The financial cost of domestic violence in South Carolina runs to nearly $1 million a day when you add up the burden put on families, courts, law enforcement and the economy, a study conducted by researchers at the University of South Carolina says.

USC economist Dr. Joseph Von Nessen said the spread of domestic violence cost the state approximately $358.4 million in 2020 alone, a sum that victim advocates describe as leaving a “staggering” toll on the state’s health care facilities, businesses, nonprofits and the judicial system.

“Domestic violence does occur in every county in our state,” Von Nessen said Feb. 15 at a Statehouse press conference to discuss details of the findings. “So it is critical for us to make sure that there’s sufficient resources for intervention and support services within reach of all South Carolinians.”

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A new study conducted by researchers at the University of South Carolina says the financial cost of domestic violence in the state runs to nearly $1 million a day. https://t.co/1ZlvxAJDRs

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) February 15, 2022

It was just before Christmas, and Jean H. Toal, then the chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court, was in a bind. She needed an emergency order drawn up, but the courthouse in Columbia, the state capital, was empty. She was relieved to reach someone who assured her, “Chief, I got it.”

It was J. Michelle Childs, then a state circuit court judge who had made a name for herself as one of the most adept on the bench.

“Within an hour she came back to me, and she had a complete order with footnotes and everything,” Judge Toal, now retired, recalled of the day more than a dozen years ago. “Days later, she delivered her child. So, she was über-pregnant and it was right at Christmas time, but she had her work ethic on full steam, as she always did.”

The memory sums up the reputation of Judge Childs, now a Federal District Court judge in South Carolina, who rose through the ranks of state schools, local government and the South Carolina legal system to the short list of potential Supreme Court nominees for President Biden, who has pledged to nominate a Black woman to replace Justice Stephen G. Breyer.

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A Court Candidate With No Ivy On Her Resume

▫Long-shot contender whose background may prove helpful
▫@EricaLG @EricaLG▫https://t.co/e0jOis1zRR @nytimes #frontpagestoday #USA pic.twitter.com/V9aVZIx8O3

— (@ukpapers) February 10, 2022

The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina gathered in Florence, SC, the evening of February 4, 2022, to celebrate the ministry of, and express their deep and abiding affection for both the Rt. Rev. Mark J. Lawrence, who has served as their Bishop for the last 14 years and his wife, Allison.

Bishop Lawrence will officially step down from his role in March following the consecration of the Very Rev. Chip Edgar.

The evening began with a reception at St. John’s Church, Florence, which preceded the program at The Florence Performing Arts Center.

The Rev. Shay Gaillard, Rector of The Parish Church of St. Helena, Beaufort, and President of the Diocesan Standing Committee, and his wife, Tara, served as the emcees.

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One Word Clergy Describe Bishop Lawrence from The Anglican Diocese of SC on Vimeo.

Listen to it all or there is more there if you so desire.

Old Man in Prayer #rembrandt #baroque pic.twitter.com/qa2U7KS2u9

— Rembrandt (@artistrembrandt) February 2, 2022

Listen to it all or there is more there if you so desire.

Art:
The Beatitudes Sermon
By
James Tissot
Brooklyn Museum, 1890#ReligiousArt pic.twitter.com/V66n7WT9YF

— Kalina Boulter (@KalinaBoulter) September 9, 2020

Twenty-three long months after the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in South Carolina, there’s reason to hope the current surge of the pandemic may be shorter-lived than previous waves.

While omicron continues to ravage the state, an epidemiologist with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control acknowledged this week South Carolina may soon be turning a corner.

“We have begun seeing some incremental decreases in the counts and rates of cases during the surge,” said Brannon Traxler, with DHEC. “While numbers of cases have still been increasing, they’ve been increasing at a lesser rate over the last couple of weeks or so. This is certainly promising.”

Even so, she said, “it may be too early to say that we’ve peaked or are nearing the end of the surge.”

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According to Google Trends, the use of search terms such as "endemic" and "end of pandemic" have risen sharply this past month.

Everyone is clearly ready for this thing to be over. Experts say that doesn't mean it is.https://t.co/4wWeBhqtbd

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) January 29, 2022

We recently learned we missed the news (announced this past summer) that the Rev. Arthur Jenkins, Rector of Saint James, Charleston, intends to retire on June 5, 2022. In a note to the congregation he wrote, in part, “God willing, I have been called and allowed, challenged and blessed to serve as the Rector of Saint James Anglican Church for the past 24 years. It has been an amazing journey. It has been as the journey of Abraham and Sarah in Genesis. Day by day we have traveled to a place God has shown us. We have shared life and ministry in the Name of Jesus Christ. Now, God willing, on June 5th, Pentecost Sunday this year I will retire as rector of Saint James Anglican Church. It will be the 31st anniversary of my ordination and my joining you as your assistant in 1991. You are the people with whom I began this great journey of ordained ministry. You are the people that together we will move on to our next season of life and ministry as, God willing, you will welcome your next rector.”

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Today is the 14th Anniversary of the Consecration of Bishop Mark Lawrence! We give thanks for his leadership & his ministry among us! If you haven't yet, we encourage you to sign up for the Evening with the Lawrences, which will be held February 4. https://t.co/uOiBn3vQhu #ADOSC pic.twitter.com/0R1Od3rZhW

— Anglican Diocese of SC (@anglican_sc) January 26, 2022

Ask most local restaurateurs, and they’ll tell you that staff shortages have been hampering Charleston restaurants for the past five to 10 years.

The COVID-19 pandemic turned the problem into a crisis, and the omicron variant reminded restaurateurs how ongoing staffing struggles, coupled with positive cases, impact daily operations.

In Charleston, King Street’s Monza Pizza Bar has been closed since Nov. 6 “due to acute staffing shortages.” Smallish places like The Pass, a 647-square-foot sandwich shop, have changed operations to limit guest interactions. In Beaufort, a sign from the city’s hospitality association cautions patrons that local small businesses are extremely short staffed.

In the first week of January in the Charleston area, Chasing Sage, Jackrabbit Filly, Berkeley’s, Wild Olive, Estadio and Home Team BBQ, among others, closed for at least one day due to COVID-19 concerns or to give overworked employees extra time to decompress.

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Ask most local restaurateurs, and they’ll tell you that staff shortages have been hampering Charleston restaurants for the past five to 10 years.https://t.co/4n3MaLAmI3

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) January 18, 2022

‘“It’s ‘You can’t destroy my spirit,’” Cone told the magazine. ”‘I have a forgiving spirit because that’s what God created me to be.’”

Thompson’s message doesn’t let Whites off the hook. White people must repent, he said. Though today’s White Americans haven’t participated in slavery, they reap the benefits, which are seen in today’s social and economic inequities, Thompson said.

Thompson, who was the speaker for this year’s MLK ecumenical service at Greater St. Luke AME on Jan. 16, sees a connection between his message and King’s philosophy of nonviolence. In his sermon “The Meaning of Forgiveness,” King preached that he saw forgiveness as the solution to the nation’s “race problem.” King saw forgiveness as a “weapon of social redemption.”

Similar to King, Thompson feels that forgiveness can bring about racial healing.

“Martin Luther King Jr. once said: ‘We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love,’” Thompson said at the service.’

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The Rev. Anthony Thompson has reached thousands with his message of forgiveness and his belief in its power to lead toward racial healing.

The message is, in part, influenced by King. But it largely stems from Thompson's personal experience.https://t.co/lAepCHWpZm

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) January 17, 2022

Listen to it all or there is more there if you so desire.

En ce dimanche, fête du Baptême du Christ dans le
Jourdain

Et belle Téophanie aux Orthodoxes.

Ici, fresque de Pietro della Francesca (fin XVe s.) pic.twitter.com/a2IUu84gvT

— AcierEtTranchées (@AcierEt) January 9, 2022

The same thing happens to Father Kendall Harmon every year during the 12 days after the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

It happens with newcomers at his home parish, Christ-St. Paul’s in Yonges Island, South Carolina, near Charleston. It often happens when, as Canon Theologian, he visits other parishes in the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina.

“I greet people and say ‘Merry Christmas!’ all the way through the 12 days” of the season, he said, laughing. “They look at me like I’m a Martian or I’m someone who is lost. … So many people just don’t know there’s more Christmas after Christmas Day.”

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Bright bonfires to mark end of the 12 days of Christmas season https://t.co/R65BgXK4gr #epiphany #christmas #parishministry pic.twitter.com/zDxsWREYZv

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) January 7, 2022

Listen to it all or there is more there if you so desire.

Night nativity. Starring ox & ass. Baby J rather small and quite hard to find. But follow the light! By Hans Baldung Grien, whose day was today. pic.twitter.com/iIHfdJcQKl

— Dr. Peter Paul Rubens (@PP_Rubens) September 23, 2020

Listen to it all or there is more there if you so desire.

Today's pick: Rogier van der Weyden: John the Baptist https://t.co/T2J2vnlzAk pic.twitter.com/9lPjzGIAUd

— Art and the Bible (@artbible) December 6, 2021

Chief Justice Donald Beatty acknowledged the befuddlement in the legal dispute, which involves dozens of parishes that stretch from the Lowcountry to the Grand Strand. The properties are valued at roughly $500 million.

“I’d like to apologize for any confusion the court created in its multiple opinions in this case,” Beatty said. “It’s obvious we weren’t clear as to what we wanted you all to do, and what was meant by that opinion….”

Clarification around the Supreme Court’s initial [2017] decision was needed since the case involved five separate decisions.

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SC Supreme Court hears oral arguments involving Episcopal Church splithttps://t.co/fEVVh24r7r

— Holy City Sinner (@HolyCitySinner) December 9, 2021

If anything remained clear at the conclusion, it was this: the current Justices will have to do the homework of looking carefully at all the documentary evidence in the record in order to feel comfortable with any final ruling they make. There has been too much legal bias and posturing in the past — like the claim that All Saints Waccamaw was no longer the law in South Carolina, when it clearly was; or like the claim that the Court was required to “defer” to the unilateral decisions by ECUSA in matters of property law (as opposed to religious doctrine).

The reason for much of that bias and posturing, it has to be said, should be laid at the feet of the now recused, but in 2017 highly partisan, Justice Kaye Hearn — aided and abetted by retired Justice Pleicones. Together, their unified front against (former) Chief Justice Toal seems to have deprived her of the command of the law and the authority she wielded to great effect in achieving the unanimous decision eight years before, in the All Saints Waccamaw case. They appear to have determined that she not be allowed to treat ECUSA in the same fashion again, and alas, if that was their goal, they succeeded. Fortunately, that success may not be lasting, if the current justices prove up to the evidentiary task before them.

Trying to make the Court’s work less burdensome, by having the parties pare down the record, Chief Justice Beatty admitted at the end, had been a mistake. The complex cannot be made simple in that way. There will be no easy out for this Court, and I predict we will have to wait a good many months for a consensus to emerge. Given the facts as we all know them from the history of the last twenty-odd years, there is no reason, in my humble opinion, why there should not be another 5-0 decision in this case.

Read it carefully and read it all and make sure to take the time to follow the links.

Yesterday’s Oral Arguments Before the #SouthCarolina Supreme Court in the long running between the brand new TEC in SC dispute with the traditional Anglican Diocese of SC https://t.co/AKHDHU7YVV #law #anglican #parishministry #religion #realestate #history #lowcountrylife TK pic.twitter.com/cvScKMITYf

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) December 9, 2021

The Rt. Rev. Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina, watched remotely in Columbia, SC, near the proceedings and met with the attorneys afterward. “I am grateful for the outstanding work of our legal team, and I ask the people of the diocese to continue holding all concerned in your prayers,” said Bishop Woodliff-Stanley.

The South Carolina Supreme Court is expected to respond to today’s hearing after a careful weighing of the issues before them, including the information they learned today. There is no expected timeline for a response.

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…[Wednesday] the South Carolina Supreme Court heard the appeal of Judge Edgar W. Dickson’s interpretation of the high court’s 2017 ruling. On June 19, 2020, South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Edgar W. Dickson granted the motion by the Plaintiffs (The Anglican Diocese of S.C. and Parishes) for clarification and other relief related to the August 2017 ruling of the South Carolina Supreme Court. That ruling had the rare character of consisting of five separate opinions (the “Collective Opinions”). Judge Dickson’s clarification determined that the disassociated parishes and The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina are, “affirmed as the title owners in fee simple absolute of their respective parish real properties.”

The Episcopal Church’s (TEC) arguments at that time that the Dennis Canon alone, or the Canon in conjunction with various pledges of allegiance and the like were sufficient to create a trust under South Carolina law were rejected. Judge Dickson’s ruling clarified the Collective Opinions, explaining that, “the Dennis Canon by itself does not create a legally cognizable trust, nor does it transfer title to property.” This affirmed that those congregations that followed state non-profit guidelines for their disassociation from TEC retained all their real and personal property.

TEC appealed this interpretation of the Courts 2017 collective opinions in July 2020, not on the basis of Judge Dickson’s legal arguments, but only on the assertion that he had no authority to provide any interpretation. Their argument is that his only possible role was to simply enforce what they assert the Court had ruled.

In today’s hearing, the justices were very active in their questioning. The time allotted to both sides legal counsel was exceeded because of the extensive questioning.

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ACNA: SC Supreme Court hears TEC appeal of Judge Dickson’s interpretation of 2017 collective opinionshttps://t.co/OKYtH6l9ZQ pic.twitter.com/JJ1AgZJyL6

— Anglican Ink (@anglicanink) December 9, 2021

Watch and listen to it all (about 1.5 hours). For some crucial background information, please see all the information and links provided there. The single most important thing constantly to remember about the original 2017 ruling is then Chief Justice Toal’s statement: ‘As I stated at the outset, this is unfortunately a difficult case leading us to five
different, strongly-held opinions…we all write separately‘ (footnote 72). For those who wish to reread the 2017 SC Supreme Court decision please see there.

Exciting day today! CPCC paralegal students are visiting the South Carolina Supreme Court to watch oral arguments & have a q & a session with the justices and attorneys after the arguments. What a great opportunity! pic.twitter.com/K89n18uGd6

— Keith Shannon (@KeithShannon8) February 12, 2020

Listen to it all and there is more there.

'Ezra in prayer', Book of Ezra 9:6. Engraving by Gustave Doré pic.twitter.com/xjovJG5igr

— Y💖Philippians2:10-11📖Romans12:2✨#Anti-idolatry🔥 (@doorzienigheid) December 30, 2020