Beyond any doubt, religious freedom has emerged as the premier social and political concern of the Catholic church in the early 21st century. Pope Benedict XVI offered confirmation as recently as last Saturday, during his trip to Lebanon.

Speaking to politicians, diplomats and religious leaders (including representatives of all four major branches of Islam in Lebanon — Sunni, Shi’ite, Druze and Alawite), the pope insisted that “religious freedom is the basic right on which many others depend.”

A new report released Thursday by the Pew Forum illustrates why, at least in this case, it’s impossible to argue that the concern is misplaced.

Read it all.

[Jo Henderson]… went through a rigorous three-day selection process in England, she said, to see if her calling was genuine and if she could handle the training at the theological Ripon College Cuddesdon outside of Oxford, England.

After her selection, she had to travel back and forth between the UAE and the UK every six weeks.

Her 20-year-old son, James, said it was tough.

“It was hard for her to leave her family every month or so,” he said. “We were supportive of her. And very proud of her today.”

Read it all.

….[Bishop Suheil Dawani] said the task was harder than ever, with a Christian population that has shrunk from about 30 percent of the population of the overall total just after World War II to about 1 percent today.

The Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem oversees the Anglican community in Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, but only has 29 parishes and about 7,000 members. Its reach, though, is deeper and wider than what shows up in the pews, with direct support of two hospitals, five health clinics, five rehabilitation centers and 17 schools.

“Our main influence is through the work of our institutions,” Dawani said.

Read it all.

Forty years ago, long before the recent afternoon when Dr. Joseph Dutkowsky knelt at the warped feet of his 4-year-old patient, he was a small-town teenager approaching his Catholic confirmation and needing to select a patron saint. He made an unlikely choice, a newly canonized figure, St. Martin de Porres, the illegitimate child of a former black slave in 16th-century Peru.

Back then, in the early 1970s, as the child of a factory worker and a homemaker, Joseph had no aspiration toward medicine. Nor did he know that Martin de Porres had been elevated to sainthood in part because of his healing miracles.

Decades later, something ”” call it coincidence, call it providence ”” has bent the vectors of faith and science together in the career of Dr. Dutkowsky. The confluence of these often-clashing ideals has taken him to the top of his profession as an orthopedic surgeon specializing in the care of children disabled from cerebral palsy, spina bifida, Down syndrome and other afflictions. It has also taken him to the healing shrine of Lourdes and to the Lima barrio where his patron saint tended to the poor and broken and cast out.

Read it all.

The teenager was walking down the Wando High School hallway when someone grabbed his booksack strap and shoved him into the boys’ bathroom.

He tried to get away, but his classmate used both hands to force his head and neck down into a urinal. Desperate to break loose, he swung his leg backward into his aggressor’s crotch and fled the bathroom.

He’s the kind of kid who is picked on a lot, and it’s the kind of incident that schools and police take seriously.

Read it all from the front page of yesterday’s local paper.

The Church of England has said the body responsible for choosing the next Archbishop of Canterbury is continuing its work after a three-day meeting, amid speculation that internal wrangling has left it unable to choose a candidate.

As the secretive Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) reached the end of a meeting scheduled to be its last, the CofE issued a statement apparently aimed at dampening down commentary on who will succeed Rowan Williams, who steps down at the end of the year.

Read it all.

[In reference to the Crown Nominations Commission release yesterday] A Church source added: “This is saying ”˜back off, we’ve got our own timetable’ … you can probaby take from that that the decision isn’t imminent.”

Read it all.

It would seem that the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) has failed to conclude its deliberations this week. Press reports that this is the case appear to be confirmed by the official statement that “the work of the Commission continues”.

Why is the CNC undecided and what can break the deadlock? To try to answer this it is necessary to understand matters of both composition and process within the CNC. These are set out in General Synod Standing Orders (para 122).

Composition

There are 16 full voting members of the Commission whereas usually there are only 14. This is because the appointment of the Archbishop of Canterbury introduces both a lay Chair chosen by the Prime Minister (Lord Luce) and a Primate of the Communion (Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales). In addition there are six members elected by Canterbury diocese and two bishops elected by the House of Bishops (to replace the two Presidents, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York). All 10 of these members have little or no experience of CNC processes. Then there are the 6 permanent members ”“ 3 lay and 3 clergy ”“ elected by General Synod most of whom have several years’ service and much experience in selecting bishops. One complicating factor is therefore that usually there are 8 permanent and experienced members and 6 new members (from the vacant diocese) but this time there are only 6 permanent members and 10 new members and neither Archbishop is present.

Read it all.

Anglican Ink’s Peter Ould told host Kevin Kallsen that he interpreted the statement to mean the committee had deadlocked. He speculated the likely cause of the deadlock could have been the potential selection of the Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu, or Bishop of Durham, Justin Welby.

Dr. Sentamu has angered liberals within the Church of England over his robust rejection of same-sex marriage and a small but vocal minority of opponents has consistently objected to his candidacy. The Bishop of Durham has been in office for less than a year, and Mr. Ould speculated his selection for the church’s top post would be a cause of concern due to his inexperience. Sources have also informed Anglican Ink that a third contender, the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres ”“ whose chances for selection have risen sharply in the past few weeks, has been passed over for the post.

The way forward is unclear. At the present time no further meetings have been set for the commission, but no other body is able to submit names to the Prime Minister.

Read it all.

The Anglican Church of the Province of West Africa yesterday elected the Rt Revd Dr Solomon Johnson as its ninth Archbishop and Primate.

Dr Johnson, who is currently the Bishop of Gambia, was elected to be the next Primate for the province at a special synod held at Cuttington University, Suacoco, Bong Country, Liberia, between 25 to 28 September.

Read it all.

O everlasting God, who hast ordained and constituted the ministries of angels and men in a wonderful order: Mercifully grant that, as thy holy angels always serve and worship thee in heaven, so by thy appointment they may help and defend us on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Eternal God, who hast taught us that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty to the pulling down of strongholds: Help thy soldiers to fight the good fight of faith, refusing the weapons of the devil and the world, and overcoming hatred with love, evil with goodness, falsehood with truth, and so extending the victory of the cross; through him who triumphed thereon, even thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ.

A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. A Song. On the holy mount stands the city he founded; the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia–“this one was born there,” they say. And of Zion it shall be said, “This one and that one were born in her”; for the Most High himself will establish her. The LORD records as he registers the peoples, “This one was born there.” Singers and dancers alike say, “All my springs are in you.”

-Psalm 87

The body responsible for choosing the next Archbishop of Canterbury has failed to agree who should be the successor to Dr Rowan Williams.

Despite a three day session, aided by prayers invoked on Twitter with the hashtage #prayforthecnc, the 16-member committee has been unable to decide on who should take on the job that the present incumbent today implied was “impossible”.

A source told The Times that a decision on who should succeed Dr Rowan Williams was not expected soon. “A decision is not imminent,” he said.

Read it all (requires subscription).

From here:

This week’s meeting of the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) has been accompanied by much speculation about possible candidates and the likely timing of an announcement of the name of who will succeed Dr Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury when he steps down to become Master of Magdalene College.

The CNC is an elected, prayerful body. Its meetings are necessarily confidential to enable members to fulfil their important responsibilities for discerning who should undertake this major national and international role. Previous official briefings have indicated that an announcement is expected during the autumn and that remains the case; the work of the Commission continues. There will be no comment on any speculation about candidates or about the CNC’s deliberations. Dr Williams remains in office until the end of December.