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Matt Riley, a second-year student at Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Conn., helps lead “The Left Behind,” a club of atheists and agnostics at one of the nation’s premier training grounds for clergy.

Along with co-leader Christy Groves, Riley has given nonbelievers a place of their own on a campus that explores belief. He chose divinity school, he says, to obtain an “inside view.” The club fosters dialogue between non-Christians and Christians on campus and staged “Div School Idol,” a takeoff on American Idol in the chapel last spring.

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According to prior testimony, Virginia Bishop Peter J. Lee was ready to accept buyouts from the 11 departing churches, several of which sat on historic pieces of property in Fairfax and Falls Church. That changed after he met with the new presiding bishop soon after her Nov. 4, 2006, installation.

“I told Bishop Lee I could not support negotiations for sale if the congregations intended to set up as other parts of the Anglican Communion,” Bishop Jefferts Schori said, referring to the 77 million-member worldwide body of which the Episcopal Church is a part.

What particularly angered her, she said, was the presence of the Nigerian-controlled Convocation of Anglicans in North America, then headquartered in Fairfax. An American bishop for CANA, the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns, had been consecrated that August.

CANA’s presence “violates the ancient principle of the church that two bishops do not have jurisdiction in the same area,” said the presiding bishop, whose face appeared on three screens positioned around the courtroom.

Under further questioning by attorneys for CANA, she said that had the property been sold to a Methodist or Baptist congregation, she would not have objected.

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John Yates, among others, took the stand. Check it out.

The link is here

For the agenda and documents, see the Convention page on the diocesan Web site.

Here is the motion:

Whereas the Diocese of Niagara wishes to express to the House of Bishops and the
Council of General Synod the conviction that we believe that God is calling us to move
forward now; to wait before the faithful relationships of our gay and lesbian members
are blessed by the Church would be unloving and cause further pain and suffering
and
Whereas the Diocese of Niagara respects and honours those within our Diocese who,
because of their theological position or as a matter of conscience, cannot agree with
the blessings of same sex unions.
Be it resolved:
That this Synod request the Bishop to allow clergy, whose conscience permits, to
bless the duly solemnized and registered civil marriages between same-sex
couples, where at least one party is baptized, and to authorize rites for such
blessings.
Mover: The Reverend Canon Dr. Margaret Murray
St. Matthias, Guelph
Seconder: Ms. Marilyn Robbins
St. James, Dundas

A webcast of the Bishop’s Address is here.

The perjury case against former Giants star Barry Bonds is built on documents seized in a federal raid on a Burlingame steroids lab and positive drug test results indicating that baseball’s all-time home run king used steroids, court records show.

Bonds, perhaps the greatest hitter of his generation, was indicted Thursday on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. He is accused of lying under oath in December 2003 when he told the grand jury that investigated the BALCO steroid ring that he had never used banned drugs.

The 43-year-old free-agent outfielder faces arraignment Dec. 7 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, months of legal proceedings – and a federal prison term of about 30 months if he is convicted at trial, legal experts said.

In the indictment, federal prosecutors said Bonds lied when he denied using a long list of banned drugs, including steroids, testosterone, human growth hormone and “the clear,” the undetectable designer steroid marketed by BALCO.

Bonds also lied when he testified that his longtime personal trainer, Greg Anderson, had never injected him with drugs, the government contended. The trainer, who was imprisoned for contempt of court after he refused to testify against Bonds, was freed Thursday night, hours after Bonds’ indictment was unsealed.

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Clueless Barry Bonds and the Juiced Sox Scandal of 2007.

Yeah, it’s that bad.

Not since the fixed World Series of 1919 has baseball been in such a fix, its most accomplished player indicted Thursday for lying about cheating his way to its most glamorous record.

United States of America v. Barry Lamar Bonds.

United States of America v. Its Own Doggone National Pastime.

Yeah, it’s that awful.

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From biblical times Communion is a key word in church history meaning a fellowship of Christians devoted to the apostles teaching. The Anglican Communion, mirroring the Commonwealth, is a network of independent church provinces, giving a position of honour to the Archbishop of Canterbury, just as the Commonwealth sees the Queen as its symbolic focus of unity, and until now the Communion has relied upon strong bonds of mutual affection to hold it together.

Sadly, that seems no longer to be the case. There’s now talk of one province or another being expelled from the Communion if they don’t change their ways; and the argument that their ways make perfect sense in the context in which their church is set, no longer convinces all the members. There’s a demand for club rules, dignified by being called a Covenant. Fine perhaps, if they merely spell out the kind of behaviour expected in this family – less fine if they result in the stern demand – “Go and never darken our doorstep again” – for the family rules are not the family; as Groucho Marx also said, “A child of five would understand this – send someone to fetch a child of five.”

Read the whole reflection.

Members of the Episcopal Church of Liberia are expected in the central region of the country to elect a new Bishop this Saturday at the Epiphany Chapel on the campus of the Cuttington University College in Suakoko, Bong County.

The election of the church’s new Bishop which should have been held last year was postponed by incumbent Bishop Edward W. Neufville on grounds that the retirement age of bishop was extended from 65 to 70.

Consequently, Bishop Neufville celebrates his 70th birth anniversary Friday while the election for a new bishop for the Diocese takes place Saturday.

According to some members who are desperate to elect a new bishop, the Episcopal Church which was established in 1822 in Cape Palmas, Maryland County, Southeast of Liberia by missionaries from the United States has retrogressed since the death of the late Archbishop George D. Brown in the early 1990s.

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“We are not going to cross boundaries in this. If [dioceses] want to leave, then they’ve made their decision, and the doors are open ”” but only those who have taken the steps to walk away from the Episcopal Church,” he emphasised. The three Forward in Faith (FiF) dioceses of Fort Worth, Quincy, and San Joaquin confirmed at the FiF international conference in London last month that conversations about affiliating with an overseas province were “very far along” (News, 26 October).

When asked if it made any difference whether disaffected dioceses joined the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) or the Province of the Southern Cone, Bishop Venables said there was “No difference whatsoever. We just feel we’re here to help, and they decide where they’d like to find a home. People are free to choose. If a decision is to be made, we want it to be an accountable and shared decision that we all make, not just an unravelling that happens because circumstances take it that way.”

The Bishops of the Southern Cone have justified their action as a response to a “deep and desperate crisis”. They have cited the absence of references, in the US bishops’ response to the Primates from New Orleans, to Lambeth resolution 1:10 on human sexuality, and to the Anglican Covenant. They also cite the Episcopal Church’s continuing “blessing of what God seeks to redeem”; increasing lawsuits; disregard of the needs of orthodox parishes; and failure to provide alternative oversight.

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Here is one:

To the Editor:

Thomas L. Friedman’s column hits the nail right on the head. For the last 30 years, since Walter F. Mondale suffered a landslide defeat for having the courage to pledge to raise taxes in order to close the budget deficit, our national leaders have refused to show similar courage in addressing any difficult issue ”” from the need for a gasoline tax to cut our dependence on foreign oil to the need to cut benefits or raise taxes to resolve the crisis in the Social Security system.

The politicians’ lack of courage is regrettable but understandable, since they all want to get elected. What is more regrettable and completely incomprehensible is how the voting public and the media allow our leaders to get away with such cowardice. If we continue to allow the candidates in both parties to tell us only what we want to hear instead of the truth that we need to hear, we will deserve the inept leadership that we will get.

Avi Moskowitz
West Hempstead, N.Y., Nov. 15, 2007

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Benedict XVI will make his first visit to the USA as pope next year, going to the 9/11 Ground Zero site, addressing the United Nations and saying Masses at baseball stadiums in Washington and New York.
Nearly 300 bishops stood to applaud after the pope’s U.S. representative, Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Pietro Sambi, announced the plans Monday at the opening session of the three-day fall meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The visit, set for April 15-20, will coincide with Benedict’s 81st birthday and the third anniversary of his papal election. As a cardinal, he visited the USA twice.

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The dollar is under siege. This time the assailants are not just currency traders. They are the likes of supermodel Gisele Bundchen, who prefers not to be paid with it, and rapper Jay-Z, who palms a wad of 500 euro notes in his latest video.

It may be easy to shrug this off. What lingerie models think about global economic trends might be even more insignificant than what movie stars think about presidential candidates. At last word, Bundchen’s boyfriend, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, was still accepting his paychecks in dollars. And if Europeans want to circulate a 500 euro note that becomes international drug dealers’ currency of choice, so be it.

But when pop culture starts dissing the dollar, smug dismissal is not such a good idea. The falling buck ”” now worth less than the Canadian dollar and down 40% against the euro ”” hits middle America hard by making everything from steel to gasoline more expensive.

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Makes the heart really glad–don’t miss it.

Western Oregon Episcopalians are buzzing since their bishop, the Rt. Rev. Johncy Itty, decided after four years that it’s time to start searching for his successor.

Itty, who at 40 was the youngest Episcopal bishop when he was elected in 2003, caused the stir at the diocese’s annual convention in early November. He thanked God for his years here and said his decision is “in recognition of personal, professional and family needs.”

In an interview this week, he said he wanted to give a “heads up” so the transition wouldn’t be a surprise. He said he has no particular plans about what he’ll do next. The entire selection process, which can take two years, won’t start until January.

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American dioceses that wish to quit the Episcopal Church will be welcomed into the Church of the Province of the Southern Cone.

The South American general synod, meeting Nov 4-8 at St. Paul’s Church in Valparaíso, Chile, agreed to adopt stray dioceses and ecclesial entities from the North American churches. The vote marks an intensification in the Anglican Communion’s wars over doctrine and discipline as for the first time, ecclesial entities, not just individuals, have been offered a theological refuge.

Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables, who was reelected to a new term as primate by the synod, told The Church of England Newspaper the offer of refuge simply recognized the existing splits within the Church. The Southern Cone was not precipitating a crisis and invading the Episcopal Church, he explained last month, but was offering a safe haven within the Anglican Communion for those wishing to flee.

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Via email:

November 14, 2007– Savannah, Georgia””Today the chancellor of Christ Church released the following statement regarding the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia’s complaint regarding the status of property owned by Christ Church.

Christ Church Chancellor Neil Creasy offered the following, “While we are disappointed, we are not entirely surprised that Bishop Louttit has taken this action against us, because the national Episcopal Church has been using actual and threatened litigation to attempt to intimidate orthodox parishes nationwide. Contrary to the claims of the Diocese, Christ Church continues to own its real estate and other property as it always has. Christ Church continues to operate as an historic Anglican parish, faithful to Holy Scripture and the historic doctrine and discipline as understood by Anglicans (including Episcopalians) for nearly five hundred years. Its rector and clergy continue to serve as fully recognized Anglican priests and deacons.

“We find such aggressive legal action a departure from Christian charity, and continue to pray for the Diocese of Georgia and Bishop Louttit that a more reasonable way forward may be forthcoming. Nevertheless, we are fully prepared to defend the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to defend our property if the Episcopal Church and its local representatives try to silence us by trying to take it.

“At this point, the Diocese of Georgia has not communicated with us directly about the actual filing of this lawsuit, and our present response is based on media reports only. We will reserve further comment until such a time that we can thoroughly review the legal documents as they become available to us.”

I had high hopes for Katharine Jefferts Schori when she was elected Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the USA. Although she appeared to be on the extreme ”˜left’ of the Anglican spectrum in many of her actions and statements, it was clear that here was a person of great depth, and a hinterland beyond church politics. There was a possibility at one stage that she might even attempt to lead the Episcopal Church into a process of reconciliation internally and with the Anglican Communion, at least temporarily stalling the lemming-like dash of her Church into heterodox oblivion.

It seems I was mistaken. So far she has shown the same adaptability of her predecessor. Like Bishop Frank Griswold she’s signed statements at Primates’ Meetings and then gone on to reject them in every particular. It always struck me as the height of absurdity that Bishop Griswold could sign the Primates’ Communiqué from the October 2003 meeting of the Primates, warning his own Church that to consecrate Gene Robinson would result in the ”˜tearing of the fabric’ of the Communion and then to preside at the consecration of Robinson himself only a month or two later. His adaptability owed itself to his oft-expressed belief in ”˜pluriform truths’. Consequently, he could enter into the opposing truths of the Primates, and the Episcopal Church, simultaneously. Most people would call this duplicity, his defenders would probably call it ”˜postmodernism’.
Interestingly enough, while ditching the nauseating term ”˜pluriform’, Katharine Jefferts Schori has taken a similar trajectory. At the Primates’ Tanzania meeting she assented to a communiqué calling on the Episcopal Church to put in place moratoria on same-sex blessings and consecrations, to cease lawsuits, and to provide a system of ”˜alternative primatial oversight’ which reported to an international Anglican panel, of which she herself would be a member. Months later, it turns out, that she didn’t mean this at all. Sure, the American House of Bishops have promised some restraint over elections of practicing homosexual bishops, but they’ve said nothing meaningful about either samesex blessings or instituted any real changes to their system of ”˜extended’ Episcopal visitation which is rejected by the very people it is intended to serve. But the area in which she has most betrayed the very same statement which she once signed up to, is on the matter of lawsuits. It feels impossible to keep count of the number of priests deposed by dioceses, or the number of disputes over property throughout the Episcopal Church. The biggest, of course, will be over dioceses extricating themselves from the Episcopal Church and linking to other Anglican provinces. It seems clear that Southern Cone is preparing to take dioceses under their wing, but there may also be African provinces prepared to offer similar ”˜oversight’ to so-called ”˜network’ dioceses. These dioceses argue that to be part of the Episcopal Church is a voluntary agreement, and testify that the diocese is the fundamental unit of the Church and the Bishop’s link to the Anglicanism through the recognition of the Archbishop of Canterbury is unrelated to the Provincial structures. So far three dioceses: San Joaquin, Fort Worth and Pittsburgh have taken steps to remove clauses relating to unqualified accession to the constitution and canons of the Episcopal Church from their own diocesan constitutions. These steps require votes at two diocesan conventions. It is by no means certain that these moves at the second convention will gain the required votes, but Presiding Bishop Schori is out to get them.
In recent open letters to the dioceses she has threatened the bishops with deposition, under the almost summary procedure of a canon on the abandonment of communion. The canon is a housekeeping exercise, a way of deposing priests, and bishops separately who have already departed the Episcopal Church to another church completely. There is no trial, no ecclesiastical court, just a determination of abandonment of communion by a communion, a period of two months to recant, a hearing at the House of Bishops and a vote by the bishops. Ordinarily this canon shouldn’t be used until a bishop has actually departed communion, but the Presiding Bishop intends to use this measure, rather than presentment and a trial of a bishop, in order to hasten matters along. She will then declare the dioceses vacant, gather the parishes which remain loyal and have them elect a new bishop. Furthermore, it is the intention of the Episcopal Church to make sure that no churches, or dioceses, align themselves to any other part of the Anglican Communion and take their property with them. So the path she has chosen is not to seek reconciliation and peace with priests and bishops opposed to the direction of the Episcopal Church but to threaten them – thereby alienating them further. There is no doubt that this will be read widely as a further abandonment of the Anglican Communion by the Episcopal Church. But it may also be a sign that at last their true colours are being revealed and the dominant liberal faction in the Episcopal Church is resigned to accepting the logic of their position and going it alone.

–This article appears in the Church of England Newspaper, November 16, 2007 edition, page 12

Late one night last year, while her husband was an Army scout in Iraq, Melissa Storey sat in the quiet of her bedroom to write President Bush a letter. She wanted him to know “we believed in him.” And after Staff Sgt. Clint Storey, 30, was killed by a roadside bomb, his widow put pen to paper again.

“I felt like I needed to let him know I don’t hate him because my husband is dead,” Mrs. Storey said, “that I don’t blame him for Clint dying over there.”

The correspondence did not go unnoticed. In May, Mrs. Storey received a surprise telephone call from the White House inviting her to a Memorial Day reception there. As she mingled at the elegant gathering, too nervous to eat, her 5-year-old daughter clutching her dress, her infant son cradled in her arms, a military aide appeared. The president wanted to see her in the Oval Office.

The Storeys, of Palmer, Mass., joined a growing list of bereaved families granted a private audience with the commander in chief. As Mr. Bush forges ahead with the war in Iraq, these “families of the fallen,” as the White House calls them, are one constituency he can still count on, a powerful reminder to an unpopular president that even in the face of heartbreaking loss, some still believe he is doing the right thing.

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