The Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, N.C., is starting a new ministry to gays and lesbians. Yet those who have embraced that identity may not like it.

The ministry is called Courage, and its aim, in the words of its executive director, is to “assist men and women who are afflicted with the thorn of same-sex attraction.” A 29-year-old international ministry with about 90 U.S. chapters, the Courage Apostolate will serve as a kind of support group – like Alcoholics Anonymous – for men and women who want to remain celibate.

The move is part of a more aggressive push by the dioceses of Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C., to march in step with the Vatican on the issue of homosexuality.

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David Smyly fills out job applications in the unemployment office a couple of miles, give or take, from the old textile mill downtown, where he works for the time being.

He pages through the phone book to find the street address for his high school. In the pocket of his T-shirt, he has a pack of smokes, Basic menthols, the cheapest ones in the store.

Sometime around the first of June, his work ends at Milliken & Co., which announced plans to close the plant later this year.

“I don’t know if I can make it through, but I’m gonna try,” Smyly says. He recounts the tales of a hard-knock life: a buyout about five years ago from a high-paying job he could never replace, a failed marriage and the steady grip of depression.

Read it all from the front page of yesterday’s local paper.

It was good to hear the keynote speaker ”” Dr. Louis Weil ”” at this year’s “Epiphany West” conference come out strongly against so-called “open communion” (communion of the un-baptized). That was especially courageous here in California where the practice is becoming widespread….

I am in absolute agreement with Louis Weil here. I am familiar with the “open table” of Jesus argument ”” that he ate with outcasts and sinners and never turned anyone away, etc. However, I am unpersuaded that this is the same thing as the Eucharist and would encourage congregations really to invite the poor into their homes and parish halls for meals rather than believe that they have actually exercized hospitality by inviting the unbaptized to communion.

Certainly, it is an ecumenical nightmare.

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I do not believe I would be guilty of exaggeration if I were to say Anglican polity simply couldn’t work apart from general acceptance of the account of communion TSAD sets out and defends. Apart from this understanding and its centrality, the mechanisms of governance and consultation Anglicans have put in place over the years will work largely in support of local concerns and commitments, and will move the life of the provinces relentlessly toward more and more fragmentation. Progressives will move toward increasingly particular moral and social agendas and those who place central importance on common confession will find themselves ever dividing into opposing theological camps.

Even under the most ideal circumstances, even if “mutual subjection” is agreed upon as the operating principle of the Communion, it is still the case that a covenant would be of no effect if it had no means to address the question of what happens if a province refuses to ratify its terms or, having ratified them, does not abide by its commitments. This question clearly posed the most difficulty for the drafters of TSAD. Given the Anglican propensity for muddling through, it is not surprising the proposal put forward presents an involved process for reconciling differences that can last up to five years.

Having said this, however, I hasten to add that the proposal, though it does not use the word discipline, does involve real consequences that would place a recalcitrant province in what the Archbishop of Canterbury has nicely termed “a diminished status” in relation to the Communion as a whole. Time does not allow me to sketch the entire process. In its present form it is cumbersome, complex and far too lengthy to be effective. But in brief, if a matter comes up that threatens the unity and mission of the Communion, it is referred to the Archbishop of Canterbury who in turn can send it on to three assessors who in turn can send it on one or another of the Instruments of Communion. If at the end of all this, it is determined that a province has gone beyond the limits of diversity and refuses to alter its behavior, either the offending church or the Instruments of Communion are to understand that “the force and meaning of the covenant” has been relinquished. In short, the offending province by its own choice or by the decision of the Instruments now is in a diminished status in relation of the rest of the provinces of the Communion. That means it will not take part in the common councils of the Communion, though it may enjoy bilateral relations with one or more of the provinces.

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“‘This is much worse than the East Asia crisis in the 1990s,’ said Lars Christensen, at Danske Bank. ‘There are accidents waiting to happen across the region, but the EU institutions don’t have any framework for dealing with this. The day they decide not to save one of these one countries will be the trigger for a massive crisis with contagion spreading into the EU.’ Europe is already in deeper trouble than the ECB or EU leaders ever expected. Germany contracted at an annual rate of 8.4% in the fourth quarter. If Deutsche Bank is correct, the economy will have shrunk by nearly 9% before the end of this year. This is the sort of level that stokes popular revolt.

“The implications are obvious. Berlin is not going to rescue Ireland, Spain, Greece and Portugal as the collapse of their credit bubbles leads to rising defaults, or rescue Italy by accepting plans for EU “union bonds” should the debt markets take fright at the rocketing trajectory of Italy’s public debt (hitting 112pc of GDP next year, just revised up from 101pc — big change), or rescue Austria from its Habsburg adventurism. So we watch and wait as the lethal brush fires move closer. If one spark jumps across the eurozone line, we will have global systemic crisis within days. Are the firemen ready?”….

This has the potential to be a real crisis, far worse than in the US. Without concerted action on the part of the ECB and the European countries that are relatively strong, much of Europe could fall further into what would feel like a depression. There is a problem, though. Imagine being a politician in Germany, for instance. Your GDP is down by 8% last quarter. Unemployment is rising. Budgets are under pressure, as tax collections are down. And you are going to be asked to vote in favor of bailing out (pick a small country)? What will the voters who put you into office think?

We are going to find out this year whether the European Union is like the Three Musketeers. Are they “all for one and one for all?” or is it every country for itself? My bet (or hope) is that it is the former. Dissolution at this point would be devastating for all concerned, and for the world economy at large. Many of us in the US don’t think much about Europe or the rest of the world, but without a healthy Europe, much of our world trade would vanish.

However, getting all the parties to agree on what to do will take some serious leadership, which does not seem to be in evidence at this point.

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Attendance appears to be on the rise at some churches as more people turn to religious centers not only for faith and fellowship but also for inexpensive entertainment and social engagement.

Though a recent poll indicates that overall attendance is stable, some parishes are reporting increases, according to local church leaders.

As the slumping economy forces people to cut back on expenses, free entertainment offered by churches is becoming increasingly popular. Colin Kerr, director of Christian education at Charleston’s Second Presbyterian Church, said young people are the beneficiaries at his church.

“Because our church does have such a small demographic, with one-third to half of the congregation being young adults, the majority of the church’s events are geared towards a younger generation,” Kerr said.

Read it all from the Faith and Values section of the local paper.

When Robert Allen Stanford arrived here in the early 1990s, few locals had ever heard of the Texas financier. Today, he dominates so many aspects of life on this sun-drenched Caribbean island that some have taken to calling it “Stanford Land.”

At one point or another, he has owned an airline that many locals and visitors fly on. A local newspaper that covers their goings-on. A vast residential complex where many live. Two restaurants where they eat. And the national stadium where they go to watch cricket, the island’s favorite sport.

But the crown jewel of his domain has long been Stanford International Bank, an offshore institution that attracted billions of dollars of cash from clients around the world ”” and especially from Latin America ”” seeking a haven for their wealth.

All the while, he cultivated a comfortable relationship with Antiguan officials. The bank made loans to the Antiguan government, which often used the money to award his companies lucrative construction contracts. To clean up the nation’s image as a dodgy tax haven, the authorities installed him on a new regulatory authority to oversee its banks ”” including his own.

To some, it felt too cozy.

Read it all from the front page of yesterday’s New York Times.

In politics, as in marriage, moments come along when sensitive compromise can avert a major conflict down the road. The two of us believe that the issue of same-sex marriage has reached such a point now.

We take very different positions on gay marriage. We have had heated debates on the subject. Nonetheless, we agree that the time is ripe for a deal that could give each side what it most needs in the short run, while moving the debate onto a healthier, calmer track in the years ahead.

It would work like this: Congress would bestow the status of federal civil unions on same-sex marriages and civil unions granted at the state level, thereby conferring upon them most or all of the federal benefits and rights of marriage. But there would be a condition: Washington would recognize only those unions licensed in states with robust religious-conscience exceptions, which provide that religious organizations need not recognize same-sex unions against their will. The federal government would also enact religious-conscience protections of its own. All of these changes would be enacted in the same bill.

For those not immersed in the issue, our proposal may seem puzzling. For those deeply immersed, it may seem suspect. So allow us a few words by way of explanation….

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The wind and solar industries in America “were dead in the fourth quarter,” said John Woolard, chief executive of BrightSource Energy, which builds and operates cutting-edge solar-thermal plants in the Mojave Desert. Almost five gigawatts of new solar-thermal projects ”” the equivalent of five big nuclear plants ”” at various stages of permitting were being held up because of a lack of financing.

“All of these projects will now go ahead,” said Woolard. “You are talking about thousands of jobs … We really got something right in this legislation.”

These jobs will be in engineering, constructing and operating huge solar systems and wind farms and manufacturing new photovoltaics. Together they will drive innovation in all these areas ”” and move wind and solar technology down the cost-volume learning curve so they can compete against fossil fuels and become export industries at the “ChinIndia price,” that is the price at which they can scale in China and India.

That is how taxpayer money should be used to stimulate: limited financing, for a limited time, targeted on an industry bristling with new technology start-ups that, with a little push from Uncle Sam, won’t just survive this crisis but help us thrive when it is over. We need, and the world needs, an America that is thriving not just surviving.

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To better compete, companies slashed jobs and wages, replacing much of their work force with temporary workers who had no job security and fewer benefits. Nontraditional workers now make up more than a third of Japan’s labor force.

Younger people are feeling the brunt of that shift. Some 48 percent of workers age 24 or younger are temps. These workers, who came of age during a tough job market, tend to shun conspicuous consumption.

They tend to be uninterested in cars; a survey last year by the business daily Nikkei found that only 25 percent of Japanese men in their 20s wanted a car, down from 48 percent in 2000, contributing to the slump in sales.

Young Japanese women even seem to be losing their once- insatiable thirst for foreign fashion. Louis Vuitton, for example, reported a 10 percent drop in its sales in Japan in 2008.

“I’m not interested in big spending,” says Risa Masaki, 20, a college student in Tokyo and a neighbor of the Takigasakis. “I just want a humble life.”

Japan’s aging population is not helping consumption. Businesses had hoped that baby boomers ”” the generation that reaped the benefits of Japan’s postwar breakneck economic growth ”” would splurge their lifetime savings upon retirement, which began en masse in 2007. But that has not happened at the scale that companies had hoped.

Economists blame this slow spending on widespread distrust of Japan’s pension system, which is buckling under the weight of one of the world’s most rapidly aging societies. That could serve as a warning for the United States, where workers’ 401(k)’s have been ravaged by declining stocks, pensions are disappearing, and the long-term solvency of the Social Security system is in question.

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But on what basis do they make their objection? On procedure? That’s a tough sell for a movement willing to violate ecclesiastical procedures in setting up their alternative province.

Luther based his Reformation on Scripture. Here, once again, the schismatics fall short. Jesus himself said nothing whatsoever about homosexuality, although he did affirm the religious laws set out in the book of Leviticus. But if that is the redoubt for the conservatives, they would be obliged to observe and enforce the other Levitical proscriptions as well ”“ beginning, I suppose, with the fabric content of the purple shirts they’re wearing! One of the Levitical proscriptions warns against wearing garments of mixed fabric.

If the conservatives truly wanted to “prooftext” their case against Gene Robinson, they should quote Titus 1:6, where St. Paul mandated that church leaders should be “the husband of one wife.” Gene Robinson, a divorced man, presumably would not qualify (nor would some other bishops). Jesus, after all, said nothing explicit about homosexuality; he did, however, have something to say about divorce — and none of it good.

Having struck out with both procedure and Scripture, the schismatics are left only with tradition.

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“I was snapping at my wife and our children, choking down my food at mealtimes, and feeling irritated at those unexpected interruptions through the day. Before long, things around our home started reflecting the pattern of my hurry-up style. It was becoming unbearable.”

“I distinctly remember after supper one evening, the words of our younger daughter, Colleen. She wanted to tell me something important that had happened to her at school that day. She began hurriedly, ‘Daddy, I wanna tell you somethin’ and I’ll tell you really fast.’

“Suddenly realizing her frustration, I answered, ‘Honey, you can tell me — and you don’t have to tell me really fast. Say it slowly.” “I’ll never forget her answer: ‘Then listen slowly.'”

–Chuck Swindoll, Stress Fractures (Zondervan, 1995) [also quoted in this morning’s sermon]

I mean, yesterday in a staff meeting, one of my staffers got a call that was obviously important. She took the call and left the room on her little cell phone, came back, looked stricken. We said, “What’s wrong?” She said she had just learned her husband had lost his job.

That sort of thing is scaring the daylights out of people, and it’s happening a lot. Everybody knows a dozen people who’ve been laid off.

–Mark Funkhouser, Mayor of Kansis City, on the Lehrer News Hour Friday evening (and quoted in this morning’s sermon by KSH)

The General Synod of the Church of England might not sound like a spiritual theme, for it, like all human assemblies, has its own share of politics and inevitably falls short of the Christian assembly it is supposed to be.

But the Christian faith is an incarnational religion, with at its heart the belief that the Universe is God’s creation, that human beings are created in the image of God, and that in Jesus God took our human nature and knew His creation and our human need from the inside. God did not stand aside from the sin and evil of the world, and therefore from the political and religious organisations that shape human history and human society.

The Church on which the Risen Christ breathed out his life-giving Spirit is not an abstract idea, but a visible society, called in its life and witness to point to God’s kingdom of justice, love and peace. A Church therefore needs, in responding to that call and to that mission, to meet, to pray and to wrestle with how that calling and mission is to be taken forward.

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Stephen Kemp rummaged through a supply closet for a box of staples, being careful not to jostle the blue paper bags of cremated remains on the floor.

It’s not a great spot for ashes, but he ran out of space long ago. In the grand scheme of things, the closet is as good a resting place as any.

Kemp, the owner of Haley Funeral Directors, is used to a certain rhythm of life and death.

Good times mean fancy funerals — open bars with top-drawer liquor, horse-drawn carriages, jazz bands for all-night jam sessions. Bad times mean unclaimed remains — funeral fees often being a low priority for the living.

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Check it out. Note that according to this, active baptized members went from 61,859 in 1997 to 49,977in 2007 in the diocese.

Mr. [Nouriel] Roubini tells me that bank nationalization “is something the partisans would have regarded as anathema a few weeks ago. But when I and others put it in the context of the Swedish approach [of the 1990s] — i.e. you take banks over, you clean them up, and you sell them in rapid order to the private sector — it’s clear that it’s temporary. No one’s in favor of a permanent government takeover of the financial system.”

There’s another reason why the concept should appeal to (fiscal) conservatives, he explains. “The idea that government will fork out trillions of dollars to try to rescue financial institutions, and throw more money after bad dollars, is not appealing because then the fiscal cost is much larger. So rather than being seen as something Bolshevik, nationalization is seen as pragmatic. Paradoxically, the proposal is more market-friendly than the alternative of zombie banks.”

In any case, Republicans must now temper their reactions, he says. “The kind of government interference in the economy that we saw in the last year of Bush was unprecedented. The central bank — supposed to be the lender of the last resort — became the lender of first and only resort! With our recapitalizing of financial institutions, and massive government intervention in the markets, we’ve already crossed a significant bridge.”
So, will the highest level of government be receptive to the bank-nationalization idea? “I think it will,” Mr. Roubini says, unhesitatingly. “People like Graham and Greenspan have already given their explicit blessing. This gives Obama cover.” And how long will it be before the administration goes in formally for nationalization? “I think that we’re going to see the policy adopted in the next few months . . . in six months or so.”

Read it here or you may also find it there.

A new wave of violence has erupted in Nigeria as Muslims and Christians battled in the northern Bauchi state.

The latest incident saw Muslims attacking Christian places of worship after two mosques were set on fire. The Muslims blamed this on the local Christian population.

However, Government officials were blaming the violence on local politicians. “This is a crisis fomented by troublemakers intent on causing disaffection in the state,” state governor Yuguda said in a radio broadcast.

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(ACNS) The Synod of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, meeting at Modderpoort in the Free State from 16 to 20 February 2009, have been shocked at the news that the Provincial Department of Health in the Free State has withdrawn anti-retroviral medication from HIV positive patients because of shortage of funds.

It is well known and often publicised by the National Department of Health, that patients must be counselled and prepared with great care before embarking on anti-retroviral medication. The Department is clear that it is vital for the medication to be taken consistently, with adequate food, and under diligent medical supervision; if this fails, it is said, the consequences in terms of illness and side effects may be severe.

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Starring Kevin Bacon, it aired for the first time last night. Based on a true story. If you have a way to view it, do so. It was simply fantastic.

It ends this morning, the bishop is keynoting, and it is much in my thoughts and prayers so I wanted to mention it.

Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is yet no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis.

Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union.

He said the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September marked a turning point in the functioning of the market system.

“We witnessed the collapse of the financial system,” Soros said at a Columbia University dinner. “It was placed on life support, and it’s still on life support. There’s no sign that we are anywhere near a bottom.”

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President Obama is putting the finishing touches on an ambitious first budget that seeks to cut the federal deficit in half over the next four years, primarily by raising taxes on business and the wealthy and by slashing spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, administration officials said.

In addition to tackling a deficit swollen by the $787 billion stimulus package and other efforts to ease the nation’s economic crisis, the budget blueprint will press aggressively for progress on the domestic agenda Obama outlined during the presidential campaign. This would include key changes to environmental policies and a major expansion of health coverage that Obama hopes to enact later this year.

A summary of Obama’s budget request for the fiscal year that begins in October will be delivered to Congress on Thursday, with the complete, multi-hundred-page document to follow in April. But Obama plans to unveil his goals for scaling back record deficits and rebuilding the nation’s costly and inefficient health care system Monday, when he addresses more than 100 lawmakers and budget experts at a White House summit on restoring “fiscal responsibility” to Washington.

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Professor JEREMY DAUBER (Yiddish Department, Columbia University): We have “Fiddler on the Roof” in Hindi, and we have “Fiddler on the Roof” in Japanese, so clearly the stories that Sholem Aleichem told, even translated, have this universal appeal, and I think a lot of it has to do with the way his stories talk about the appeal of tradition and the struggle of maintaining tradition in a rapidly changing world.

[BETTY] ROLLIN: Theodore Bikel, who has played Tevye more than 2,000 times, is now touring a one-man show called “Sholem Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears.”

THEODORE BIKEL (Actor and Singer): Sholem Aleichem doesn’t only appeal to Jews. I get non-Jewish audiences who find parallels in what he wrote and how he wrote. I ask them, “What does this play mean to you?” Pogroms, Jews, Russians, turn-of-the-century shtetls ””“What does that mean to you?” And they said, “Tradition.” We know what that is. We know what it is when children don’t want to follow the tradition of their parents.

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Via email–the text of a resolution passed by the Diocesan Board.

Title: Disaffiliation with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.

Sponsors: The Rev George Conger, The Very Rev. Eric Turner, The Very Rev Tim Nunez.

Resolved; The Diocesan Board of the Diocese of Central Florida on Feb 19 hereby dissociates itself from the affiliation of The Episcopal Church by The Executive Council with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and directs the Secretary to forward notice of this disassociation to the next meeting of the Annual Convention of The Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Central Florida with a recommendation that a resolution be made by that body endorsing dissociation.

Explanation:

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) is a political advocacy group dedicated to defending and expanding abortion rights””that is, legal rights to all abortions, whatever the circumstances, without exception””in American law.
The “RCRC was founded in 1973 to safeguard the newly won constitutional right to abortion,” according to The Rev Carlton W. Veazey, RCRC president and CEO (www.rcrc.org/about/index.cfm);

The RCRC’s founding mission remains unchanged: “The primary struggle for reproductive choice has shifted to the state level, with new legislation limiting access to reproductive health care traveling from state to state until enough momentum develops to bring it to the national arena. In such a climate, we need healthy state [RCRC] organizations so that we can stop each new threat as it arises” (www.rcrc.org/getinvolved/affiliate.cfm);
The Executive Council of The Episcopal Church, meeting in Des Moines, Iowa from January 9-12, 2006, approved The Episcopal Church’s membership in the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.

At the 74th General Convention of The Episcopal Church, the Diocese of Tennessee introduced resolution C-048, which called upon the General Convention to rescind The Episcopal Church’s membership in the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.

Resolution C-048 was withdrawn from consideration at the 74th General Convention and no action was taken affecting The Episcopal Church’s membership in the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
While the RCRC works for abortion rights in any and all circumstances, The Episcopal Church teaches that moral discernment, on matters related to abortion, is essential. Resolution A054 adopted by the 1994 General Convention states “We emphatically oppose abortion as a means of birth control, family planning, sex selection, or any reason of mere convenience.”
Episcopalians hold varying political positions on the morality, legality and necessity of abortion, and it is therefore improper that this Diocese, by virtue of an action of The Executive Council of The Episcopal Church, be deemed a member of a political lobbying group whose goal is to promote abortion upon demand, for any reason and at any time.

The Rt. Rev. Don Wimberly, Bishop of Texas, unexpectedly announced that he is handing over the day-to-day operation of the diocese to his successor, the Rt. Rev. Andy Doyle, Bishop Coadjutor. Bishop Wimberly’s announcement came during his address to the annual council meeting held Feb. 13-14 in Houston. The changes became effective immediately following the adjournment of council.

Previously Bishop Wimberly had intended to transfer most day-to-day responsibilities to Bishop Doyle as part of his official retirement date, which remains June 6. The earlier-than-expected transition was prompted by Bishop Wimberly’s hospitalization in January. During the time that Bishop Wimberly was hospitalized, his visitation schedule was changed and Bishop Doyle assumed many of the day-to-day episcopal responsibilities for the diocese. After his return, Bishop Wimberly felt it did not make sense to change the visitation schedule again or to transfer the responsibilities back for just a few months.

“This time has proven to me that [Andy] is ready and we as a diocese are ready to move forward,” Bishop Wimberly said, adding “I will work with him as he takes on these new roles; such a partnership is natural for us.”

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Watch and read it all and follow all the links.

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Rick Santelli, the CNBC reporter who went into a certifiable rant against the Obama housing plan Thursday, found himself in the White House bullseye 24-hours later: the object of scorn and humorous derision from the president’s press secretary Robert Gibbs.

“I’m not entirely sure where Mr. Santelli lives or in what house he lives,” Gibbs said during the daily briefing. “But the American people are struggling every day to meet their mortgage, stay in their jobs, pay their bills to send their kids to school, and to hope that they don’t get sick or somebody they care for gets sick that sends them into bankruptcy. I think we left a few months ago the adage that if it was good for a derivatives trader, that it was good for main street. I think the verdict is in on that.”

Read or watch it all. Put this down on a growing list (Tim Geithner’s first appearance announcing his ‘plan,’ Tom Daschle’s nomination collapsing etc.) of rookie mistakes by members of the Obama administration. Whether you agree with Santelli or not, it is just plain poor judgment to go after him in detail by name in this manner. Of course, it is a dream set up for CNBC abd NBC (which of course had the Santelli story on again last night). It also ensures that the story will have even more legs than it already does–KSH.

Right now, the economic landscape looks like that movie of the swaying Tacoma Narrows Bridge you might have seen in a high school science class. It started swinging in small ways and then the oscillations built on one another until the whole thing was freakishly alive and the pavement looked like liquid.

A few years ago, the global economic culture began swaying. The government enabled people to buy homes they couldn’t afford. The Fed provided easy money. The Chinese sloshed in oceans of capital. The giddy upward sway produced a crushing ride down.

These oscillations are the real moral hazard. Individual responsibility doesn’t mean much in an economy like this one. We all know people who have been laid off through no fault of their own. The responsible have been punished along with the profligate.

It makes sense for the government to intervene to try to reduce the oscillation. It makes sense for government to try to restore some communal order. And the sad reality is that in these circumstances government has to spend money on precisely those sectors that have been swinging most wildly ”” housing, finance, etc. It has to help stabilize people who have been idiots.

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