Al Kimel was at one time the rector of Holy Communion, Charleston, in the diocese of South Carolina.

In case you may not be aware Father Kimel and his wife Christine have four children: Alvin, Aaron, Bredon, and Taryn. Aaron died this week of suicide at the age of 32.

I am posting this so people will be aware and support this family this weekend (especially tomorrow) with their prayers. I have checked with several people and the family wishes people to be aware.

(For more information on Father Kimel, please see this previous post about his decision last year to join the Orthodox Church [note that one of the links in that post contains a picture which includes Aaron]).

Because of the subject matter involved, I will only take comments on this post which are submitted by email to KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com–KSH.

The Rev. David Ousley was baptized a Methodist in 1951, was ordained a priest of the Episcopal Church in 1979, and left it in 1999 for the Anglican Church in America.

And on Saturday, this 61-year-old married father of three will make one more ecclesiastical leap: he will be ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic Church in a 11 a.m. Mass at Holy Cross Church in Mount Airy.

He is “swimming the Tiber,” as Anglicans call conversion to Catholicism ”” a reference to the river that runs through Rome ”” but the white-bearded Ousley will not emerge from his swim on some strange and foreign shore.

Read it all.

Worship at General Convention will demonstrate diverse liturgy and music from across the Episcopal Church.

“It’s a combination of everything that the Episcopal Church has at its disposal that’s been approved,” said the Rev. Charles Dupree, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, Bloomington, Indiana, co-chair of the convention worship planning committee.

Eucharist will be celebrated each day, with different services using formats from Enriching Our Worship or from the Book of Common Prayer”˜s Rite 1 or Rite 2. Music will come from the 1982 Hymnal; Lift Every Voice and Sing II; Wonder, Love and Praise; Voices Found; El Himnario; and Flor Y Canto, a Spanish music resource.

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Josh Joseph grew up in a sprawling, extended Roman Catholic family, was educated in Columbia parochial schools and knew from a young age that a church vocation might be in his future.

“Having the privilege of going to Catholic schools, always being involved in Catholic church, it was something I thought about,” said Joseph, who graduated from St. John Neumann Catholic School and Cardinal Newman.

But when it came time to decide about entering the priesthood, Joseph looked not only inward but outward, to the social media platforms that are so much a part of his media-savvy generation.

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(This is the interview referenced in the previously posted article on the blog–KSH).

In 2009 he entered into a civil partnership with his long-term partner, Jason Eades. Although he wears what he calls a “wedding ring”, he thinks it is unfair that they could not marry. “The longer this debate has gone on, the more strongly I have felt about it. I am getting fed up with people metaphorically jabbing a finger in my chest and saying, ”˜You should put up with a civil partnership’. I don’t think they would like it if I said, ”˜Well, sorry, you should accept a civil partnership too’.”

Although he describes civil partnership as a “wonderful thing”, he says: “It’s not the same as marriage.

“I have a powerful belief in the institutions in this country, and the institution of marriage is one. I want to cherish and protect and build on it. I think that extending it to gay people would be a strengthening of that institution, and I think an institution that is so important in our society should be available to everyone.”

Read it all (requires subscription).

(Please note the following–it is their headline, not mine; also it is on the top left of the front page of the Times Ipad edition. As for the print edition it is on the top left above the fold and you can see a picture of it here–KSH).

An openly gay government minister today condemns the Church of England for its use of judgmental language on the divisive issue of same-sex marriage.

In an interview with The Times, Nick Herbert, who is in a civil partnership, said: “I consider myself to be a Christian and I’ve never in my life felt more distant from the Church than I do at the moment.”

The Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice added: “I think that some Christian leaders have said things that, when heard by gay people, sound highly judgmental or intolerant. We all have to be careful of our language.”

Read it all (requires subscription).

Pittsburgh is beginning to restore its long-dormant reputation for innovation and entrepreneurial excellence.

It was here that high-profile entrepreneurs the likes of Andrew Carnegie and George Westinghouse built companies that came to define entire industries and generate vast wealth. But the region’s emergence as an industrial center came at a price: a large-company mentality took hold and lingered for decades, even as the foundations of its manufacturing economy began to crumble.

As recently as the 1980s, the notion of working for a large, stable company was more socially acceptable than risking failure by starting a company. That attitude has begun to change, and Pittsburgh’s entrepreneurial spirit is stirring anew. Hundreds of startups have emerged in recent years, producing everything from medical devices to data storage equipment to online shoe-fitting software.

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Is there a way to overcome religious intolerance?

Given global demographic changes, it’s a vital question. “The most certain prediction that we can make about almost any modern society is that it will be more diverse a generation from now than it is today,” the political scientist Robert D. Putnam has written. “This is true from Sweden to the United States and from New Zealand to Ireland.”

In the United States, the question holds special significance for the simple reason that American society is highly religious and highly diverse and ”” on matters concerning faith ”” considerably more politically polarized than a quarter-century ago.

Read it all.

Egyptians lined up for blocks in the sweltering heat on Saturday to choose Hosni Mubarak’s successor in this final step of Egypt’s lurch toward democracy.

The voters are faced with a polarizing choice between an ex-prime minister and a conservative Islamist to assume the position of Egypt’s first freely elected president in modern history.

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The mainstream parties “looted Greece, and afterward they took the Greek flag and they offered it to Angela Merkel,” the German chancellor, Mr. [Alexis] Tsipras said in a campaign rally in Athens Thursday.

Though Syriza’s message has caught on, not all of the disaffected are ready to embrace the party. Anna Konstantoulaki, a third-year Spanish-literature student at the University of Athens, voted in May for a tiny party. She doesn’t know what to do now. She is upset with mainstream parties but not sure Mr. Tsipras is capable of running the country.

“I am very confused,” she says. “The last few days, I can’t stop thinking about what is going to happen.” She adds: “I’m scared, actually.”

Read it all.

O God, we have known and believed the love that thou hast for us. May we, by dwelling in love, dwell in thee, and thou in us. Teach us, O heavenly Father, the love wherewith thou hast loved us; fashion us, O blessed Lord, after thine own example of love; shed abroad, O thou Holy Spirit of love, the love of God and man in our hearts. For thy name’s sake.

–Henry Alford

Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart.

–Galatians 6:7-9

A heart stopping thriller of a game. Danny Welbeck’s goal was just beautiful. Read it all and see the picture there.

How much money does the U.S. government forgo by not taxing religious institutions? According to a University of Tampa professor, perhaps as much as $71 billion a year.

Ryan Cragun, an assistant professor of sociology, and two students examined U.S. tax laws to estimate the total cost of tax exemptions for religious institutions ”” on property, donations, business enterprises, capital gains and “parsonage allowances,” which permit clergy to deduct housing costs….

Read it all.