But regardless of how people of faith feel about gay people, my wife and I believe that the vast majority of Californians – even many conservative people of faith – realize that this is a simple matter of fairness.

It’s not fair to take away marriages from loving couples. No church will be forced to perform marriages. Even though divorce is legal, Catholic priests are not forced to perform weddings for divorced people. Faith communities will continue to have the right to practice what they preach.

Our Episcopal Church has been in the news recently because of disagreement over gay people. But, despite our differences, California Episcopal bishops urged people to vote “no” on Proposition 8. Bishops from both northern and southern California spoke about such core values as love and mutual responsibility. They said it best, “society is strengthened when two people who love each other choose to enter into marriage, engaged in a lifetime of disciplined relationship building that serves as a witness to the importance of love and commitment.”

The bishops recognized that keeping marriage available to same-sex couples is more than beautiful backyard weddings; it means that loving couples have lifelong obligations to care for one another that are not easily dissolved.

Read it all.

I will take comments on this submitted by email only to at KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.

Robinson brings unique experiences as an Irish priest and educator to her role at Calvary. Until her late 30s, she served as an educator in England and this experience informs her role as priest.

She brings to her role a love of teaching and learning as well as an understanding that those things are mutual. She wants to be actively involved in teaching and learning with both adults and children.

Calvary member Alison Martin, the mother of two school-aged children, speaks enthusiastically about how Robinson’s gift of education is obvious. “Watching her interact with children is amazing to me. The way she talks to them about God and Jesus makes me feel so wonderful,” she said.

Throughout her childhood and adult life, Robinson was active in the church. Born and raised in Northern Ireland, she calls herself a “cradle Episcopalian.” However, she did not decide to become a priest until her late 30s. It was about this time that the church allowed the ordination of women.

Read it all.

(ACNS) In your experience, do people suddenly discover or rediscover religion during difficult times like these?

I think, generally speaking, religion is either part of your life or it isn’t. What often happens during a crisis like this is that people come to a temple or a mosque or a church looking to identify with that part of themselves, rather than suddenly finding it in the midst. But clearly there will be some for whom this is the moment when that spiritual part awakens for the first time.

Many people are confronting their worst fears about their vanishing financial security and livelihood. I imagine you must be hearing about these concerns in your pastoral role. How do you comfort someone who is facing the loss of a job or life savings?

I think you try to be there with the person – physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually – that’s the first step. And then, out of that conversation, perhaps you try to give some encouragement and direct them toward services that can explicitly help with job transitions, outplacement, that sort of thing.

From a spiritual perspective, what comfort can you offer?

The basic comfort of the Christian tradition is that God is with us. That doesn’t mean that you won’t lose your job. It doesn’t mean that the hurricane is not going to hit your town or that a plane isn’t going to hit the buildings at the World Trade Center. What it means is that God is in the midst of all that, whatever’s happening.

The 23rd Psalm provides the essence of that: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” Why not? Not because it’s all going well in the valley of the shadow of death. The promise is, “I will be with you” to the end of time and through all of this. The theology in the Christian tradition and other traditions as well is that the loving presence of God is always in our lives.

Read it all.

KIM LAWTON: It’s a beautiful autumn Sunday in York Harbor, Maine, and members of local churches are doing the Crop Walk. It’s a project to raise money for fighting hunger around the world. Tom and Janie Beecher and their three kids, Thomas, Grace and baby Gus, are among the walkers. For the Beechers, combating global poverty is a deeply personal crusade. They adopted Gus, who’s six months old, from Ethiopia in July.

JANIE SWEENEY BEECHER (Member, St. George’s Episcopal Church, York Harbor, ME): We felt very strongly about the situation in Ethiopia. The extreme poverty, the HIV/AIDS situation just really, really moved us.

LAWTON: The Beechers are members of St. George’s Episcopal Church in York Harbor, a congregation that has put a strong focus on international issues. They say their global concern comes directly from their faith.

Read it all.

On a typical Sunday, [Canon to the Ordinary Paul] Cooney said, church attendance at parishes in the diocese ranges from 14 to 1,039. In half of the diocese’s parishes, fewer than 115 people attend Sunday services. And in the average parish, Church School draws just 27 children.

Data from parochial reports show that over the last 20 years, the diocese’s membership has remained stable in the low 40,000s. But during that same period, the number of pledging households has decreased by about 20 percent.

Over the last 20 years, “we’ve become modestly smaller,” Cooney said.

Despite a lack of consistency in the way membership data has been recorded, the reports indicate a gradual but marked decline in the last 40 years: Since 1967, the number of active communicants in the diocese’s parishes has dropped by approximately 26 percent.

“More analysis remains to be done,” Cooney wrote in a recent memo to the council. “However, it comes as no surprise from reviewing the data thus far that we face the challenging situation of fragile and in some cases declining membership. Of particular concern is the typically small number of children in our congregations.”

Read it all.

Read it carefully and read it all.

The decision to close nine churches on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota has sparked a growing controversy, with the congregations now preparing to file lawsuits in tribal court to keep their churches open.

The strongest public challenge to the closings to date has come from members of Christ Church, Red Shirt Table, who sent a six-page letter to Bishop Creighton Robertson dated September 10. When asked to comment on the letter, South Dakota diocesan administrator Randy Barnhardt said the bishop’s office had not received a copy. But Lorri Ann Two Bulls, a member of Christ Church, reported that the certified letter sent to Robertson “was returned and had been refused by the bishop’s office.” Mr. Barnhardt subsequently confirmed that the diocese had refused to receive the letter. Copies were also sent to members of South Dakota’s Standing Committee, as well as national church officials and the local media.

Read it all.

A group of 45 people say they will assist the Alliance for Collaboration with the Hispanic Community, a non-profit that will attempt to provide a safety net for the families of the 350 workers arrested in a raid at the Columbia Poultry Farm, a processing plant….

Deacon Gabriel Cuervo, a regional coordinator for the Catholic Charities of the Piedmont Region, said a number of churches and pastors will help.

“We have a lot of pastors who are willing to help,” said Adela Mendoza, a Hispanic Outreach Program Director.

St. Francis Episcopal Church, which has a strong Hispanic ministry, will also assist, she said.

Read it all.

With permission–KSH.

Author’s note–When I began this missive it was the 29th of September and the stock market was down 700 points. Appropriately, it was also the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels.

President Sarkozy of France is saying that the world is staring into a financial abyss, and plenty of politicans and other people are speaking of current events as an unprecedented crisis.

Of course, this is flat not true, except that maybe in the details, but this perspective arises from a profoundly shortsighted view of the sweep of history. If you care to, look up the South Sea Bubble (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sea_Bubble) or the Mississippi Bubble (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Company).

It is certainly a very difficult business situation that we find ourselves in, which impacts us all. Several of our own fellow members of Trinity Parish have told me that they’ve had very serious losses in their investments, and this affects everyone. Did you know that Nevada County is the only county in California where more than half of population’s income derives from dividends and interest?

That’s due to the fact that our population has a higher median age than most counties (43 years, compared with 38 years for Nevada County, Arkansas, and 34 years in California as a whole), which is because we have a higher than average number of retired people.

This past August I was in Uganda, visiting our parish’s Mission. Uganda’s population has a median age of 15, and the average wage earner brings home $350 per year, versus $45,864 for Nevada County, California. In Uganda gasoline costs around $8.00 per gallon, nearly twice as much as in our county. Few people have cars, or television, and most people cook over an open fire. Ugandan life expectancy is more than 25 years less than ours, if a person manages to live past the age of five.

So, yes, the developed world is having some economic difficulties at the moment. But these problems are a matter of perspective. Our challenges are going to be temporary. The Ugandans’ problems are mosty likely permanent, and more than likely will get worse.

For nearly thirty years I’ve had the privilege of working with people at the end of their earthly existence. I can say with perfect confidence that no matter what happens, it’s going to be all right.

In Psalm 37 we hear, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken.” Now, does that mean that the faithful person will not experience hardship? Of course not. Those who love God and try to follow Him aren’t immune to the ordinary vicissitudes of life, but God does not forsake them. Are there no angels -God’s emissaries- left in the world? Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and human experience testify to the existence and ministry of the Holy Angels.

If you’re worried, pray. Ask the Lord for comfort, for assurance of His love and protection. Give yourself completely into God’s hands. Pray for the guidance and protection of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Angels.

The medieval mind, following the earlier Greco-Roman tradition, saw life as a wheel of fortune, which raises up people and then casts them down, only to raise them up again.

“O Fortune, like the Moon,
changeable in state, always waxing, or waning;
poverty, power, they dissolve like ice….”

Or, as Dante put it:

No mortal power may stay her spinning wheel.
The nations rise and fall by her decree.
None may foresee where she will set her heel:
she passes, and things pass.

Man’s mortal reason cannot encompass her…
Season by season her changes change her changes endlessly,
and those whose turn has come press on her so,
she must be swift by hard necessity.

Every empire, every great king or ruler, every prosperous person -even people who are only relatively prosperous, like you and me- finds it difficult to consider that everything changes, and that what goes up must come down.

We don’t have to like situations like the one our economy finds itself in, of course! But the Bible teaches us that, in the words of Ecclesiastes 3.1, “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for everything under heaven.” The same chapter goes on tell us that God has made everything appropriate for its time, and that (perhaps by way of reassurance) He has put the eternity in our hearts.

It’s when we forget eternity and instead get caught up in the moment that we become overwrought and fearful. Because you and I both know that it’s going to be all right, even if it’s very annoying, inconvenient, and perhaps excruciatingly painful.

Look – seriously – does anyone think that next year there’s a strong likelihood that the average wage earner in the USA is going to make no more than $350 dollars a year with gasoline standing at $8.00 a gallon? Do any of the talking heads on television or bloggers on the Internet really believe that 80% or more of the American population is going to be eating nothing but potatoes and baked bananas for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the rest of their lives?

On the other hand, people will be very negatively impacted by what is happening in the economy. We are all obliged by our faith to reach out in every way to help. Our own congregation already does this in many ways, both in out public ministries to the homeless (Hospitality House) and hungry (Nevada City Food Bank). We also help people financially on a private and confidential basis through our Charitable Fund. Perhaps God will ask us to do more in the future. And that, too will be a blessing.

Let’s not be naive and hysterical about the things of this world, which is as impermanent as as the early morning fog and changes more often than day turns to night. Leave the naivete and hysteria to those who are faithless. Trust God with your future; only He knows what it will be, anyway. As Romans 8:28 truthfully declares, “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.”

Or, as Jesus so perfectly put it,

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Therefore do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?’ or “What shall we drink?’ or “What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father
knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

–The Rev. Christopher Seal is rector, Holy Trinity Church, Nevada City, California

Members from nine congregations on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation slated for closure by the Diocese of South Dakota met Sept. 20 in Kyle to discuss their options.

Some of the congregations scheduled to close by Nov. 30 want to file injunctions in tribal court, claiming that Native American landowners long ago donated land to the diocese for the churches and, in at least some cases, there may have been extra acreage donated along with the church grounds.

“Our concern is the cemeteries, the land and the buildings,” Lydia Bear Killer, vestry president of Church of the Inestimable Gift in Allen, told the Rapid City Journal. “We’re going to do whatever it takes to maintain our church, our land and our cemeteries. Every church has a petition circulating for what it wants from the diocese,” she said.

Read it all.

James Duane’s big plans for Duanesburg never quite materialized, but the modest wooden church he built about a mile west of the small hamlet named after him has endured for more than 200 years.

Christ Episcopal Church, built in 1793, stands now much as it did two centuries ago. The only major difference is a tower that was added in 1811, the money for that coming from one of Duane’s daughters. Situated on Route 20 at Duanesburg Churches Road in the town of Duanesburg, the church is a plain but dignified two-story white building that was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

“There are four very special historic buildings in Duanesburg, and that church is foremost among them,” said town of Duanesburg historian Arthur D. Willis. The Duane Mansion, the North Mansion and the Quaker Meeting House round out his list. “You can tell a lot of care went into the building of that church, and the congregation and the different ministers over the years have done a great job taking care of the building and preserving it.”

Read it all.

There were 7 rectors, inclusive, gathered from across both the geographical and theological landscape. The membership threshold of parishes represented seemed to be roughly 2500+ people. I knew one person personally, the others by reputation.

From my perspective, two of the rectors were of a conservative/re-asserting nature and five from a more to very liberal/progressive/reappraising position. And, of course, add to this mix the PB and her Canon, The Rev’d Dr. Chuck Robertson.

The conversation which ensued consisted primarily of the rectors speaking to one another with the PB and her Canon attentively listening, asking a few questions and very occasionally adding an opinion/perspective. Dinner was more free-flowing and social and less focused on church or theology….

Read it all.

Like many of you we’re trying to get word on what’s happening in Southeast Texas. My folks and eldest son along with Stacy’s family are in Galveston and Harris Counties. We still have our home in League City and many, many friends in the area from our old parish. Our prayers are with you all there.

Here in Louisiana we’re seeing damage worse than Gustav and in some cases comparable with Rita. There’s flooding on the North Shore, levees breaching down south; the poor River Parishes were just sorting themselves out after Gustav and then took another huge pounding. We have friends in Baton Rouge still without power. There will be good and timely updates on our diocesan website: www.edola.org. Bishop Jenkins is working overtime to keep us updated and together.

New Orleans made it through, just some heavy wind gusts and rain. We had the day off from school and work on Friday. I’ve talked to quite a few people, however, who are thinking seriously about leaving the area; they’re worn out. Folks here seem to be taking stock of their lives and situations. “Reflective” is not a mood we often encounter here. I’m still shaken by a former staff member’s suicide and was too depressed on Friday to start working on the house and putting my office back together. This morning I went to bring Communion to a parishioner in hospital; this helped me get my bearings. She told me on the way out, “It was so nice to spend time with you and my Jesus.” Reminded me why I felt called to parish ministry in the first place. I’m looking forward to seeing the whole crew at Sunday Services.

For friends in Texas and Western Louisiana, do know of our prayers and let us know what you need when you need it. We’ll be there for you. And remember no matter how bad it looks, God is faithful and holds you in His hands. Blessings,

–The Reverend Jerry and Stacy Kramer, Church of the Annunciation, New Orleans,

I’m not sure which of my colleagues from the largest congregations will be attending, nor do I know the agenda. The email described the gathering with these words: “The idea behind this gathering stems from the realization that you, as the pastor of one of the largest congregations, have a unique view on the needs and possibilities of the Church at this time. The hope is that this is not simply a one-time experience, but the beginning of further discussions, in whatever form they take. The reason for the timing of the gathering is intentional, as there may be issues that have emerged from the Lambeth Conference that could be of relevance in our discussions. “

Read it all.

Dear All,

Today, on this third anniversary of Katrina, there was so much i wanted to share about the progress we’ve made thanks to our dear friends, the lessons we’ve learned along the way, and some really exciting plans for continued Kingdom building and renewal here in New Orleans. Instead, we’ve spent the day packing up the office and church, making sure our parishioners have made plans, and checking on the more vulnerable members of our Broadmoor community.

For the most part, folks are doing quite well. We’re miles ahead of where we were in terms of preparation for Katrina. Even the State appears to have its act together. No major news from our city, however, since “Our Mayor” lives in the Dallas area. All things considered, we’re looking really good at this point in the ballgame.

While an official evacuation has yet to be called, the highways going out of town are stacked up with crawling traffic. Our Annunciation/Broadmoor caravan intends to leave for Tennessee on Sunday morning. Stacy and the kids will bug out for Baton Rouge at some point on Saturday.

The Annunciation campus will close officially at 5p today, Friday, and re-open after the storm passes. We have not only Gustav to watch . . . but Hannah as well.
I’m signing off for now…and will begin blogging at http://annunciationbroadmoor.blogspot.com.

Prayers and Blessings from the Big Uneasy,

–(The Rev.) Jerry and Stacy Kramer serve at Church of the Annunciation, New Orleans, LA

It’s a year of anniversaries for the Episcopal Church of the Nativity in Crafton.

On Sept. 13, the congregation will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its church; the 25th anniversary of the Rev. Scott T. Quinn, rector; and the 10th anniversary of organist Dianne Peebles.

The celebration already is under way.

It began with the donation of a desk that belonged to Charles C. Craft, the founder of Crafton and the proprietor of the original and present locations of the Church of the Nativity.

The desk, donated by Glenn Walters Jr., great-grandson of Mr. Craft, is being added to the collection of antique furniture that belonged to the Craft family. It is on display in Craft Hall of the church and serves as a connection to the church’s past.

“It’s the center of our celebration,” said Jim Perrin, a parishioner of the church and weekday organist.

Read it all.

The Rev. Susan J. Latimer knows in her heart God brought her from Maine to West Virginia to serve as the new rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Charleston.

“It was an amazing process,” she said. “I was not looking to make a move. I got a letter from the parish. They found me in a national database for clergy. I read about the parish. It just spoke to my heart.”

She was struck by the church’s commitment to community and social justice.

“There is inclusion of all people whether gay or straight or black or white,” she said. “They have wonderful music and liturgy. The whole setting is what I think the church should be.”

Read it all.

A tradition of about 140 years ends next Sunday when the Trinity Episcopal Church of Trinidad officially closes its doors and disbands its congregation due to rising operating costs and declining attendance.

Trinity Church is currently located at 119 Colorado Ave., a space it has occupied for more than 120 years.

A statement put out by the church read, “Due to the decrease in the number of worshippers attending services, and the steadily increasing expense of operating and maintaining the building, the congregation and the Dioceses of Colorado have agreed that the Episcopal presence in Colorado must come to an end.”

Vicar Janet Rawlins estimated that the congregation had dwindled to less than 10 regularly attending members. “There’s no cut-off point,” Rawlins said. “No one is shutting us down. It’s just the circumstances as they are make it necessary to end over 120 years of the Episcopal presence in Trinidad.

Read it all.

Read it all.

The church bell doesn’t ring anymore at St. Mary’s in the Highlands Church.

And there is no proper place for the rector of the Episcopal church to drape his vestments and store religious materials.

For 140 years, rain and wind have taken a toll on the church’s 125-foot-high tower.

The granite-block steeple and interior plaster have been extensively damaged. Leaks threaten not only the tower, but also the interior walls of the church and its organ console.

Parishioners responded in June by forming the St. Mary’s Steeple Committee, hoping to raise $450,000 for repairs. So far, $155,000 has been raised through community events, donations and grants. Topping this list is $100,000 from the Episcopal Diocese of New York, $25,000 from the New York Landmark Conservancy and $20,000 from state Sen. Vincent Leibell, R-Patterson from the 2008 state budget.

Read it all.

On Tuesday, Robinson conducted a visitation of Trinity Episcopal Church in Meredith, including officiating a confirmation and reception service for five local people, including four youths.

Robinson recently returned from the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, England, an assembly of Anglican bishops that takes place once every 10 years.

“I think it accomplished what it set out to do, which was to build relationships.” he said, listening to such talks as the “Bishop of Havarti tell about what it is like in Zimbabwe. Just the chance to hear what that’s like is just amazing.”

The presence of Robinson, the church’s first openly gay bishop, at the conference was itself the result of struggle and determination. He was not formally invited to this year’s conference by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Anglican Church, though he still attended.

Read it all.

I will consider posting comments on this article which are submitted first by email to: KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com

Worshipping “outside the box” best describes what Orangeburg’s Church of the Redeemer will do weekly beginning Sunday.

The church will attempt to reach out to newcomers and parish members with a contemporary service that will incorporate prayer, scriptural readings and praise music to worship the Lord. The service, titled “Vesper Light: A Celebration of Praise, Prayer and Worship,” will take place at 6 p.m. every Sunday in the church’s Parish Hall.

“Church of the Redeemer has always been a pretty traditional Episcopal church,” said the Rev. Dr. Frank Larisey, Church of the Redeemer’s rector. He said the church’s worship services resemble the strict liturgy of the Catholic Church while its theology is a combination of both Catholicism and Protestantism. “Our worship has always been traditional, old-fashioned, using Elizabethan, or Shakespearean, English.”

Larisey, who has served at the church for three years, said the new alternative services will be based in traditions older than those influencing the church’s Sunday morning services. He said the basis for the evening services can be traced to early Christians and found on page 400 in the Episcopal Church’s “Book of Common Prayer,” under the entry titled “An Order for Celebrating the Holy Eucharist.”

“They didn’t have anything that was written down,” Larisey said of the early church. “They had the Old Testament, the Psalms, old letters of Paul, the Gospel according to Matthew … and they probably didn’t have all of them — they had some of them. (But) they came together to praise God. They just praised him. They had songs, hymns and spiritual songs … reading from letters … preached, and then they prayed. … Then they shared the Last Supper … and before they left, they prayed for one another’s spiritual needs.

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In his farewell, Williams pleaded with Lambeth ’08 participants to have “a season of gracious restraint” over the months that it will take to prepare, negotiate and circulate the Anglican Covenant. He beseeched liberals not to ordain gays and lesbians to the priesthood, elect them as bishops or allow priests to officiate at same-sex, partnership ceremonies. He asked conservatives threatening to walk out not to leave.

In University City, [the Rev. Brooke] Myers expects that most priests will follow what their bishops ask about holding same-sex consecration ceremonies during the moratorium season. Most would ask permission and not follow the more audacious “do it, then ask forgiveness” mode, he said — although the hiatus already has been breeched in Massachusetts and California.

Late Monday, a weary Bishop Wayne Smith returned to St. Louis, with high praise for his fellow bishops and “the near absence of poisonous statements, the tendency away from grandstanding, the fact that no one stormed out in protest.”

Still, Smith, the bishop of the Missouri Diocese and its 14,000 Episcopalians from central Missouri to the Mississippi River, does not see a clear solution to heal the fissure. “The shape of any Anglican Covenant, from what I can see, remains an open question.”

Read it all.

“It’s the benefit of Anglicanism to me. We’ve got everything from the arch-conservative to the arch-liberal,” said the Rev. Lou Scales, of The Church of Our Savior, on Columbia Road in Martinez.

A few years ago, The Church of Our Savior held an event titled “A Discussion With Gay and Lesbian Episcopalians,” and has hired a senior warden who is gay.

“That kind of preference is incidental to us,” the Rev. Scales said.

It isn’t as incidental for others, said the Rev. Richard Sanders, the rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, on Reynolds Street. “There are people who have left St. Paul’s on this issue — both because we’re not liberal enough and not conservative enough.”

The issue, he said, is clearly divisive.

“It has affected us here at St. Paul’s, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally,” the Rev. Sanders said. “It’s a terribly devastating thing for me. I grew up in this church. This crisis, and this issue, has been very hurtful.”

The Rev. Fain agreed.

“Living with the ambiguity and the tensions has been very challenging,” he said. “Some of us have the concern that this is drawing us away from our main mission.”

The Rev. Sanders said that although the issue is important to him and to the people of St. Paul’s, “it’s not our priority here.”

“We’re focused on showing the love of Christ to the world,” he said.

Perhaps, the Rev. Scales said, that’s best done “by still gathering at the table, both in spite of and because of our differences.”

Read it all.

I know that there are those among us who feel differently. Some think that realignment would be a good idea and want to follow the Bishop. There are others who do not want to follow the Bishop or the Episcopal Church but would rather take a third option and walk away from the property and start over again. As I stated above, I think the best course of action is for us to stay together at least for the short term. If the realignment passes, we will then see how a continuing diocese is reorganized and whether we can in good conscience remain in the Episcopal Church. I believe we can.
I know that there will be some for whom this is untenable, who feel that the Episcopal Church is no longer a place they want to be. I want you to know that I understand this and that my desire for everyone is that they be in a place where they can be nourished spiritually. If some are feeling called to another course of action it is my hope that they will do so in a way that honors the deep and abiding relationships that we have formed here over the decades.

This Sunday the Gospel lesson is Matthew 13:24-43. In that parable a man sows good seed in a field. When the wheat begins to mature, it is discovered that weeds are growing among it. The servants ask the master if they should remove the weeds. The master says no because doing so would uproot some of the wheat which then will be lost as well. He tells them to let the wheat and the weeds grow together. Jesus then goes on to say that the wheat represents the faithful and the weeds are the children of the evil one. The point of the parable is that it is God’s responsibility, not ours, to separate wheat and weeds. We are to be faithful in our growth towards God and in maturing into the men and women he created us to be. God will deal with the unfaithful.

Are there weeds in the Episcopal Church? Most certainly, but there is also much wheat. Is it difficult to live in a weedy environment? Yes, but for decades St. Michael’s has been, a place of healthy spiritual growth, a place where the wheat thrives, and a parish which bears witness to the rest of the Kingdom to what the Gospel can do.

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BJK: What does GAFCON mean for the Lambeth Conference? What about the Covenant process?

GR+: The question, in my mind, and I am speaking as an individual, is how much value does the Windsor Report hold today? Two years after General Convention 2006, where we failed miserably to respond to the Windsor Report, in an adequate fashion, (B003 was not an adequate response by any means), a number of the signatories from the House of Bishops, stated they didn’t intend to comply by it. By the recent actions of the three bishops in California, you can see that is the case. They have already given the green light to their clergy to perform same-sex blessings, without the consent of the wider Communion. Obviously, they don’t intend to comply. If TEC has no intention to comply with the Windsor Report then whatever input TEC has in the Covenant process is going to be just as miserable. By the time the Covenant is agreed upon, if it is ever agreed upon by TEC, it will not be the same instrument that it started out to be. Therefore, I don’t see any value in the Windsor Report or the Covenant at this point. I know the draft will be discussed at General Convention, and I am a deputy, as I was in 2006. After seeing how the convention dealt with the Windsor Report, I can’t imagine that the Covenant will get a better reception.

BJK: What is the next step for the Diocese of Western Louisiana and Grace Church?

GR+: Our Diocesan Convention meets in October and I sit on the executive council of the diocese. The Bishop has told me personally that after Lambeth, the executive council will meet in August. He will then give us his opinion concerning where things are and the options we have for the diocese. It is his desire that IF the diocese chooses to do something that we do it as a whole. I would also prefer that. Being realistic, whatever decision the diocese makes, if we decide to move as a diocese, there will be certain clergy, parishes, and laypeople who will want to remain in TEC. Likewise, if we don’t move as a diocese, there will be clergy, parishes, and lay people who don’t want to stay. That will be a reality after October. The bishop is wise enough, and intelligent enough, to know that is going to happen. No matter what happens at the convention in October, someone will not be happy. There is going to be movement, but the question is where.

Read it all (hat tip: Brad Drell).

(Please note: the article to which this letter is responding may be found here).

The Anglican bishop featured in the article did not have (or seek) permission from the local Anglican bishop as is required to even be present on official church business. His presence violates protocols among Anglican dioceses and bishops, and violates the Windsor agreement in which bishops were asked not to do what this bishop did in visiting this congregation.

The bishop’s comments about the Episcopal Church are also unfortunate and divisive. It is scandalous that an Anglican bishop would foment division in this way.

I believe that your article is unbalanced and misleading in its reporting of the Episcopal Church. While this is likely unintended, nevertheless a reader could easily be confused by its content. Certain teachings presented in the article could be understood by readers to be factual teachings of the Episcopal Church. The article suggests in comments that the Episcopal Church is heretical and disintegrating. On the contrary, the Episcopal Church affirms its faith in the Resurrection and the Deity of Christ, is growing in many areas and is doing much good ministry among the faithful.

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Several things led to troubles. For about 10 years, the church subsidized St. Margaret’s School, on the grounds of the church, while enrollment was low, Douglas said.

Through the years, the church staff got bigger, slowly becoming more expensive, Douglas said.

Then, about 2½ years ago, the church took a financial hit relocating its thrift shop, Maggie’s Cellar Door.

“They had a place they decided to move to and were told they could sublet the first place,” Douglas said. “After they signed all the leases, they learned they could not sublet it. So they found themselves running two stores.”

The cost of running both added about $100,000 to their expenses, Douglas said.

The church is reaching out to the parish.

“We need to increase our pledges (by) $200,000 a year,” Rice said

Like many churches and organizations in the desert, St. Margaret’s deals with a very seasonal group, Rice said.

Roughly 40 percent of the more than 800 households that are members of the church do not donate regularly, probably because they do not attend church here year round, he said.

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At historic Trinity Church, located in Boston’s Back Bay, …[Mary Conroy] had no car and essentially walked everywhere.

The outgoing, personable pastor adopts a laissez-faire attitude to what has become a central and divisive issue within Episcopalianism: The ordination of an openly gay man as bishop and the resultant hassle as some churches and even dioceses abandon the Episcopal Church USA in favor of some sort of affiliation with bishops and dioceses in other parts of the world, principally in Africa.

The U.S. church fights any attempt by parishes and dioceses to carry away churches and/or their property, even as the anti-gay dissenters react as though those who support or accept gay ordination are spawn of the devil.

“The Episcopal Church once passed a resolution stating that gays and lesbians have full rights to pastoral care. Bishop Robinson was totally above board in this matter, never hiding or denying his sexual orientation, and he was chosen by his (New Hampshire) diocese and confirmed by the nationwide convention. So, there’s this huge split in the church now.”

Conroy turned very serious as she pronounced, “I’m not sure than the unity of churches is the goal of Christianity. In fact, we’re all covered by the love of God, and forcing people to be united – to accept this position or its opposite- is not a good idea.

“Nothing in my ministry here or elsewhere has changed over this conflict. People want the basics, their weddings, The Word preached to them, baptism. It’s still all the same in my work here or wherever I am.

“As for Ascension, the issue really hasn’t really surfaced. I’ve heard a few comments, but I think that overall, it’s not an issue here – certainly not a divisive one.”

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The Rev. Miguel Rosada read the gospel in both English and Spanish to about 350 worshipers during an unusual service Wednesday night at St. John’s Cathedral in Jacksonville.

The bilingual reading from Luke, in which Jesus commands his disciples to cast their nets wide and deep, marked a new reality for Rosada, his congregation and the Episcopal Diocese of Florida.

“You’ve cast your nets down and taken us up,” Bishop John Howard said to Rosada in welcoming him and his Spanish-speaking flock into the diocese.

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