More than 90 U.S. banks and thrifts missed making a May 17 payment to the U.S. government under its main bank bailout program, signaling a rising number of lenders are struggling to meet their obligations.

The statistics, compiled by SNL Financial from U.S. Treasury data, showed 91 banks and thrifts skipped the May dividend payment under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. It was the first missed payment for 23 of the banks; for the others, it was at least their second miss.

The number of banks missing their TARP payments rose for the third straight quarter. In February, 74 banks deferred their payments; 55 deferred last November.

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Bishop Jefferts Schori said in her opening remarks that her June 13 homily at Southwark Cathedral in London, England, had been controversial. Later, in closed session, she revealed that Lambeth Palace had ordered her not to wear her mitre (because the Church of England is still debating the consecration of women bishops) and had required her to provide evidence of her ordination as deacon, priest, and bishop. Providing this evidence is a standard requirement for overseas clergy who apply to officiate in the United Kingdom.

Recent tensions have affected the way that the Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations plans to address ecumenical relationships. At an afternoon meeting of the world mission committee, Breuer reported that the commission wants to maintain ecumenical conversations with other church bodies, “even if the Anglican Communion Office does not.”

The committee has proposed that approximately $15,000 should be taken from the Episcopal Church’s Anglican Communion Office funding to strengthen the Episcopal Church’s ecumenical relationships. Breuer said the intention would still be to work through the Anglican Communion Office “insofar as possible,” but that “We will not say [in our ecumenical conversations], ”˜We have no need of you’ because the Anglican Communion Office says to us ”˜We have no need of you.’”

The proposal to redirect funds met with some skepticism. “I think we’ll produce massive confusion if we say, ”˜If we can’t do our international conversations one way, we’ll take the money from the Anglican Communion Office and do them another way,’” said the Rev. Canon Mark Harris of Delaware.

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In a gesture borne of frustration and faith, a group of clergy from across Boston gathered in the City Council chamber yesterday to ask God for peace on the city’s streets.

“The violence in the neighborhood in which we serve is intolerable,’’ said the Rev. Cathy H. George of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Upham’s Corner. “And it wouldn’t be put up with anywhere else that I’ve ever been in the state.’’

The City Council opens each of its weekly meetings with a prayer, but yesterday, in a show of concern about a wave of violence in which five people under 16 have been shot this spring, Council President Michael P. Ross and Councilor at Large Ayanna Pressley asked a number of clergy to come and pray.

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Bonnie Anderson, president of the House of Deputies and council vice president, yielded the majority of her time for opening remarks to Diocese of San Joaquin Provisional Bishop Jerry Lamb who updated the council on the work to rebuild the central California diocese since the group met there in January 2009.

“I want to tell you clearly and loudly that the clergy and laity of the Diocese of San Joaquin are committed to the Episcopal Church and to the Episcopal sense of what it is to be God’s people,” he said.

He said that the Episcopalians who remained after the former leadership and a majority of its members joined in December 2007 the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone have tried to reconcile, revive, renew and rebuild. Lamb said that efforts to reconcile with those who left “bore very, very little fruit” but that 21 worshipping communities have reformed and 18 of them have shown “significant but slow growth.”

“They are becoming much, much stronger,” Lamb said.

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UK retail sales rose strongly in May, with analysts citing the World Cup as the main reason for the pick-up.

Sales volumes rose by a bigger-than-expected 0.6% from April, helped by a 1.7% jump in household goods sales and a 1% increase in food sales, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Analysts said sales of televisions and food ahead of the World Cup had boosted the figures.

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What does the U.S. have in common with countries in sub-Saharan Africa?

Both waste large, obscene amounts of food. Better knowledge and technology would reduce food waste, deter environmental damage and, especially in that region of the African continent, reduce the number of people who go hungry each day.

In sub-Saharan Africa, at least 265 million people are hungry, heightening the travesty of the food waste problem. More than a quarter of the food produced in Africa spoils before it is eaten. Farmers battle post-harvest losses caused by severe weather, disease and pests, or poor harvesting and storage techniques. Annual post-harvest losses for cereal grains, roots and tuber crops, fruits, vegetables, meat, milk and fish amount to some 100 million tons, or $48 million worth of food.

To prevent these losses in Africa and elsewhere, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is trying to provide the information and technology to begin turning this tide….

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Nearly half of Germans want a change in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right coalition government, with one out of five wanting her to resign and call new elections, the latest poll showed Wednesday.

The findings in the poll conducted by Forsa for Stern weekly news magazine showed that a further 22% want back the grand coalition of conservative parties and the Social Democrats, which Ms. Merkel headed in the previous legislative term.

Just 8% said the chancellor can continue governing as she has done since the coalition won the elections in September.

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The rebellion against the 1930s fiscal and monetary policies of the Euro-complex is gathering pace.

Il Sole has published a letter by 100 Italian economists warning that the austerity strategy imposed by Brussels/Frankfurt risks tipping Europe into a self-feeding downward spiral. Far from holding the eurozone together, it will cause weaker countries to be catapulted out of EMU. Others will leave in order to restore sovereign control over their central banks and unemployment policies.

At worst it will blow the EU apart, leading to the very acrimony that the European Project was supposed to prevent.

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…beyond speculation about this crisis’ political impact lies re-confirmation of this far more critical reality: As the oil appetite of the world (not just the U.S.) continues to grow, the difficulty in finding enough to go around is growing, too.

Oil will remain an indispensable energy source for decades to come. America must boost domestic production of it within reasonable regulations.

But the Gulf mess is a vivid reminder of the environmental — and economic — hazards of offshore drilling. Those risks are particularly pertinent for South Carolina. We depend heavily on tourism dollars generated by our healthy beaches and coastal wetlands. It’s discouraging to see some of our state’s prominent elected officials, including both of our U.S. senators, remaining supportive of drilling off our precious shores. It’s also frustrating to see so many Americans buying into the myth that “environmental chic” is to blame for the Gulf catastrophe — and for our dangerous dependence on foreign oil.

Long ago, oil virtually leaked from the ground in Texas and Oklahoma. Now it leaks in massive quantities from a mile below the water in the Gulf.

And now we must develop new sources of energy — and a stronger commitment to conservation.

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(ENS) When Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori preached and presided at a Eucharist June 13 at Southwark Cathedral in London, she carried her mitre, or bishop’s hat, rather than wear it.

She did so in order to comply with a “statement” from Lambeth Palace, the London home of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, that said “that I was not to wear a mitre at Southwark Cathedral,” Jefferts Schori told the Executive Council June 16 on the first day of its three-day meeting here.

Jefferts Schori made her remarks to council during a “private conversation” session attended by council members and church center staff, and later told ENS it could report her remarks.

The Church of England ordains women to the diaconate and the priesthood, but does not allow women to be bishops. Its General Synod is due to consider legislation to change that policy.

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The diocese considers this a small victory, and the Anglican District refuses to view it as a total loss.

“On reflection, the ruling actually supports several of the things that we were claiming, most significantly that there has in fact been a division in the church,” said Jim Oakes, chairman of the Anglican District of Virginia. “This is a very long way from a situation in which they won and we lost.”

Henry Burt, secretary of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, said, “There’s no question that several of our congregations left the diocese. But this is not a fractured church.”
Burt said the division didn’t count as an official split in the church because “these churches decided to leave for an organization that had been set up before they decided to leave.”

Until the final decision, both sides will remain in limbo.

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In an earlier post, I wrote about the emergence of Turkey and Brazil on the world stage. Since then, the ”˜terrible twins’ voted against the Security Council’s latest set of (almost certainly ineffective) sanctions against Iran. The Obama administration had worked hard to get both countries on board; their rebuff dramatized the limits of President Obama’s clout ”” but their isolation on the Security Council (the sanctions carried 12-2-1, with only intimidated Lebanon abstaining) dramatically illustrated something else: the impotence of the terrible twins. Brazilian President Lula and Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan spoke out, but nobody listened.

Brazil and Turkey are learning something that more experienced world players already know: it is easier to make a splash than to make a change, easier to grab a headline than to set an agenda. Both countries can expect a rocky ride for some time; the democratic forces propelling new parties and new movements to the fore reflect domestic constituencies, domestic ideas and, in some cases, domestic fantasies about how the world works. Developing viable foreign policies that take those interests and values into account, but also respond to the realities and necessities of the international system will take time and take thought. At this point, it seems clear that neither the Brazilian nor the Turkish administrations have mastered the challenge.

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When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.

We give thee hearty thanks, O heavenly Father, for the rest of the past night, and for the gift of a new day, with its opportunities of pleasing thee. Grant that we may so pass its hours in the perfect freedom of thy service, that at eventide we may again give thanks unto thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

–Daybreak Office of the Eastern Church

South Carolina state police should investigate how the unemployed winner of the state’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary paid his filing fee of more than $10,000, after claiming indigency and being appointed a public defender to represent him in a court case, a state lawmaker says.

“There are several questions regarding the filing fee paid for by Mr. Alvin Greene,” Republican Rep. Chip Limehouse wrote in a letter dated Tuesday to State Law Enforcement Division Chief Reggie Lloyd.

Greene, a 32-year-old political unknown, stunned the party establishment when he defeated former state lawmaker Vic Rawl in the June 8 primary to see who would face GOP U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, the heavy favorite in the fall.

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Family breakdowns have a huge impact on children.

A report by the Centre for Social Justice entitled ‘Every Family Matters’ called upon Parliament and parties across the political spectrum to recognise that healthy marriages build healthy families, and healthy families build a healthy society.

There is a measurable financial cost to family breakdown, but there is a greater cost in the impact on young people which is incalculable.

Many who would argue that individual lifestyle choice must be taken into account in any discussion of marriage. But my own view is that the exclusive emphasis on individual choice ignores the cost of that choice to society as a whole.

There are of course inhibiting factors in getting married, whether it be the cost of a wedding or the fear of commitment. But the danger is that Society at large loses out.

There are other basic commitments needed for a healthy society. Honesty is one. Who is setting an example?

A recent study suggests that among adults there is no longer a universal standard of what honesty means, and the academic researchers concluded that attitudes to honesty are so variable that the legal standard needs to be revised.

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The Episcopal Diocese of Western New York is leaving its Delaware Avenue home of almost 60 years and relocating to one of its churches in the Town of Tonawanda, the diocese announced Tuesday.

The diocesan office will be moved to the former St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church at 1064 Brighton Road.

It was a difficult decision, because the building at 1114 Delaware Ave. has been home to the diocese since 1951.

“This move signals a shift in perspective and a new vision for our ministry in the 21st century,” Bishop J. Michael Garrison said. A split at the former St. Bartholomew’s Church left a very small congregation, and its members eventually decided to attend services at other parishes, said Laurie Wozniak, a diocesan spokeswoman.

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The Prime Minister called for the company to be protected from excessive compensation claims as President Barack Obama made it agree to potentially unlimited damages.

BP provisionally agreed the biggest compensation payment in corporate history, setting up a fund worth at least £13.5 billion to cover the damage caused by its leaking oil pipe in the Gulf of Mexico.

But the US president last night made it clear that BP’s payments could be just the start, warning that the company could still face lawsuits from individuals and American states.

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Spain has upped the ante in a high-stakes poker game with Germany, pushing for the release of EU stress test results for major banks in a move that risks precipitiating a dramatic escalation of Europe’s financial crisis.

“We’re not afraid of transparency,” said the Spanish Banking Association (AEB), saying the full truth would put an end to rumours battering Spain’s instutitions. El Pais reported that the government backs the initiative, putting it on a collision course with Germany which insists on secrecy.

Josef Ackermann, head of Deutsche Bank, warned last week that it would be “very dangerous” to publish the results of each bank, fearing that it would trigger flight from weak lenders and set off a chain reaction.

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(ENS) The Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, is to speak to the Episcopal Church’s Executive Council here on June 18.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori told the council at its opening plenary session that Kearon would engage with the council in a question-and-answer session at 9 a.m. on the last day of the council’s June 16-18 meeting at the Conference Center at the Maritime Institute.

His presence at the meeting will come 11 days after he announced that he had sent letters to five Episcopal Church members of the inter-Anglican ecumenical dialogues with the Lutheran, Methodist, Old Catholic and Orthodox churches “informing them that their membership on these dialogues has been discontinued.” Kearon also said on June 7 that he had written to the Episcopal Church member of the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity Faith and Order (IASCUFO), withdrawing her membership and inviting her to serve as a consultant to that body.

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I am an atheist but I do not begrudge people their belief in deity. It is one honest response to the experience of life’s profoundly sacred character. The dedicated effort of honest scientific inquiry is another form of response. That some respond to their experience with a belief in Deity is not the problem.

Intolerance is the problem. The rejection of science as a means of understanding aspects of the world is the problem.

As long as people understand that their way is not the only way and refrain from forcing non-evidence based modes of knowing on others then we have much yet to explore. There is a rich, vital and necessary discussion of Science and Spiritual Endeavor before us. Answering the unanswerable question of Gods’ existence is not a necessary precondition for taking on that necessary challenge.

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[Russell] Moore served as chairman of the resolutions committee this past week in Orlando when Southern Baptists gathered for their annual national meeting. Thus, in addition to dealing with scores of internal SBC issues, the convention expressed its concerns about the unfolding catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.

Noting that the Bible teaches that those who harm the vulnerable should be held accountable, the convention called on “governing authorities to act determinatively and with undeterred resolve to end this crisis; to fortify our coastal defenses; to ensure full corporate accountability for damages, clean-up, and restoration; to ensure that government and private industry are not again caught without planning for such possibilities; and to promote future energy policies based on prudence, conservation, accountability, and safety.”

It urged Southern Baptist churches to recruit waves of volunteers for clean-up crews, just as they did after hurricane Katrina.

The resolution stressed that “our God-given dominion over the creation is not unlimited, as though we were gods and not creatures, so therefore, all persons and all industries are then accountable to higher standards than to profit alone.”

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Spain isn’t supposed to lose to Switzerland.

Spain has never lost to Switzerland.

Perhaps Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas believed that would last forever just a little too much.

In a 1-0 loss, it was his peculiarly complacent misjudgment that heaped the pressure of a billion expectations on a team that, for many, was the pre-tournament favorite.

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