Catholics and Anglicans sat down in Cincinnati on May 25-26 to hold establish a dialogue on two issues that feature prominently in modern society: debt relief and contraception.

The event marked the second meeting of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue in the United States (ARC-USA). The theme of this meeting was “Ecclesiology and Moral Discernment: Common Ground and Divergences.”

The dialogue was hosted by the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio and was co-chaired by Episcopal Bishop Thomas Breidenthal of Southern, Ohio and Catholic Bishop Ronald P. Herzog of Alexandria, Louisiana.

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Megachurches are most attractive to younger adults, and almost all who arrive at their sanctuaries have darkened a church’s door before, a new survey shows.

The study by Leadership Network and Hartford Institute for Religion Research, released Tuesday (June 9) found that almost two-thirds (62 percent) of adults who attend Protestant megachurches are younger than 45, compared to 35 percent of U.S. Protestant congregations overall.

Researchers found that just 6 percent of those attending a megachurch””defined as a congregation attended by 2,000 or more each week””had never attended a worship service before arriving at their current church. Almost half (44 percent) had come from another local church, 28 percent had transplanted from a distant congregation and 18 percent had not attended church for a while.

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Here, on a freeway frontage road, ground zero of the abortion wars for nearly three decades, there was, it seemed, nothing left to fight over.

Now the national conversation over legalized abortion has shifted away from Women’s Health Care Services, the beige one-story building where Tiller practiced — as one of only a handful of physicians in the country who performed late-term abortions.

Many Wichitans — even those who have dedicated their lives to the issue — say they have wearied of the abortion wars that had been fought continuously on their doorstep until Tiller was gunned down in his church lobby May 31.

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Homeless advocate Eric Sheptock uses technology to get his message out. Though he’s homeless himself, he keeps a blog, a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Sheptock, who lives in Washington, D.C., says he wants to educate the public about what he and many others like him are up against.

He spends a lot of time in the city’s public libraries, where he gets free access to a computer. There he can check his e-mail account and write his blog ”” called On the Clock with Eric Sheptock ”” which has so far attracted hundreds of readers. He recently wrote about his concern that the homeless shelter he now lives in is in danger of closing.

Read or listen to it all and watch for the Episcopal Church reference toward the end.

The fight against corruption in Africa’s most pivotal nations is faltering as public agencies investigating wrongdoing by powerful politicians have been undermined or disbanded and officials leading the charge have been dismissed, subjected to death threats and driven into exile.

“We are witnessing an era of major backtracking on the anticorruption drive,” said Daniel Kaufmann, an authority on corruption who works at the Brookings Institution. “And one of the most poignant illustrations is the fate of the few anticorruption commissions that have had courageous leadership. They’re either embattled or dead.”

Experts, prosecutors and watchdog groups say they fear that major setbacks to anticorruption efforts in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya are weakening the resolve to root out graft, a stubborn scourge that saps money needed to combat poverty and disease in the world’s poorest region. And in Zambia, a change of leadership has stoked fears that the country’s zealous prosecution of corruption is ebbing.

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The Diocese of Quincy (Anglican Province of the Southern Cone) plans to elect a diocesan bishop at its annual synod in October. The standing committee has acted as the ecclesiastical authority since the retirement of the Rt. Rev. Keith Ackerman Nov. 1.

The diocese separated from The Episcopal Church and voted to accept an offer of temporary affiliation with the Church of the Southern Cone at its annual synod Nov. 7-8. At a meeting later this month in Bedford, Texas, the diocese will seek to become one of the founding members of the Anglican Church in North America.

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We didn’t realize that the US was such a terrible place to live until the Sydney Morning Herald reported it this morning. According to the Economist’s 2009 liveability survey, Pittsburgh is the most liveable city in the United States of America, ranked 29th in the world.

At the top of the list? Vancouver, Vienna, Melbourne,Toronto and Perth, giving Canada and Australia two of the top five cities in the world each. Dakar (Senegal,) Abidjan (Ivory Coast) and Kathmandu (Nepal) were at the bottom of the 131 polled cities.

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There are two basic truths about the enormous deficits that the federal government will run in the coming years.

The first is that President Obama’s agenda, ambitious as it may be, is responsible for only a sliver of the deficits, despite what many of his Republican critics are saying. The second is that Mr. Obama does not have a realistic plan for eliminating the deficit, despite what his advisers have suggested.

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Members of Congress are seriously considering proposals to rein in the growth of health spending by taking tens of billions of dollars of Medicare money away from doctors and hospitals in high-cost areas and using it to help cover the uninsured or treat patients in lower-cost regions.

Those proposals have alarmed lawmakers from higher-cost states like Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. But they have won tentative support among some lawmakers from Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon and Washington, who say their states have long been shortchanged by Medicare.

Nationally, according to the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, Medicare spent an average of $8,304 per beneficiary in 2006. Among states, New York was tops, at $9,564, and Hawaii was lowest, at $5,311.

Researchers at Dartmouth Medical School have also found wide variations within states and among cities. Medicare spent $16,351 per beneficiary in Miami in 2006, almost twice the average of $8,331 in San Francisco, they said.

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

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The reign (a word I use advisedly) of ECUSA’s current Presiding Bishop has been marked thus far by a some striking characteristics in contrast to anything that ever came before:

1. First and foremost, the number of lawsuits in which the Episcopal Church (USA) is a plaintiff in court against its own—the initiator of litigation against fellow Christians—has multiplied enormously….

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For the first time in the history of General Synod, members will witness the election of a new Primus. This will take place during an Episcopal Synod on Saturday morning (13 June) – where all seven bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church (known collectively as the College of Bishops) will elect a new Primus following the retirement of the Most Rev Dr Idris Jones (current Primus and Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway). The role of Primus, which is taken from the Latin ”˜primus inter pares’ – meaning ”˜first among equals’ is to preside over the College of Bishops and represent them and the wider Church at home and throughout the world-wide Anglican Communion.

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A suicide bombing Tuesday at Peshawar’s only five-star hotel is the latest of several recent attacks in this northwestern Pakistani city.

It comes after the Taliban threatened to launch periodic attacks in retaliation for an ongoing Army offensive against militants in the Swat Valley. As the town closest to the battle zone and to Pakistan’s tribal areas, a militant stronghold, Peshawar makes for a prime target.

Although the Taliban are unlikely to take over the city, say analysts, the attacks have stirred up fear among residents and disrupted routine life. Schools have closed by order of the government, and business has slowed. Normally bustling markets have emptied. Some families have left town.

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The Rt. Rev. Orris Walker, Jr., Bishop of Long Island since 1991, began a leave of absence due to health issues June 1 that will continue until Nov. 14, the day he previously announced as his resignation.

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I’ve been wanting to post this for days — on what how the White House is going to handle the thorny religious hiring question that folks on the political left have been complaining about for months now. Fortunately Religion & Ethics Newsweekly now has quotes by the White House’s Joshua Dubois up on its site — quotes from a panel he appeared on Monday morning at a Sojourners -sponsored Mobilization to End Poverty conference.

His response on whether government-funded faith organizations can hire people from their own religion was that basically the administration is going to take the matter “on a case by case basis,” which is not going to please a lot of liberals. “It’s a difficult topic,” he said. “As difficult legal issues arise,” he added, he is to work with the White House and attorney general’s office and make recommendations. Whatever that means.

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The Third reason refers to other concerns that have been articulated about structure and governance in Articles IV to XIV. Some point out that this ecclesiastical structure and way of operating is rather novel and does not continue the patterns with which we are familiar in North America. That is true. Those of us who have lived and exercised leadership in those familiar patterns find these new ways bear a note of fresh air, wisdom and promise. Let’s give them a try. If they prove to be cumbersome or lop-sided in any way, we can alter them. The procedures to make modifications are in place in the Proposed Constitution.

In summary, by all means, let us move ahead. Let us make our concerns clear so that the Council can do its work between Assemblies, just as we all in our dioceses, units, and congregations will have work to do. But, let us sign the Proposed Constitution so that we can do this together, as one in the Lord.

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The Canons restore the Catholic teaching concerning Christian Marriage as a lifelong union of one man and one woman, restoring the impediments to valid marriage historically a part of Catholic practice enshrined in Anglican Canon and repealed by The Episcopal Church in 1973. Remarriage after a civil divorce is permitted only if one of the impediments to a valid marriage is determined to have existed, or if the divorce is for the permitted circumstances in Our Lord’s teaching in Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 19, or St. Paul’s exception in 1 Corinthian 7.

The Canons make it clear that sexual relations are permitted only between a man and a woman within the confines of holy matrimony. Fornication and adultery, including all homosexual acts, are prohibited. Further, the Canons affirm the sanctity of every human life from conception to natural death.

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South Carolina needs to build a stronger network of services and support to prepare for a “new onslaught of homeless” created by a crushing recession and the horrors of war, state Rep. Wendell Gilliard told a group Monday.

The Charleston Democrat called together outreach counselors, government representatives and others at North Charleston City Hall to discuss how best to meet the needs of the Palmetto State’s homeless. After visiting shelters and makeshift encampments, Gilliard said he is troubled by reports that some of the needy are being refused help and that homeless veterans aren’t getting services they deserve.

Gilliard said the state doesn’t even know for sure how many homeless veterans are living in South Carolina. Nationally, it is estimated some 300,000 veterans are homeless. That is shameful in the most prosperous nation in the world, Gilliard said.

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The Episcopal Church has bought a block in downtown Austin where it plans to build a facility to house its national archives and provide space for meetings, exhibits, research and other purposes.

The church purchased the block, now a parking lot bounded by Seventh, Eighth, Trinity and Neches streets, from Jimmy Nassour, an Austin real estate attorney. The purchase price was $9.5 million, said Mark Duffy, director of the Archives of the Episcopal Church.

The church, which borrowed against its endowment to buy the land, plans to launch a capital campaign next year to raise money to repay that loan and pay for the new facility. The cost of the project, which is in the “very preliminary” planning stages, will be almost $40 million, Duffy said.

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But when Cutié’s new bishop, the Rt. Rev. Leo Frade, stood inside Miami’s Trinity Cathedral to announce the news to dozens of international reporters, he created his own waves.

The ”Inquisition is over,” Frade said in widely broadcast remarks after Catholic Archbishop John C. Favalora admonished him for a disrespectful “public display.”

The style is typical of Frade’s nine-year tenure, say those who know him well: casual, off-the-cuff and, to some, a bit too in-your-face.

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The national leader of 2.4 million Episcopalians — including 20,600 in Oregon — hung out Sunday at a Northeast Portland church, participating in what she defines as old-school conversation.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, who’s been at the center of an often-tense conversation about the ordination of gay clergy, told a full house on Sunday at Grace Memorial Episcopal Church that the word “conversation” slipped into English usage in the 1300s.

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It is an mp3 file.

The hookup ”” that meeting and mating ritual that started among high school and college students ”” is becoming a trend among young people who have entered the workaday world. For the many who are delaying the responsibilities of marriage and child-rearing, hooking up has virtually replaced dating.

It is a major shift in the culture over the past few decades, says Kathleen Bogle, a professor of sociology and criminal justice at La Salle University.

Young people during one of the most sexually active periods of their lives aren’t necessarily looking for a mate. What used to be a mate-seeking ritual has shifted to hookups: sexual encounters with no strings attached.

“The idea used to be you are going to date someone that is going to lead to something sexual happening,” Bogle says. “In the hookup era, something sexual happens, even though it may be less than sexual intercourse, that may or may not ever lead to dating.”

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(Note: the headline above is the one used in today’s print edition–KSH).

The European Union is an extraordinary experiment in shared sovereignty, creating a zone of peace that now stretches from Britain to the Balkans. The union of 27 countries is the world’s most formidable economic bloc, incorporating 491 million people in an integrated market that produces nearly a third more than the United States.

But the global economic crisis has made it clear that Europe remains less than the sum of its parts.

The crisis has presented the European Union with its greatest challenge, but even many committed Europeanists believe that the alliance is failing the test. European leaders, their focus on domestic politics, disagree sharply about what to do to combat the slump. They have feuded over how much to stimulate the economy. They argue about whether the European Central Bank should worry more about the deep recession or future inflation. And they have rushed to protect jobs in their home markets at the expense of those in other member countries.

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Unwed young women who attend or have attended religious schools are more likely to have abortions than their public school peers, according to a new study.

The study also found “no significant link” between abortion and personal religiosity””defined by perception of religion’s importance, frequency of prayer and other religious activities.

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Teens whose parents let them stay up after midnight on weeknights have a much higher chance of being depressed or suicidal than teens whose parents enforce an earlier bedtime, says research being presented today at a national sleep conference.

The findings are the first to examine bedtimes’ effects on kids’ mental health ”” and the results are noteworthy. Middle- and high-schoolers whose parents don’t require them to be in bed before midnight on school nights are 42% more likely to be depressed than teens whose parents require a 10 p.m. or earlier bedtime. And teens who are allowed to stay up late are 30% more likely to have had suicidal thoughts in the past year.

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Anglicans who left the Episcopal Church in California’s San Joaquin Valley to reject [partnered] homosexual clergy are waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Will they lose the churches where they worship as a result of their split with the national church and Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin? The answer could come any day over the next two months.

The stakes are high after more than 40 churches from Lodi to Bakersfield and from the coast to the Nevada border left the Fresno, Calif.-based diocese. They joined the Anglicans because of differences with the national Episcopal body over same-sex blessings, the ordination of a gay bishop and the authority of Scripture.

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North Korea today said it would use nuclear weapons in a “merciless offensive” if provoked ”” its latest bellicose rhetoric apparently aimed at deterring any international punishment for its recent atomic test blast.

The tensions emanating from Pyongyang are beginning to hit nascent business ties with the South: a Seoul-based fur manufacturer became the first South Korean company to announce Monday it was pulling out of an industrial complex in the North’s border town of Kaesong.

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Mainstream political parties rounded on the BNP today after its breakthrough in the European elections.

Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary, condemned the election of two MEPs for the far-right party as a sad day for British politics, while David Cameron described the result as desperately depressing.

“The BNP are completely beyond the pale. They do not even let black and Asian people into their party, they are an appalling bunch of people,” the Tory leader said.

I happened to catch a BBC interview on the Today programme this morning with a BNP leader via podcast–it was very difficult to listen to. Read it all–KSH.