A Catholic teacher from Fort Dodge has been fired because of a Facebook survey in which she said she did not believe in God.

Abby Nurre, 27, was hired last summer as an eighth- grade math teacher at St. Edmond Catholic School. In August, she responded to a Facebook members’ poll in which she was asked whether she believed in God, miracles or heaven.

In response, Nurre answered, “No.” Her answers then became part of her Facebook autobiography page, which was accessible only to her designated “friends.”

In November, Nurre posted a comment to an online discussion forum, Atheist Nexus. In her post, she provided a link to a New York Times article that, as she described it, indicated the government had spent $2.3 million on prayer research in the past 10 years.

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To God the Father, who first loved us, and made us accepted in the Beloved; to God the Son, who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood; to God the Holy Ghost, who sheddeth the love of God abroad in our hearts: to the one true God be all love and all glory for time and for eternity.

–Thomas Ken (1637-1711)

O God, who hast made thyself known to us as Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity, in order that we may be informed of thy love and thy majesty: Mercifully grant that we may not be terrified by what thou hast revealed of thy majesty, nor tempted to trespass upon thy mercy by what we know of thy love for us; but that by the power of thy Spirit we may be forever drawn to thee in true adoration and worship; who livest and reignest, one God, world without end.

–Euchologium Anglicanum

…[Rowan Williams’] action, taken after years of patiently asking both conservatives and liberals to abide by agreed rules, will affect both sides in the dispute over whether the Bible permits openly homosexual clergy.

It has been triggered by the progressive Episcopal Church of the USA, which ordained its first lesbian bishop, the Rt Rev Mary Glasspool, earlier this month. The Episcopal Church also elected the first openly homosexual bishop in the Communion, the Rt Rev Gene Robinson, in 2003.

But the move will also hit orthodox provinces in the developing world ”“ known as the Global South ”“ that reacted to the liberal innovations in America and Canada by taking conservative American clergy and congregations out of their national churches and giving them roles in Africa and South America. This has triggered bitter legal battles over the fate of church buildings.

The Anglican provinces found to have broken the “moratoria” – on ordaining homosexual clergy; blessing same-sex unions in church; and making “cross-border interventions” – will soon be sent letters telling them about the proposed punishment for straying from the Communion’s agreed positions.

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O Jesus Christ, who art the same yesterday, today and forever: Pour thy Spirit upon the Church that it may preach thee anew to each succeeding generation. Grant that it may interpret the eternal gospel in terms relevant to the life of each new age, and as the fulfillment of the highest hopes and the deepest needs of every nation; so that at all times and in all places men may see in thee their Lord and Saviour.

–George Appleton

BP had to halt its ambitious effort to plug its stricken oil well in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday afternoon when engineers saw that too much of the drilling fluid they were injecting into the well was escaping along with the leaking crude oil.

A technician at the BP command center said that pumping of the fluid had to be stopped temporarily while engineers were revising their plans, and that the company hoped to resume pumping by midnight, if federal officials approved.

The technician, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters, said the problem was not seen as serious. “We’re still quite optimistic,” he said, but cautioned: “It is not assured and its not a done deal yet. All of this will require some time.”

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Now we are tested again.

Such is the election within the Diocese of Los Angeles, and consented to by a majority of jurisdictional bishops (those who are actually in charge of a diocese) and diocesan Standing Committees (69 out of 110), of the Rev Mary Glasspool to be a Suffragan Bishop (an assistant bishop for the diocese). The problem is that Mary openly admitted at the time of her nomination to an existing “committed” relationship with another woman, clearly implying including a sexual relationship.

Why is that a problem? Very simply, the bible is consistent throughout the Old and New Testament that God has deemed marriage to be between a man and a woman, and God has commanded that no physical sexual acts are to take place between people outside of marriage. No if’s, and’s or but’s.

Of course, this is not a new development. Seven years ago, in 2003, there was the election, consent and consecration of the Rev Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire. That event became the tipping point for many in our Church, and which has caused you and I and the parish such grief from our friends and neighbors and former parishioners for still being a parish in The Episcopal Church USA. That your vestry and I have not condoned this rejection of clear biblical standards, in fact actively condemned it, has not lessened the confrontations we have experienced. And it is this very rejection of biblical authority that pushed the diocese of San Joaquin to vote in convention to associate with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone (South America).

This is also not a new development for Los Angeles. The Rt Rev Jon Bruno, an old acquaintance of mine, is obviously openly supportive of such an election (or he could have kept her from being nominated), as well as back-door methods of allowing same-sex unions to be “blessed” by members of the clergy when they request it. As well, he hired an already ordained bishop to assist in Los Angeles (who is now retired and thus the need for new assisting bishops) who has also been in a same-sex relationship. +Los Angeles is in great confusion regarding the authority of Holy Scripture.

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The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, the national leader of the Episcopal Church in 16 countries, including its 2.4 million members in the U.S., is in Greenville for the consecration today of a new bishop for the Diocese of Upper South Carolina, the Rev. Andrew Waldo.

She said fallout from the 2003 decision to consecrate Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire appears to have settled out for the most part.

“The reactivity right now is much, much less than it was seven years ago,” she said during an interview at Christ Church, where Waldo’s consecration will take place.

“I think the church, and certainly the part of the church in the United States, is reasonably clear about where we’re going, even though everybody doesn’t agree. And those in the church, I think, are willing to live with that tension.”

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he General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada is meeting in Halifax, June 3 to 11 under the theme: Feeling the Winds of God-Charting a New Course.

Substantial amounts of time are allocated for reports on work mandated by the 2007 General Synod including on-going deliberations over issues of human
sexuality, VISION 2019 (a strategic plan for the Church) and a review of primacy and governance.

The synod will also consider resolutions generated by its standing committees.

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Recently, however, the effects of an evolving U.S. Episcopal Church played out very differently at an east Portland Episcopal parish. On May 3, The Oregonian featured the story of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, where nearly 100 members left to form St. Matthew’s Anglican Church. Representatives of St. Matthew’s Anglican Church say they no longer feel “respected” by the U.S. Episcopal Church and are not comfortable with its modern interpretations of Scripture.

These arguments are not new: They are the same ones that have been used by breakaway priests and parishioners for 150 years as the Episcopal Church has evolved through slavery, women’s suffrage, civil rights, women’s rights and now the LGBT debate.

The members of the new St. Matthew’s are in a statistical minority; from 2003-08, the Oregon Episcopal diocese lost 2 percent of its baptized members, and the national Episcopal Church lost 9 percent. Researchers say pinning these declines purely on the church’s affirming of LGBT rights is difficult; they say the influence of a growing secular society cannot be ignored.

The St. Matthew’s schism is exactly what [Ted] Berktold worked hard to prevent at St. Mary’s. What follows are excerpts from a May 1 conversation with Berktold and [Bingham] Powell in Eugene.

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[BOB] ABERNETHY: Kagan’s confirmation would also mean that for the first time in American history the Supreme Court would have no Protestants. Does this matter? If so, what does it say about the place of Protestantism in America today? Joining me is Kim Lawton, our managing editor. Kim, I want to have a little discussion about this. People are saying, Protestants are saying, well, yes, this is a big symbol and they’re sad about it, of declining Protestant influence in this country. But at the same time I hear other people saying it’s really good news, because it is a symbol of how far the country has come in overcoming the anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish prejudice that existed for so long””still exists, but there’s been a lot of progress made on that. And they also say it matters a lot more what somebody thinks, a Supreme Court justice thinks, on a particular issue than what kind of religious label that person wears. You hear that?

KIM LAWTON, managing editor: Well, it is interesting. I mean, nobody is saying that she shouldn’t be confirmed because it throws the religious balance of the court out, or anything like that, but it has been a very interesting moment to take stock of this change in our society. But, yeah, what I’m hearing from people, what I heard from one Protestant pastor this week was he said to me I’m less concerned about her religious affiliation than I am about how she’s going to vote on, for example, some of the religion cases, and certainly that those ideas of the separation of church and state and what kind of relationship the government and religion should have””that’s been very controversial. There have been some very close decisions on the court, and so what she thinks about that, for example, is going to have a big impact no matter what kind of religious label she carries.

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The more that you read,
The more things you will know.
The more that you learn,
The more places you’ll go.

–Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

The Obama administration has delivered new and stiff warnings to Pakistan after the failed Times Square car bombing that it must urgently move against the nexus of Islamic militancy in the country’s lawless tribal regions, American and Pakistani officials said.

The American military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, met with the Pakistani military chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, at his headquarters here on Friday and urged Pakistan to move more quickly in beginning a military offensive against the Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda in North Waziristan, Americans and Pakistanis familiar with the visit said. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of continuing diplomatic efforts here.

The Pakistani-American man who admitted to the Times Square attack, Faisal Shahzad, 30, told American investigators that he had received training in North Waziristan, the main base for the Pakistani Taliban, Al Qaeda and other militant groups.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its biggest intraday loss since the market crash of 1987, the euro slid to a 14-month low and yields on Greek, Spanish and Italian bonds surged on concern European leaders aren’t doing enough to stem the region’s debt crisis. U.S. Treasuries surged.

The New York Stock Exchange told CNBC that there were no system errors during the Dow’s plunge as speculation of bad trades swirled through the market. The Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. said it is working with other markets to review the plunge.

“It’s panic selling,” said Burt White, chief investment officer at LPL Financial in Boston, which oversees $379 billion. “There’s concern that the European situation might cool down global growth and freeze the credit markets.”

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Simply breathtaking.

Graph Title: Conservatives to win next UK General Election

Senior Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi was yesterday unable to confirm UK media speculation that leading Church of England bishops held a series of secret “conversion” meetings with advisers to Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican last week. Other senior Vatican officials claimed to have no knowledge of such meetings.

Reports in yesterday’s online editions of the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail claimed the Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Rev John Broadhurst; the Bishop of Richborough, the Rt Rev Keith Newton; and the Bishop of Ebbsfleet, the Rt Rev Andrew Burnham were involved in meetings with the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith last week.

The scope of the meetings was to discuss future Anglican conversions “en masse” to Rome with the bishops reportedly informing the Vatican that many Church of England clergy are keen to defect to Rome.

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From Harvard came the Marshall Plan, from the University of Michigan Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society. John F. Kennedy gave his space-race speech at Rice and his world-peace speech at American University. Winston Churchill delivered his “Iron Curtain” speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo. Years from now, if we are lucky, we may recall that the big idea of the early 21st century came from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa.

Like the others — the ideas that social justice and peace are good and that the threat of Soviet expansion and war are bad — the Allegheny idea isn’t really new, just a plain-sense notion plainly expressed.

Allegheny is a tiny college, fiercely proud of its devotion to teaching and admirably willing to boast of students whose interests are “wonderfully weird” — you’ll find those exact words on its website. Wonderfully weird, perhaps, but the Allegheny alumni I know also are wonderfully intelligent and sensible, so it is no surprise that the Allegheny idea is simple: “Nastiness, Name-calling and Negativity” (the title of the college’s ground-breaking new report) are bad, and civility and compromise are good.

The report emerges from a Zogby International poll of the nation that shows the better angels of America’s nature at work among the public if not among its politicians. The poll shows that 95 percent of Americans want civility in politics; 87 percent want political disagreement to be respectful; 70 percent want compromise, even on the most divisive issues.

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Whether same-sex civil unions become legal in Hawaii is now up to Republican Gov. Linda Lingle, whose office was flooded yesterday with phone calls and e-mails from gay rights and religious groups after the bill won approval in the waning moments of the legislative session.

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I want to extend my deep appreciation to Bishop Love and to Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori for their kindness and pastoral solicitude. Carol and I are grateful for the continuing opportunity to serve our Lord and His church in the Diocese of Albany. My only plan is to assist in any way Bishop Bill directs. We are honored to resume a fuller place among the clergy and laity of the diocese.

In February 2007, the Rt. Rev. Daniel W. Herzog retired as the eighth Bishop of Albany and subsequently resigned his Holy Orders. His resignation was accepted by the Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, in September of that year. Bishop Herzog rescinded his renunciation earlier this spring, and the Presiding Bishop with the advice and consent of her Advisory Council, accepted and restored Bishop Herzog effective April 28, 2010.

Though he has never really been absent from our common life, I want to formally welcome Bishop Dan and Carol back to the full communion of the diocese and the wider church. During the past three years, they have continued to support the work of the diocese and to participate in a non-ordained capacity. His restored role will be of help in carrying out the work of the church, and I will be asking him to assist in this diocese under my direction as is true of any retired bishop.

All baptized Christians, both laity and clergy, have a share in the apostolic mission the Lord holds out for the Church and I am delighted that Bishop Dan and Carol can officially take their place among us again in the Diocese of Albany. I ask your prayers for all who labor for Christ and his kingdom across these nineteen counties.

The Parsi bodies are piling up in India. Parsis are modern adherents of the ancient Zoroastrian faith that emerged in the 6th century B.C. in Persia, predating Christianity and Islam. According to many scholars, Zoroastrianism influenced these religions and Judaism with its fundamental concept of a dualistic world of light versus darkness, with a good God pitted against the forces of evil.

In the earthly realm of humans, Parsis also believe in the ritual purity of fire, soil and water, elements that shouldn’t be sullied by pollution from a defiling corpse. So while virtually all other cultures dispose of their dead by burial or cremation, Parsis have followed a more unusual method. Yet after millennia, that method now has been called into question, forcing a crisis of faith whose only answer is adaptation.

In a ritual so old it was described by Herodotus, Zoroastrians have laid out their dead atop Towers of Silence to be exposed to sun, sky and””most importantly””vultures. These massive harbingers of death with eight-foot wingspans once numbered in the millions across South Asia and could strip a corpse to the bone in hours. Yet their service has come to an abrupt end in the past decade as the vulture population plummeted due to a fatal reaction to a common painkiller given to the livestock and humans that the birds eventually feed upon. Ongoing habitat shrinkage has exacerbated the decline. With vultures virtually extinct, the Parsis are left struggling with the question of how to preserve traditions when modern forces conspire against them.

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Representatives from the different Anglican Church congregations in the Diocesan of Polynesia gathered at the Novotel Convention Centre in Lami yesterday to begin the electoral process for a new Diocesan Bishop.

Diocesan secretary and registrar Reverend Sereima Lomaloma said when the late Bishop of the Diocese of Polynesia, Reverend Jabez Leslie Bryce, died in February this year, his seat became vacant. “We usually have our synod, which is the parliament of the church, every three years,” she said.

“But this meeting was already planned by the late Bishop Bryce in 2009 after he announced his retirement in 2008.

“This synod has to take place. It is an electoral synod where the electoral college of the church is going to sit and elect a new bishop of Polynesia. It’s a process that the electoral college goes through and hopefully it will be over by Thursday evening.”

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He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities–all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

–Colossians 1:15-17

In the immediate aftermath, the conventional wisdom was that Wall Street had simply lost its head. It was terrible, to be sure, but on some level understandable: Dutch tulips, the South Sea bubble, that sort of thing.

In recent months, though, something more troubling has begun to emerge. In December, Gretchen Morgenson and Louise Story of The New York Times exposed the role that some firms, including Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, played in putting together investment structures ”” synthetic C.D.O.’s, they were called ”” that were primed to blow up. They did so, reportedly, because some savvy investors wanted to go short the subprime market.

On Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission dropped the hammer, charging Goldman Sachs with securities fraud for its purported failure to disclose that the bonds that were the basis for one particular synthetic C.D.O. had been chosen by none other than John Paulson, the billionaire hedge fund investor, who was shorting them.

Oh, and one other thing is starting to become clear: synthetic C.D.O.’s made the crisis worse than it would otherwise have been.

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One last set of pictures, focusing on Kendall’s love of his dogs and one of his favorite hobbies:

Kendall in his office:

Looking very trim!

The Harmon family dogs currently are: Black lab named Shakan, Toy Maltese named Temah,
Puggle named Sayde. They previously had a pembroke welsh corgi named Rebekah.

Playing a mean game of ping pong – one of his favorite hobbies

Some of Kendall’s other favorite hobbies according to those in the know are crossword puzzles, watching mysteries, Premier League Football (Soccer)… and of course, blogging!

I am interested in what birthday you remember most thankfully and why. Please note that it can be either your birthday, or a birthday of someone else that you helped them celebrate. The most specifics you have the more the rest of us can enjoy your entry–KSH.