If there is a shame here, it’s a national shame ”” a failure of our puritanical society to accept and deal with the facts. Teenagers have sex. How often and how safely depends on how much knowledge and support they have. Crossing our fingers that they won’t cross the line is not an intelligent strategy.

To wit, our ridiculous experiment in abstinence-only education seems to be winding down with a study finding that it didn’t work. States are opting out of it. Parents don’t like it either. According to a 2004 survey sponsored by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, 65 percent of parents of high school students said that federal money “should be used to fund more comprehensive sex education programs that include information on how to obtain and use condoms and other contraceptives.”

We need to take some bold steps beyond the borders of our moralizing and discomfort and create a sex education infrastructure that actually acknowledges reality and protects our children from unwanted pregnancies, or worse

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Dear All,

Thanks so much for your love and prayers during the run-up to Gustav. Much of the impact area is still without power. We quipped — but not joked! — after Katrina that FEMA should put the Southern Baptists in charge. Well apparently they heard us. The Southern Baptists have taken over our parking lot at Annunciation and are cooking 4,000 meals a day. These are being distributed through the Salvation Army. You can see pics of the massive operation up on our website: www.annunciationbroadmoor.org

Just checked the weather blogs (www.wunderground.com) and Ike looks to be heading into the Gulf. We could be heading home next week just in time for another evacuation. Please keep the prayers coming! We don’t like Ike! Know of our prayers daily,

jerry+ op

P.S. Thanks again for all who so generously hit the Pay Pal button so we could afford gas and evacuation supplies. Couldn’t have made it without you . . . literally!!!

The Reverend Jerry and Stacy Kramer
Church of the Annunciation, New Orleans, LA 70125

Check out our websites: Church www.annunciationbroadmoor.orgMission www.annunciationmission.org

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s letter said the Lambeth Conference had “”¦no appetite for revising Resolution 1.10 of Lambeth 1998” ”“ the resolution that this very same diocese [of New Westminster] unilaterally defied by proceeding with same sex blessings only a few short years after this Resolution was passed. And, despite repeated affirmations by the Primates of the Communion’s position on this matter and calls for repentance, the diocese has continued to disregard these calls. Instead, the Diocese seeks to evict all clergy and congregations who wish to remain faithful to Lambeth Resolution 1.10 ”“ and historic Christian doctrine.

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s letter said the Conference showed “”¦much support for the idea of a ”˜Pastoral Forum’ as a means of addressing present and future tensions”¦” Last week’s action by the Diocese of New Westminster shows yet again that unless this Pastoral Forum provides immediate, equal or greater protection from such dioceses there can be no reasonable expectation of adequate safety. This is even more significant given the stated objective of the Pastoral Forum is to build trust.

These hostile actions by the diocese once again underscore the non-equivalency of the three moratoria called for by the Windsor Continuation Group. The causal relationship behind these actions must be acknowledged and the remedy adjusted appropriately. It is the actions by the Anglican Church of Canada and its dioceses as well as by the Episcopal Church that are causing faithful parishes to flee to safety. These must be addressed and the breaches of trust repaired before provincial incursions can possibly cease let alone be reversed.

The unwillingness of the revisionist provinces and dioceses to accept the repeated offers of negotiation and mediation shows a commitment to power and property above reconciliation. While the aggressive hostile assaults and litigation continues, trust cannot be restored.

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The conference was successful in accomplishing the agenda of not talking about the moral and theological vacuum the church has become, [Jeff] Garrety said.

“The archbishop has never spoken out against those married homosexual priests,” he said. “Silence on a subject usually means agreement. And the vast majority of the Anglican Communion believes the opposite of him.”

Rev. Sean Ferrell said from his understanding of what happened, the conference was a success. Ferrell is rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

The archbishop designed the Lambeth conference’s format in a way to build relationships, Ferrell said.

“He organized it so bishops could engage and talk together and meet together over Bible studies,” he said. “As a result, after spending time together and studying the scriptures together, the bishops didn’t do any fighting.”

The meeting deepened the relationships of the bishops in the Anglican Communion, Ferrell said.

“Now they have a deeper and stronger relationship with bishops in other provinces in the Anglican Communion,” he said. “I find that to be a positive development.”

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George O. Wood, who leads the Assemblies of God from its headquarters in Springfield, Mo., said Palin should not be expected to be responsible for, or supportive of, words of Pentecostal pastors any more than Obama should be held responsible for his spiritual leader.

“I don’t think that’s fair,” he said.

A.G. Miller, associate professor of religion at Oberlin College and an Ohio pastor of a small Pentecostal church, said: “Obviously, politics is not always fair. … It makes you even think twice about whether you want to put your sermons online.”

Several churches cited for ties to Palin have posted statements online extolling her leadership but saying they cannot speak for her or endorse her.

Palin, at the appearance last June at Wasilla Assembly of God, jokingly referred to her travels around the state as governor, when pastors might warn her that she might be surprised by the raising of hands or clapping in a congregation she visits.

“I say, I grew up at Wasilla Assembly of God,” she said. “Nothing freaks me out about the worship service.”

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A new organization has formed in Kansas City called the Society of Our Lady of Hope offering guidance, comfort and support to local Anglican Communion members who wish to become Catholics.

Beginning Sunday, September 7 and continuing through November, society members will celebrate the Liturgy of the Word each week at St. Therese Little Flower parish in Kansas City using the Book of Divine Worship – the Catholic Church-approved liturgy for Catholics with an Episcopalian or Anglican background.

Each week until December 1, the first Sunday of Advent, the liturgy will be followed by a talk on some aspect of the Catholic faith. If all goes as planned, the full Anglican Use Mass will begin on that date at St. Therese’s.

Speakers will include Bishop Emeritus Raymond Boland and former Episcopal priest Mat Teel and every talk is open to the public.

“I get excited about these things,” says Jude Huntz of Gladstone, who is helping coordinate the process. “I get emotional. I guess I’m in the right business.”

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The Treasury Department is putting the finishing touches to a plan designed to shore up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that would essentially result in a government takeover of the mortgage giants.

The plan is expected to involve putting the two companies into the conservatorship of their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said several people familiar with the matter. That would mean the government would take the reins of the companies, at least temporarily.

It is also expected to involve the government injecting capital into Fannie and Freddie. That could happen gradually on a quarter-by-quarter basis, rather than in a single move, one person familiar with the matter said.

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Update: The Washington post has more there.

A week ago, most Americans had never heard of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Now, following a Vice Presidential acceptance speech viewed live by more than 40 million people, Palin is viewed favorably by 58% of American voters. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 37% hold an unfavorable view of the self-described hockey mom.

The figures include 40% with a Very Favorable opinion of Palin and 18% with a Very Unfavorable view (full demographic crosstabs are available for Premium Members). Before her acceptance speech, Palin was viewed favorably by 52%. A week ago, 67% had never heard of her.

The new data also shows significant increases in the number who say McCain made the right choice and the number who say Palin is ready to be President. Generally, John McCain’s choice of Palin earns slightly better reviews than Barack Obama’s choice of Joe Biden.

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The nation’s unemployment rate zoomed to a five-year high of 6.1 percent in August as employers slashed 84,000 jobs, dramatic proof of the mounting damage a deeply troubled economy is inflicting on workers and businesses alike.

The Labor Department’s report, released Friday, showed the increasing toll the housing, credit and financial crises are taking on the economy.

The report rattled Wall Street again. The Dow Jones industrial average was down about 40 points in midday trading. All the major stock indexes tumbled into bear territory Thursday as investors lost hope of a late-year recovery. With the employment situation deteriorating, there’s growing worry that consumers will recoil, throwing the economy into a tailspin later this year or early next year.

The jobless rate jumped to 6.1 percent in August, from 5.7 percent in July. And, employers cut payrolls for the eighth month in a row. Job losses in June and July turned out to be much deeper. The economy lost a whopping 100,000 jobs in June and another 60,000 in July, according to revised figures. Previously, the government reported job losses at 51,000 in each of those months.

So far this year, job losses totaled 605,000.

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Clergy and lay deputies to the annual convention in the Diocese of Pennsylvania will consider competing resolutions on the fate of Camp Wapiti, a high-profile project begun during the episcopacy of Bishop Charles E. Bennison, Jr. Convention meets Nov. 8 at Philadelphia Cathedral.

In October 2004, the diocese executed a complex financial agreement that included outright purchase of part of approximately 700 acres of undeveloped land along the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. The contract included an option to purchase the remaining parcel. Soon afterward, at the direction of the bishop, the diocese began making improvements to the site with the idea of constructing a camp and conference center.

After several years of increasingly acrimonious relations, the standing committee of the diocese filed a presentment complaint against Bishop Bennison, alleging that he had not been completely forthcoming with the standing committee about expenditures, particularly with respect to the development of Camp Wapiti. The standing committee complaint, which did not include any criminal allegations against Bishop Bennison, were eventually dropped.

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While Barack Obama has struggled to capture the Jewish vote, it turns out that one of his wife’s cousins is the country’s most prominent black rabbi ”” a fact that has gone largely unnoticed.

Michelle Obama, wife of the Democratic presidential nominee, and Rabbi Capers Funnye, spiritual leader of a mostly black synagogue on Chicago’s South Side, are first cousins once removed. Funnye’s mother, Verdelle Robinson Funnye (born Verdelle Robinson) and Michelle Obama’s paternal grandfather, Frasier Robinson Jr., were brother and sister.

Funnye (pronounced fuh-NAY) is chief rabbi at the Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in southwest Chicago. He is well-known in Jewish circles for acting as a bridge between mainstream Jewry and the much smaller, and largely separate, world of black Jewish congregations, sometimes known as black Hebrews or Israelites. He has often urged the larger Jewish community to be more accepting of Jews who are not white.

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