Now concerning the contribution for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that contributions need not be made when I come.

I consider Bishop Lawrence a friend and respected fellow-laborer in the vineyards of the Lord. I know him to be a loyal and faithful minister who seeks to raise valid and serious questions as to the theology, polity and structure of the Episcopal Church. Our church has a long history of theological diversity and respect for those with whom we disagree, and we can all benefit from the challenge of addressing these questions openly and in a spirit of mutual charity. Unfortunately, we live in a culture that is too often hostile to disagreement and unwilling to engage in honest dialogue with those who have different views. Our churches are not immune from this, and all who follow a loving God have each to ask God to forgive us for any roles we may have played in that hostility over the years.

I do not intend to prejudge the matters being considered by the review board; however, it is hard for me to see how the actions complained of against Bishop Lawrence rise to the level of an intentional abandonment of the communion of this church, as is charged. I have difficulty understanding why matters that are arguably legislative and constitutional in nature should be dealt with in a disciplinary context. I await the report and yet hope the review board shares my difficulty.

Read it all.

Our denomination, like many others, has wrestled mightily with issues of moral theology and the interpretation of scripture in recent years. This sad episode is related to that struggle. I, and many others, regret it has come to this point. Our divisions do not honor Christ, who prayed we all be one, and we hope for reconciliation.

Read it all.

Students and workers seeking retraining are borrowing extraordinary amounts of money through federal loan programs, potentially putting a huge burden on the backs of young people looking for jobs and trying to start careers.

The amount of student loans taken out last year crossed the $100 billion mark for the first time and total loans outstanding will exceed $1 trillion for the first time this year. Americans now owe more on student loans than on credit cards, reports the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Students are borrowing twice what they did a decade ago after adjusting for inflation, the College Board reports. Total outstanding debt has doubled in the past five years ”” a sharp contrast to consumers reducing what’s owed on home loans and credit cards.

Read it all.

Members of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh are in a race where the winners are people who otherwise would be hungry.

Twenty-two of the 31 parishes in the diocese, assigned to one of two teams, have been competing in the diocese’s Race Against Hunger. The teams earn points as they host food drives, educate the public about hunger and food sources, cook at soup kitchens and repack food at the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank in Duquesne. The points are symbolic, serving only to spur volunteers on in a friendly competition.

“It’s outreach. We’re reaching out beyond the walls of our own church, our own parish, so we are taking care of people within the Western Pennsylvania diocesan area,” said Judy Rosensteel of North Versailles, a member of All Souls Episcopal Church.

Read it all.

As their numbers grow, Latinos are not only changing where and how they worship; they’re also beginning to affect the larger Christian faith.

You can see evidence of that in the Assemblies of God, once a historically white, suburban Pentecostal denomination. When you walk into the denomination’s largest church, it’s sensory overload: The auditorium is jam-packed with hundreds of Latino worshipers singing in Spanish, swaying and dancing.

In little more than a decade, New Life Covenant Church in Chicago has grown from 68 people to more than 4,000 members; it had to abandon its old building and meet in Clemente High School. When you include the other churches New Life has started, its membership comes to some 12,000 people.

Read or listen to it all.

Prompted by civil liberties groups, a taxpayer-supported homeless shelter in the nation’s capital will no longer require its clients to attend religious services.

“We’re pleased that the D.C. government will no longer be supporting such religious coercion,” said Arthur Spitzer, legal director of the Washington, D.C., branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Read it all.

The Church Buildings Council of the Church of England will launch their Guide on Commissioning New Art for Churches today (Wednesday, October 19, 2011) at St Stephen Walbrook, London (EC4N 8BN), to encourage parishes to embark on the adventure of commissioning new art for their churches.

Much of the information in the guide is aimed at parishes, but it will also provide an insight for artists and other interested parties. It is not only promoting the commissioning of artwork such as painting, stained glass or sculpture, but also wants parishes to consider other options such as kneelers, processional crosses or vestments.

Read it all.

The Church at its second Synod in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, also expressed concern over the fact that the reports of panels set up to investigate major crisis in the country have not been released to the public.

This may have also contributed to the reuption of more violence.

Delivering the Bishop’s Charge at the Synod, the Bishop of the Diocese of Egba West, Anglican Communion, Rev. Samuel Ogundeji, deplored the spate of violence and other forms insecurity in the land. He named Boko Haram, post election killings, bloodletting in Jos, the beleaguered Plateau State State capital and other parts of the city, as well as other forms of insecurity rocking parts of the country.

Read it all.

Along with countless Christians and Muslims alike throughout the world, I want to express my deep concern about the current situation in Egypt as it affects all our Christian brothers and sisters and to promise our continuing prayers and support especially for His Holiness Pope Shenuda and the community he serves. In modern times the significant Coptic Christian population in Egypt has been free from repression ; Muslims and Christians have happily shared a loyalty to the one Egyptian state….

Read it all.

Two Pittsburgh religious leaders said they felt joy and relief when they learned an Israeli soldier held captive for five years by Hamas had been freed.

“I’m thrilled that that’s happened for the family, but I certainly hope and pray not just for his welfare, but that we don’t have to face this situation again,” said Bishop David Zubik of the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese.

Zubik and Aaron Bisno, senior rabbi of Rodef Shalom Congregation in Shadyside, discussed their reactions on Tuesday after Israel exchanged more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for Gilad Schalit, 25, an Israeli soldier held captive since 2006.

Read it all.

Read it all (pdf from the court).

Scores of anti-corporate demonstrators invaded London’s historic St. Paul’s Cathedral on 16 October, but police who tried to stop them were told to leave by church officials, Religion News Service reports.

The protesters — who were targeting the global financial system as part of worldwide demonstrations against corporate greed ”“ were welcomed into the 17th-century cathedral, and Sunday services went on uninterrupted. The protesters were allowed to continue their presence into 17 October, provided they did not interfere with tourists.

Read it all.

Local governments, once a steady source of employment in tough economic times, are shedding jobs in unprecedented numbers, and heavy payroll losses are expected to persist into next year.

The job cuts by city and county governments are helping offset modest private-sector employment gains, restraining broader job growth.

“They’ll continue to be a drag on the overall (employment) numbers and the economy,” says Wells Fargo economist Mark Vitner.

Read it all.

The Diocese of Kigezi has once again been recognised by the Ministry of Water and Environment for its outstanding performance in the Water and Sanitation sector.

The Diocese received an award as the ‘Most Outstanding NGO’ in Water and Sanitation promotion for the financial year 2010/2011 during the just concluded Joint GoU/Development Partners’ Water and Environment Sector Review held at Imperial Royale Hotel, Kampala from 11th -13th October 2011.

Read it all.

US forces are massing on the Pakistan border in eastern Afghanistan amid reports of an imminent drone missile offensive against fighters from the feared Haqqani Network, a Taliban faction which operates from safe havens in Pakistan’s North Waziristan Agency, Pakistan Army sources have confirmed.

The scale of the American build-up, including helicopter gunships, heavy artillery and hundreds of American and Afghan troops, caused panic in north Waziristan where tribal militias who feared they could be targeted gathered in the capital Miranshah to coordinate their response.

Read it all.

: In his Rite and Reason articles last July/August, Prof James Mackey’s central thesis is that the theory of evolution (which he describes as “Dawkins’s Darwinism”) is unfit to serve as a moral code for the human race.

I agree. It is not. And no atheist that I know, particularly Richard Dawkins, has ever suggested that it is or should be or even could be.

Read it all.

O God of the nations, who didst give to thy faithful servant Henry Martyn a brilliant mind, a loving heart, and a gift for languages, that he might translate the Scriptures and other holy writings for the peoples of India and Persia: Inspire in us, we beseech thee, a love like his, eager to commit both life and talents to thee who gavest them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Almighty Father, God of the spirits of all flesh, thyself unchanged abiding: We bless thy holy name for all who have completed their earthly course in thy faith and fear, and are now at rest. We remember before thee this day thy servant Irene Deenihan, rendering thanks to thee for the gift of her friendship, and for her life of service and devotion. And we beseech thee, in thy loving wisdom and almighty power, work in her, as in us, all the good purpose of thy holy will; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

–1 Corinthians 15:51-58

Watching television or videos is discouraged for babies younger than 2 because studies suggest it could harm their development, a pediatricians’ group said Tuesday.

Instead of allowing infants to watch videos or screens, parents should talk to them and encourage independent play, said the first guidelines on the subject issued in more than a decade by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Read it all.

Ten years after tiny St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was destroyed by falling rubble from the World Trade Center towers, church leaders reached an agreement Friday (Oct. 14) to rebuild at Ground Zero.

The church, founded by Greek immigrants in 1916, sat in the shadow of the twin towers and was the only religious building to be completely destroyed during the 9/11 attacks.

Under the agreement brokered by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the church agreed to drop a lawsuit filed in February against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls rebuilding at Ground Zero.

Read it all.

[In the 18th century James]…Madison led the effort to enshrine the right of religious conscience in the First Amendment. To Madison, this was the most sacred of all rights. For him, the First Amendment included the most significant principle claimed by the founding generation.

Surely, Fischer and Jeffress believe deeply in their brand of Christianity. They also, no doubt, believe that they should be free to urge their followers to eschew a candidate who does not follow their brand of Christianity. They have, however, failed to grasp the crowning principle of our Constitution ”” the freedom of conscience. They also seem to have forgotten how tenuous religious liberty is.

Before religious leaders in the 21st century declare a religious test for political purposes, they should remember Madison’s caution that their own brand of Christianity could, under such a principle, one day be disfavored in diabolical ways that will lead to persecution.

Read it all.

The only good thing about the end of summer is that it’s the beginning of the college foot­ball season. Once more college football is delivering thrills and surprises, with the rankings changing dramatically on a weekly basis, teams appearing out of nowhere to vie for the no. 1 ranking, and under­dogs ceremoniously (college football is nothing if not ceremonious) knocking off highly favored teams. I love just about everything about the game, from the on-field heroics to the off-field pageantry.

But I make the qualification: just about everything about the game. I don’t love everything. There’s plenty to be cynical about when ostensibly amateur players get recruited as if they were professionals. Even a straight arrow like Ohio State coach Jim Tressel turns out to have run a fairly smarmy program. Yet it’s not primarily the financially shady elements that make me ambivalent about my favorite sport. It’s the sometimes dangerous levels of violence….

Read it all.

Occupy Charleston is a local version of the Occupy Wall Street movement that has spread across the country. No one at this point is predicting how many people might turn out for the 99 hours of camping, music, cooking, free speech, educational events and smaller-size marches to area banks.

Read it all.

The theme chosen for the Day: “Food Prices: From Crisis to Stability,” invites us to reflect on the importance of the different factors that can give people and communities essential resources, beginning with agricultural work, which must not be considered as a secondary activity, but as the objective of every strategy of growth and integral development. This is still more important if we keep in mind that the availability of foods is increasingly conditioned by the volatility of prices and sudden climatic changes. We observe at the same time a continuous abandonment of rural areas with a global decline in agricultural production and, hence, in food reserves. Moreover, spreading everywhere, unfortunately, is the idea that food is just one more merchandise and, hence, also subject to speculative movements.

It cannot be ignored that — despite the progress achieved up to now and the hopes based on an economy that increasingly respects the dignity of every person — the future of the human family is in need of a new impulse to overcome present fragilities and uncertainties. Although we live in a global dimension, there are evident signs of the profound division between those who lack daily sustenance and those who have many resources, using them often for ends other than food and even destroying them. Confirmed thus is that globalization makes us feel closer but not brothers (cf. Caritas in Veritate, 19). Because of this, those Christian values inscribed in the heart of every person and which have always inspired his action must be rediscovered: the feeling of compassion and humanity toward others and the duty of solidarity and commitment to justice, must again be the basis of every activity, including those carried out by the international community.

Read it all.

As a child growing up in Kaifeng in central China, Jin Jin was constantly reminded of her unusual heritage.

“We weren’t supposed to eat pork, our graves were different from other people, and we had a mezuza on our door,” said the 25-year-old, referring to the prayer scroll affixed to doorways of Jewish homes.

Read it all.

One of the allegations now being made against Bishop Lawrence is that the decision by the Diocese of South Carolina to continue to adhere to the prior Title IV canons rather than adopt the controversial new revisions constitutes abandonment by being an open renunciation of the discipline of TEC. Last March Alan Runyan and I published an article that undertook a careful examination of the history of TEC’s Constitution as it relates to clergy discipline. We started at the beginning in 1789, but gave particular attention to those constitutional revisions in 1901 that the drafters of the new Title IV claim “profoundly changed” the constitutional allocation of authority in the church. That article provides conclusive proof that the Constitution as now in effect allocates authority for discipline of priests and deacons exclusively to the dioceses except for appeals.

This issue has been much debated in the history of TEC, and our article contains a detailed examination of that history. But throughout those years of debates, the result was always the same: disciplinary authority remained with the dioceses. Our article provides compelling proof that the revisions to Title IV are unconstitutional. It cannot be a renunciation of the discipline of the church to uphold that discipline as specified in the Constitution by resisting unconstitutional encroachment on the diocese’s exclusive authority….

Read it all (and make sure to go and read the full original article to which it links) [emphasis his].

On Sun., Oct. 16, 2011, age 89, of Wilmerding. Irene was born in Mt. Lebanon on July 17,1922. Beloved wife of 63 years of Edward J. Deenihan, Sr.; dear mother of John (Mary Lynn) of Chatsworth, CA, Edward J. (Kathleen) of Pleasanton, CA, Patrick (Janice) of Reno, NV, Rosemary (Orval) Choate of Nevada City, CA, Elizabeth (Kendall) Harmon of Summerville, SC, Margaret (Mark) Caruso of Winter Springs, FL, and Timothy (Jennifer) of Bridgeport, CT; sister of Leo Shaffer of Lithopolis, OH; also 14 grandchildren; daughter of the late Florenz and Mary Lageman Shaffer Lackner; also preceded in death by two sisters and one brother. Friends received at the JAMES F. FILIA FUNERAL HOME AND CREMATION SERVICE, 354 Marguerite Ave., Wilmerding on Mon. 6-8 p.m. and Tues. 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. Mass of Christian burial at St. Jude the Apostle Church on Wed. at 11 a.m. Irene was a member of St. Jude the Apostle Rosary Society for 50 years, Tuesday morning bible study group for 18 years, and delivered Meals on Wheels for over 25 years. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial to Meals on Wheels at Linway Church, Rt. 30., East McKeesport, PA 15135 or St. Vincent DePaul Society of Pittsburgh.

In an email to the bishop ”” who is Dean Gordon’s boss and on the liberal wing of the church ”” the News Letter asked for an interview in an attempt to get his side of the story, which has featured a string of outspoken denunciations by Anglican clergy of both the bishop and the dean.

As the bishop of Cashel and Ossory, the Rt Rev Burrows is senior to Portadown-born Dean Gordon, who now ministers in Carlow. According to Dean Gordon, the bishop appointed him last year in the full knowledge of his 20-year relationship with talented musician Mark Duley and was aware of their intention to enter a civil partnership once the Republic’s law changed.

Read it all.