There are [many].. reasons why I, as your bishop, am moved to reflect upon marriage in a manner which emphasizes its importance as a fruitful institution so necessary for the life of society and the world. It is troubling that far too many people do not understand what it means to say that marriage””both as a natural institution and a Christian sacrament””is a blessing and gift from God. We observe, for example, that some people esteem marriage as an ideal but can be reluctant to make the actual commitment necessary to enter and sustain it. Some choose instead to live in cohabiting relationships that may or may not lead to marriage and can be detrimental to the well-being of themselves and of the children who may be born of this union. In addition, the incidence of divorce remains high. A nationally-respected research center indicates that the divorce rate of women in Maine is 25 percent higher than the national average. The same research indicates that the divorce rate of men in Maine is 33 percent higher than the national average.With the advent of no-fault divorce, the social sanctions and legal barriers to ending one”˜s marriage have all but disappeared. The tragic effects of divorce on children, families and the community are on the increase. Even within marriage, a couple does not always accept their responsibility to serve life by being open to children. For some, children are seen no longer as integral to a marriage but merely as an option, that is, a choice to accept or reject. This lack of understanding fails to recognize the purposes of marriage as being both unitive and procreative.8 There is a loss of belief in the value of those purposes when couples readily treat as separate choices the decisions to get married and to have children. This indicates the fairly prevalent view that children are seen not as integral to a marriage but as optional. When children are viewed in this way, there can be damaging consequences not only for them but also for the marriage itself. Continually, we hear it said that marriage is basically a private matter with little relation to the common good, relegated mostly to achieving personal satisfaction and fulfillment.

Read it all (22 page pdf).

British police say they have investigated more than 80 witchcraft-based child abuse cases in the last decade, and warned that the practice is “far more prevalent” than previously believed.

Authorities say the belief in witchcraft is widespread and growing in some African immigrant communities in Britain.

The disclosure came as a couple from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Magalie Bamu and Eric Bikubi, were sentenced to life in prison for torturing and drowning the woman’s 15-year-old brother, Kristy Bamu.

Read it all.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops last week started mandatory refresher training on how to handle the Koran. Troops are now told flatly not to dispose of Korans and will be urged to err on the side of caution when dealing with Arabic texts, assuming “material is sacred if there is any doubt over its religious significance.”

But some experts think the more explicit approach might not stop future incidents. Montgomery McFate, an anthropologist who has worked closely with the U.S. Defense Department, said the issuance of cultural do’s and don’ts was only useful to a point.

“It makes culture into a set of arbitrary rules. You don’t understand why,” she said. “The Bible is not considered itself a holy object, and unless you’d grown up in a religious tradition where that was true, you wouldn’t understand the way that Muslims feel about the Koran.

Read it all.

The agency’s 2011 long-term budget outlook showed that federal debt would begin to hurt the economy once it reaches about 77% of GDP. CBO’s January budget and economic outlook estimated that it will hit that level in 2013 under its high-debt scenario that is based largely on current policy.

“CBO expects that the large government deficits during the recession and afterward will raise the cost of capital in the future . . . constraining investment,” the nonpartisan scorekeeper wrote in its January budget and economic outlook.

Initially, the impact would be minimal, but it would grow over time as debt levels increase.

Read it all.

The new Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral has spoken in support of gay marriage in a move that threatens to deepen divisions within the Church of England.

Dr David Ison, 57, said that the virtues of marriage should be available to gays, adding that it was better to talk of “Christian marriage” rather than homosexual or heterosexual unions. He admitted that he had conducted ceremonies for homosexuals after civil partnerships, even though formal blessing services for gays are banned by the Church and no liturgy has been authorised.

Read it all (requires subscription).

The 57-year-old grandfather, who enjoys scuba diving and drives a kit car, speaks softly, but he has strong views and a steely determination. As Dean of Bradford, his previous job, he rescued the cathedral from bankruptcy. Now he must restore the reputation of St Paul’s ”” and help the Church of England to rethink its role in society.

The country is “in danger of drifting apart, with the financiers, politicians and others at the top and people ”˜lower down’ feeling that they’re not being heard”, he warns. “Historically, if the top and bottom of society drift too far apart, there comes a point where there’s an explosion.

“We must get on and deal with the reform of our institutions while we still can, before it turns into a situation of revolution.”

Read it all (requires subscription).

For the settlers, the presence of the Christian workers has more practical applications.

“Today we have more than 200 acres. It’s a lot of agriculture and it takes a lot of work,” says Veret Ben Sadon, who helps run the Tura Winery. “We saw that we cannot work alone. I can say for sure that without this help, we cannot do what we are doing today.”

Essentially she gets free labor for the heavy seasonal work that needs to be done. She says there is a labor shortage in the area and the Christians fill the gap.

Read or listen to it all.

For 40 years, Um Michael has found comfort and serenity amid the soaring pillars and ancient icons of St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox cathedral.

But as a priest offered up a prayer for peace one recent Sunday, the 70-year-old widow dabbed tears from her eyes.

“I was wishing that life would go back to the way it used to be,” she said.

Read it all.

The news that six UK soldiers had been killed in Afghanistan was met by duly respectful and stoical tributes yesterday, first in Downing Street, then at the Ministry of Defence, and then in Parliament during Prime Minister’s Questions. The Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond, insisted that what had happened would “not shake our resolve to see through the mission”. David Cameron stressed the commitment of the troops to “getting the job done”, while offering “everypossible support” to a political settlement….

With the date for withdrawal almost three years away, however, these fatalities cannot be seen in isolation. And it is hard to escape the impression that, even as the training of Afghan soldiers and police continues, little is changing so far as the authority of the government, overall security and the safety of foreign troops are concerned.

Read it all (my emphasis).

[The] Greece youth unemployment rate has risen to 51.1%. It was 39% in 2010, 28.9% in 2009, 26.3% in 2008, 24.5% in 2007

–Alberto Nardelli as cited in this morning’s Telegraph.

Watch and listen to it all. LOL.

US troops who burned copies of the Koran at a base in Afghanistan last month should have been aware it would enrage Muslims based on the reaction to previous instances of desecrating Islam’s holy book, the head of Afghanistan’s independent human rights body says.

Sima Samar, chairwoman of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, said Americans previously have dealt with issues relating to the treatment of the Koran at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and had seen the furor created by the burning of the Koran at a Florida church last year.

US officials have said that the Korans were confiscated from prisoners at Bagram air base and mistakenly discarded in an incinerator.

Read it all.

One of the primary strengths of the Episcopal Church is that we don’t require you to leave your brain at the church door.
We believe Jesus’ words that we heard in today’s Gospel, that we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and all our souls, and all our minds. Certainly we know that there are mysteries in faith beyond our understanding, but we also know that God expects us to use our God-given intelligence.
Another strength of the Episcopal Church is our comfort with ambiguity. We know that the world is not black and white, and efforts to divide is, and our faith, up that way will not sustain us for long.
That does not mean we do not know the difference between right and wrong, or that “anything goes,” as our critics sometimes charge. It does mean that we recognize that the world is a complex place, and there are times when there is no absolute answer or “one size fits all” solution to a problem.

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At the conclusion of the January, 2012 Sacred Assembly in Raleigh, NC, Archbishop Onesphore Rwaje established a temporary Steering Team on behalf of the Anglican Church of Rwanda to serve in directing its ongoing missionary efforts in North America. The Steering Team was commissioned to both respond to immediate needs and also to prepare the way for future long” term mission and structure. The immediate task of the team was to provide pastoral care and oversight for clergy canonically resident in Rwanda, as well as those congregations desirous of continuing affiliation with Rwanda, all under the auspices of an interim organization known as PEARUSA (Province de L’Eglise Anglicane au Rwanda en USA). In preparing for the future, the team was charged to explore and develop plans for long”term ecclesiastical structures. Toward this end, a working group of laity, clergy and bishops met in a retreat center outside of Washington, DC, on Feb 26”28, 2012, to consider future possibilities. This communiqué reports the outcomes of this working group retreat….

Read it all (another from the long queue of should-have-already-been-posted material).

A high-ranking Nigerian customs officer has been shot dead by gunmen thought to be from the militant Islamist Boko Haram, police have said.

Adamu Ahmadu was killed in Yobe state in north-east Nigeria, weeks after tightening up border controls to stem the flow of arms in the region.

Boko Haram has its stronghold in Maiduguri in neighbouring Borno state.

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Glorious God, we give thanks not merely for high and holy things, but for the common things of earth which thou hast created: Wake us to love and work, that Jesus, the Lord of life, may set our hearts ablaze and that we, like Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, may recognize thee in thy people and in thy creation, serving the holy and undivided Trinity; who livest and reignest throughout all ages of ages. Amen.

O God, who through thy Son Jesus Christ hast promised help to man according to his faith: Grant us the freedom of the children to taste the food of eternal life, and to share with others what we ourselves receive; through the merits of the same thy Son, our Lord.

–Gordon Hewitt

But I will hope continually, and will praise thee yet more and more. My mouth will tell of thy righteous acts, of thy deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. With the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD I will come, I will praise thy righteousness, thine alone. O God, from my youth thou hast taught me, and I still proclaim thy wondrous deeds.

–Psalm 71:14-17

The Rt Revd Dr Christopher Cocksworth, Bishop of Coventry, has been appointed to chair the Faith and Order Commission (FAOC) of the General Synod in succession to the Rt Revd Dr John Hind, Bishop of Chichester. Bishop John chaired the Faith and Order Advisor Group from 1991 and the FAOC from 2010, when it came into being.

The Commission advises the House of Bishops, the General Synod and the Council for Christian Unity on ecclesiological and ecumenical matters and acts as a theological resource for the Church of England as a whole. It has fifteen members and an episcopal chair.

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When Dale Regan, then teaching at Englewood High School, applied for a job teaching English at what is now Episcopal School of Jacksonville in 1978, the school generally didn’t hire public school teachers, Mary May remembered.
But when May, who was then chair of Episcopal’s English department, looked at Regan’s references, May knew she had to hire her: “Everybody said she was probably the best English teacher in the county.”
That was the beginning of a career that would eventually carry Regan to the position of head of school at Episcopal, a job admirers said she performed with flair until Tuesday afternoon, when a disgruntled former teacher with a gun ended her life.

Read it all. Also, I very much enjoyed the slideshow of pcitures of her which you may find there.

The Rt. Rev. William Bahemuka, the Bishop of Boga Diocese in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has issued a call for emergency support to avert increased militia attacks in the region of Bukiringi, 15 miles north of Boga, the seat of the Diocese.

On Friday, 24th February, as the Bishop travelled from Bunia to Boga, he was stopped by the militia on the road and they demanded payments from him. After giving them money, he was released and proceeded safely to Boga. The militia has shown willingness to enter into talks with the Government, but the Government has taken a long time to respond in the wake of their recent contested elections.

Read it all.

Lionel Messi scored five goals, a Champions League record, as Barcelona thrashed Bayer Leverkusen 7-1 at the Camp Nou to win their last-16 tie 10-2 on aggregate.

Messi netted with two lobs, a fine low drive, a close-range finish and a long-range screamer to make history for the umpteenth time in his short career.

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The social-bookmarking site Pinterest has been around since 2010, but if you’re on Facebook you have probably noticed an upswing in people “pinning” things ”“ that is, posting found images under their names, in folders like “Clothes I’d Like to Own” or “Places I’d Like to Visit.” If you are a woman you are much more likely to have heard of it, as women so far have been its primary users. But business magazines are calling it the fastest-growing site ever: It now has 12 million unique visitors. With so much momentum, it is unlikely that women will hang on to it as their little secret for much longer.

Pinterest’s enthusiastic proponents say that there is nothing new about making collages of pictures that express our personalities: Most of us did it with cut-up magazines as children. But I think there is also something entirely contemporary about the kind of collecting that seems to dominate this site….

Read it all.

(Please note that this letter is referred to at the conclusion of the article in the previous post, which says it is to be read in every parish in England and Wales this weekend in worship–KSH).

Today we want to put before you the Catholic vision of marriage and the light it casts on the importance of marriage for our society.

The roots of the institution of marriage lie in our nature. Male and female we have been created, and written into our nature is this pattern of complementarity and fertility. This pattern is, of course, affirmed by many other religious traditions. Christian teaching fills out this pattern and reveals its deepest meaning, but neither the Church nor the State has the power to change this fundamental understanding of marriage itself.

Nor is this simply a matter of public opinion. Understood as a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman, and for the creation and upbringing of children, marriage is an expression of our fundamental humanity. Its status in law is the prudent fruit of experience, for the good of the spouses and the good of the family. In this way society esteems the married couple as the source and guardians of the next generation. As an institution marriage is at the foundation of our society.

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Indicating support for same-sex couples, the former Bishop of Oxford, Lord Harries of Pentregarth, said that it was still not too late for the Church to move ahead with blessing civil partnerships.
“The Churches have only themselves to blame for their current predicament, in which they face a major rewriting of the law on marriage,” he said.
“Instead of at first opposing civil partnerships, and then only accepting them grudgingly with gritted teeth, they should have welcomed them warmly from the first and immediately proposed services of commitment and blessing in church. They should do this even now.”

Read it all (subscription only from the London Times).

Archbishop Makgoba, who also chairs the Anglican Communion’s Environmental Network (ACEN), stressed the timely nature of this meeting. “We heard for months about COP 17 before it took place, but we have not heard much since. I know that a previous meeting at UCT was oversubscribed so the interest is definitely there. I’m privileged that we have been able to draw together again such an impressive panel. This is not just a scientific concern – it is a deeply moral issue as well.”

The Revd Canon Dr. Rachel Mash, coordinator of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa’s Environmental Network, agrees. “Once we have heard from this well informed panel, we and other members of civil society can begin to plan our ”˜next steps’ leading up to Rio +20 – the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development taking place in Rio in June.”

Read it all.

Marilynne Robinson doesn’t believe in sequels and never uses an idea she knows the origin of. In this Open House interview, we explore other aspects of her writing life:

How she discovered her ”˜voice’ as a writer
Why she wrote Housekeeping in the dark and why she writes all her fiction in long-hand first
The reason behind the 24-year wait for her second novel
How her characters take on a life of their own
Her Christian faith and the influence of sixteenth-century theologian John Calvin on her writing

Listen to it all (either directly or by podcast).

Mitt Romney won the delegates, but not necessarily the argument.

His quest to win the Republican presidential nomination has always resembled a detailed, methodical business plan. Mr. Romney, who spent much of his life fixing troubled corporations, must now decide whether steps are necessary to repair his lethargic candidacy.

Mr. Romney had hoped that a string of Super Tuesday victories in contests from Vermont to Alaska would effectively bring the Republican race to a close.

Read it all.

The international community is set to restart talks with Iran on its nuclear program, the European Union’s top diplomat said Tuesday, opening a diplomatic channel at a time of increased tensions between Tehran and Western powers.

Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign-policy chief, on Tuesday wrote to Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, that the EU proposed resuming talks “as soon as possible.” The agreement was a response to a letter from Mr. Jalili in February asking for talks at the “earliest” opportunity.

The announcement comes a day after U.S. and Israeli leaders met in Washington to discuss Iran’s nuclear-development program. The U.S. and many EU states have accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has denied.

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The recent theft of a 12th century Irish saint’s heart from a Dublin church has left local Christians stunned and devastated.

“All I would ask is that whoever took it would return it with no questions asked. It’s valueless to anyone but the Cathedral here and our community and the community of Dublin”¦we’re grieving over it, really,” church dean Rev. Dermot Dunne told CNA on March 5.

The heart of St. Laurence O’Toole was stolen from Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin sometime between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on March 3 and has yet to be recovered.

Read it all.