You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.

We are heartbroken and undone here today about losing our black Labrador Retriever of nearly 14 years. In a spontaneous act of sheer frivolity I put a bid in on him at the silent auction at the Coastal Carolina Chaplaincy annual dinner in January of 2002 and he has been with us ever since. It remains amazing that he came home that night with no warning and has been a surprising joy for and integral part of the Harmon five ever since.

So many things changed, but except for our faith and our family, he was one of the only true anchors, the ultimate big brother, wagging his tail, astonishingly loyal to each Harmon, glad to be alive and part of it all. The world is a sadder place because he is gone, but we are all the better from having been given God’s gift of Shakan, whose name means to dwell, and dwell with us he did–KSH.

This is our second break for the summer–I know you understand. Posts will be catch as catch can but there will be updates so do check back. I am seriously considering an occasional open thread on an edifying subject so if you have suggestions for such threads please post in the comments below. Suggestions for any general thread discussions are welcome–the summer reading thread in July was a huge success. Many thanks–KSH.

I know you understand. Posts will be catch as catch can but there will be updates so do check back. I am seriously considering an occasional open thread on an edifying subject so if you have suggestions for such threads please post in the comments below. Many thanks–KSH.

You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.

There a many references to the Diocese of South Carolina statement here if you need it.

O Heavenly Father, who dost feel the pain of the world, and lookest upon all grieving, sick and suffering persons with special concern; be especially with those in the City of Charleston, SC, most affected by this horrific and violent incident Wednesday night; enfold them with thy love; grant that in the midst of pain and grieving they may find thy presence; and enable them through your Holy Spirit to begin the slow process of healing by giving them the strength to walk into the future you have for them, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.

You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.

Abigail (left), Semiah (middle), and Nathaniel (right) at Furman University Saturday night.

Mom and dad with the Furman Graduate Selimah in the middle.

Beginning Friday, May 8, Furman University will celebrate the Class of 2015 during its commencement weekend. The commencement ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Paladin Stadium….

You can find the schedule there.

Check it out for those interested.

Good morning from western Pennsylvania, where it appears the weather will be nice for the funeral of my Father-in-Law Edward James Deenihan. I am looking forward especially to the full military honors and the bagpipes later. Thanks for your prayers–KSH.

[color=red]The elves are taking the liberty to sticky this in order to remind blog readers to be praying for the Harmon family in these days. We’ll try to keep posting interesting articles while Kendall is unable to blog much.[/color]

The rector with whom I work left for sabbatical yesterday, my Father-in-Law is to be buried in Pittsburgh Wednesday, and our youngest daughter graduates from Furman University–God willing–next weekend. There are not too many weeks I remember on the family front like this one–I know you understand. Posts will be catch as catch can but check back for possible posts of interest from others. Many thanks–KSH.

Edward James Deenihan, Sr., Age 96, passed away on Friday, May 1, 2015. He was the husband of the late Irene (Shaffer) Deenihan; son of the late John and Rose Corey Deenihan; father of John of Chatsworth of California, Edward J. (Kathleen) of Pleasanton, CA, Patrick (Janice) of Reno, NV, Rosemary (Orval) Choate of Nevada City, CA, Elizabeth (Kendall) Harmon of Summerville, SC, Margaret (Mark) Caruso of Sun City West, AZ, and Timothy (Jennifer Paige) of Bridgeport, CT; brother of Margaret Morrison of Ellenton, FL; also 14 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Long ago, while playing a game with friends, Ed Deenihan was asked what should be the title of his biography. Affecting the Irish brogue he knew from his parents, he replied, “He Do And He Don’t.” When asked what the title meant, he simply grinned and said, “You’ll have to read the book!” Family was Ed’s first priority, though his history of service to his community and nation speaks of his commitment to serve one and all. Always quick with a story, he used humor to diffuse the pain of struggles and to celebrate life and its riches. Born February 11, 1919, the first son of Irish immigrants John and Rose (Corey) Deenihan, he grew up through the Great Depression, but when asked about that time would happily explain the concept of dance cards at club socials and tell how a family struggling through a hard time would often wake to find a basket on their stoop with bread or milk or some other necessary staples. He was drafted to the Army during the Second World War. During the time of his service, he was initially attached to a unit charged with breaking an internal black market smuggling ring. After his cover was blown, and he “got the stuffing beat out of me” in the hangar of a Calcutta air base, he was reassigned to the First Air Commando Group in the Chin Hills of what was then known as Burma. Again, his stories remembered the camaraderie and laughter of ‘showering’ in the water runoff under the fuselage of a bomber during the monsoons, or of beating the problem of oppressive heat and tightly rationed refrigeration by securing a few crates of beer in the bomb bay of a B-17 and flying it to a frigid altitude before diving back down to the runway and a base full of thirsty servicemen. Following the war, he returned to Wilmerding and was invited on a blind date where he met Irene Elizabeth Shaffer of Mount Lebanon, PA. They were married July 17, 1948, and were together 63 years until her passing in 2011. In that time, he went to work as a salesman for Goodyear Tire & Rubber and the couple raised seven children on his commission-based salary, even as there were at one point two children in college, two in Catholic high school, two in Catholic grade school, and a newborn. “We ate a lot ground meat and potatoes,” he would remember simply, with a grin. For Ed, hardship was never something worth complaining about, but simply a challenge to be dealt with. He was devout in his Catholic faith, and lived its principles of service to the community. He was an active member of his Catholic parish, involved in the practicalities of worship as well as assisting in the upkeep of the parish. He spent many years volunteering with the St. Vincent de Paul Society, even within months of his death, ministering to individuals and families who had found themselves in hard times. He helped serve the Disabled American Veterans and was a Lifetime Member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH). In 2004 he was named Irishman of the Year by its Pittsburgh Chapter. He was twice elected as a Wilmerding councilman. Edward was visiting his son in Pleasanton, California, where he died peacefully this past Friday morning due to complications surrounding pulmonary fibrosis. His life was one of quiet leadership by example, and his passing will be deeply felt by all who knew him. Friends received at JAMES F. FILIA FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION SERVICES, 354 Marguerite Ave., Wilmerding on Mon. 6-8 p.m. and Tues. from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial at St. Jude the Apostle Church on Wed. at 10 a.m.

This may be found there.

Edward James Deenihan RIP. pic.twitter.com/03QdJGWmGa

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) May 1, 2015

My father-in-law died last night, he was 96. When I think of him I think of someone who is the kind of person who held this country together: loyal husband, father, grandfather, Goodyear industrial tire employee, Hibernian society member, and mostly importantly member of his local Roman Catholic Church. He not only attended Bible study and worship regularly, he even (still) participated in spiritual retreats in recent years.

I continue to deny any knowledge whatsoever of the people in this photograph.

Since a number of you were kind enough to inquire, Elizabeth and I went out to eat at the new Five Loaves Cafe in Summerville, South Carolina. For those of who in the South Carolina Lowcountry (or for any who plan to visit) I can recommend it highly–the food, ambience and service were excellent. We later went to the movie Kingsman:The Secret Service–we had heard that is was “fun,” and indeed it was!

No point in pretending–your blog host is 55 today, the above a recent picture at an event in Columbia, South Carolina

Above all the gospel accounts of Easter compel our attention. “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” One version of this wonderful day begins with a voice of negation, a crucial question which many people never answer. Are we looking for love in all the wrong places? Are we clinging to earthly things and forgetting those things which do not pass away?

Then we hear “come and see.” To see with the full eyes of one’s heart is a rare thing indeed. So many times in life we look but do not see, do not perceive as God perceives. The power of the post-resurrection narratives is that each person is met on his or her terms. What wondrous love is that, as the Holy Spirit by his power opens our eyes.
The dynamic does not stop with the question and the call to see, however. If we really see who God is and his power to change lives and transform them into the likeness of his glory, we cannot keep it to ourselves.

Where I served my curacy in South Carolina, we had many Clemson football fans; they root for the Tigers whose color is orange. One day I visited a family devoted to Clemson and, I kid you not, even their toilet seat cover was orange. Bless them, they loved to tell the story of a particular University. One wonders whether an Easter people have a similar passion to share Jesus’ love for the world.

He is risen. Why? Come. See. Go. Tell. Alleluia.

”“The Rev. Canon Dr. Kendall S. Harmon is the host of this blog

You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.

You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.

Are human beings born good or born with a volcanic anti-God allergy in their hearts? Answering this theological question is one of THE great challenges for Christians as we stand on the brink of a new millennium.

On one side of the divide stands Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). Men and women “are born free,” he famously said in his Social Contract, yet “everywhere” they are “in chains.” Rousseau believed that we are born good. His explanation for the deep problems in the world? They came to us from outside us. Error and prejudice, murder and treason, were the products of corrupt environments: educational, familial, societal, political, and, yes, ecclesiastical.

Note carefully that the FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM is located outside men and women, and the MEANS of evil developing comes from the outside in. The NATURE of the problem is one of environment and knowledge.

Augustine (354-430) saw things very differently. Describing the decision by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Augustine writes in The City of God: “Our parents fell into open disobedience because they were secretly corrupted; for the evil act had never been done had not an evil will preceded it.” The motive for this evil will was pride. “This is undue exaltation, when the soul abandons Him to whom it ought to cleave as its end, and becomes a kind of end to itself.” By “craving to be more” we “became less;” and “by aspiring to be self-sufficing,” we “fell away from him who truly suffices” us.

For Augustine, men and women as we find them today are creatures curved in on themselves. We are rebels who, rather than curving up and out in worship to God, instead curved in and down into what Malcolm Muggeridge once termed “the dark little dungeon of our own” egos.

In this view the FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM is located inside men and women, and the means of evil developing comes from the inside out (note Jesus’ reasoning in Mark 7:18-23). The NATURE of the problem is one of the will.

The difference between Augustine and Rousseau could not be more stark. In a Western world permeated by Rousseau, we need the courage to return to the challenge and depth of Augustine’s insight.

To do so makes the good news of the gospel even better. Think of Easter. What is the image which Paul uses to describe what occurs when a man or woman turns to Christ? New Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)! Jesus rose to transform the entire created order from the inside out, beginning with our evil wills which he replaces with “a new heart”¦and a new spirit” (Ezekiel 36:26).

Glory Hallelujah!

–Kendall S. Harmon from a piece in 2007

You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.

I believe the hardest job in America today is that of being a Roman Catholic parish priest.

Perhaps the most challenging single job this year is that of Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The spiritual leader of 500,000 people in one of the most heavily Roman Catholic regions in the United States, Hughes, according to the New York Times, had to put together a diocese “in exile.” The task was to reorganize the Archdiocese, including a charitable network and 104 parochial schools, inBaton Rouge. Can you imagine?

“I never thought the Lord was going to ask me to take this on at 72,” said the Archbishop. Indeed.
And here is where faith in the child in the manger comes in. Looking out at all the flooding, devastation, looting and loss, the reporter asked Alfred Hughes whether he still had hope.

He declared: “Absolutely. Absolutely. That is the root of our faith.”

“The most important thing is to not doubt God’s presence and God’s saving and transforming grace,” he continued. “I’m convinced that God is going to purify us through this.”

What a bracing affirmation in the midst of so many who are tempted to soften Christmas into a Hallmark Card these days. “In the bleak midwinter,” Christine Rossetti reminds us, “frosty wind made moan, earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.”

Talk about bleak ”” how about New Orleans after Katrina? Yet the good Archbishop says “I am convinced.” If there can be light in the bleakness of Bethlehem, in the miry initial despair of New Orleans after such a fury of nature, there can ALWAYS be hope. For the light shines in the darkness at Christmas, and the darkness has not and never will overcome it.

–The Rev. Canon Dr. Kendall S. Harmon from 2005

I’m always so glad every year for the 12 days of the Christmas Season- we need time to ponder the mystery and the glory of the incarnation–KSH.

Reposted for Advent from July 23rd, 2012.

Click on link below to see the entire series.
[1] INTRODUCTION TO 1 JOHN

1 John – Lesson 1 , Introduction from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo

[2] BEING CERTAIN OF YOUR FUTURE – 1 JOHN 2:1-17

1 John Lesson 2 from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

[3] BEING DISCERNING – 1 JOHN 2:18-29

1 John Lesson 3 from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

[4] BEING CHILDREN OF GOD – 1 JOHN 3:1-10

1 John Lesson 4 from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo

[5] BEING ACTIVE – 1 JOHN 3:11-24

1 John Lesson 5 from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

[6] BEING MATURE – 1 JOHN 4:1-6

1 John Lesson 6 from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

[7] BEING LOVED – 1 JOHN 4:7-19

1 John Lesson 7 from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

[8] BEING CONFIDENT – 1 JOHN 5:1-5

1 John Lesson 8 from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

[9] CONCLUSION – 1 JOHN 5:6 on

1 John Lesson 9 from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

People in the early twenty-first century seem to struggle to be thankful. One moving story on this topic concerns a seminary student in Evanston, Illinois, who was part of a life-saving squad. On September 8, 1860, a ship called the Lady Elgin went aground on the shore of Lake Michigan near Evanston, and Edward Spencer waded again and again into the frigid waters to rescue 17 passengers. In the process, his health was permanently damaged. Some years later he died in California at the age of 81. In a newspaper notice of his death, it was said that not one of the people he rescued ever thanked him.

Today is a day in which we are to be reminded of our creatureliness, our frailty, and our dependence. One of the clearest ways we may express this is to seek to give thanks in all circumstances (Philippians 4:6).

I am sure today you can find much for which to give thanks: the gift of life, the gift of faith, the joy of friends and family, all those serving in the mission field extending the reach of the gospel around the world, and so much else. I also invite you to consider taking a moment at some point today to write a note of thanksgiving to someone who really made a difference in your life: possibly a teacher, a coach, a mentor, a minister or a parent. You might even write to the parish secretary, the sexton, or the music minister in the parish where you worship; they work very hard behind the scenes.

”“The Rev. Canon Dr. Kendall S. Harmon is the convenor of this blog and takes another opportunity this morning to give thanks for all blog readers and participants and to wish everyone a blessed Thanksgiving

You can listen directly there and and download the mp3 there. Please note the sermon starts 12:00 minutes in after a laywoman’s personal testimony. There is also a video which is used appearing at 31:40, and it can be viewed there.