing skyrocketing numbers.

"Despite all its liberal cheer leading about inclusiveness, the Episcopal Church is a dwindling, nearly all white, increasingly gray-headed denomination with a grim future, absent divine intervention."

www.TheIRD.org

Property litigation involving Episcopal Diocese is over

2011-10-26T22:10:00.001-04:00

From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette

October 26, 2011

By Ann Rodgers

Eight years of property litigation involving the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh has ended, but most parishes that broke from the Episcopal Church still face negotiations over their buildings.

After the Pennsylvania Supreme Court last week denied an appeal from the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, which had argued that it owned the property, the Anglican decided diocese it will not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, spokesman David Trautman said.

"This whole string of litigation is ended, is done," he said.

The lawsuit was filed in 2003 by Calvary Episcopal Church, Shadyside, whose leaders believed that Bishop Robert Duncan and many others might leave the denomination and try to take property. According to the Episcopal canons, all property -- including parish buildings -- is held in trust for the denomination.

The split occurred in 2008, when the majority at the diocesan convention voted to leave the Episcopal Church. Those who wished to remain Episcopalians immediately chose new leaders and continued that diocese. The Anglican diocese argued that it was the legitimate heir to the Episcopal Church property.

"We accept that the courts have not found in our favor and will, of course, comply with all court orders," Anglican Archbishop Duncan wrote last week.

Read the entire article here.

TEC-Pgh blogger Lionel Deimel's screed is here

http://blog.deimel.org/2011/10/p-g-no-supreme-court-appeal.html

Mollie and the Spin Doctors

2011-10-25T09:34:00.003-04:00

The Rev George Conger, writer for "The Church of England Newspaper", "The Living Church" magazine and blogger posted the following piece on the Get Religion blog. Mollie Hemingway's original WSJ piece was is posted on this blog October 10,2011

No, the title of this post does not refer to a now forgotten second tier ’80s band. Mollie and the Spin Doctors will not join Souxsie and the Banshees, Hootie and the Blowfish, Adam and the Ants, and Echo and the Bunnymen in the remainder aisle at Wal-Mart. I chose this title to tell a cautionary tale about religious journalism concerning one of my colleagues at GetReligion, Mollie Ziegler Hemingway, and the Communications Office at the Episcopal Church.

The moral of the story if you want to skip to the end of the piece can be found in Numbers 32:23. “But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.”

Now I am not equating journalism or journalists with the godhead (though the New York Times does tend towards an omniscient, holier than though attitude towards creation). What I am drawing from this passage from Scripture is the lesson not to exaggerate, lie or spin an unpalatable truth. For in the end you will be found out.

Our parable begins with an article written by Ms Hemingway for the Wall Street Journal entitled “Twenty-First Century Excommunication”. She reports:

Read it all

http://www.getreligion.org/2011/10/mollie-and-the-spin-doctors/

Thank You St. Joseph for Selling Our House

2011-10-20T23:06:00.008-04:00

Growing up a Protestant in the Philadelphia suburbs deprived me of any understanding or experience with the Roman Catholic practice of the Invocation of the Saints. My wife Gale, however, grew up in a large Irish Catholic family in Pittsburgh along with having twelve years of Catholic education. I learned from Gale that St Jude was the patron of lost causes and St Anthony the patron of lost things. St Blaise was the Saint to pray to when suffering from a sore throat and each year on December 9 all the school children prayed to St Lucy for something that has to do with their eyes. And when selling your house always bury a statue of St Joseph upside down in the front yard facing the house.

Our house in Kittanning had been on the market for over two years and hadn't sold. We were trying to sell the house in the softest housing market in decades in a very depressed job market in Armstrong County. Not a very promising prospect. But it has been said "desperate times call for desperate measures" . So I bought a statue of St Joseph from Autom, a religious supply house that sells such things (see picture of the actual statue from the Autom catalogue).

In mid August I was doing some maintenance on the house and I took the claw end of my trusty hammer and dug a hole in the garden bed in the front of the house. I put my new statue of old St Joe in the hole facing him toward the house but alas and alack the hole was a tad too shallow. Oops! So I grabbed the aforementioned hammer and pounded him in and covered him up!

Then some of my Catholic or former Catholic friends chimed in. I told my friend Melanie about the saga. Two mistakes -- She said I probably gave him a massive headache and he won't sell the house out of spite -- Besides he is supposed to be facing AWAY from the house so to draw people in. Then my friend Kathi told me, he needs to be buried in the BACK yard not the front! Yikes! Then my friend Rege said you have to do bury the statue during a FULL MOON not during the day. Obviously I had failed miserably.

Well, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, guess what! The house sold in mid September and whether or not St Joseph had anything to do with it I do not know. But I wasn't taking any chances -- I was covering all my bases. As I was writing this Gale reminded me this is all bunk -- all superstition. Then she went to bed early with a headache and sore throat. So I gave her a kiss good night and said a short silent prayer to St Blaise.

Commentary on Price Letter

2011-10-20T16:25:00.005-04:00

Mr. David Ball fisks Bishop Price's recent letter to the TEC-Pgh diocese.

October 6, 2011

Rector Wardens and Vestry

Dear Friends in Christ,

We write this letter to provide you and all members of your parish with current information on the property litigation and related negotiations involving the Diocese. It is meant to update the Bishop's letter of May 11, 2011 another copy of which is closed for your convenience.

As you will recall earlier this year, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania issued their opinion affirming in all aspects the rulings of Judge Joseph James of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas that under the terms of the 2005 settlement of the Calvary suit that our Episcopal Diocese was proper entity to hold and administer, the endowments and other permanent funds of the diocese. These rulings also applied to the buildings being used by over 20 congregations of former Episcopalians who look to the Most Rev Robert W. Duncan to be their bishop as part of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh and as Archbishop as part of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).

The Most Rev. Robert W. Duncan IS the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh and Archbishop of the ACNA. So long as the Episcopal Church keeps its head in the sand and refuses to even acknowledge the existence of these entities, no progress will be made. Like it or not, they exist, they have legal status and they have many people who are members. In the case of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, it has many more members than the TEC diocese of Pittsburgh.

Read it all

http://www.scribd.com/doc/69644167/Commentary-on-Price-Letter

EPGM disbands after 21 years of service to the Episcopal mission community

2011-10-19T08:51:00.004-04:00

This is a re-post from The Rev Dr Robert Munday's "To All the World" blog. Robert until recently served as Dean of Nashotah House and has been active in Anglican mission leadership. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of SAMS

From Episcopal News Service:

Episcopal Partnership for Global Mission (EPGM) has announced that it will officially disband as a mission networking organization serving the Episcopal Church, according to an Oct. 15 news release.The decision to disband was made at EPGM's annual meeting, held at the Everyone Everywhere 2011 conference in Estes Park, Colorado, and approved by consensus of the attending membership organizations, the release said.

EPGM began in 1990 as the Episcopal Council for Global Mission (ECGM). It was renamed in 1999 when its structural organizing plan was approved by Executive Council. General Convention adopted the plan in 2000.

Financial issues due to loss of funding from the 2009 General Convention and loss of membership contributed to the decision to disband, according to the release.

Read it all.

The Episcopal Partnership for Global Mission was once a fine organization--an umbrella group where all of the agencies and mission organizations that served the Episcopal Church could come together and work on goals and strategies and engage in cooperative efforts. As with so many other signs of TEC's implosion, it saddens me to see it die.

However, as Paul Harvey was famous for saying, we need to know "the rest of the story." The sentence mentioning the loss of membership is the key.

Following the election of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003, the Diocese of New Hampshire applied for membership in EPGM. Viewed charitably, one could perhaps hope that the application meant there was a group in the Diocese genuinely concerned for world missions. A more skeptical view is that the Diocese was seeking to force recognition and acceptance from one of the few remaining Episcopal organizations where theological conservatives were in the majority. The application, and the debate over issues of sexuality that were racking TEC as a whole, only served to bring to a head longstanding disagreements over theology and the meaning of mission and evangelism.

In any event, New Hampshire's application to join EPGM put the conservative mission organizations in a difficult position. Many of the overseas Anglican provinces where missionaries from the conservative mission organizations served were determined to break fellowship with the Diocese of New Hampshire and even the whole of the Episcopal Church as a consequence of the consecration of a gay bishop. Some of these same Anglican provinces started refusing money from TEC, and they began questioning missionaries and mission organizations that worked in their countries about their participation in TEC and their position on TEC's actions.

Consequently, conservative mission agencies that had been a part of EPGM were faced with a choice of either losing their ability to send missionaries to various countries or else withdrawing from EPGM. The withdrawals did not happen quickly or without much prayer and discussion. New Hampshire's application to join EPGM was put on hold while these conversations occurred. But, in the end, EPGM willingness to admit the Diocese of New Hampshire caused the conservative mission agencies to leave. Titus Presler encapsulates this episode very well in his history of EPGM, published on the EPGM website (while it is still online). (See especially the section entitled, "EPGM Fractured by Sexuality Turmoil," pages 6-7.) As Presler notes, the agencies that left EPGM were the ones responsible for sending nearly all of the actual, long term missionaries from the Episcopal Church. These organizations have since formed a new umbrella network, the Anglican Global Mission Partners.

Interestingly, while the split in EPGM began over an application for membership from the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, the list of current members on the EPGM website shows no listing for the Diocese of New Hampshire nor any organization from that diocese.

[Update 10/18/11]: For those who may be interested in what has happened to the organizations that left since the split, the Anglican Global Mission Partners continue to meet twice annually, usually hosting a missions conference at the church or seminary where they meet. Their meeting, two weeks ago, at St. James Anglican Church, in Newport Beach, CA, was in conjunction with the SALT Missions Conference. Their Spring 2012 meeting will be at Nashotah House Theological Seminary, and they are planning aRe:Mix Youth Missions Conference at the same time.

The agencies that are a part of Anglican Global Mission Partners (AGMP) have continued to grow. For instance, SAMS (formerly the South American Missionary Society) has changed its name to theSociety of Anglican Missionaries and Senders. The number of missionaries being sent from SAMS has nearly doubled in the past decade, and they are now a worldwide organization, with missionaries on every continent.

The Anglican Global Mission Partners (AGMP) itself has grown through the number of new organizations that have joined since the split from EPGM. A personal observation: One would think that the contrast in the histories of the two entities since the split—even the contrast in sheer vitality between the two organizations—might be enough to convince TEC that they made a wrong turn somewhere.

Posted by Robert S. Munday at 11:58 PM on Oct 17, 2011

UPDATED: PA Supreme Court Declines to Hear ACNA Pittsburgh Appeal

2011-10-18T09:24:00.006-04:00

BREAKING NEWS

Click here

http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=In%20PACO%2020111017453.xml&docbase=CSLWAR3-2007-CURR

This exhausts all legal appeals in the Commonwealth of PA Court system. I doubt if the ACNA Diocese will move to the Federal appellate process. I do not know if that is even a legal option.

It now up to TEC-Pgh to either negotiate in good faith or to begin evicting the ACNA parishes from the TEC property the courts have awarded to them.

UPDATED: Bishop Duncan informs the ACNA Diocese

18^th October, A.D. 2011 (1:57 PM)

Feast of St. Luke

TO ALL CLERGY AND LAY LEADERS OF THE ANGLICAN DIOCESE:

Dearest Brothers & Sisters in Christ,

I write to you today to inform you that our appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has been rejected. We accept that the courts have not found in our favor and will, of course, comply with all court orders.

We remain committed to reaching a negotiated settlement with the Episcopal Church diocese. In light of this judgment by the courts, we will redouble that commitment to reaching a final resolution of all issues between the Episcopal Church diocese and the Anglican diocese through negotiation.

We intend to persevere in our mission, which is to be Anglican Christians transforming our world with Jesus Christ. We do this chiefly by planting congregations. As at every annual Convention since realignment, congregations are being added to our diocese both locally and across the country, for which we give thanks to God. We pray God’s continued favor on our mission, his grace towards those who remain within the Episcopal Church, and his help for our beloved Communion as we move into the challenges and opportunities of this new millennium. May the Gospel of our Lord Christ find a fresh hearing all across his Church and his world!

Faithfully your Bishop and Archbishop,

The 2010 TEC-Pgh Pre- Convention Journal

2011-10-18T08:02:00.020-04:00

The TEC-Pgh Diocese has posted their Pre-Convention Journal on their diocesan website. A quick perusal unearthed a trove of interesting facts.

Such as:

St Philip's Church Moon Township is still being assessed a diocesan assessment (pages B-7, G-4 and G-5) even though they negotiated a settlement to break all ties with TEC-Pgh.

The Clergy list (A-19) shows letters dimissory were accepted for priest with four marriages. Two partnered homosexuals are listed as priests licensed to practice ministry within the TEC-Pgh Diocese, though not canonically resident.

The Commission on Ministry Report (pages E-8 and E-9) shows that a person with four marriages has been approved for Candidacy and a partnered homosexual has been approved for Postulancy. I identified at least four or five "conservatives" as members of the COM. Did they vote to approve these two persons?

Average Sunday Attendance has declined among some parishes precipitously. On the other hand St. Andrew's Highland Park and Christ Church North Hills appear to be doing quite well, even really flourishing in the case of Christ Church . A comparison of the 2003 report from the 2004 Post-Convention Journal and this 2010 Journal (page G-1) show the following increases and decreases.

Brackenridge 2003=101 2010=15

Brentwood 2003=131 2010=79

Indiana 2003= 74 2010=46

Highland Park 2003=110 2010=120

Kittanning 2003=67 2010=33

Ligonier 2003=188 2010=124

McKeesport 2003=155 2010=86

North Hills 2003=202 2010=285

Oakmont 2003=183 2010=119

So it goes in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh

Andy Roman and Bp Ken Price Explain to Their Diocese Why TEC-Pgh Has Ceased Negotiations With All ACNA Parishes

2011-10-17T16:53:00.003-04:00

Attached is a letter Bishop Price sent to his parishes giving his spin on the failed negotiations. He never mentions the draconian disaffiliation clause TEC required that ACNA parishes must agree to prior to any negotiations commencing. Aren't the leaders in the ACNA Diocese so unreasonable!

October 6, 2011

Rector Wardens and Vestry

Dear Friends in Christ,

Read it all

ht tp://www.scribd.com/doc/69185120

Bishop and Clergy of the Diocese Meet to Discuss "Serious Charges" Made Against Bishop Lawrence

2011-10-12T15:52:00.003-04:00

Posted 10/12/2011 at 12:17 PM on the www.dioceseofsc.org website

Bishop and Clergy of the Diocese Meet to Discuss "Serious Charges" Made Against Bishop Lawrence

In an atmosphere of prayerful solemnity, the Bishop and Clergy of the Diocese of South Carolina gathered at Saint James Church, James Island, S.C. for more than two hours on Tuesday, October 12. In focus were the “serious charges” that have been made against Bishop Mark Lawrence and the diocese under the new Title IV canons.

Bishop Lawrence began by restating the diocesan vision of “Making Biblical Anglicans for a Global Age” and then traced the history of the current controversy in The Episcopal Church and the many obstacles they presented to pursuing our diocesan vision. He ended with the two recent diocesan conventions in which the diocese refused to be coerced into the Episcopal Church’s embrace of the new title IV canons which violate both due process and the Episcopal Church’s own constitution. Of further concern with the current allegations is that evidently this process doesn’t allow the accused to know who his accusers are.

Lawyer Alan Runyan then made a presentation based on his best understanding of what canonical process seemed to be being used by those in national leadership. It would appear they are proceeding under the abandonment canon with its fast track. Based on what has happened in other dioceses, a deposition of the bishop would be followed by attacks on diocese and the parishes. The picture painted was an ugly one of expensive litigation, confrontation and acrimony in which all involved significantly lost.

It was stressed that individual clergy, vestry, and parishes needed to be informed about the allegations, the purported process, and the implications at every conceivable level: financial, personal, legal and spiritual. All the clergy were encouraged to share their concerns with the bishop or the ordained members of the diocesan Standing Committee.

Two themes underlay the whole discussion. First, the Episcopal Church is in a constitutional crisis in which its own polity is being radically altered in violation of its history and founding documents, yet with no structural provision for a means of resolution when just such foundational disagreements occur. That such a deep dispute has arisen with one of the Episcopal Church’s founding dioceses only adds to the unfortunate environment into which all have been plunged. The Reverend Jeffrey Miller, past President of the Standing Committee stated during the gathering, “The question is not whether we can stay; it is whether they will let us stay and follow what we believe.”

Second, the deeper fracture is about a departure of the Episcopal Church’s leadership from Christian doctrine. Bishop C. Fitzsimmons Allison (XII Bishop of South Carolina) rose to express his concern with these theological innovations and to voice support for Lawrence. While these include a changed understanding of sexual ethics and Christian marriage, it goes much further to the matter of Scriptural interpretation and authority and the uniqueness and universality of Jesus Christ. These recent actions mark yet another hindrance to the Diocese of South Carolina’s duty to be faithful to the truth of exactly that gospel and its proclamation to the world.

Two challenges for Conservative Clergy Leaders in TEC-Pgh

2011-10-10T14:51:00.012-04:00

Hopes for Negotiations and A Call to Prayer

An Open Letter to the Clergy and People of The Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh and to The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church USA

As we prepare to enter into good-faith negotiations, we ask the people of our two dioceses, and all Christian people in our communities, to pray that these negotiations will lead to fair and godly outcomes that will enable the mission of our churches to thrive.

We hope and pray that in the coming days the leaders and people in both our dioceses will find a way to seek blessing on one another. Specifically, we offer the following overarching principles in the hope that they might characterize the spirit of our efforts to resolve our differences:

1) Mutual Recognition:
- that the members of each diocese may be able to recognize the other as seeking to be faithful to their Christian call as they perceive it, and to their conscience.

2) Mutual Forgiveness:
- that the members of each diocese will work to forgive perceived wrongs and failures of charity.

3) Mutual Blessing and Release:
- that anticipated settlements would not seek to damage the health and future of one another’s ministries.

It is our prayerful goal that our negotiations:

1) Assure that all the parishes and each diocese can survive and thrive;

2) Enable us all to move past litigation and focus on our respective missions;

3) Demonstrate our commitment to be at God’s best as we work to resolve our differences, mindful of the public and private impact of our disagreements.

Signed by clergy & lay leaders of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh gathered for a meeting at St. Martin’s, Monroeville on Saturday, March 5, 2011.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I have been at the beach in Florida enjoying some respite (this is our "summer" vacation) and doing some thinking. The above letter was commended to the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh by the President of the ACNA Diocese of Pittsburgh for their consideration and to jointly sign on to. His appeal was rejected.

In January 0f 2008 13 "conservative" priests of the Episcopal Diocese stood up to the majority and prevailing views of the Bishop and leadership of the diocese and publicly opposed "realignment" while maintaining their commitment to orthodoxy. Three of those clergy subsequently became Standing Committee Presidents of the TEC-Pgh diocese. Two others are currently on the TEC diocesan staff as Canons. One of those leaders proudly boasts on the masthead of his blog: "an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Pittsburgh who's committed to orthodoxy and who has remained in the Episcopal Church". I guess he and the others remain in the Episcopal Church by keeping his head down in the duck and cover mode while repeating the mantra "if you want to get along, go along" and neither publicly defending orthodoxy nor publicly challenging heterodoxy.

These priests had the intestinal fortitude to stand up to their bishop and the majority prevailing view in 2008 --why not now? Why didn't they sign the Open Letter in March and why not do it now?

In addition some of TEC-Pgh priests have claimed Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina to be their personal friend. Why no public support for him. As far as I have read, only the rector of St Andrew's Highland Park has called into question this latest foray against +Mark.

Why no outcry from the so called conservative bishops and leaders remaining in TEC against this current outrage? Why no public statements from Bps Bill Love, John Howe, Jim Stanton, Dan Martins, or Ed Little?

It all makes you want to go hmmmm?

Like I said, "if you want to get along, go along"

Twenty-First Century Excommunication

2011-10-10T14:21:00.005-04:00

By MOLLIE ZIEGLER HEMINGWAY

When the Church of the Good Shepherd in Binghamton, N.Y., left the Episcopal Church over disagreements about what the Bible says about sexuality, the congregation offered to pay for the building in which it worshiped. In return the Episcopal Church sued to seize the building, then sold it for a fraction of the price to someone who turned it into a mosque.

The congregation is one of hundreds that split or altogether left the Episcopal Church—a member of the Anglican Communion found mostly in the United States—after a decades-long dispute over adherence to scripture erupted with the consecration of a partnered gay bishop in 2003. But negotiating who gets church buildings hasn't been easy. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said she'd rather have these properties become Baptist churches or even saloons than continue as sanctuaries for fellow Anglicans.

The Episcopalian congregations that want to break away are part of a larger movement of Anglicans world-wide who are concerned by the liberalism of the official New York-based Episcopal Church on sexuality and certain basic tenets such as Jesus' resurrection. Of the 38 provinces in the global Anglican Communion, 22 have declared themselves in "broken" or "impaired" fellowship with the more liberal American church.

In 2009, breakaway Episcopalians in the U.S. and Canada formed the Anglican Church in North America, which now reports 100,000 members in nearly 1,000 congregations. This group has been formally recognized by some Anglican primates outside of the United States.

Bishop Jefferts Schori says this new Anglican group is encroaching on her church's jurisdiction, and she has authorized dozens of lawsuits "to protect the assets of the Episcopal Church for the mission of the Episcopal Church." The Episcopal Church has dedicated $22 million to legal actions against departing clergy, congregations and dioceses, according to Allan Haley, a canon lawyer who has represented a diocese in one such case.

Now the Episcopal Church has upped the ante: It has declared that if congregations break away and buy their sanctuaries, they must disaffiliate from any group that professes to be Anglican.

Rather than agree to this demand to disaffiliate from Anglicanism, Pittsburgh's All Saints Episcopal Anglican Church last month walked away from the building it had inhabited since 1928. The congregation called the Episcopal Church's demand "mean-spirited" and an attempt to deny "the freedom of religious affiliation."

Read it all

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203476804576614932308302042.html?KEYWORDS=excommunication

Complaint leading to possible charges leveled against Bishop Mark Lawrence of TEC Dio of SC

2011-10-05T15:37:00.005-04:00

BREAKING NEWS:

Bishop Mark Lawrence may be charged with "abandonment of the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Episcopal Church"

See here for Diocese of South Carolina release

http://www.kendallharmon.net/t19/index.php/t19/article/38938/

And here for AP story

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/SC-Bishop-said-to-have-abandoned-Episcopal-church-2203538.php

Nothing up on Pittsburgh bloggers Dr Simons or Lionel Deimel's blogs but Episcopal Cafe has story and comments here

http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/episcopal_church/breaking_charges_lodged_agains.html

And here

http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/episcopal_church/henderson_clarifies_sc_complai.html

Interestingly, I am a seminary classmate of Paul Fuener who is President of the South Carolina C Standing Committee and also of former SC Standing Committee President Hayden McCormick and also of former Fort Worth Standing Committee President Ryan Reed. In fact Hayden, Ryan and I were all Standing Committee Presidents in 2008 when Fort Worth and Pittsburgh voted to realign and when Mark Lawrence was first denied consents as Bishop of South Carolina. Hayden presided as head of the Ecclesiastical Authority when Mark was elected a second time and finally consented to as diocesan bishop. Quite an amazing seminary class I might proudly assert!

Some Sun-on-the-Beach

2011-09-28T07:59:00.004-04:00

Attention: Posting will be nil or little for the next two weeks as I will have no regular access to the internet --only at Starbucks or the public library.

Thanks to friends, Gale and I will on vacation at their beach house in Indian Rocks Beach Florida taking some much needed vacation. We took only a few days here and there over the summer so this is our "summer vacation". We fly out on Southwest (my new favorite airline) and arrive in Tampa at 10 AM. -- we will be gazing at the Gulf of Mexico from the screened in porch before noon!

I will drive Gale to the Tampa airport at noon on October 6 to fly to New York where she will meet our daughter Hannah. She and Hannah will fly overnight to Paris. They will vacation in Paris until October 10 and then fly to Florence and stay until October 15. Hannah will be working in Florence and Gale will be sightseeing. Hannah is a senior fashion designer for Ralph Lauren and she conducts business in Florence for Ralph this time every year. With Ralph everything is five-star, so they will be pampered. This trip is Hannah's birthday gift to Gale. Both Gale and I had a milestone birthdays this year -- and it wasn't our 50th!

Son Greg and fellow school teacher and friend Amanda will be landing in Tampa on Thursday October 6 mid-afternoon and staying with me at the beach house until Sunday early evening for an extended weekend getaway. And from Sunday night through Thursday October 13 it will be just me and the surf, the sun, the suds and the sand.

Also on the home front, last week we signed a contract to sell our house in Kittanning -- finally after almost two years of it being on the market. The home inspection was last night so we are praying that no major defects were found. The inspectors are paid to be nit-picky so we expect some stuff but we hope nothing hugely expensive that could be a deal breaker. When the closing comes on November 4th it will close that chapter of our life as we moved on in ministry in June 2008 to the greener pastures of St. David's in Peters Township. Amen

St James' Episcopal Church, Prospect Park PA (near Philly)

2011-09-26T15:20:00.005-04:00

From the "Delaware County Daily Times": Bill Hesse, the recently departed rector, was our seminarian in 2004 in Kittanning and is in the same DMin cohort with me at Trinity School for Ministry. This comes as a complete surprise to me.

h/t to Three Rivers Episcopal for this.

At the bustling corner of 11th and Lincoln avenues in Prospect Park, adjacent to Hair by Heather and McCausland Lock & Key, St. James Episcopal Church stands, an oasis of serenity. Alongside the 102-year-old gray, stone structure, a statue of St. Francis of Assisi keeps watch over the fading flowers of summer that surround an obelisk topped with a Celtic cross. Meanwhile, an angel plays her harp amid the hostas and a statue of Christ holds court in a garden that faces Lincoln Avenue, a stretch of Route 420 and major Delaware County thoroughfare. The only clue that all is not as it should be is the message on the St. James marquee: “Faith Makes All Things Possible. Pray for Our Church.”

Read it all

http://delcotimes.com/articles/2011/09/26/news/doc4e7ff54d6a213503877877.txt

Yikes! HOD vs HOB - Trouble in TEC?: Bishop Sauls' Reform Proposal, the political context

2011-09-26T15:03:00.009-04:00

We've got trouble right here in River City - with a capital "T" and it rhymes with "C" and it stands for TEC.

From the liberal blog: "The Lead" at Episcopal Cafe posted online September 26, 2011

Bishop Stacy Sauls’ presentation to the House of Bishops last week in Quito, Ecuador has stirred significant comment, not to mention anxiety, in the church. We hope to devote significant time and space to discussing his proposals in the days ahead, and would like to begin by describing the context in which it has landed.

Tensions between the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies are high, as are relationships between the Executive Council and the staff at 815. Some bishops have even discussed encouraging a candidate to run against Bonnie Anderson, President of the House of Deputies. Bishop Sauls seems, on one level to be sensitive to this. His power point presentation includes the following:

Read it all

http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/episcopal_church/bishop_sauls_reform_proposal_i.html

TEC Declares Dio. of SC Resolutions Null & Void

2011-09-24T14:08:00.012-04:00

From the Rev. Steve Wood's blog: "Treading Grain". Steve is rector of St Andrew's Church (ACNA) in Mt. Pleasant SC. TEC Bishop of SC Mark Lawrence and its Standing Committee did not contest the ruling of the SC Supreme Court in the All Saints' Pawleys Island case enabling St Andrew's, the largest parish in the diocese to leave the TEC Diocese of SC with their property free and clear.

Posted by Greg ShorePublished in TEC/General Convention

The Episcopal Forum of South Carolina (EFSC) reported today that the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church (TEC) has announced that resolutions passed by the Diocese of South Carolina Convention meeting in February, 2011 have been deemed null and void. You can read the correspondence between TEC and legal counsel for EFSC on EFSC’s website.

The Diocese of South Carolina explains their resolution: “The Diocese of South Carolina, as a founding Diocese of the Episcopal Church, has freely exercised its sovereignty in acceding to the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church. The changes in the Title IV section of the Canons of The Episcopal Church contradict the Constitution of The Episcopal Church and represent both an unacceptable change in our polity and an indefensible infringement upon the due process rights of all the clergy of this Diocese. Protection of the sovereignty of the Diocese, consistent with the Constitution of The Episcopal Church and the right to due process for its clergy, requires that accession to the Canons of The Episcopal Church be removed. This change preserves our ability to continue under the Constitution of the Episcopal Church.”

You can read all of the Episcopal Forum’s article.

UPDATE: The Anglican Curmudgeon offers his analysis here.

Related Articles

· “So, What Will South Carolina Do?” (May 19th, 2011)

· Declaration of Removal (October 27th, 2010)

· +Mark Lawrence Responds to Episcopal Forum (September 24th, 2010)

· Proposed Resolutions for the DSC Reconvened Convention (September 15th, 2010)

· Virginia Supreme Court Ruling Released (updated) (June 10th, 2010)

Confidentiality

2011-09-23T10:00:00.005-04:00

It’s interesting to note that the TEC-Pgh diocese has broken off negotiations with our parishes because in their words, “we broke confidentiality”. All Saints’ Rosedale had issued a press release with a copy of their letter to the TEC law firm following the failed attempt at negotiations. And Ann Rodgers carried a story in the Post Gazette.

When TEC-Pgh back in February of this year informed us they would negotiate with our parishes, for our property which they had been awarded title of by the courts, the TECsters listed a number of pre-conditions to which we had to agree in order to begin the actual negotiations. We have never agreed to these pre-conditions one of which is confidentiality. So how could one violate something in which one has not agreed to?

All Saints’ never had one negotiating session with TEC. They had an exchange of one letter each. TEC’s response to All Saints’ best offer they could make was a form letter of impossible demands – a non-starter. All Saints’ had no alternative but to leave their property.

And it all blew up in TEC’s face. What’s next? Nobody knows.

I think it’s all off at least until after the March election of the new TEC bishop but what do I know.

Clergy Conference

2011-09-23T09:29:00.007-04:00

On Wednesday and Thursday I attended the Annual Clergy Conference at Antiochian Village outside of Ligonier. It was a wonderful time of teaching, fellowship and worship. I was told we had 87 registrants and about 80 were actually present. We had clergy from Wisconsin, Texas, Illinois, Missouri and Ohio with us – which added a nice flavor to our fellowship. Our teachers were Bishop Neil and Marcia Lebhar. Neal is the recently seated ACNA Bishop of the Gulf-Atlantic Diocese (Northern Florida/Southern Georgia). Marcia is an accomplished Bible teacher and former Executive Director of Shoresh/CMJ-USA. Neal served as an assistant rector at Truro Church Fairfax VA when Gale and I lived in Fairfax and attended that parish in 1985-86.

The Lebhar’s biblical theme was “The Wilderness” and they used texts from the Old Testament, mainly Exodus and Deuteronomy along with stories from their own life, marriage and ministry to illustrate their points.

My role was to organize the “entertainment” during the fun time on Wednesday evening. It was like an unscripted, unpracticed talent show, we had a magic act, two weirdly funny Irish ballads sung, a few funny prose readings and a skit that I wrote and was one of the co-leads with John Fierro. John and I have done this routine now for three years. He and I are two clergy Chauncey and Biff and we are meeting at clergy conference and are reviewing diocesan events of the year past (since the last clergy conference).

This year’s skit involved the negotiations or lack thereof. We poked fun at the Bishop and the Canon and TEC and anybody else that came to mind but mostly ourselves. The skit included cameo appearances from Joseph Martin, Kathy Walzer, Kua Apple and Keith Pozzuto. I emailed a copy of it to a diocesan staffer who emailed me back, “Too funny. You do know how to push the envelope. How did it go over?” My response, “The Bishop was okay with it -- at least he said that to me and everybody else. There were also a lot of ad libs from Joseph, Kua and Keith. The key is to end it on a positive note which we did.” And back to me, “Cool. Sorry I missed it. I am going to try to make it next year for the whole time”.

The times of intercession were quite heartfelt and moving, the worship was great – Paul Cooper is a talented pianist and picks great hymns and praise choruses. Canon Hays shared a bit of her experience in breaking her leg in a golf cart accident and the painful recovery and spiritually life changing aftermath. It was also the first clergy conference for St David's newly ordained deacon Rege Turocy and he thoroughly enjoyed the entire two days.

Prior to realignment, our conference began 5 PM on Wednesday and ran through lunch on Friday. So now we arrive at 8:00 AM Wednesday – ugh! and go through late afternoon on Thursday, though the troops start thinning after Thursday breakfast and by the end we were probably a third to half smaller than our size at the start.

Before realignment, the diocese had subsidized the conference fee. Prior, it was $65; it is now $125. The diocese had received a $10,000 grant each year from the Widow’s Corporation of the Episcopal Church for clergy wellness which was used primarily for the clergy conference among other things. Also, prior to realignment the Clergy Association helped foot the bill for the adult beverages – no more. Not to worry, we still had plenty of beer and vino. And the Bishop’s Fund Inc. had subsidized whitewater rafting, golf or cycling on first morning – again no more. These are not to be construed as complaints, however: they are observations of change and of fond memories about times past and are but a small price to pay for a being in a new Province and a changed diocese -- all for the better.

UMC Pastors Issue Letter Supporting Their Denomination’s Stance on Marriage and Human Sexuality

2011-09-19T23:07:00.007-04:00

Calling upon the Council of Bishops

“The United Methodist Church needs clear and prophetic leadership right now,” says the Rev. Ed Robb III, senior pastor of the 9,200-member Woodlands United Methodist Church in The Woodlands, Texas. “As clergy, we are asking the Council of Bishops to make a clear and concise statement supporting our denomination’s stance on marriage and human sexuality.”

United Methodist pastors of large and strategic congregations from across the nation are calling upon the Council of Bishops to issue a clear statement of support for the denomination’s standards regarding marriage and homosexuality. Good News applauds the leadership of the Revs. Tom Harrison, Charles Kyker, Edmund Robb III, Ken Werlein, and Steve Wood in spearheading the communication to the United Methodist bishops. An additional 54 pastors joined the effort.

Read it all

http://goodnewsmag.org/2011/09/16/sign-the-letter-to-the-council-of-bishops/

9/19 Update: Clergy signers (713) Laity signers (1581)

9/28 Update: Clergy signers (1662) Laity signers (4991)

The Human Cost of ‘Selective Reduction’

2011-09-18T20:44:00.005-04:00

This story is almost beyond comprehension. It is so unsettling and so very sad. Thanks Sarah Hey of SFIF for bringing this to light. DDW+

Thirty years ago, I was in the ninth month of my second pregnancy when I received what was a very unsettling referral for a sonogram, which was not nearly as routine in those days. My eyes never once left the technician’s face as she studied the monitor. You can imagine my doubled apprehension as she left the room without offering me the small mercy of that nonchalant, “everything-is-normal-and-on-track” smile. When the OB-GYN followed her back into the room moments later, I really needed him to compensate for the technician’s serious breach of sonogram etiquette. Instead, he informed me that I was pregnant with twins.

I left that appointment just as frightened as every other woman who has ever received the same news. At the time, I already had a 23-month-old daughter; my financial resources, while not as limited as those of many new mothers, were light years away from reassuring; and my mental preparations had been for one baby, not two.

As the news began to sink in over the following few days, however, my fear got some competition from a growing awareness of my personal strength. I was still terrified, naturally, but on some level I made a decision to battle that fear, to refuse to let it take me without a fight. I remember throwing open the phone book (the Google of the ’80s), and aggressively tracking down the contact information for the local Twins & Multiples club.In “The Two Minus One Pregnancy” article in The New York Times Magazine (Aug. 14), Ruth Padawer interviews women who, after becoming pregnant with twins using fertility drugs and procedures, decide to undergo a selective reduction. The women describe with illuminating candor their fears of the challenges of birthing two newborns at once; of not being the best mother they can be to all of their children, including those already born; of being spread too thin. And so they abort one of the twins.

Read it all

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/274920/human-cost-selective-reduction-janet-morana

New Signs of Trouble for the Dennis Canon

2011-09-18T19:04:00.007-04:00

New Signs of Trouble for

the Dennis Canon

from the Anglican Curmudgeon

posted September 18, 2011

As the readers of this blog are aware, your Curmudgeon is no fan of the Dennis Canon, which I like to call the Episcopal Church (USA)'s Trojan Horse. It has spawned a disproportionate amount of Church property litigation, because it operates by stealth, and springs onto the back of a parish just at the time when it is most vulnerable, having decided to take the final step to disaffiliate from ECUSA. All of a sudden, the Bishop of the Diocese swoops down with his attorneys, and orders the congregation to vacate its building, and leave everything behind, from the altar candlesticks to the bank accounts and pew cushions. "Because you no longer are operating within the Episcopal Church," he says, "Canon I.7.4 [the Dennis Canon] declares that all of your property is now forfeit to the Diocese, since it was always held in trust for this Diocese and the Church."

Read it all

http://accurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2011/09/new-signs-of-trouble-for-dennis-canon.html

Local Church Retains Its Property

2011-09-18T07:10:00.003-04:00

The (Presbyterian) Layman

Posted Thursday, September 15, 2011

The Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal issued its opinion in the church property dispute between the tiny Carrollton Presbyterian Church in New Orleans and the Presbytery of South Louisiana (PSL). The court adopted the rationale presented by Carrollton and affirmed the trial court’s ruling in favor of the local church.

Mary Koss, Carrollton’s clerk of session, commented that, “Carrollton is very pleased with what we believe is the right decision in this case. We are anxious to have this case behind us and move forward with the business of being the church. This has preoccupied our time and talent and resources for far too long, but we recognized that staying the course was not only for us, but for lots of other churches for whom our case sets a precedent. We wanted to do whatever we could to help them.”

Read it all

http://www.layman.org/news.aspx?article=29104

TEC HOD VEEP & C-FL BP

2011-09-15T21:02:00.011-04:00

This entry is about three TEC clergymen that I have known personally -- two who made ecclesiastical news by their presence and one by his absence today. The Very Rev H. Scott Kirby, Dean of the Cathedral in the TEC Diocese of Eau Claire, was named today as the interim Vice President of the TEC House of Deputies by Bonnie Anderson President of the HOD. I served with Scott on the TEC HOD Evangelism Committee at GC-1994 in Indianapolis and he was an active supporter of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew when I worked for the Brotherhood in the 1980s and early 1990s. He is a very nice man.

Click here for the story

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_129792_ENG_HTM.htm

And the Rev. Gregory Brewer, rector of Calvary/St. George's in NYC today was listed as a candidate to become Bishop Co-Adjutor in the TEC Diocese of Central Florida. He is one of a slate of seven. Six of the seven are currently priests in Central Florida and Greg served as a rector in Central Florida until he was called to TSM in about 1990. It's interesting that all are "in house candidates" although Greg is 20 years removed and many members of the current Diocese of Central Florida probably don't know him. Greg and his family worshiped at Church of the Savior in Ambridge as did the Wilson family and he was on staff at TSM along with Gale and was my professor of liturgics while I was in seminary. I can't help but wonder how an election next March in TEC-Pgh with seven "in house candidates" would turn out? You know, they might have to include a part timer or two to get a full slate.

Click here for the story.

http://babybluecafe.blogspot.com/2011/09/seven-nominated-for-bishop-of-episcopal.html

And the newsmaker by absence is none other than TEC-Pgh priest, Dr. Jim Simons, DMin. When the Rev. Brian Pryor was elected a bishop and had to resign as HOD Veep and Bonnie Anderson announced she would appoint a replacement some time within a year of GC-2012, I had predicted that it would be none other than, you guessed it, Dr. Jim who would wrangle the appointment. I was wrong, it was Scott Kirby who was named.

What I hadn't realized, however, was, as a condition of appointment, the interim has agreed not to stand for election as the permanent Veep at GC-2012.

My new prediction is, as sure as the sun rises in the East, that good old Dr. Jim will run for the permanent Veep slot at GC-2012 . Mark my words and remember, you heard it here first!

Another Clergy Funeral in Pittsburgh: Bp Walter Righter - originally posted by The Lead @ episcopalcafe.com

2011-09-11T23:29:00.008-04:00

Note: Walter Righter, soon after ordination as a priest in the early 1950s, served as rector of All Saints' Church in Aliquippa PA in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

All Saints', now closed, was the parish where my wife Gale and I came to Christ in 1981.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Word has been received that the Rt. Rev. Walter Righter, retired bishop of Iowa, died this morning. Bishop Righter was tried for heresy in 1996 for ordaining a partnered gay man.

FromAnglicans Online:
In the fall of 1990, Barry Stopfel was ordained a deacon in the Diocese of Newark. Stopfel is gay and, at the time of his ordination, was living "in a sexual partnership" with another man. The assistant bishop of Newark, the Rt. Revd Walter Righter, was facing a church court over his decision to ordain the gay man. On May 15, 1996, an Episcopal Church court dismissed charges against Righter. The Court held that neither the doctrine nor the discipline of the Church currently prohibit the ordination of a non-celibate homosexual person living in a committed relationship.

Thirty six bishops signed a statement in support of Righter's actions:
"We the undersigned recognize the witness of the Rt. Rev. Walter C. Righter to the Christ who lived, died and rose for the salvation of all. Walter Righter's trial is a trial of the Gospel, a trial of justice, a trial of fairness, and a trial of the church. We stand with Bishop Righter. We feel charged as Bishop Righter is charged. We feel on trial as Bishop Righter is on trial. Should he be found guilty, we are guilty. Should Bishop Righter be sentenced, we will accept his sentence as our own."
UPDATE:
The Rt. Rev. Walter Cameron Righter
October 23, 1923 - September 11, 2011
The funeral will be Thursday at 11:00 a.m. at Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, PA.

Clergy Funerals

2011-09-11T07:07:00.008-04:00

Clergy funerals, especially for long serving and beloved clerics, are a big deal. There is usually a big turn out of priests and deacons. When beloved priest, the Rev. Don Matthews, died some years ago there were about 85 clergy vesting and processing at his funeral service at Trinity Cathedral. And usually the bishop of the diocese presides at such affairs. Yesterday by my count there were 21 priests, 10 deacons and Bishop John Rodgers present at the Rev. Jamie Forrest’s funeral service at Church of the Ascension, Oakland. It should be noted, Jamie served 31 years as a priest of our diocese. Jonathan Millard, Ascension’s rector, preached a marvelous sermon and led a spirit-filled funeral service. Archbishop Duncan could not be present due to his presiding at the Investiture Service of Bishop John Guernsey as diocesan of the newly formed ACNA Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic in Virginia.

Clergy funerals are also one of the few, if only opportunities, that the priests and deacons from the TEC-Pgh Diocese and the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh have had interaction since October 2008. I am thinking of the attendance at the funerals of Don Gross and Barbara Knotts. There were a fair number of clergy from TEC-Pgh that attended those two services.

But I guess the dust has settled and the Great Divide in Pittsburgh is now become like the trench warfare of World War I --- stalemate and little if any interaction. I did not see one TEC-Pgh priest or deacon at the service yesterday. And Jonathan Millard was deliberate to invite ALL clergy, both vested and unvested, to come forward for the Commendation. So it goes.

I'll report if any TEC clergy attend the memorial service at St. David's on Monday evening (with Abp Duncan presiding).

Diktat or Negotiating in Good Faith ... What Does It Mean? 4th and Final Part Once - "All Negotiations Have Been Frozen"

2011-09-09T07:58:00.025-04:00

I vowed on 8/26 not to opine on the negotiations again. I wrote "the notion of negotiating in good faith, or not, is in the eyes of the beholder. If TEC-Pgh’s idea of negotiating in good faith means setting in stone pre-conditions which are non-starters for the ACNA parishes, that is their prerogative. There just won't be any negotiations.

TEC-Pgh blogger Lionel Deimel has said: 'we [the TEC-Pgh Diocese] hold most of the cards so this is more like a plea bargain than a negotiation between equals'. From the TEC perspective, they probably think we should be grateful that they are even willing to offer negotiations to us. They don’t have to --which is true?"

I guess I am a prophet. I predicted that unless the TEC-Pgh dropped their draconian demands, (which by the way are a violation of the 1st amendment rights of freedom of speech and freedom of association), there would be no negotiations. Guess what, TEC-Pgh apparently has ended the negotiations --- at least for now.

At Jamie Forrest’s funeral service on Saturday I had an interesting conversation with a friend about the so-called negotiations that have yet to take place between the TEC-Pgh diocese and our parishes, or shall I say, their “non-participating” parishes. Other than St. Philip’s, none of our parishes have embraced their generous offer of disaffiliation and fair market value. And the negative publicity, I am told, following the St. James and All Saints’ debacles apparently isn’t sitting well with the Monroeville think tank either. My friend stated that as a result, at a meeting last week between three TEC-Pgh diocesan leaders and two clergy of our diocese, it was stated that [all] negotiations have been frozen and TEC-Pgh will await the final ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and then most likely unroll a different approach. After all, TEC can wait us out, given Judge James ruling, time is on their side --not ours.

It is however, difficult, if not impossible for TEC-Pgh to impose a Carthaginian peace settlement and also claim the moral high ground in this. But I guess they are going to pause, reload and retry. The prospect of twenty some parishes being served eviction notices by armed deputy sheriffs in six different counties in Western Pennsylvania is not a pretty one, especially with the TV news cameras rolling.

The Queen has approved the Rev Tim Dakin for election as Bp of Winchester.

2011-09-06T19:28:00.008-04:00

I met Tim Dakin at the New Wineskins Conference in 2010. He was introduced to me by Bp Henry Scriven at breakfast and we had a delightful conversation. Retiring bishop Michael Scott-Joynt is a good friend of our bishop, Bob Duncan, and a keen supporter in the C of E of our realignment.

The Queen has approved the nomination of the Reverend Canon Timothy John Dakin, BA, MTh, General Secretary of the Church Mission Society, Associate Priest of Ruscombe and Twyford in Oxford Diocese and Honorary Canon Theologian at Coventry Cathedral, for election as Bishop of Winchester in succession to the Right Reverend Michael Charles Scott-Joynt, MA, on his resignation on the 31st May 2011. Canon Tim Dakin (aged 53) was born to missionary parents in Tanzania and grew up partly in East Africa and partly in vicarages in the UK.

He studied at the University College of Saint Mark and St John, Plymouth, and at King’s College, London, and did further research at Christ Church, Oxford. From 1993 to 2000 he was the Principal of Carlile College, Kenya (a Church Army college which includes a Theology School and a Business School), and a Curate at Nairobi Cathedral. Since 2000 he has been the General Secretary of the Church Mission Society (with the South American Mission Society since 2009), and an Associate Priest in the Parish of Ruscombe and Twyford, near Reading. Tim is an elected member of the General Synod from the Oxford Diocese. From 2001 he has been an Honorary Canon Theologian of Coventry Cathedral, taking a special interest in mission theology.

Under Tim’s leadership CMS has seen a number of changes. In 2008 the Church of England recognised CMS as a mission community; it has about 2,500 members and follows a simple rule of life. During the last ten years CMS has also been committed to establishing CMS Africa and Asia CMS within a new mission network called Interchange. Alongside this it has contributed to the mission-shaped church initiative in England and elsewhere, and to the development of pioneer ministry and training. Historically, CMS is known for its holistic world-wide mission, and was involved in planting or supporting up to two-thirds of the Provinces of the Anglican Communion. CMS currently works in over 40 countries and supports more than 200 people in full-time mission. In 2007 CMS moved to Oxford, bringing together its administration, conference centre, library and mission house.

Tim is married to Sally, who is also ordained (and a midwife), and they have two children, Anna (20) and Johnny (16). Tim’s interests include reading, walking, films and non-Western Christianity. The Dakins like to take their family holidays on a farm in Kenya.

From Here

Happy Labor Day!

2011-09-05T08:41:00.003-04:00

No more blog entries today. I'm taking the rest of the day off!

Peter Moore Writes on Sin, Redemption and Sexuality

2011-09-05T08:19:00.003-04:00

From the Rev Steve Wood's blog "Treading Grain" : Steve is rector of St. Andrew's Anglican Church Mt. Pleasant SC. St. Andrew's left the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina in 2009 with their property largely because of the graciousness of Bishop Mark Lawrence.

Ran across this excellent letter to the editor by Peter Moore in today’s paper. As you would expect, Peter is brilliant.

Here’s a clip:

Professor Richard Nunan is right that at times Christians have been intolerant of people with homophile sexual desires for reasons other than specifically Christian ones. But his association of changing views of homosexuality with changing views of slavery and women betrays a lack of biblical understanding.

Views of women and slavery have changed in part because people rediscovered the true meaning of Scripture that layers of culture and tradition had obscured.

Paul’s great statement that “in Christ there is neither male nor female, slave nor free” (Gal. 3:28) shows how far in advance of its culture the Bible really was. But his argument that because revisionist scholars have a variety of interpretations about the biblical passages about homosexuality the church should stop calling it “sinful” fails to recognize that these agenda-driven scholars have not gained universal acceptance of their views.

These “revisionist” scholars, are just that — eager to bend Scripture to say something it doesn’t say. Which of them, for example, has been willing to engage Dr. Robert Gagnon’s landmark volume “The Bible and Homosexual Practice”?

Their widespread silence in dealing with his comprehensive analysis of what the Bible actually says on this subject is deafening. (See www.robgagnon.net)

Read the rest.

More on All Saints' Church, Rosedale, or Verona or Penn Hills or Even Pittsburgh!

2011-09-05T07:33:00.008-04:00

In my last posting on All Saints' Church vacating their property (which I updated once as well) I mentioned in the original posting and in the update there had been no comment from the TEC-Pgh Diocese although Communications maven Rich "Baghdad Bob" Creehan was quoted in the newspaper accounts and no blog entries from TEC-Pgh bloggers Dr. Lionel Deimel, PhD and Dr. James Simons, DMin.

Not to worry: Lionel posted a story on his blog last night titled, "All Saints Wherever". He also says that he thinks there will be a story out of Monroeville at some point. His blog entry has some very nifty photos of All Saints' Church. He is quite the photographer!

Click here

All Saints' Church has a great slideshow of their parish and pics of their new location

Click here

From the Anglican Curmudgeon: The Two Faces of PEG (Pittsburgh Episcopal Group)

2011-09-03T16:15:00.008-04:00

One of the things about a curmudgeon that riles people up is

that curmudgeons are always pointing out facts which people

wish they would not mention, let alone bring into sharper focus.

But, properly considered, it is the primary duty of a curmudgeon

to call people's attention to inconvenient facts, just as it is the

primary duty of a messenger to deliver the message, whether

good news or bad. It is not the messenger's fault if the news is

upsetting; nor is it the curmudgeon's fault if the facts are, shall

we say, uncomfortable. And so, if the foregoing sentences have

not caused the reader to click away by now, then allow me to

follow up on some observations I made in this week's edition

of Anglican Unscripted.

There is a group of Episcopalians in the Pittsburgh area who

congregations, and clergy, modeled on the former Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, since they have adopted its former Constitution and Canons. They of course think they are a Diocese of the Episcopal Church just because they have done this, and because ECUSA found it convenient to go along with the charade in order to have a vehicle with which to maintain lawsuits and take over church property. But they are not a true Diocese, because the only legal entity that was the Diocese of Pittsburgh exercised its constitutional right under the First Amendment to join a different Church.

have formed themselves into an association of parishes,

Read It All

Clergy Prayer Ban At 9/11 Event Faulted

2011-09-03T14:52:00.005-04:00

NEW YORK — Christian conservatives are condemning Mayor Michael Bloomberg's decision to bar clergy-led prayer at the 10th anniversary commemoration of the terrorist attacks, calling the program an insult. Others wonder whether the mayor is trying to dodge the potentially thorny issue of including a Muslim representative.

The mayor's office says the annual event focuses on relatives of Sept. 11 victims and has never included clergy invocations. Bloomberg has said it would be impossible to include everyone who would like to participate.

Hard to Believe

From the Wall Street Journal and Associated Press - Read it All

The Rev James Forrest RIP

2011-09-03T13:16:00.006-04:00

Jamie Forrest went home to be with His Lord this morning at 10:30 AM. He had a long and fruitful ministry in the Diocese of Pittsburgh serving his last 16 years at St. David's. I have known Jamie for over 25 years and we served on staff at St. David's for the first 2.5 years of my tenure as senior pastor and rector with lots of joy together. He was a great friend and a wonderful mentor.

There will be two memorial services in greater Pittsburgh - the first next Saturday 9/10 at Church of the Ascension Oakland at 2:00 PM with interment to follow in the Ascension columbarium and the second Monday 9/12 at St David's Anglican Church Peters Twp at 7 PM with Archbishop Duncan presiding.

Please continue to pray for his dear wife Sharon and the family.

May he rest in peace and rise in glory.

Anglican TV Weighs In On All Saints Saga

2011-09-03T08:02:00.009-04:00

Anglican TV guru Kevin Kallsen on Anglican Unscripted for Sep 12, 2011 interviews legal-eagle A S Haley of Anglican Curmugdeon fame on the constutionality of TEC-Pgh's draconian demands.

click here and scroll over to the 19.30 mark. The A S Haley segment lasts about 5 minutes.

UPDATED: And Another One's Gone, and Another One's Gone, and Another One Bites The Dust!

2011-09-01T18:01:00.017-04:00

"Penn Hills church in Anglican

Diocese

abandons its building"

Thursday, September 01, 2011-3:39 pm

Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Another congregation in the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh has decided to abandon its building, saying that it couldn't meet the financial or ecclesiastical demands that the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh made during negotiations for the property.

Anglican Diocese Statement here

Parish Statement here

Parish letter to TEC-Pgh lawyers here

For some unknown reason the TEC-Pgh Diocese website and TEC-Pgh bloggers Lionel Deimel and Dr. James Simons have been slow to note this occurrence?

UPDATED WITH FURTHER ARTICLE FROM THE POST GAZETTE and TRIBUNE-REVIEW FRIDAY 9/2/11

Click here

And here

Nothing yet on this from Rich Creehan, the Baghdad Bob of TEC-Pgh, Lionel Deimel or Dr. James Simons although Dr. Jim has ~~at least two~~ three blog entries on the Rt. Rev. David Moyer being booted as rector of his parish in Montgomery County PA.

Congrats Abp Duncan and Bp Zubik

2011-08-31T14:21:00.005-04:00

The Call, the newsletter of the Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania (CASP) arrived in the mail today. The September issue is not up on the website yet. I read that Archbishop Duncan was elected to serve as Chairman and Roman Catholic Bishop Zubik as Vice-chairman. CASP is an ecumenical group of all the judicatories in our region and represented by the judicatory leaders. Waytogoguys!

This photo of Archbishop Duncan includes my favorite miter (aka the pointy hat). A fellow clergyman likened it to the Japanese battle flag of World War II.

Diktat or Negotiating in Good Faith …. What Does It Mean? part 2 - Update

2011-08-31T11:42:00.005-04:00

In the part two blog entry, Click here, I mentioned TEC-Pgh Canon for Formation Dr. Jay Geisler had recruited at least three seminarians to populate ACNA church buildings awarded to TEC-Pgh by the courts. I have learned of two more (now totaling five) TSM seminarians now involved in the TEC-Pgh Diocese. One an over forty-something seminarian and recent MDiv grad who was not ordained or placed by his sending diocese of South Carolina and is now helping to re-develop St Christopher's, Warrendale and a sometime seminarian from an AMiA parish in St. Louis MO and more recently attending Christ Church at Grove Farm. At one time this chap was also shilling coffee from Rwanda via the AMiA and visited my former parish in Kittanning.

Diktat or Negotiating in Good Faith ... What Does It Mean? 3rd and Final Part

2011-08-26T22:53:00.017-04:00

Sometimes it takes a while for me to “get it”. I can be a little slow on the uptake. But once I get it, I get it -- “even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while”.

Take these negotiations with TEC-Pgh or lack thereof; I hadn’t really comprehended the fact that these negotiations were not actually connected in any direct way to the Stipulation Agreement or the rulings of Judge James or the Commonwealth of PA Appellate Court. They have been offered to us independently by the TEC-Pgh Diocese. The courts didn’t order them in any way. That being said, the notion of negotiating in good faith, or not, is in the eyes of the beholder. If TEC-Pgh’s idea of negotiating in good faith means setting in stone pre-conditions which are non-starters for the ACNA parishes, that is their prerogative. There just won't be any negotiations.

TEC-Pgh blogger Lionel Deimel has said: "we [the TEC-Pgh Diocese] hold most of the cards so this is more like a plea bargain than a negotiation between equals". From the TEC perspective, they probably think we should be grateful that they are even willing to offer negotiations to us. They don’t have to --which is true.

It had been my hope that the blog entries “Diktat or Negotiating in Good Faith ...What Does It Mean?" Parts 1 and 2 - would generate dialogue across the Great Divide in Pittsburgh. They have to some extent. Thanks to Phil Wainwright, Bruce Robison and Lionel Deimel from TEC and Ethan Magness, Fr. Joe and others from the ACNA for engaging the issues.

I am going to leave it at that and await our turn to come to the table, if it ever gets to that. Meanwhile we will concentrate on the mission God has given us to reach the lost and hurting in our portion of the South Hills suburbs of Pittsburgh and prepare for any eventuality.

Tell Us How You Really Feel!

2011-08-26T14:14:00.006-04:00

A friend carried this sign

on the sidewalk outside

Calvary Episcopal Church,

East Liberty, Pittsburgh

last Sunday at the 8 AM

and 9 AM services. It did

generate some dialogue

which was his hope.

TEC-Pgh Diocesan Profile for Bishop Election Is Up

2011-08-26T14:00:00.004-04:00

The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh posted its Diocesan Profile as part of the search for what they consider to be the eighth Bishop of Pittsburgh late yesterday. The profile is a 29-page color PDF file with lots of pictures. Read it and check out the photos

Click here Diocesan Profile

What Happened to Yertle the Turtle?

2011-08-23T10:37:00.005-04:00

All the blog entries about Yertle the Turtle, save one, have disappeared from the archives of the Three Rivers Episcopal blog!

Here's the only one left from December 5, 2008 - "I've gotten a lot of positive feedback about the Yertle references. Thought it might be nice to get the full text up. So here it is - sorry no pictures. If you want to buy the book, Barnes and Nobel is having a "Buy Two Dr. Seuss Books Get One Free" sale!"

click here

Hmmm. Makes you want to scratch your head and ask why?

Next thing you know the "Lemming Pledge" blog entries will disappear too! My favorite is this one, "Lemming Pledge #13"

click here

For the uninformed, ACNA Bishop of Pittsburgh Robert Duncan was compared Yertle the Turtle and all of us realigners were labeled lemmings on this blog. The blog entry label for Yertle is"new province" and the label for Lemming Pledge is "realignment". Unfortunately the ability to post public comments on the Three Rivers Episcopal blog was eliminated sometime in early 2011.

Muscular Christianity: Catholic men go wild

2011-08-22T17:45:00.003-04:00

As the former Executive Director of a national men's ministry called the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, I still resonate with effective men's ministries. "Wild at Heart" is a very effective program and the Roman Catholics are on to it. Bravo for them.

Catholic Men Go Wild Sept. 8-11
BY ANN RODGERS

On the long weekend of Sept. 8-11, men of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh will go wild.

It’s only a foray into rustic cabins and outdoor activities at Raccoon Creek State Park, but it’s part of a wider evangelical and Catholic movement to reclaim a masculine spirituality. The seminal book in the “wild man” movement is Wild At Heart, by John Eldredge, who argues that men are designed for risk and adventure. But the church, he argues, has focused on taming them rather than utilizing their God-given nature to take on bold challenges for Christ.

Bishop David Zubik and the Rev. Joe Freedy, the diocesan vocations director, will join men and boys on the retreat, which is run by a Philadelphia group, The King’s Men. They will be encouraged to experience God in nature, while workig together on activities such as fishing, survival skills, while game prepatation and cooking. Participants will also learn archery, shoot on a rifle range and engage in physical challenges and competitions. Fathers are encouraged to bring their sons ages 11 and up. There will be opportunitis for prayer, Confession and Mass.

The Bible verse on the poster says of Jesus, “He withdrew himself into the wilderness to pray.” Luke 5:16

“Outdoorsmen are welcome, but no skills are necessary,” the organizers say.

Click here for story

Click here for history of "Muscular Christianity"

An Inspiring Piece From Oswald Chambers This Morning

2011-08-21T06:53:00.003-04:00

Bishop Alf Stanway, CMS missionary to Tanganyika and founding Dean of Trinity School for Ministry used to spout short pithy sayings which came to be known in the seminary community as "Alf-isms". One of these which I never have forgotten is "No Bible, no breakfast". He always kept the discipline of feeding his spiritual soul before feeding his physical body. In order to do this myself, I read Oswald Chambers "My Utmost for His Highest" online first thing in the morning. It is delivered to my email inbox sometime each night while I sleep and ready for reading upon awaking!

THE MINISTRY OF THE UNNOTICED

Blessed are the poor in spirit.- Matthew 5:3

The New Testament notices things which from our standards do not seem to count. "Blessed are the poor in spirit," literally - Blessed are the paupers - an exceedingly commonplace thing! The preaching of to-day is apt to emphasize strength of will, beauty of character - the things that are easily noticed. The phrase we bear so often, Decide for Christ, is an emphasis on something Our Lord never trusted. He never asks us to decide for Him, but to yield to Him - a very different thing. At the basis of Jesus Christ's Kingdom is the unaffected loveliness of the commonplace. The thing I am blessed in is my poverty. If I know I have no strength of will, no nobility of disposition, then Jesus says - Blessed are you, because it is through this poverty that I enter His Kingdom. I cannot enter His Kingdom as a good man or woman, I can only enter it as a complete pauper.

The true character of the loveliness that tells for God is always unconscious. Conscious influence is priggish and un-Christian. If I say - I wonder if I am of any use - I instantly lose the bloom of the touch of the Lord. "He that believeth in me, out of him shall flow rivers of living water." If I examine the outflow, I lose the touch of the Lord.

Which are the people who have influenced us most? Not the ones who thought they did, but those who had not the remotest notion that they were influencing us. In the Christian life the implicit is never conscious, if it is conscious it ceases to have this unaffected loveliness which is the characteristic of the touch of Jesus. We always know when Jesus is at work because He produces in the commonplace something that is inspiring.

Diktat or Negotiating in Good Faith …. What Does It Mean? part 2

2011-08-20T22:52:00.013-04:00

Today St. David’s was privileged to host the first ordination to the vocational diaconate in the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh using the new ACNA Ordinal. It was an awesome day. During the reception that followed I learned some very interesting information. It seems that the new TEC-Pgh church in Bridgeville, All Saints’, and their rector already are planning how they are going to afford our building once they take it from us. They are the closest TEC parish to us and currently rent a small community room for worship. They apparently will re-convert the St. David's youth room to a sanctuary as it was prior to 2001. They would lease out the new sanctuary and education space to another congregation in order to pay the considerable mortgage ($1 mil) the TEC-Pgh Diocese would inherit. This doesn’t say much for TEC-Pgh’s stated intention to negotiate in good faith.

I remember a conversation I had with the TEC-Pgh Canon to the Ordinary a year or so ago who said, “Don’t worry, we have plans for your buildings, once we get them back”. Again, not much to be said for negotiating in good faith.

I also remember reading Bishop Ken Price’s Convention address from October 2010. Click here. In it he said, “I am naming, effective January 1, the Rev. Dr. Jay Geisler as a Canon for Formation. As you know, Jay already has a relationship with Trinity and Pittsburgh seminaries, and so it is my hope he can utilize some of the students in those institutions to help us reclaim, rebuild, renew and recreate congregations, so we can reach more people for Jesus Christ”. It is clear that the Canon for Formation is being charged with “reclaiming congregations" -- and what congregations would they be, pray tell? I don’t think they are reclaiming Methodist Churches. It can only be Anglican congregations and I guess the bishop also doesn't believe we are reaching our people for Jesus Christ either. So much for negotiating in good faith.

This past February the TEC-Pgh Diocese issued a Pastoral Direction by Bishop Price and Guidelines for Property Settlements. Click here. The Episcopal Café blog in commenting on this wrote, Click here “The Diocese will determine how to best minister to any members of the [Anglican] congregation who wish to remain Episcopalian. The Diocese is committed to allocating financial and personnel resources to address those needs. Bishop Price has recently appointed the Rev. Canon Dr. Jay Geisler, Rector of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Brentwood, to also serve as Canon for Formation to oversee efforts to reach out to those [in Anglican churches] currently not being served by an Episcopal ministry”. They not only want our buildings, they want our people too. This is called negotiating in good faith.”

How then will they pastor these “reclaimed parishes”? The Canon for Formation to the rescue! From his bio on the TEC-Pgh Diocese website: Click here “Canon Geisler continues to mentor the next generation of Christian religious leaders and provides Pastoral Counseling to seminarians at the evangelical Trinity School for Ministry in the former steel town of Ambridge, Pennsylvania. In addition, he is supervising the renewal of and reopening of Episcopal parishes”. I've been told the Canon makes weekly forays to Trinity School for Ministry and under the guise of Pastoral Counseling has been recruiting unsponsored seminarians; promising them guaranteed ordination upon graduation and paid positions in Pittsburgh as well as financial aid while in seminary. I know of one Pittsburgh seminarian who has returned to TEC-Pgh for financial need reasons and two seminarians, one from Tennessee and one from Southwest Florida, who have entered or are poised to enter the TEC-Pgh discernment process. Somehow, this doesn’t seem to suggest a good faith negotiation strategy.

A fellow Pittsburgh ACNA rector and like me a Trinity alum, thinks I might be overstating the case a bit. He thinks TEC-Pgh progressives will never allow TSM grads to populate and have the influence in their diocese again as they did in the 1980s forward to realignment. We shall see.

"Dennis Canon Diocesan Issue, Presiding Bishop Says" - The Living Church 5/15/06

2011-08-19T15:24:00.004-04:00

A trip down memory lane. The Living Church, May 15,2006. I never thought back then how good Pee Bee Frank Griswold would look today!

Virtually all legal disputes over the ownership of parish property are internal diocesan matters and there is nothing in the so-called Dennis Canon that prevents a diocesan bishop from reaching an amicable settlement with a congregation that wants to leave the Episcopal Church and retain its building, according to Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, who led separate question-and-answer forums for clergy and laity in the Diocese of Western Louisiana May 11 at St. James’ Church, Alexandria.

“Basically he said it was up to the individual diocese,” said the Rt. Rev. D. Bruce MacPherson, Bishop of Western Louisiana. “It [the Dennis Canon] provides room for the bishop, standing committee and the local congregations to decide what they think is best. It leaves room for conversation.”

Read it all

“We Don’t Want To Be Cruel”

2011-08-18T17:44:00.011-04:00

As you may have noticed, lately I have been posting more blog entries about the property issues between the TEC-Pgh Diocese and our Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh. Given what has transpired so far, I don’t have a lot of hope for an amicable resolution between us. As I have been thinking about all this, I recalled the following quote from TEC-Pgh bishop Ken Price posted by The Living Church magazine on- line. “We have some principles to uphold, but we don’t want to be cruel,” said the Rt. Rev. Kenneth L. Price Jr., Bishop of Pittsburgh, in an interview with The Living Church. Price said the diocese consulted with David Booth Beers, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s chancellor, throughout the negotiations. For complete article, click here

Let me parse this dichotomous statement from the bishop. The first word is “We” and just who, pray tell is “We”? Is the bishop speaking for himself and the entire TEC-Pgh Diocese or is he talking for himself and the TEC-Pgh Legal Team or is he including David Booth Beers, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s chancellor and the Pee Bee herself in the “We” as well? Methinks, given the context of the whole paragraph, Price is including KJS and Beers in his statement.

Second, what are the “some principles to uphold”? These can be found in two places. First, are in the statements released by the TEC-Pgh Diocese this past February, “Pastoral Direction For Parishes Seeking To Resolve Property Issues With The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh” Click here and “Property Settlements Guidelines.” Click here and from the 815 perspective, we have KJS’s interview with Ann Rodgers during her Holy Week visit to Pittsburgh posted on her Faithburgh blog. Click here.

Both the TEC-Pgh Pastoral Direction and the Guidelines include “disaffiliation”and the “value of all property and assets”. KJS on the other hand has been quoted as saying that, “She does have two principles that she would like to see followed. ‘Our task is to see that the value of those gifts [to the Episcopal Church] not be inappropriately disposed of. We have to recover some approximation of fair market value for properties,’ she said. The second principle ’is that we shouldn't be in the business of setting up competing ecclesiastical interests with Episcopal Church resources’."

KJS seems to be saying that these two principles are not hard and fast rules but two things she would like to see upheld but may or may not be insisted upon. “Wishes” if you will. A good question might be, “Is Ken Price operating under the mantra, ‘Your wish is my command?’ Who knows? He is if nothing else(and well intentioned or not) the commensurate institutionalist

KJS also claims that she is not instructing the TEC-Pghers on how to conduct the negotiations, Ann Rodgers reports, “Judging by some of the e-mail I get, many members of the Anglican diocese believe that she is orchestrating the legal battle, and running the negotiations from New York. That's not true, she said. "It's not being run from New York. I would remind you that this legal business happened before Bob Duncan and some others decided to leave the Episcopal Church. It was led by Episcopalians in this diocese. The wider church wasn't part of it at that point. We didn't join it until later." Those negotiations are directed by Pittsburghers, and an agreement reached in civil court "is governing the way the negotiations are happening in this diocese," she said”. She is slick as snot! I don't believe, even for a New York minute, a word she says!

The second half of Price’s quote is, “but we don’t want to be cruel,” What does that mean? He seems to be saying the ‘some principles” will be upheld even if their application is interpreted as cruel ---even though this is not our intention. Or perhaps, ‘we don’t want to be cruel but we will if we have to be in order to get what we want.’ Again, who knows?

So if we are to predict how these negotiations will go, at least for the 23 parishes whose deeds are now held by the TEC-Pgh Board of Trustees, we have the St Philip’s settlement and a recent communication to another parish and both insist on disaffiliation and fair market value and the statements mentioned above. As I said, I am not holding out much hope.

Wall St. Journal- Religion & the Cult of Tolerance

2011-08-16T23:05:00.007-04:00

Dr Jim Simons a TEC-Pgh clergyman and member of the TEC diocese litigation team posted this story from the Wall Street Journal on his blog 3 Rivers Episcopal earlier today. Very interesting reading. The two money quotes in the article are these: "These are not cases of people trying to impose their beliefs on the rest of us. Instead they involve the question whether faith communities are free to live their own beliefs in their own institutions. Somehow the more “tolerant” we become, the more difficult that becomes". And, "So much for live and let live".

Perhaps TEC presiding bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori who filed a amicus brief in the Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission case,and Dr. Simons might want to study how tolerance applies in the current property litigation and negotiations they are poised to conduct -- just a thought

For complete article click here: The Wall Street Journal- Religion and the Cult of Tolerance

In the Buffalo area, an Anglican church assumes central role in new diocese

2011-08-14T16:21:00.006-04:00

Following is an encouraging story about St Bart's Tonawanda NY. In 2008 when they first left TEC, see story here our diocese gave their clergy, Art Ward and John Commins refuge. Art and John attended our convention in 2009.

By Jay Tokasz
BUFFALO NEWS STAFF REPORTER

When members of St. Bartholomew’s Church in the Town of Tonawanda decided in 2008 to leave the Episcopal Church, they didn’t know for sure where they fit in the larger structure of Anglicanism.

Less than three years later, the parish has become a pivotal congregation within the Anglican Church in North America, a rival to the Episcopal Church that grew from a rift between theological conservatives and liberal Episcopalians over Bible interpretation and the ordination of a gay bishop.

This week, the congregation served as host for a conference of the International Diocese, the new diocese to which it belongs as part of the Anglican Church in North America.

Friday, Bishop Bill Atwood dedicated St. Bartholomew as the diocese’s pro-cathedral, giving the church special significance as the site of the bishop’s chair.

Atwood cited the church’s role as a stabilizing force in organizing the new diocese, which includes congregations in Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas, as well as New York State.

“The people here are magnificent,” Atwood said. “It’s a resource place with great people.”

Unlike most dioceses in the Anglican Church, the International Diocese is not regional.

“It’s not geographical by definition, but it’s based on a shared mission value,” said Atwood.

Congregations within the International Diocese have strong connections overseas, which they expect to maintain and enhance.

When the congregation left the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York, for example, the Rev. Arthur W. Ward Jr., its longtime rector, was able to remain an active priest by transferring to the Diocese of Argentina.

The Argentina diocese is part of the province of the Southern Cone in the Worldwide Anglican Communion — a province that was sympathetic to churches in the United States that disagreed with the 2003 consecration of an openly gay bishop.

Provinces in Africa also provided temporary ecclesiastical homes for American priests and congregations that disputed the consecration.

Those provinces “offered us more than a lifeboat,” said Atwood. “They offered us life.”

Western churches, he added, can learn from the impact that those Anglican churches have had on the cultures of their countries, he added.

For more than 50 years, the St. Bartholomew congregation had worshipped in a sanctuary at 1064 Brighton Road, becoming the largest single parish in the Episcopal Diocese.

After the split with the diocese, members left their church behind and purchased a former synagogue at 2368 Eggert Road.

The move “energized the parish,” Ward said. “We got stronger as a result, not weaker.”

The Episcopal Diocese attempted to establish a new parish in the Brighton Road site. But when that failed, the diocesan offices were moved there from their longtime location on Delaware Avenue.

“It’s ironic,” Ward said, “but it’s nice that our old place was a blessing to the diocese that they were able to make it their headquarters.”

jtokasz@buffnews.com

Cognitive Dissonance: Follow up to "Something Has Changed Along the Way? part 2"

2011-08-11T18:32:00.018-04:00

Apparently my recent blog entry “Has Something Changed Along theWay? Part 2” has generated some buzz in the TEC diocese. Click here. And read the comments. Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh member and blogger Lionel Deimel has devoted an entire posting on his blog to it, “David Wilson Complains, Warns”. Click here. Make sure to read the comments.

Two of the conservative clergy of the TEC emailed me off-blog and expressed private opinions and another clergyman requested we have lunch together – which we did. All very interesting. I also heard that there is some disquietude over the strategy TEC is directing toward our parishes. There is no deep unity in the TEC diocese, especially among the conservatives, to conduct a “scorched earth” or winner-take-all strategy. The difficulty is that the gracious engagers are so few within the power structures --- that is, those driving the bus, that their gracious voice is either ignored or drowned out. Even among the famous “gang of twelve” conservatives who posit they are committed to reform of TEC, there are a number who have enthusiastically embraced the 815 winner-take-all strategy.

Some of the buzz being generated among the TEC-Pgh conservatives could be the result of a term used in psychology, Cognitive Dissonance, which is defined as “A condition of conflict or anxiety resulting from inconsistency between one's beliefs and one's actions, such as opposing the slaughter of animals and eating meat". Read more For example, in this case, believing it is right to remain in the Episcopal Church and also not opposing its draconian policies. Certainly as ACNA clergyman Ethan Magness points out that among humans there often is a conflict between grace and justice. Click here. See Comment One

The election of the Rev. Leslie Riemer, the progressive candidate and the defeat of the Rev. Jim Shoucair, the conservative candidate, for the Standing Committee clergy slot in last year’s diocesan election should give the TEC-Pgh conservatives pause. It doesn’t seem to bode well these days for being a conservative and remaining in TEC-Pgh and having any real voice. The real test, of course, will be the election of the next TEC bishop in Pittsburgh. That is why many of the progressives in TEC-Pgh will support the election of a candidate from outside their diocese. They want to make sure that a conservative who is gracious,largely respected, personally affable, and well spoken (and formerly supportive or even tolerable of former bishop, Bob Duncan) and from within the diocese has no chance being elected

At one time, and not too long ago, Western Massachusetts, Bethlehem, NW Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Lexington, Fond Du Lac, Milwaukee, Eau Claire, Western Missouri, Western Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Western Louisiana, Florida, Southeast Florida, Southwest Florida, Central Gulf Coast, Montana, Wyoming, Rio Grande, Colorado, Arizona and San Diego were all fairly conservative dioceses. Guess what! Not no mo. It looks like TEC-Pittsburgh is soon to join this club.

I think the dilemma in which the TEC-Pgh conservatives find themselves these days can perhaps be summed up in a quote often attributed to Edmund Burke, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" (or words to that effect). Jesus rebuked the church at Laodicea for doing nothing. "I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked". (Rev.3: 15-17) Sorry, TEC-Pgh conservatives -- You can't have it both ways.

Ground Rules

2011-08-09T07:08:00.005-04:00

Until now I have not insisted on any ground rules for posting on this blog. This blog has been one of the few places in which both ACNA and TEC Pittsburghers have been able to interact both thoughtfully and publicly across the great divide. I hope that continues.

I also realize that not everyone is going to like my opinions and my musings about the current state of affairs. That was the case, and perhaps even more so, prior to the diocese re-aligning. I was a partisan then and I still am. So be it.

In spite of differing and sometimes strong opinions those posting comments have, for the most part, done so with civility and respect. My recent post titled, “Has Something Changed Along the Way? - part 2” generated over 25 responses. One response however was crude, rude and lewd. The poster, as is usually the case in these matters, hid behind a fictitious moniker -- Simon Student. This moniker was also the real moniker of an administrator at Trinity School for Ministry and had been used legitimately for interaction in on-line class discussions but in this case the name Simon Student had been hijacked and used by this anonymous poster. We discovered this deception through Facebook. The administrator has de-friended all those who had access to the Simon Student Facebook account, reported the deception to the Facebook administrators and also has informed the Trinity leadership of this deception.

All this is to say that from now on all comments must be posted with first name and surname and I will delete all anonymous or crude, rude and lewd comments immediately upon discovery.

Thanks to all of you for your understanding and support in this.

DDW+

Why I Believe in Uganda Christian University

2011-08-06T20:07:00.009-04:00

A wonderful article from The Living Church mag concerning UCU which my wife and I visited while on a sabbatical in July 2005. My seminary advisor Dr. Stephen Noll and wife Peggy helped make the "miracle" of UCU a reality. I love their vision statement: "A Centre of Excellence in the Heart of Africa"

Why I Believe in Uganda Christian University

by Sam Young Garrett, posted online July 29, 2011

For more than a decade the Dallas-based Uganda Christian University Partners has supported the church-founded university near Uganda’s capital city of Kampala. I have served on the board of Uganda Partners for two years because I believe in UCU’s vision. Here are some of the milestones of UCU’s growth in ministry to Ugandan students, both Christians and non-Christians.

UCU’s enrollment recently topped 10,000, marking extraordinary growth since 1997, when the Church of Uganda founded the university with 120 students. Now UCU is rapidly filling its 80-acre main campus on a breezy, palm-dotted hillside.

Read it all

In Thanksgiving for Charles Simeon and other thoughts

2011-08-05T09:03:00.007-04:00

My friend Philip Wainwright a fellow evangelical and TEC loyalist has written a very cogent response to my recent posting "Has Something Changed Along the Way? - Part 2" It sheds some light on the almost defeaning silence from conservatives to the revisionist rot affecting TEC. check it out. (comment 14)

In deference to Philip's position please read the following piece on one of my heroes in the faith, Charles Simeon, from the Anglican Library:

Charles Simeon was born on September 24, 1759. He attended school at Eton and enrolled at King's College, Cambridge, in 1779. Although baptized as an infant, his family was not particularly religious and neither was Charles, until an experience during his first few months at university.

All Cambridge students were required to receive communion at least three times each year during their time in university. After arriving at Cambridge, in January, and learning of this requirement, Simeon wrote in his diary:

Read it all

SINGING WITH THE LUTHERANS

2011-08-01T22:31:00.001-04:00

SINGING WITH THE LUTHERANS
by Garrison Keillor

I have made fun of Lutherans for years - who wouldn't, if you ever lived in Minnesota ? But I have also sung with Lutherans, and that is one of the main joys of life, along with hot baths and fresh sweet corn.

We make fun of Lutherans for their blandness, their excessive calm, their fear of giving offense, their lack of speed and also for their secret fondness for macaroni and cheese. But nobody sings like they do..

If you ask an audience in New York City , a relatively Lutheran-less place, to sing along on the chorus of 'Michael Row the Boat Ashore', they will look daggers at you as if you had asked them to strip to their underwear. But if you do this among Lutherans they'll smile and row that boat ashore and up on the beach! And down the road!

Lutherans are bred from childhood to sing in four-part harmony. It's a talent that comes from sitting on the lap of someone singing alto or tenor or bass and hearing the harmonic intervals by putting your little head against that person's rib cage. It's natural for Lutherans to sing in harmony. We're too modest to be soloists, too worldly to sing in unison. When you're singing in the key of C and you slide into the 7th and D7th chords, all two hundred of you, it's an emotionally fulfilling moment.

I once sang the bass line of Children of the Heavenly Father in a room with about three thousand Lutherans in it; and when we finished, we all had tears in our eyes, partly from the promise that God will not forsake us, partly from the proximity of all those lovely voices. By our joining in harmony, we somehow promise that we will not forsake each other.

I do believe this: These Lutherans are the sort of people you could call up when you're in deep distress. If you're dying, they'll comfort you. If you're lonely, they'll talk to you. And if you're hungry, they'll give you tuna salad!

The following list was compiled by a 20th century Lutheran who,
observing other Lutherans, wrote down exactly what he saw or heard:

1. Lutherans believe in prayer, but would practically die if asked to pray out loud.

2. Lutherans like to sing, except when confronted with a new hymn or a hymn with more than four stanzas.

3. Lutherans believe their pastors will visit them in the hospital, even if they don't notify them that they are there.

4. Lutherans usually follow the official liturgy and will feel it is their way of suffering for their sins.

5. Lutherans believe in miracles and even expect miracles, especially during their stewardship visitation programs or when passing the plate.

6. Lutherans feel that applauding for their children's choirs would make the kids too proud and conceited.

7. Lutherans think that the Bible forbids them from crossing the aisle while passing the peace.

8. Lutherans drink coffee as if it were the Third Sacrament..

9. Some Lutherans still believe that an ELCA bride and an LC-MS groom make for a mixed marriage. (For those of you who are not Lutherans, ELCA is Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and LC-MS is Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, two different divisions of the same Protestant religion. And when and where I grew up in Minnesota , intermarriage between the two was about as popular as Lutherans and Catholics marrying.)

10.. Lutherans feel guilty for not staying to clean up after their own wedding reception in the Fellowship Hall.

11. Lutherans are willing to pay up to one dollar for a meal at church.

12. Lutherans think that Garrison Keillor stories are totally factual.

13. Lutherans still serve Jell-O in the proper liturgical color of the season and think that peas in a tuna noodle casserole add a little too much color.

14. Lutherans believe that it is OK to poke fun at themselves and never take themselves too seriously. And finally, you know you're a Lutheran when:

*It's 100 degrees, with 90% humidity, and you still have coffee after the service;

*You hear something really funny during the sermon and smile as loudly as you can;

*Donuts are a line item in the church budget, just like coffee;

*The communion cabinet is open to all, but the coffee cabinet is locked up tight;

*When you watch a 'Star Wars' movie and they say, 'May the Force be with you', you respond, 'and also with you';

*And, lastly, it takes 15 minutes to say, 'Good-bye'.

May you wake each day with His blessings,

Sleep each night in His keeping,

And always walk in His tender care.

Has Something Changed Along the Way ?– Part 2

2011-07-31T15:37:00.012-04:00

One year ago I put up a posting titled, Has Something Changed Along the Way? which attempted to show that Dr. James Simons, onetime President of the TEC Diocese Standing Committee, had changed his position on property issues.Read it here

Apparently there have been changes in diocesan standards concerning the clergy as well. The policies of the TEC diocese, which considers itself to be the true continuing diocese, have apparently evolved in the area of church discipline. In March 2008 I was asked to take a three month leave of absence for using “inappropriate language” with a parishioner. Then diocesan spokesman Peter Frank was quoted as saying, “The diocese upholds a very high standard of behavior for its ministers. While the behavior involved inappropriate language, it technically falls within a policy that demands zero tolerance”. Read it here

Recently I was told that: “There are three openly partnered gay or lesbian priests licensed and functioning in the TEC Diocese, there is a priest licensed and functioning who has been divorced at least twice perhaps three times and married three times perhaps even four times and a heterosexual priest living with a woman to whom he is not married also licensed and functioning.Obviously the once “very high standard of behavior for its ministers” appears to have been relaxed.How could it happen, Virginia? -- especially with clergy who are committed to high moral standards and are committed to the reformation of the Episcopal Church! In January 2008 twelve priests, “including the president of the diocese's clergy association and its longest-tenured rector, mailed a signed, one-paragraph letter yesterday to the diocese's 66 churches saying that while they supported the "reformation of the Episcopal Church we have determined to remain within, and not realign out of" it.In addition, “the group does not support ordination of openly gay clergy or conducting same-sex blessings, the so-called "innovations" at the forefront of denominational disputes since 2003. However, members said they do not believe it is necessary to leave the Episcopal Church, the American arm of the worldwide Anglican Communion, to make that point”. Read it here

Given their stated and upfront convictions in 2008, there must be a mistake? Surely these folks will have opposed these so-called “innovations" that have allegedly crept in to the TEC Diocese. After all we aren’t talking about back benchers here. We are talking the Canon to the Ordinary, the Canon for Formation, the Secretary of Convention, the Priest Developer of Cranberry Township and two former, one current and one future President of the Standing Committee. Wowser! It doesn’t appear that way!

Perhaps my expectations are just too unrealistic. When the PeeBee, Katherine Jeffords Schori, visited Pittsburgh this past April not one of these 12 “conservative clergy” spoke up about the most pressing issue facing the Diocese, ---“She wasn't asked about legal or property issues, and didn't comment on them.” Read it here (1^st comment).

Why do I write this? I write because I don’t want those of us in the ACNA Diocese of Pittsburgh to be naive. If we think our former mates over in TEC will somehow ally themselves with us or support our position and stand up on principle to the powers within the TEC diocese or the national church based on past affections or past convictions, we are sorely mistaken. Reconciliation and/or settlement with TEC has always meant capitulation to their position --- nothing more and nothing less.

Summer at St. David's

2011-07-28T19:01:00.010-04:00

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Those days of soda and pretzels and beer

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Dust off the sun and moon and sing a song of cheer

For all you youngsters out there, this is the chorus of a Nat King Cole hit from the summer of 1963 that peaked at # 6 on the Billboard charts and in some measure it sums up our thoughts about the season. In the summer Church is in somewhat of a fallow mode as our programmatic emphasis takes a hiatus, the pre-school is out of session and many of the staff and others take a well deserved vacation.

However, church life doesn’t come to a complete halt. This summer season has seen a Healing Mission led by the Rev. Canon Dr. Mark Pearson on June 26 in which many were blessed by Mark’s preaching and prayer ministry. And over 20 including vestry members, staff and their spouses and children attended a vestry/staff fellowship hosted by Terra and Eric Elsberry on July 18.

Vacation Bible School begins next week at St David’s; August 1-5 from 9:30 AM to 12 noon. Our theme is the 10/40 Expedition and we will explore the least evangelized regions of Asia (China), South Asia (India), Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia (Vietnam etc.). We have well over 50 children pre-registered already and much help on board.

Kathi Marks and I will be attending the A4D Grand Ultreya at St Stephen’s Church on Friday and Saturday August 5-6. This is the national gathering of the leadership of the Anglican 4th Day movements in the dioceses of the Anglican Church in North America. This is the ministry formerly known as Cursillo.

On Saturday August 20th we gather at St. David’s for the ordination of Rege Turocy to the vocational diaconate. Rege will be the first deacon in the Diocese of Pittsburgh ordained under the new ACNA ordinal! And a great day that will be as we celebrate this monumental event in Rege’s life and in our life together as a parish. A reception in the parish hall will follow the service. You will be hearing more in the days to come about how you can help with this celebration. I hope we have a massive turn-out.

Finally Rally Sunday when we kick off the new Church year will occur September 11. Pastor Pierre of LaCroix Haiti will preach that Sunday as well. Our Wednesday morning Bible Study resumes on September 7, our Wednesday evening potluck and teachings will resume September 14, and Sunday morning Adult Education starts up on September 18. Keep watch for more details on these happenings in the next Chronicle and through email, the website and the Almanac.

Roll up those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Those days of soda and pretzels and beer
Roll up those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Open the Bible and notebook and sing a hymn that's dear

The Late, Great, Rev Dr John R W Stott

2011-07-28T18:07:00.009-04:00

John Stott died yesterday at age 90 at a retirement home for Anglican clergy in the southeast of England. I always thought of Dr. Stott and the Rev. Dr. J.I. Packer as the two greatest Anglican bible scholars of my generation and the two "patron saints" of Trinity School for Ministry, the seminary which trained me for the ordained ministry.

Before ordination however three of Dr. Stott's book really helped form me theologically: The first book of his I read was "Our Guilty Silence" an apologetic for evangelism. The image of a "rabbit-hole Christian" still is fresh in my mind -- we as Christians scurry from one Christian enclave to another like frightened rabbits fearful to engage the world around us. Second, I grasped the meaning of grace when I read "Man Made New: an exposition of Romans 5-8". Third, I read the "Cross of Christ". That book and "Knowing God" by J.I. Packer really are the two books that shaped my thinking more than any others. I heard John Stott preach twice and met him once when he visited Trinity in the mid 1990s as a Simeon Lecturer.

What is amazing is how he influenced Anglican evangelicalism and has been instrumental in making it a worldwide force. In my mind the ACNA owes John Stott a great debt of gratitude for it would not have been even conceived without him and his work.

Stott's influence however did not end with evangelical Anglicanism. He was widely respected by all Protestants: Reformed, Charismatic, Pentecostal, and Wesleyan and Lutheran, as well as the Orthodox, Anglo-Catholics and even many Roman Catholics. He was truly a Christian statesman. I would rank him with Billy Graham, Pope John Paul II, and Mother Theresa as the greatest ambassadors for Christ in the 20th century.

A wonderful obit from Christianity Today on Dr. Stott is here.

Very moving tributes from the vicars that succeeded him at his parish, All Souls Langham Place London UK are here.

"Thinking Anglicans" has some additional obits and tributes from England, including the Abp of Canterbury, Rowen Williams here.

And a moving tribute by the Langham Partnership is here

13 Statements and Questions to Drive Your Pastor into Early Retirement

2011-07-26T12:28:00.005-04:00

Well known Anglican blogger, the Rev Matt Kennedy, posted these 13 thought-provoking questions over at the Stand Firm in the Faith (SFIF) blog. What do you think?

1. A lot of people are really upset with you because of your position on_____but I won't tell you how many or who.

2. I know what the bible says I should do about this dilemma but I've been praying about it and I feel like the Spirit is telling me...

3. I have a child-like faith so I don't like to think too much about serious stuff like theology

4. Our former pastor always did it this way...

5. Strictly in confidence and just for prayer I've heard [enter name] is struggling with [enter scandalous sin issue]

6. I feel closer to God in the forest than I do in church.

7. Don't worry pastor, we'll be here every Sunday that Junior doesn't have soccer practice or a game.

8. I don't have just one church. I belong to every church and every Sunday morning I go wherever the Spirit leads me

9. Why are we spending so much money on missionaries in other countries when we could be spending that money here?

10. Can't you tell that new family from the Baptist church to bow when the cross passes by ?

11. In so many words: "I give a huge pledge to this church. It sure would be a shame if you gave me a reason to reduce it."

12. Where did all these new people come from? I want my old church back.

13. We want you concentrating on getting old lapsed members back not running around after people who've never even been to church.

St Paul's Kittanning - Now and Then

2011-07-20T09:13:00.007-04:00

I was up in Kittanning this week to do some work on a house I own there which I am desperate to sell. Nevertheless while crossing the bridge over the Allegheny River from West Kittanning I noticed my former parish St Paul's looked different and lo and behold -- it is. So I snapped a pic with my handy, dandy cellphone camera. The stone is being cleaned of the all the grime, soot and dirt probably in anticipation of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone in 1912. As you can see so vividly in the two pics now and then.

I also saw on the signboard that they now conduct only one Sunday Service at 9:30 AM. While I was rector, St Paul's had an 8AM Rite I, a 10:30 AM Rite II and a Sat Night Rite III. Another example of now and then.

The membership, attendance and income really dipped after I left, but it looks like attendance is rebounding a bit. Click here Again, another example of now and then.

Big Ben, fiancee to tie the knot at Christ Church, Grove Farm

2011-07-18T23:39:00.004-04:00

Roethlisberger, fiancee find acceptance at Christ Church

By JoAnne Klimovich Harrop, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, July 18, 2011

It is not uncommon to see Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and fiancee Ashley Harlan stay after Sunday service at Christ Church at Grove Farm in Ohio Township, mingling with parishioners where the couple will marry this weekend, a pastor at the church said.

"Ben and Ashley have been very consistent and genuine in their worship," the Rev. Bruce Cote, senior associate pastor and interim lead pastor, said Sunday. "I often see them talking with other people before and after services."

The couple joined the church about a year ago. After they did, a letter was sent to parishioners asking them to treat Roethlisberger like any other member. Cote said it is hard to know what Roethlisberger goes through, being such a popular sports figure, but added he and Harlan have embraced the church community.

Read it all

UPDATED 7/22: The Battle over Homosexuality: Gays vs Ex-gays

2011-07-18T09:24:00.008-04:00

It's amazing how intolerant some groups can be in the name of tolerance in order to force an idea on us all. I have personally known five ex-gays or ex-lesbians who are among the most tolerant and loving people, I have ever had the privilege to know and they are vilified even within the church. Go figure?

There has been a brouhaha over Republican Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann's husband, who runs a Christian counseling ministry.

July 14, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Why have gay activists instigated media attention over ex-gays and the husband of Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann?

Apparently, Mr. Bachmann, who has a PhD in clinical psychology, operates several counseling centers which also offer services to homosexual clients seeking to overcome unwanted same-sex attractions. But because even one ex-gay proves that homosexual behavior is not innate or immutable, the gay lobby’s fear of their former members results in false claims and attacks aimed at preventing homosexuals from exercising their right to self-determination. They cannot bear to have even one homosexual leave homosexuality, hence their outrage at Dr. Bachmann.

Read it all http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/i-am-an-ex-gay-and-i-support-michele-bachmann-and-her-husband?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed

The liberal blog "The Lead" over at Episcopal Cafe has of course weighed in against the Bachmanns. Click here for their spin.

To show how far this can go: there is a report that the Scottish government has banned government officials from using the word "homosexual". The directive from the Scottish version of Orwell’s Ministry of Truth states: ‘It is not acceptable to use the word ‘homosexual’, this term is offensive to many people as it is the term that was used in law to make same sex relationships illegal.” Click here for full story

UPDATED 7/22/11 click here

Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBTI)

2011-07-14T09:19:00.013-04:00

My good friend Deacon Tara Jernigan has posted on her blog, Free Range Anglican, a whimsical piece on Myers- Briggs personality types and running her household titled Myers Briggs and Marriage. In that vein, above is a chart of logos and pithy slogans about each personality type --- you can even buy a tee shirt of your type.

I have always enjoyed taking the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and seeing how I have changed over time. The first time my wife Gale and I took the Indicator some twenty-five years ago I came out as an ENFP and she as an ISFJ -- so we were (are) almost total opposites, giving truth to the axiom that “opposites attract”. Each time I’ve subsequently taken the MBTI I have moved toward the Introversion side of the axis. On the other hand Gale claims that Christian culture is one of forced Extroversion – introverts are forced out of their “shells” so to speak. They are not allowed to stay introverts unless they want to be counter cultural and risk being stigmatized by the prevailing cultural norm.

Back in the day when I began the ordination process we were required to take the MBTI. We went away on an overnight retreat in Greensburg. The Rev. Karen Stevenson, then a lay person, did a teaching on personality types and then we each discussed our personality type in a small group. I remember we had this wag in our group who explained that it wasn’t so much his” T-ness” that defined him but his “P-ness”. It's hard to understand, but for some unknown reason he washed out early in the ordination process. Unfortunately, I never worked in a setting where we’ve used the Indicator to help the staff understand each other.

A few weeks back the Rev Canon Dr. Mark Pearson visited our parish for a healing mission. I bought his book on Myers-Briggs personality types from the perspective of the Christian faith, “Why Can't I Be Me?: Understanding How Personality Type Affects Emotional Healing, Relationships, and Spiritual Growth” I hope to read it soon.

If you would like to take the MBTI, you can do so online, click here

Is the Anglican Church in North America Being Pruned or Purged?”:

2011-07-07T08:43:00.009-04:00

Hat-tip to Steve Wood for this.

Our guest blogger today is The Rt. Rev’d David Bena. David serves as Suffragan Bishop, Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). He writes on the topic, “Is the Anglican Church in North America Being Pruned or Purged?”:

Rev Steve Wood, rector of St Andrew's Church (ACNA) Mt. Pleasant SC and author of the Treading Grain blog

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

Although I’ve never met you all, I have been following your pilgrimage for some time. I am duly impressed with your stand for the truth of Jesus and the implications of such belief. Your stand has cost you, but you are standing under the banner of The Way, The Truth, and The Life (John 14:1-6), and that makes all the difference in the world and in heaven.

All over the land, congregations are evaluating what it means for their parishioners to be Anglican Christians. We find ourselves in a time when most institutions are experienced a great cultural shift. In the USA, many senior leaders in the Episcopal Church seem to have given in to an anything goes culture, widening the Episcopal tent so far that all doctrine is now up for grabs, and sexual ethics is gone except for the immeasurable ethic of “what is authentic is what is good.” This widening divide has caused many of us to say that we can continue no longer in a denomination whose leaders (many but not all) have ceased to be Anglican and have moved the Episcopal Church away from its biblical moorings. This has been difficult for us – spiritually, emotionally, occupationally, and financially. But we know in our hearts that the more difficult road is the road which leads to our ultimate destination and the easy road leads to perdition. Thank you for choosing the more difficult road.

Which leads to that wonderful passage in John 15:1-8: Jesus said, “I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” These words are not from a milk toast, mealy mouthed Jesus. They are a reality check for us. While some scholars would claim that Jesus never said those words, I would counter by saying that these same scholars seem to claim that all hard sayings can’t possibly have come from Jesus. Guess what: Jesus said it and I believe it! Now what do I do with it?

Is the new Anglican Church in North America being purged, cut off, because it bears no fruit, or is it being pruned so that it will bear even more fruit? In all humility, I have to say that we are being pruned. While some religious groups may be experiencing the first stages of being cut off due to the lack of fruit their biblical apostasy brings, we in ACNA are staying closely connected to and nourished by the VINE. In the process, we are experiencing some pruning in order to allow for more of a rich harvest. Some of us have given up properties and positions; some of us have had to endure ridicule from friends, neighbors, and those who prefer the status quo; some of us have even had to deal with family members who can’t handle our stand for biblical truth. That, my friends, is called pruning. Although pruhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifning seems painful at the time, it makes us stronger. The pruning equips us to become stronger disciples for Jesus Christ, to be disciples who make disciples of Jesus.

We are bearing fruit! The ACNA is growing in parishes and members, but especially in joy. We have experienced a new sense of freedom, maybe similar to that which the Israelites experienced after leaving the slavery of Egypt. And it is wonderful!

Feeling pruned lately? Give praise to God. You are being prepared for a great harvest.

Link here

http://treadinggrain.com/2011/guest-blogger-david-bena/

Freedom in Christ Retreat July 15-17: Healing the Father-Wound

2011-07-04T16:31:00.007-04:00

Two old sayings are: “there’s nothing new under the sun and what goes around; comes around” or in the immortal words of baseball philosopher Yogi Berra, “it’s like déjà vu all over again.” Well, in my case yes it truly is!

The Lazarus Center has recruited me to serve as spiritual director on an upcoming Freedom in Christ Retreat (FIC) from July 15-17 at LaRouche College in the North Hills of Pittsburgh and it has been like déjà vu. Much of the leadership of the weekend is drawn from Church of the Savior (COTS), old friends from a previous time in my life but there is also a good mix of new folks from other churches and denominations. The founding vision for the Lazarus Center was to be a transdenominational ministry – reaching across the Christian Church with the healing power of Jesus Christ, body, soul and spirit and so it is. You can call 724.266.7576 for a retreat application.

I am delivering a talk titled "God, Can we Trust Him?" which deals with our relationship with God the Father and how our images, our perceptions and our understandings of Him are often colored by our relationship with our earthly fathers. We experience a father-wound. This revelation, which I share in my talk, is based largely on the work of Christian author and speaker, Gordon Dalbey. You can read his bio here. Two excellent articles by Gordon are here and here.

Please pray for this retreat and my part in it. Thanks.

Joey Chestnut Wins Fifth Mustard Belt in a Row: Inhales 62 Hot Dogs in 10 Minutes. Former Champ Kobayashi is a no-show at Coney Island Event

2011-07-04T13:04:00.013-04:00

NEW YORK -- Joey Chestnut hoisted the Mustard Belt for the fifth straight time Monday while chants of "Joey, Joey" ascended from the crowd and Chestnut reigned once again as Nathan's International Hot Dog Eating Contest champion.

Chestnut downed 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes at the July 4th annual event held at the famous Coney Island in Brooklyn. Patrick Bertoletti, of Chicago, Ill., hung tight early but finished second with 53 hot dogs and hometown eater Timothy "Eater X" Janus, last year's runner-up, was third after consuming 43.

Joey Chestnut got off to a slow start but never trailed en route to winning his fifth straight Nathan's International Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Former six-time champ Takeru Kobayashi, instead of crashing the stage the way he did last year, ate simultaneously at a midtown bar while the contest in Brooklyn aired on ESPN. A Wall Street Journal report said Kobayashi claims he scarfed down 69 dogs. The mark, if recognized, would beat Chestnut's world record of 68 set in 2009. Kobayashi was ineligible to compete because he won't sign an exclusive contract with Major League Eating, the fast-food equivalent of the NFL.

Read it all

http://sports.espn.go.com/newyork/news/story?id=6737319

‘A Queer Thing Happened to America: And what a long, strange trip it’s been’ by Michael L Brown

2011-07-04T07:59:00.002-04:00

Reviewed by Harry Templeton of Anglican Mainstream UK

The Sixties sexual revolution heralded, what for many, was a freedom of spirit from the assumed oppressive constraints of a moral order that had historically formed the very foundation of our society. In its place, we now confront a new tyranny in which freedom of conscience and speech is near bludgeoned to death. Increasingly, political correctness now dominates daily discourse.

Read it all. Click here

http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/2011/07/04/a-queer-thing-happened-to-america-and-what-a-long-strange-trip-it%E2%80%99s-been-by-michael-l-brown/

Negotiating with TEC II - The Chess Match Continues

2011-06-30T19:38:00.012-04:00

St James Church Makes Historic Move

St James Anglican Church in Penn Hills vacated their building and moved out it was announced by our Diocese yesterday. click here for story Ann Rodgers of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette covered the story in her usual very balanced way in this morning's edition of that paper here . The TEC Diocese weighs in their own way here; interestingly they announce an "evangelical" priest, Vicente Santiago, a former rector who stayed in TEC is returning. I'd love to see a report on how many folks actually show up on Sunday. My bet it will mainly folks from other TEC parishes who attend to show their support of the TEC Diocese. And TEC blogger Lionel Deimel gives his pravda-esque spin here (scroll down) especially note that he implies they may have vacated because of money problems "they couldn't afford it" -- heifer dust! They walked because they weren't going to pay twice for a building they paid for once already. They believe their money would be better spent on mission not on maintaining a fifty year old building that is failing apart and that has no visibility in the community. And Deimel's headline is a laugher as well, "Third Congregation Settles with Episcopal Diocese", they didn't settle anything with TEC - they vacated their building rather than settle. Talk about doublespeak!

The beat goes on! And it looks like it'll be a long hot summer.

UPDATE July 4,2011 - Lionel Deimel reports on St. James Episcopal Church's restart service on July 3. Click here.

http://blog.deimel.org/2011/07/st-jamess-episcopal-church-returns.html

No surprises: it was as I expected it to be. I think Lionel was somewhat optimistic of their future prospects . I also think his putting the word "Anglican" in quotes was a bit pointed as if the congregation that vacated was something other or less than that. Get real Lionel.

Negotiating with TEC – The Waiting Game

2011-06-28T17:44:00.001-04:00

We have heard absolutely nothing from the TEC Diocese of Pittsburgh on the pending negotiations in almost two months. Neither has our diocese. It appears it’s either "All's Quiet on the Western Front" or it's "The Calm Before the Storm." Who’s to know?

In our portion of the Vineyard, we have had an appraiser visit our property last week and we now await his report. We have also been in contact with the loan officer of the bank who handles the mortgage on the property. In my view, he didn't give us much info about our mortgage loan that seemed to be helpful to us. The Parish Treasurer has been asked by the vestry to give us the amount we've paid in principal and interest on the mortgage since the realignment vote of the Diocese in October 2008. The Junior Warden is assessing all the deferred maintenance items in the building and will soon give us a figure of their cost. The Property Subcommittee of the Task Force of the Future will soon begin to locate suitable alternatives to our property in the event we will be leaving the current St David's.

Keep praying for God to continue to pour out his blessings upon us and to guide and direct us in this and in all things.

When the Church Bows to the State: Gay Bishops in the Church of England by Albert Mohler

2011-06-24T19:19:00.004-04:00

"American churches and denominations had better take note. When a church or Christian institution bows to the authority of the state on a matter of such direct biblical importance, it is destined to lose biblical fidelity." - Albert Mohler

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

As if the Church of England does not have enough troubles, word is leaking out of Lambeth Palace that the church is about to allow the appointment of openly gay bishops, so long as those bishops remain celibate.

The news has emerged in the form of a leaked internal memorandum prepared for the Archbishop of Canterbury by the church’s highest legal adviser. The legal guidelines are intended to bring the church into compliance with Britain’s Equality Act of 2010, even as the church is considering new criteria for the appointment of bishops. That law prohibits discrimination on the basis of several characteristics, including sexual orientation. The Equality Act has already been used to force some British churches to hire youth ministers and other workers who are openly homosexual.

Read it all here

Hippies, Fathers, and Forgiveness

2011-06-20T08:20:00.005-04:00

©2011 by Gordon Dalbey
www.abbafather.com
Santa Barbara (CA) News Press 6/19/11

Late in the summer of 1969, I reached out hopefully, thumb raised high, beside a shady two-lane road in the redwood country of Northern California. My VW bug had died months before, and--as commonly done in that more innocent age--I was hitchhiking home from visiting a friend in San Francisco. Every sedan that passed me up earned a muttered curse, as I waited and hoped for an old VW bus—the preferred ride and sure bet to stop.

Suddenly, a long white Cadillac passed, and to my surprise, pulled over and crunched to a stop. Caught mid-mutter, I thought better of my curse as sunset loomed and ran up to the car. Peering into the passenger window, I was startled to see a gray-haired man complete with ponytail, tie-dye T-shirt and patched bellbottom jeans! I mean, like, groovy--my old man’s age, already!

A history lesson here for younger readers to understand what’s coming: The hippies were the sons of the World War II warriors. My own father, a career Navy officer, almost lost his life--and thereby, mine--to a Nazi torpedo that demolished his carrier stateroom before I was conceived.

Fighting a war may be good for a nation, but not for a man’s heart. Veterans often find it hard to talk about their painful experiences, and therefore, even harder to hear a little boy’s heartfelt cry for Daddy. What’s more, my father’s generation had been boys during the Great Depression, which taught them to stifle a boy’s desires. No costly ice cream for you at two cents a scoop!

Like most of my peers, I learned early not to admit or express pain to my father. “Stop crying, or I’ll give you something to cry about,” as dads in those days threatened. We feared not only Dad, therefore, but also our wounds—indeed, our own manhood as modeled by Dad. We despised our fathers for teaching us that it’s unmanly to be real.

In the sixties, the Vietnam War and its life-or-death threat of the draft crystallized our anger. “Don’t trust anyone over 30,” we chanted at rallies. “Bring the war home; kill your parents.” I tried hard. My parents lived on the East Coast in an all-white community, so I fled to California and lived among African-Americans. Dad was career Navy, so I dodged the draft and joined peace marches. He drove a Chevy, so I puttered in my VW bug. He ate Wheaties; I ate granola. He had short military hair; mine hung to my shoulders. He ensconced in suburbia; I crashed at any commune with an empty couch.

Meanwhile, back in the Redwoods--confused but grateful--I hopped into the Cadillac beside my aging hippie wannabee and we sped away. Quickly, the generation gap closed as together we mocked “capitalist militarism” and traded radical political views.
“My wife should have dinner ready by now,” my host interjected after a few miles, “want to come up to our place and crash for the night?” Having no other pressing plans, I shrugged. “Sure.” Another word to my younger readers: Don’t try this today.
Hours later, as we sat organically-fed and chatting cross-legged on the floor of his A-frame, my new friend hospitably lit up a joint and offered it to me. My body has never tolerated mood-altering substances well—at my first beer in college I slid off the barstool—so I declined politely.

At that, my host’s eyes misted. “I...I’m sorry,” he managed, wiping a tear. “This is so sad. I can’t help it—I just have to tell you that you…you remind me…of my son.” "Really"?,I offered. “Why does that make you so sad?” Turning away, he lowered his eyes. “Well, my son…I mean, he’s…he’s been such a disappointment to me.” I hesitated, wondering what sort of dastardly deed this young man might have committed to prompt such grief in his father. Did he rob a bank? Murder someone? “Why…I mean, like, what did your son do?” Uneasily, I held my breath. My host sucked deeply on his cigarette, held it, and then exhaled, “He joined the Navy.”

Years later, while pastoring a church in Los Angeles, I was chatting with a rabbi friend and before long began telling him angrily how my father had disappointed me. Himself in my father’s generation and a Holocaust survivor, he listened graciously, then asked, “Why didn’t your father give you the love you needed?” After exhausting my long list of grievances—each followed by a matter-of-fact “No” from my friend—I sighed and yielded. “I guess…because he never got much love to give me.” In that humbling confession, I stepped at last beyond a boy’s blaming to a man’s taking responsibility for his future.

As “flower children,” my generation tried to escape adult restraint and recapture the innocence of childhood denied to—and therefore by--our fathers. Even as we cursed them, our cause often seemed so righteously humane and unassailably just. Dad, however, was as often unyielding. Forgiveness simply wasn’t in his vocabulary—neither to ask for nor, therefore, to give. You know why: you can’t give what you never got.

Today, long into the untrustworthy years beyond 30, I'm a father myself. Working hard to end this generational wounding, I’ve found ancient wisdom is remarkably apt. “Honor your father and mother,” as the Hebrew Commandment declares, “so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12 NIV). I’ve come to appreciate not only the explicit promise here, but the implied warning as well. “Whatever you don’t forgive your father for,” as an older and wiser man once cautioned me, “you’ll do to your son.”

Thankfully, even now, the times—as the hearts of men--are a-changin’. By grace, I’ve known both love and forgiveness in my adulthood. And so, long before he died last year at 93, in my heart I forgave Dad for all he wasn’t able to give me, and myself for expecting God-like perfection from him. What’s more, I visited him and asked him to forgive me for how I’d dishonored him years ago. I told him how much I respected him for struggling through overwhelming circumstances in his life. I thanked him for teaching me to question appearances, to be grateful for what you have and share it with others, to live with both faith and perseverance. Years later, I released a long-held tear at Dad’s retirement home when two little boys finally enjoyed an ice cream together as men.

However tardy and uncertain, I did my best to honor my father. For my gift this Father’s Day, therefore, I’m banking on the ancient promise. I’m asking not only to live long, but for a heart to live grateful for all I’m given. To heed the warning, I’m asking the same for my son. If the Commandment holds, that means he’ll need to honor me. Maybe I’ve helped him do that by honoring my dad.

Gordon Dalbey is the author of Healing the Masculine Soul (Thomas Nelson, 1988, 2003) and Broken by Religion, Healed by God (Civitas, 2011). A former Peace Corps Volunteer (Nigeria), high school teacher (Chicago), and pastor (Los Angeles), he holds an M.Div. from Harvard Divinity School and an M.A. in journalism from Stanford. A Santa Barbara resident, he speaks internationally and may be reached at www.abbafather.com.

Tenacity

2011-06-15T00:10:00.018-04:00

Someone recently described me as being tenacious. This word can have both positive and negative connotations. An online dictionary defines it in a generally positive way thusly: ardent, dogged, pertinacious, zealous or persistent and generally negative as obstinate, unyielding, dour, stubborn, or unregenerate. I know at least one of these synonyms doesn’t apply to me – I am not unregenerate.

As for tenacity, Lionel Deimel, an officer of the Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh, wrote in a post about me on his blog,“Wilson has been an uncompromising supporter of Bishop Robert Duncan’s plan for “realignment.” He has also been a strategist whose purpose has consistently been to defeat the forces of moderation and progressivism at diocesan conventions, no matter how minor the issue at hand”. And Jim Simons, rector of St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Ligonier, on his blog described me as “a strident supporter of the realignment.” Interestingly, for many years Dr. Simons and I worked together to defeat the very forces Lionel describes. It sure is interesting to see how I morphed from being an ally to being such an uncompromising and strident politico. Politics sure makes strange bedfellows!

When it comes to biblical truth and orthodox doctrine, I am doggedly uncompromising and zealous to defend it. This week I am taking a DMin course titled “Evangelical Theology for a Pluralistic Age” and taught by the Very Rev. Prof. Justyn Terry, PhD, dean of Trinity School for Ministry. He said today evangelicals have always been in conflict with the Spirit of the Age and with those in the Church who would embrace that same Spirit. Nothing is new under the sun.

One of my Anglican heroes is J C Ryle, Bishop of Liverpool in the late 19th century (pictured above). He, too, was a tenacious exponent of the evangelical faith and an ardent defender of Protestant Anglicanism yet he was said to be as pastoral a bishop as lived in that day and age. He was a zealous advocate of all the clergy of his diocese, ritualists, liberals and evangelicals alike. My friend Bruce Robison, rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Highland Park has a link on his website where you can find a daily quote from the bishop, click here .

Another of my Anglican heroes is the early 19th century missionary to India, Henry Martyn. He too was known as tenacious. In fact, on his deathbed he was heard to say, "Let me burn out for God". An indication of his zeal for the things of God.

If I am ever compared to Bishop Ryle or Henry Martyn, I would consider it a high honor and I would die a happy man.

Our Anglican Heritage

2011-06-08T15:09:00.012-04:00

Pentecost Comes
A Week Early

This past Sunday June 5 was a great day to be Anglican in my world. At our eight and ten-thirty services we were blessed to hear the Rt. Rev. Rob Martin, Suffragan Bishop of the newly formed Diocese of Marsabit in the far north of Kenya, preach God’s Word and pronounce God’s blessing in Swahili. Within this new diocese is the town of Sololo. Our parish, St. David’s, has provided funds for a water tower and water system for the new Anglican school located there. Sololo is about 90% muslim and/or tribal religions so they are really in missionary territory. The Rev. Deb Carr, who recently stepped down as assistant rector of St. David’s to fulfill a missionary calling, visited Sololo this past January and will return to minister for an extended stay at the end of August through early October. It was joy to hear Bishop Rob converse with our member Antony Irungu in Swahili. At our ten-thirty service our long time friend, Archbishop of the Southern Cone and Bishop of Chile, the Most Rev. Tito Zavala, attended, served with our altar prayer team and pronounced God’s blessing in Spanish. Bishop Tito was accompanied by the President and Mission Director of SAMS, Stewart Wicker, who addressed the congregation. Reflecting their global reach, SAMS now stands for Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders rather than their original name South American Missionary Society. Deb Carr will be going to the mission field as a SAMS Bridger.

After worship I attended a golf outing to benefit the Youth Ministry of Christ’s Church Greensburg at Hannastown GC. Our four man team from St. David’s finished tied for second in low gross score resulting in each of us receiving a $50. gift certificate from the pro shop. In a typical golf performance for me, I stunk out the joint but I did make a couple birdie putts for our foursome. It was very nice tract, beautiful weather, delicious BBQ ribs and chicken, great fellowship and it helped fund a well deserved need.

When I returned home, I went online and saw this great photo of a gathering in Albuquerque of the forming ACNA Diocese of the SouthWest. In the photo are old friends and former Pittsburgh clergy, Stephen Tighe, Stan Burdock, and Tom Finney as well as clergy Dan Klooster, Bishop Terence Kelshaw and Michael Kelshaw. What a joy to see the work God is doing in West Texas and New Mexico.

Schism in Lutheran church raises scriptural, financial concerns

2011-06-01T18:03:00.004-04:00

Tuesday, May 31, 2011
By Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

For the Elderton Lutheran Parish, the national church's 2009 vote to permit some gay clergy appeared to be a final sign that the denomination had pulled up its biblical roots. Last winter it left the 4.5 million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for a new Lutheran body, as have seven other congregations from the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod. Another four are in the process of voting to leave.

"There is no hostility toward the ELCA. Yes, it was difficult, but it was a matter of understanding who we are as children of God," said the Rev. Joyce Dix-Weiers, pastor of the two linked congregations in such a remote part of unincorporated Armstrong County that the mailing address is Shelocta, Indiana County.

"The ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people was the tip of the iceberg. The question of how the church understands scriptural authority was the crux of the problem."

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11151/1150317-53-0.stm#ixzz1O43iWa1Q

A Group Called TOTTR

2011-06-01T15:50:00.020-04:00

I wrote this piece in 2009 and came across it again today. Folks involved in the recent history of the Diocese of Pittsburgh might find it interesting --thinking especially of Jeremy Bonner a Pittsburgh based historian who wrote the most recent history of the Diocese in 2009.

Name and Brief History: The name TOTTR was originally coined early in the group’s life by the evangelical Episcopal clergymen who had begun meeting in the Diocese of Pittsburgh for support, prayer and ecclesiastical planning. Shortly after beginning to meet, the Bishop of Pittsburgh, Alden M. Hathaway, upon learning about the formation of the group, exclaimed in a fit of jocularity, “Thunder on the Theological Right!” Hence the acronym TOTTR was adopted by the group as a moniker.

TOTTR as a group of clergy had been called together in the mid-1980s by William D. “Mike” Henning, then Associate Professor of Pastoral Ministry at Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry. Besides Mike the group was comprised of John H. Rodgers, Jr., Dean of Trinity School; Christopher Leighton, Rector of St. David’s, Peters Twp.; Mark Lawrence, Rector of St. Stephen’s McKeesport; Scott Quinn, Rector of Church of the Nativity, Crafton; and Jim Simons, Rector of St. Michael’s in the Valley Ligonier.

Callings to new ministries, over the years, changed the composition of the group. Original members John Rodgers, Scott Quinn and Jim Simons remained active when the group disbanded in September 2008. A major defining passage in the group’s history was the sad, untimely demise and death of Mike Henning due to stomach cancer in the late summer of 1994. In 1995 Jeff Mikita was elected to join TOTTR. The election of Jeff, newly ordained, was part of a strategy to disciple younger clergymen for future leadership roles in the Diocese. Jeff was the first clergyman of the group to leave TEC. He returned to the church of his childhood, the Orthodox Church and was re-ordained as an Orthodox priest a few years after joining.

From the late 1990s through its disbanding in 2008 TOTTR nominated or supported the nomination of every person, lay and ordained, elected to the diocesan Board of Trustees, to the Standing Committee, and as a General Convention Deputy. TOTTR also developed and implemented a strategy within the electing convention to insure the election of a conservative bishop in 1995.

A divergence of opinion in the group began in the fall of 2004 over the future of our evangelical witness within the Episcopal Church. Could we grow or even maintain such a witness in face of the liberal ascendancy and the onslaught of revisionism in TEC? At a meeting in the fall of 2004 all ten members agreed that TEC had no ability to reform itself but we differed however on whether to support George Werner in the upcoming diocesan elections for the General Convention deputation. In an interview as President of the House of Deputies George stated he had voted to consent to the election of the openly homosexual, Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire. Only three of the members pledged to support George. George was not elected as a deputy or alternate.

The divergence surfaced again in the spring of 2007 over the issue of diocesan realignment. Six members supported separating from TEC and four members did not. TOTTR tried to maintain group cohesion in the midst of these differences but the gulf between the re-aligners and the non re-aligners widened. Increasingly the two factions acted more and more independently. The group decided after a particularly painful gathering in May 2008 to cease meeting. A farewell dinner was held at the Rolling Rock Club in Ligonier in September 2008

When the group ceased meeting its membership consisted of John, Scott, Jim, Geoff Chapman, Rector of St. Stephen’s Sewickley; Brad Wilson, Rector of Fox Chapel Episcopal Church; Jeff Murph, Rector of St. Thomas Oakmont; Peter Moore, retired Dean of Trinity School; Jim Shoucair, Rector of Christ Church North Hills, David Wilson, Rector of St. David’s, Peter’s Twp and Mark Zimmerman, Rector of Somerset Anglican Fellowship.

Purpose: The purpose of the group had been two-fold; to meet together 4-5 times per year for mutual support, edification and prayer and to work to maintain and expand a united evangelical witness and ministry in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, and in the wider Anglican Church.

Covenant: In order to accomplish the aforementioned purpose of TOTTR each member of the group pledged to maintain, as far as possible and under the grace of God, the following terms:

1. To attend the all mutually agreed upon gatherings from start to finish when able. "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching". (Hebrews 10:25)

2. To care for each other by prayer through spiritual, emotional, pastoral and physical support between and during our gatherings. "Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith". (1 Thess 3:10)

3. To come prepared to share personal, family and ministry cares, concerns, victories and defeats in an honest, open and transparent fashion. (In order to maintain an equitable time for each to share, this may mean committing our sharing points to paper beforehand.) "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace". (Ephesians 2:13-15)

4. To maintain as confidential all interactions unless released to do by the group or individual concerned."It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings". (Proverbs 25:2)

5. To agree to act in concert, when necessary, to maintain and expand a united evangelical witness and ministry in our diocese and the wider church. "He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it". (Titus 1:9) "I urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints". (Jude 3)

6. To pursue lives that are marked by Christian spiritual growth, especially by a whole-life surrender to the Lord Jesus, by holiness of character, by humility towards God, by faithfulness in family and ministry, and by genuine love towards all. "In our time together we will be ready to give and receive encouragement towards these ends. As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend". (Proverbs 27.17)

TOTR Roster

Original Members

Mike Henning – died 1994
John H. Rodgers, Jr. - ACNA Diocese Pgh
Christopher Leighton – left diocese 1994
Mark Lawrence – left diocese 1997
Scott Quinn – TEC Diocese Pgh
Jim Simons – TEC Diocese Pgh

Subsequent Members

Doug McGlynn – elected 1992, left diocese 2003
Brad Wilson – elected 1992, left diocese 2009
Jeff Mikita – elected 1995, left TEC 2000
Jeff Murph – elected 1995, TEC Diocese Pgh
Geoff Chapman – elected 1995, ACNA Diocese Pgh
Peter Moore – elected 1996, left diocese 2008
David Wilson – elected 2000, ACNA Diocese Pgh
Jim Shoucair – elected 2003, TEC Diocese Pgh
Mark Zimmerman - elected 2005, ACNA Diocese Pgh

UPDATE:

Dr. Jeremy Bonner comments here
http://catholicandreformed.blogspot.com/2011/06/church-politics-pitstburgh-style.html

Rev. Philip Wainwright comments here
http://barnabasproject.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/evangelicals-right-or-left/

Robert Munday Steps Down as Dean of Nashotah

2011-05-29T22:21:00.002-04:00

The Right Reverend Edward L. Salmon, Jr., Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and the Very Reverend Robert S. Munday, Dean and President of Nashotah House Theological Seminary, announce that Dean Munday has resigned as the Dean and President of Nashotah House, effective June 30, 2011.

As of July 1, 2011, Dean Munday will become the Research Professor of Theology and Mission at Nashotah House. Dean Munday will be relocating his family and residence from the Nashotah Deanery to Hobart House, a residence owned by the seminary on Upper Nashotah Lake.

Bishop Salmon stated, “Nashotah House has grown during Robert’s ten years as our Dean. The creation of the distance learning and DMin programs, the construction of new campus facilities, and the formation of a first class faculty mark Dean Munday’s successful tenure.”

The Nashotah House Board of Trustees will appoint a Search Committee to select a new Dean and President for consideration by the Board. Nashotah House is currently in the process of creating a strategic plan. It is contemplated that this plan will address the issues of the administrative structure for the seminary.

Diktat or Negotiating in Good Faith …. What Does It Mean?

2011-05-29T21:13:00.015-04:00

In late January 2011 the Appellate Court of the Commonwealth of PA unanimously ruled against the appeal of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh on all four counts in the case of “Calvary Church of Pittsburgh vs. Robert Duncan et al”. A final appeal is now before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. In mid February the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church (TEC) announced they were ready to negotiate about property issues with the parishes that had separated from the Episcopal Church through the majority vote of the lay and clergy deputies of the diocesan convention duly called and seated on October 4, 2008. The TEC Diocese, however, refuses to acknowledge the existence of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh or Bishop Duncan as its diocesan bishop. It appears they do recognize the Bishop as an Archbishop of an independent (though non-Anglican) denomination, known as the ACNA . In most TEC writings he is referred to as either “Robert Duncan” or just “Duncan” and occasionally as archbishop Duncan (usually lowercase “a” rarely “A”). The TEC Presiding Bishop, Katherine Jeffords Schori, in her recent visit to Pittsburgh referred to him in an interview with the press as “Bob Duncan”. Because the TEC Diocese refuses to acknowledge the existence of the Anglican Diocese, it therefore refuses to negotiate with it since in their view the parishes that realigned never realigned and still remain part of their diocese. So,one has to ask if this tactic of TEC represents “negotiating in good faith”?

On February 17, 2011, the TEC Diocese issued a document posted on their website and mailed to each Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh parish titled, “PASTORAL DIRECTION FOR PARISHES SEEKING TO RESOLVE PROPERTY ISSUES WITH THE EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF PITTSBURGH” with the subheading “PASTORAL GUIDELINES FOR THE PROCESS TO BE FOLLOWED BY PARISHES SEEKING RESOLUTION OF PROPERTY ISSUES” (link here) The “Guidelines” list eight apparent pre-conditions that all Anglican parishes must subscribe in order to negotiate. So, again, one has to ask if this tactic of TEC represents “negotiating in good faith”?

On April 26, 2011, Ken Price, the Bishop of the TEC Diocese wrote to each Anglican parish requesting financial information from each parish and informing each that property maven Dr. Joan Gunderson would be contacting the parish to schedule “tours” of each property both as further apparent pre-conditions prior to commencing negotiations. These so-called "tours" are nothing more than thinly veiled inventory incursions replete with cameras and video-cams. On May 11, 2001 Dr. Gunderson wrote and reminded each parish to send in the requested financial information . She also stated that no negotiations would occur until such information is received. So, once again one has to ask if this tactic of TEC represents “negotiating in good faith”?

Compare and Contrast: Somerset Presbyterians and TEC Diocese

2011-05-23T09:34:00.005-04:00

Yesterday afternoon I attended the Anglican 4th Day(A4D)closing worship service in Greensburg. The contingent from Somerset Anglican Fellowship (SAF)shared with me about their new building which they are purchasing from the local Presbyterian Church. The Presbys couldn’t have been more generous – they left behind pianos, sound and projection equipment, office furnishings, kitchen equipment and all kinds of other things. What a blessing!

In their settlement with the TEC Diocese, the TEC litigation team insisted SAF “return” a chalice and paten and candlesticks which had been given to them prior to realignment by the Diocese. Upon their return a leader of TEC said this requirement was merely symbolic --- but necessary. What a contrast to the magnanimity of the Presbyterians.

The TEC Pee Bee, Katherine Jeffords Schori, in a recent visit to Pittsburgh spoke about legacy, and moral and fiduciary responsibility. She said, “The buildings and the bank accounts are the legacy of generations before us. I don't have the right to give those away for other purposes. My fiduciary responsibility, my moral responsibility, is to see that those gifts are used for the ministry to which God calls us in the Episcopal Church”.

For Somerset Anglican Fellowship the legacy they have been left is the ransom of a returned $400. chalice and paten and the moral responsibility of leaving a church that embraces theological innovation and the sexual revolution of the 1970s.

The Anglican Curmudgeon Tells It Like It Is -Unraveling the TEC Spin

2011-05-19T08:52:00.008-04:00

Introducing - the Curmudgeon's Canon

The ersatz Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, through its bishop, the Rt. Rev. Kenneth Price, has circulated among its clergy a series of talking points, in question-and-answer format, which convey the official party line on the Diocese's dispute with Bishop Duncan's Anglican Diocese. The whole document calls out for fisking, so here we go -- the questions are in bold, the party-line answers are in green, my fisks are in blue, and I have added the italics for purposes of emphasizing the phrases I deem noteworthy [N.B.: for some unknown reason, Blogger's colored text is not reproducing, so I have temporarily put the official, party-line answers in italics, while my fisks are in regular type, and the previous simple italics are now all bold italics]:

Read it all here

Just the facts, ma'am, just the facts

2011-05-09T21:52:00.007-04:00

Received today via email

As you open your pockets for the next natural disaster, keep these facts in mind:

1. The American Red Cross President and CEO Marsha J. Evans salary for the year was $651,957 plus expenses
2. The United Way President Brian Gallagher receives a $375,000 base salary along with numerous expense benefits
3. UNICEF CEO Caryl M. Stern receives $1,200,000 per year(100k per month)plus all expenses including a ROLLS ROYCE. Less than 5 cents of your donated dollar goes to the cause
4. The Salvation Army's Commissioner Todd Bassett receives a salary of only $13,000 per year(plus housing)for managing this $2 billion dollar organization. 96 percent of donated dollars go to the cause.

Tell Us How You Really Feel!

2011-05-09T11:04:00.004-04:00

StandFirm blogger and extraordinary lay minister, Sarah Hey, from the TEC Diocese of Upper South Carolina writes this: [received from an Episcopal priest in another diocese in TEC via email and posted with permission]

Sarah,

Perhaps you have some folks closer to the story than I, but I believe that Christ Church Savannah will be appearing before the GA Supreme Court tomorrow, May 9. Not sure of the time, but I do hope that you all might be able to do a quick post bidding prayer and fasting for the rector, wardens, and vestry of Christ Church and the attorneys that will represent them. I’m certainly praying for Fr. Marc Robertson and the faithful Anglicans there.

I'm posting this because it represents a massive chunk of us in TEC -- and by us I mean those who believe the Gospel, not the revisionists -- who recognize who are the rightful owners of their property. Many thousands of us are all pulling for you in ACNA to win your property in the courts of law.

Courts can be wrong in their decisions, and of course that's happened in the past few years. But the courts of law represent a far more just, objective, and righteous venue than the courts of TEC, led by our church's current very corrupt and malevolent leaders.

Many many Episcopalians in TEC are rooting for you and rooting against our current leaders -- I receive their emails and talk with them by phone constantly.

The Annual District 10 Bishop's Dinner

2011-05-06T21:58:00.007-04:00

Our parish, St.David's, hosted the Annual District 10 Bishop's Dinner on Monday evening May 2nd. Over ninety Anglican Christians from each of the eight parishes of the District joined in an evening of worship, fellowship, a scrumptious ham dinner and encouraging remarks from Archbishop Duncan. After his fielding of Q & As, the evening ended as the assembly gathered around the Archbishop, and with the laying on of hands and anointing of oil, agreed in prayer for him. In addition, from the proceeds (after expenses) District 10 was able to contribute $346 to the Bishop's Discretionary Account.

Holy Week Renewal of Vows in Pittsburgh .... TEC & ACNA

2011-05-04T07:58:00.006-04:00

On Tuesday April 19 the clergy of both the Episcopal Diocese of the Episcopal Church of the Unites States of America and the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh simultaneously renewed their ordination vows. According to Ann Rodgers of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette thirty-six clergy attended the TEC event held at St. Stephen's Church in Wilkinsburg PA and renewed their vows with their Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefforts Schori and diocesan bishop Ken Price. The Director of Communications of the ACNA diocese David Trautman reported on the diocesan website that over one hundred (actually 108)clergy renewed their vows at Trinity Cathedral Pittsburgh with Archbishop and Bishop Robert Duncan and with bishops John Rodgers and Bill Ilgenfritz present as well.

Does Pittsburgh Have a Prayer?

2011-04-27T16:50:00.003-04:00

From the Faithburgh blog of Pittsburgh Post Gazette reporter Ann Rodgers posted on Friday April 22

It does each Holy Saturday. Each year on the day before western Easter (which this year is also eastern Easter), local leaders of the Catholic, Orthodox and many Protestant churches gather on the Mount Washington overlook to pray for the city. They also bless it with holy water.
This tradition goes back 19 years, and is a ministry of the Christian Leaders Fellowship. That's a group of these same bishops and their equivalents who gather once a month for breakfast at each other's homes. There they study the Bible, pray together -- and commiserate

about the difficulties of being a church leader. The annual blessing of the city stemmed from their desire to show unity in their care for all of the people of Pittsburgh.
Close friendships have grown up between some leaders of these churches. Even where close friendship may be difficult, it's a setting where barriers are broken down. One Christian leader recently told me how moved he was to see Anglican Archbishop Robert Duncan and Episcopal Bishop Kenneth Price -- whose rival dioceses are locked in property litigation --holding hands in prayer and asking the others to pray that they would be able to resolve their difficulties in a manner that honors Christ. The Christian Leaders Fellowship also sponsors the Pittsburgh Creche, the world's only replica of the Vatican creche, that is on display each Advent and Christmas in USX Plaza.
The Christian leaders will gather at 10 a.m. Saturday April 23, on the Mount Washington Overlook just east of McArdle roadway, to pray and bless the city. It's a very short service. If you want to witness it, be on time.