SHAUN CASEY (Wesley Theological Seminary): Whether you act or whether you don’t act, the stakes are really quite high, and that’s what makes it so daunting from a moral perspective: trying to find the right way to know when to intervene and when not to because the consequences, the body counts are quite high.

LAWTON: In the wake of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the United Nations hammered out a set of principles known as the “Responsibility to Protect.” The principles say that nations must protect their population from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing. And if a state doesn’t live up to that responsibility, the international community has a responsibility to step in. The United States has endorsed those principles.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA (from Nobel acceptance speech, December 209): I believe that force can be justified on humanitarian grounds, as it was in the Balkans, or in the other places that have been scarred by war. Inaction tears at our conscience and can lead to more costly intervention later.

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It was a traditional ordination at St. Jerome Parish Saturday for a man with a non-traditional path to priesthood. Deacon Russell Arnett, now Father Arnett, was first ordained in the Episcopal Church where priests are allowed to marry. Now Arnett is the first priest to enter the Archdiocese of Milwaukee through what is called the “Pastoral Provision.”

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In response to a growing desire to donate as well as pray for the beleaguered nation of Japan, agencies and Churches of the Communion have been setting up avenues for giving.

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Q: What made you come out of retirement to come here?A: I had only been retired for six months when the presiding bishop asked me to consider having my name go forward. There are only certain bishops who can serve as provisional bishops. You have to be either retired or a bishop of another diocese. It’s pretty difficult to find. And I was living in Pasadena, which was relatively close. There was a need here, so I did allow my name to go forward. I was elected at a special convention on March 5.

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In the late 1940s, women from Old St. Andrew’s Parish Church turned the tea room custom into an annual fundraising event. As described on Old St. Andrew’s website, a group of women would spend the day preparing the church for services and have lunch on the church lawn. Because the surrounding area lacked restaurants, they often would share their lunches with tourists who visited the church. The need to raise funds for renovations prompted them to begin selling sandwiches and beverages to visitors.

Since then, the tea room concept has grown to include several Lowcountry churches and numerous patrons. Last year, St. Paul’s Church of Summerville served around 3,600 dine-in guests and filled 930 takeout orders in a two-week period.

St. Paul’s tea room and gift shop coordinator Selina Hathaway said that guests consider it to be an “annual reunion of the town of Summerville.” About 190 church members contributed to last year’s tea room, and the funds generated from the event were poured into 33 local, diocesan and world ministries, says Hathaway.

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With South Carolina facing a projected $700 million budget shortfall next year, it’s important not to overlook a sector of our economy that has the power to both stimulate economic growth and provide a wide range of social good: the nonprofit sector.

According to the S.C. Association of Nonprofit Organizations, public charities employ more than 7 percent of the state’s workforce and generate nearly $13 billion annually in revenue.

In addition to improving social and economic equity, human and environmental health, access to opportunity and community vitality, nationally the nonprofit sector accounts for 5 percent of gross domestic product, 8 percent of wages and salaries and 10 percent of employment. If the nonprofit sector in the United States were a country, it would be the eighth-largest economy in the world, ahead of Canada, Spain, Brazil and Russia.

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The US, UK and France have attacked Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in the first action to enforce a UN-mandated no-fly zone.

Military officials are said to be assessing the damage after at least 110 missiles were fired by the US and UK.

After one attack, some 14 bodies were lying near destroyed vehicles near the rebel-held city of Benghazi after strikes by French planes, Reuters says.

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Heavenly Father, I awake this morning in the presence of the holy angels of God
May heaven open wide before me, above me, and around me
that I may see the Christ of my love and his sunlit company in all the things of the earth this day.

–Celtic Prayers from Iona

Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you you shall go, and whatever I command you you shall speak. Be not afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.”

–Jeremiah 1:4-8

The Rev. Thomas Eoyang still isn’t quite sure what made him return to church after years of indifference.

“I at first thought, ”˜Well that’s a silly idea,’ but you know when you’re trying to brainstorm you try to entertain every notion possible. Including all the silly ones,” said Eoyang about his decision to join a seminary in Cambridge, Mass., even before he had a desire to become a priest. He has been the rector at Grace Epiphany Episcopal Church on Gowen Avenue since 2004.

Eoyang ditched a successful career in medical publishing to join, and it proved to be a genuinely fun and uplifting experience. Eoyang found himself signing up for huge course loads and absorbing everything he could.

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A new assessment of President Barack Obama’s budget released Friday says the White House underestimates future budget deficits by more than $2 trillion over the upcoming decade.

The estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says that if Obama’s February budget submission is enacted into law it would produce deficits totaling $9.5 trillion over 10 years — an average of almost $1 trillion a year.

Obama’s budget saw deficits totaling $7.2 trillion over the same period.

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For the most part, assiduous commenting on a friend’s Facebook updates and periodically e-mailing promises to “catch up by phone soon” substitute for actual conversation. With friends who merit face time, arrangements are carried out via electronic transmission. “We do everything by text and e-mail,” said Laurie David, a Hollywood producer and author. “It would be strange at this point to try figuring all that out by phone.”

Of course, immediate family members still phone occasionally. “It’s useful for catching up on parenting issues with your ex-husband,” said Ms. David, who used to be married to Larry David, the star of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” “Sometimes when you don’t want to type it all, it’s just easier to talk.”

But even sons, husbands and daughters don’t always want to chat. In our text-heavy world, mothers report yearning for the sound of their teenage and adult children’s voices. “I’m sort of missing the phone,” said Lisa Birnbach, author of “True Prep” and mother of three teenagers. “It’s warmer and more honest.”

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