Daily Archives: November 9, 2015

(Post-Gazette) Bishop Robert Duncan retiring from Anglican post

Bishop Robert Duncan on Saturday announced he will retire next year as head of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, seven years after leading conservative churches locally and throughout North America in a historic and stormy break with the liberal Episcopal Church and its Canadian counterpart.

Bishop Duncan last year already ended his denomination-wide leadership of the wider Anglican Church in North America, which formed in the wake of the split. He told local Anglicans that at age 67, he is now also ready to let go of his duties in Pittsburgh. His retirement will be effective June 30.

“As I have said my prayers and sought counsel, it has seemed to me like the work I was called to do is as complete as it can be,” Bishop Duncan told hundreds gathered for the diocese’s annual convention at St. Stephen Church in Sewickley.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Church in North America (ACNA)

A lengthy AP article on new TEC Presiding Bishop Michael Curry

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Episcopal Church (TEC), Presiding Bishop, TEC Bishops, TEC Conflicts, Theology

Justine Toh–Great Sexpectations: Augustine, Ashley Madison and the Problem of Disordered Love

The Ashley Madison hack may have faded from the headlines but one of its key revelations lingers on in our cultural conversations about sex.

It’s present in more recent offerings like Rachel Hills’s book The Sex Myth: The Gap Between Our Fantasies and Reality and the romantic comedy Sleeping with Other People, currently showing in cinemas.

That this theme should crop up so repeatedly suggests that we need to be constantly reminded of it – no great surprise, really, since sex is often something that can (if you pardon the phrase) screw with our thinking, feeling, and desiring.

What each of these sex stories reinforces, again and again, is that all of us have great sexpectations that remain, frequently, unfulfilled.

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Posted in * Culture-Watch, --Social Networking, Anthropology, Blogging & the Internet, Books, Ethics / Moral Theology, Health & Medicine, Marriage & Family, Media, Men, Pastoral Theology, Psychology, Religion & Culture, Sexuality, Theology, Women

A NYT Article on the Sexting Scandal at a Colorado High School

At least 100 students at a high school in Cañon City traded naked pictures of themselves, the authorities said Friday, part of a large sexting ring.
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The revelation has left parents outraged, administrators searching for missed clues, and the police and the district attorney’s office debating whether to file child pornography charges ”” including felony charges ”” against some of the participants.

George Welsh, the superintendent of the Cañon City school system, said students at Cañon City High School had been circulating 300 to 400 nude photographs, including images of “certainly over 100 different kids,” on their cellphones. “This is a lot of kids involved,” he said, adding that the children in the pictures were believed to be students at the high school as well as eighth graders from the middle school.

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Posted in * Culture-Watch, * General Interest, --Social Networking, Anthropology, Blogging & the Internet, Children, Education, Ethics / Moral Theology, Law & Legal Issues, Marriage & Family, Pastoral Theology, Photos/Photography, Sexuality, Teens / Youth, Theology

A Prayer to Begin the Day from L. E. H. Stephens-Hodge

O God, who in thy fatherly love hast called us that we should inherit a blessing: Give to us also, we pray thee, the blessing of wholesome speech and loving deed; that following always that which is good, we may do and suffer all that thou willest; in the name and strength of Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord.

Posted in * Christian Life / Church Life, Spirituality/Prayer

From the Morning Scripture Readings

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou who leadest Joseph like a flock! Thou who art enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth before E’phraim and Benjamin and Manas’seh! Stir up thy might, and come to save us!

–Psalm 80:1-2

Posted in Theology, Theology: Scripture

First Presbyterian Church in San Antonio votes to Depart from PCUSA

First Presbyterian Church of San Antonio overwhelmingly voted Sunday to leave its denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA), citing what supporters of the outcome called an increasingly progressive social justice agenda and a drift from the authority of Scripture.

Read it all and you can find the links to all the key documentation there.

Posted in * Christian Life / Church Life, * Culture-Watch, * Religion News & Commentary, Christology, Ethics / Moral Theology, Other Churches, Parish Ministry, Presbyterian, Religion & Culture, Sexuality Debate (Other denominations and faiths), Theology