When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming. By celebrating the precursor’s birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
–Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church, paragraph 524
Christ the Lord already reigns through the Church, but all the things of this world are not yet subjected to him. The triumph of Christ’s kingdom will not come about without one last assault by the powers of evil.
On Judgment Day at the end of the world, Christ will come in glory to achieve the definitive triumph of good over evil which, like the wheat and the tares, have grown up together in the course of history.
When he comes at the end of time to judge the living and the dead, the glorious Christ will reveal the secret disposition of hearts and will render to each man according to his works, and according to his acceptance or refusal of grace.
–Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church, paragraphs 680-682
One of the targets in the Mumbai terrorist attacks was a Jewish community center, where at least six hostages were killed. Among the dead are Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, both directors of the center. Antony Korenstein, country director for India with the American Joint Jewish Distribution Committee, speaks about their work with the Jewish community visiting and living in Mumbai.
Inclusion of both women and active and retired men is meant to give comparative data on careers, and men’s needs for family leave as well as retirement. It is also meant to help the church understand the way the call to ministry is being lived out in 2008.
The survey is “the first to include and hear the voices of those in non-institutional and non-traditional ministries” in the same survey as those serving in traditional ministries, according to the Rev. Paula Nesbitt, one of two research consultants working on the project.
Those serving in such non-traditional ministries are “a growing constituency in the church” and researchers want to better understand the work of all ordained ministers — “not just those being paid,” said Nesbitt, a visiting associate professor of sociology at the University of California in Berkeley and the author of “The Feminization of the Clergy in America.”
Nesbitt said her conversations with research colleagues show that the scope of the Called to Serve project is also unprecedented among denominations.
Mercy is born from compassion and enjoined with a desire to give freedom and dignity to others. Mercy recognises a power relationship that exists between those who are in need, those who seek mercy, and those who are in a position to give it. Sadly, mercy plays little part in political or judicial systems.
Traditionally, our legal system of justice was built upon the three pillars of law, religion and equity. If mercy is to be found within that system it resides only as a minor subset of a wider equity.
In our political system one can only imagine the fortunes of a politician or political party that stood on a platform of being merciful. Indeed in our politics the opposite seems to be true. It is the tough talking of the unmerciful who would come down hard on criminals, immigrants and trouble makers whose voices seem to compete for votes in the public square in the belief that this is the way to win hearts and minds.
Only recently an honourable member of the House of Commons ”“ a Junior Minister – attacked lawyers and charities working on behalf of those who are seeking asylum and accused them of “playing the system.” In an interview with the Guardian he was reported as suggesting that charities “by giving false hope and by undermining the legal system, actually cause more harm than they do good.”
A meeting of around 400 evangelicals at one of London’s biggest churches went largely unnoticed last week.
Hardly surprising really, given that nothing was achieved and nothing agreed.
But actually, the fractious, ill-tempered gathering could be scene as a significant tipping point in years to come.
Talk of division and schism in the Anglican communion has been discussed for years, but is normally viewed as a battle between the liberals and evangelicals.
Now it’s the evangelicals who are fighting amongst themselves.
In 11th grade, Allante Rhodes spent 50 minutes a day in a Microsoft Word class at Anacostia Senior High School in Washington. He was determined to go to college, and he figured that knowing Word was a prerequisite. But on a good day, only six of the school’s 14 computers worked. He never knew which ones until he sat down and searched for a flicker of life on the screen. “It was like Russian roulette,” says Rhodes, a tall young man with an older man’s steady gaze. If he picked the wrong computer, the teacher would give him a handout. He would spend the rest of the period learning to use Microsoft Word with a pencil and paper.
One day last fall, tired of this absurdity, Rhodes e-mailed Michelle Rhee, the new, bold-talking chancellor running the District of Columbia Public Schools system. His teacher had given him the address, which was on the chancellor’s home page. He was nervous when he hit SEND, but the words were reasonable. “Computers are slowly becoming something that we use every day,” he wrote. “And learning how to use them is a major factor in our lives. So I’m just bringing this to your attention.” He didn’t expect to hear back. Rhee answered the same day. It was the beginning of an unusual relationship.
The U.S. spends more per pupil on elementary and high school education than most developed nations. Yet it is behind most of them in the math and science abilities of its children. Young Americans today are less likely than their parents were to finish high school. This is an issue that is warping the nation’s economy and security, and the causes are not as mysterious as they seem. The biggest problem with U.S. public schools is ineffective teaching, according to decades of research. And Washington, which spends more money per pupil than the vast majority of large districts, is the problem writ extreme, a laboratory that failure made….
THE prognosis is looking ever more grave. What began 15 months ago with a seizure of the credit markets has become a disease with an alarming list of real economic symptoms. America, Britain, the euro zone and Japan are already in a recession that threatens to be the worst, in some places, for a quarter of a century and possibly since the Depression. American consumers, unable to borrow and fearful for their jobs, are cutting spending; so are firms, short of cash and worried about sales. German business confidence is at a 15-year low. Japan’s exports to both rich countries and emerging ones are falling. Emerging economies are suffering too, as commodity prices fall and capital flees faster than in those countries’ own crises of a decade ago. In some countries””notably the United States””a vicious deflationary spiral of banks withdrawing credit and demand contracting is no longer unimaginable.
Seeing the threat to the world economy’s vital functions, the policymakers have been working overtime. Interest rates have been cut dramatically. American rates are already down to 1%; Britain’s are at a 50-year low; and this week China’s central bank lopped 108 basis points off its main policy rate. Hundreds of billions have been pumped into banks and financial markets. Many financial institutions have been bailed out: the rescue of the once mighty Citigroup (see article) is merely the latest unthinkable to happen.
Despite all this, the patient has not responded. This is partly because some traditional remedies, such as looser monetary policy, are weakened in a credit crunch. It is also because the doctors have been ham-fisted….
Nevertheless we realise on reflection that not all waiting is tedious. Waiting can be essential. Think of the grapes that have now been gathered. New wine is being prepared. The best must not be drunk too soon. We have to wait. By doing so we respect the vintage. Waiting is respectful. And it is more than respectful. It is also wise.
One aspect of that wisdom is something personal. When I have to wait, I realise I am not in control. I cannot make everything happen at my command. I may wish that I could, but that is fantasy, unreal. Waiting keeps me in touch with reality. Another aspect of that wise reality reminds me of others’ needs rather than my own. While waiting, I place myself at their service. It is not by chance that those who serve in restaurants are called “waiters”. And good waiters are also attentive, they watch.
How many blogs does the world need? There is already blog gridlock. When the Washington Post editorial page started a blog before this year’s conventions, participants (I was one) were told: Don’t forget that the Post political staff also has a complete set of blogs. It wasn’t clear what we were supposed to do about this, but the implication was that there are only so many aperçus to go around, so don’t be greedy.
The great thing about blogs, in my view, is that they share the voice of e-mail. It’s a genuinely new literary form, which, at its best, combines the immediacy of talking with the reflectiveness of writing. But many readers may be reaching the point with blogs and websites that I reached long ago with the Sunday New York Times Magazine–actively hoping there isn’t anything interesting in there because then I’ll have to take the time to read it.
Friar CAVAZOS GONZALEZ: In 20 years time, if I could dream, you know, I’d like to see 50, over 50 percent of the U.S. Catholic bishops being Latino.
[JUDY] VALENTE: What concerns the hierarchy right now is that many Latinos are being lured away to the passionate and emotional services in evangelical and Pentecostal churches. Some Latinos who want to remain Catholic also want the Mass to change.
MARTIN ENCISO (Congregant, Good Shepherd Parish, Chicago): We’re going to see a lot more life in church. I think life that’s been missing, because I mean a lot of people, at least a lot of people I knew growing up, said, “Oh yeah, I went to church. We just sat there. We kneeled, prayed.” Church is more than that. You need to feel alive when you go to church. This is the word of God.
[JUDY] VALENTE: There is little doubt about the growing political influence of the Hispanic clergy, especially in the now high-profile issue of immigration.
Friar CAVAZOS GONZALEZ: We expect that the hierarchy of the Church is going to advocate for the poor, for the marginalized, for the outcast, and right now a lot of the poor, the marginalized and the outcast are us.
The Bishop of Reading urges everyone to ask themselves, ‘what do I really want for Christmas?’
The Church of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury launched a website for Advent encouraging people to think about the true meaning of the holiday and reflect on the birth of Christ.
In response to the website, Rt Rev Stephen Cottrell, the Bishop of Reading, said he thinks that rushing through Christmas without thinking about the essential meaning is a trap most Christians get caught in. Getting caught up in the traditions and festivities that come along with Christmas make it hard to focus attention on the true purpose.
“Christmas carols would be a good example,” he said. “I love singing Christmas carols but it feels like we start singing them in October and a bit of ancient Christian wisdom would be the balance between the feast and the fast.”
Faced with declining revenue and recurring budget deficits in recent years, the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada announced on Nov. 25 the termination of seven positions at its national office in Toronto. The terminations were part of a plan to cut the 2009 budget by $1.3 million and reduce the deficit to $800,000.
“I want to emphasize that all these decisions were due to structural changes we are forced to make as a result of financial constraints we are facing. None were due to performance issues,” said an internal memo sent to staff by Archdeacon Michael Pollesel, the national church’s general secretary. “Each of these seven individuals contributed to the ongoing life of church house and we thank them for their time with us.”
Five staff from the financial management and development department and the communications and information resources department were laid off; the positions of two staff (yet unidentified pending negotiations) set to retire next year will not be filled.
The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Upper Manhattan will be open from end to end for the first time since its restoration following a devastating fire that damaged ancient tapestries and a 8,500-pipe organ.
A celebratory rededication is planned for Sunday at the Gothic Episcopal church, called the largest cathedral in the world.
The entire length of the 601-foot-long building will be open. A temporary wall had halved the cathedral, concealing the scaffolding set up for the restoration work. The fire originated in the gift shop on Dec. 18, 2001.
For more than 60 years, Mount Calvary Monastery sat as a patch of holy ground high atop the Santa Barbara hills, home to seven Benedictine Anglican monks whose only jobs in life were prayer and welcoming pilgrims.
Now, after one of the most devastating fires to ever hit Southern California, visitors are left with a different kind of religious experience – a pile of charred ruins.
As drivers make their way to the monastery along narrow roads, banners hanging from side posts thank firefighters. Green vegetation turns to black-dusted earth.
Mount Calvary’s guests no longer read or pray; they snap pictures of the remains of the retreat house. The tall, steel cross that framed the courtyard, the golden bell that called the monks to prayer, the painted archway that greeted visitors, are all still there. There is, however, little else.
Charred cacti form a barrier between the parking lot and what was once a 20,000-square-foot, Spanish-style home. A narrow brick wall divides the property from the burned mountains underneath. And the hilltop provides a commanding view of the town that the fickle fire largely spared.
Let us pray that Steve will be receptive.
On the Web site prayabout.com, Steve’s wife, whose online profile notes that she is a Catholic from St. Charles, Mo., asked other users of the site to submit prayers that her husband will listen to his psychiatrist. She also asked for prayers that the psychiatrist will “see that my husband has major issues that need to be worked on ASAP.”
The post received 19 prayers in response. Jaqueline1712 from India asked Jesus to heal Steve’s broken spirit. A user from Kentucky, whose profile photo shows her hugging a baby, prayed that God would take away Steve’s anger.
“Give this family hope!” wrote Mr.Dan2, of New Mexico.
Homeowners who want to refinance existing mortgages may be more likely to take advantage of the lower rates, but many people who bought during the real estate bubble won’t be able to qualify for a new loan because they have little equity or are “upside down” — owing more on their homes than they are worth.
“I anticipate it will increase refinance activity, but there will be nothing dramatic,” said Terrin Griffiths, an economist for the California Credit Union League, which represents credit unions in California and Nevada.
Jeff Lazerson, a Laguna Niguel mortgage broker, said all the customer calls he received Tuesday were from people seeking to refinance, not buy homes. Many are trying to get out of adjustable-rate mortgages scheduled to reset to higher rates next year, he said.
But most who called were rebuffed because they were upside down on their current mortgages or had credit scores too low to qualify.
“Out of all the people calling, about 30% at most can get help,” Lazerson said.
Additionally, early Christians were not, as is commonly assumed, bound to a three-tier vision of the universe, i.e., heaven, hell, and earth.
[W]hen the Bible speaks of heaven and earth it is not talking about two localities related to each other within the same space-time continuum or about a nonphysical world contrasted with a physical one but about two different kinds of what we call space, two different kinds of what we call matter, and also quite possibly (though this does not necessarily follow from the other two) two different kinds of what we call time.
So heaven and earth, understood in this way, are two dimensions of the same reality. They “interlock and intersect in a whole variety of ways even while they retain, for the moment at least, their separate identities and roles.” Combine this with the doctrine of the ascension and we do not have a Jesus who floats up into a heaven “up there” but disappears into a reality we cannot yet see. Because heaven and earth are not yet joined Jesus is physically absent from us. At the same time he is present with us through the Holy Spirit and the sacraments, linkages where the two realities meet in the present age.
Man wielding candy cane lawn ornament subdues attacker
A man using a candy cane lawn ornament fended off a knife-wielding neighbor who had been attacking holiday guests at a Sacramento home.
Police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong says the man used the two-foot-tall plastic ornament to subdue the attacker until officers arrived.
Archbishop Kwashi reports: “The reports from those I have sent out to collect information are that the Muslims are attacking and burning this morning. It looks well co-ordinated. They are well armed with AK 47 and pump machine guns. This morning they have been at Dogonduste. Quite a number of Christian homes have been burnt. We do not know how many have been killed. The local government has underestimated the vehemence of the militants. At the moment this is all restricted to Jos City.
We ask prayer for knowing the right thing to do. I have moved one of our archdeacons and his family to live in our home. St Luke’s Cathedral is in the middle of the area of violence. We hope we can proceed with our normal services tomorrow.”
Reporting from Washington — Senior military leaders took the exceptional step of briefing President Bush this week on a severe and widespread electronic attack on Defense Department computers that may have originated in Russia — an incursion that posed unusual concern among commanders and raised potential implications for national security.
Defense officials would not describe the extent of damage inflicted on military networks. But they said that the attack struck hard at networks within U.S. Central Command, the headquarters that oversees U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, and affected computers in combat zones. The attack also penetrated at least one highly protected classified network.
The brewing conflict between Common Cause Partners and Communion Partner Bishops and Rectors is the result of a lack of communication between the two groups. The former group has not heard the Communion Partners’ articulation of their call, which is to remain in TEC as a witness. The assumption has been that they have the mutual goal of reforming the church. Because of this assumption, it has been widely stated that the Communion Partners Plan is a “non-starter,” or that the Communion Partners will have “no alternative” but to join the new province once it is formed. When one substitutes the goal of being a witness for that of reforming the church, it becomes obvious that joining a new province is not an alternative at all. In fact, joining a new province would be an act of disobedience for those who are called by God to remain as a witness.
What is needed above all else is the spirit of charity. Those who are called to remain in TEC need to acknowledge and honor the call of those who are called to leave and form a new entity. Likewise, the reformers need to refrain from making assumptions about those who are called to be a witness and respect their chosen path of obedience. Although our ecclesiological goals may be different, our ultimate goal is the same; to proclaim the Gospel in whatever circumstance we find ourselves. May we be united in our mutual ministry and supportive of one another as we manifest our obedience along the distinct paths to which we are called.
Read it all. Careful readers of this blog will note that I have been harping on this theme of charity (follow the links) for a long time. There needs to be much more of it in the days ahead.
We’ve gotten through roughness before. Of things to be thankful for, I personally include this. I traveled this year, and when I fly I say a prayer that has become a ritual: “Dear God, put your big hands under this plane and lift it up, and carry it forward through the air untouched and unharmed by other objects. And may its inner workings work. And put us down softly in our place of destination, and return us safely to our homes, and to those in whose lives we are enmeshed.”
It occurs to me that is perhaps how many of us are feeling about our country this Thanksgiving: Lord, thank you for our previous safety, and get us through this turbulence.
Unemployed workers filled the third floor of the Employment Security Commission [in the Charleston, South Carolina area] on Wednesday morning. The mood was somber and businesslike.
One-hundred claims were processed Tuesday, more than double the number of claims handled the same time last year, said Chuck Rein, a commission staffer who advises veterans at the Lockwood Boulevard office.
Hal Wynn, a radiology technician with 35 years of experience, said he was recently laid off indefinitely from the Medical University of South Carolina. He would like to visit family in Missouri during the holidays but said he can’t afford it.
“This is the first time I’ve ever been laid off. It’s kind of a shock,” he said. Wynn, 58, said his gift-buying would be “kind of slim” because of his financial situation. His 14-year-old son lives with him.
About 50 conservative Anglican leaders, including eight young theological students, gathered in Toronto for a one-day consultation on Nov. 25 and emerged with a determination to remain within the Anglican Church of Canada. They came from 16 dioceses across the country.
Rev. Brett Cane of St. Aidan’s Anglican Church in Winnipeg is chair of Anglican Essentials Federation who was quick to point out that the organization is going through a name change. He said that the “Essentials” label has negative connotations in some parts of the country. He said that the federation is loosening its connection to the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC). “We will still maintain links of fellowship with the network but we will not be organizationally tied together.”
A Wal-Mart worker died after being trampled when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island store Friday morning, police and witnesses said.
The 34-year-old employee, a temporary maintenance worker, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.
Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him.
So far, this has been one of the most severely destructive bear markets in history. Almost no asset class has been spared. Stocks, commodities, housing, bonds have been battered. All the famous investors have been slaughtered — Buffett, Pickens, Icahn, Adelson. Of the 500 stocks in the S&P 500, only 13 are up for the year. The Legg Mason Value Fund, which boasts the longest streak of beating the S&P 500, is down over 65% this year, the third year that the fund has under performed the S&P. According to Investor’s Business Daily’sMutual Fund Index, the average growth fund is now down for the year around 44%. My own guesstimate is that the average US investor has lost over 50% of his or her assets so far this year.
A remembrance service took place on 27 November 2008 at Southwark Cathedral for Damilola Taylor and all young people lost to violent crime. The date marks eight years since the murder of Damilola. The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, who chaired the inquiry into the 11-year-old’s murder investigation, delivered the sermon during the service.
This is holy ground ”“ we should take off our shoes. We are here for Damilola Taylor, and for the families still grieving for their young ones murdered on our streets for the past eight years. We are treading on the holy ground of human grief, of love wounded by violence.
And yet on this holy ground, where we must tread so gently, there are voices we must hear, and things we must learn. For we stand also at the foot of the cross, where I believe God took upon himself our sorrows and our love turned in on itself, so that we may return from our self-imposed exile to our true home of love.
Fourteen bishops of the Anglican Church in the Province of the West Indies, meeting in the House of Bishops and Provincial Standing Committee in Nassau, Bahamas, November 11-14, under the chairmanship of the Archbishop of the West Indies, the Most Rev Drexel Gomez, have registered their opposition to the death penalty, while calling for intervention by government and cooperation of the Church as part of civil society, to deal with the situation which facilitates the upsurge of crime and violence in the Caribbean region.
In a communiqué dated November 14, the West Indian Bishops state that they are “of one mind in calling our people to stand with us in our opposition to the death penalty”.