Daily Archives: September 28, 2023

(C of E) Debbie Sellin to be next Bishop of Peterborough

It was whilst Bishop Debbie was caring for her own young family that she felt a definite call to ministry which deepened over time, leading her to begin her ordination training in 2004. Whilst serving in parish ministry she also took on the additional role of Area Dean, something that gave her a wider perspective and introduced her to the workings of the Diocese. From these roles, she was appointed Bishop of Southampton, something she describes as ‘exciting and daunting at the same time’, but felt ‘a deep sense that this was what God wanted for me that only grew stronger and stronger’.

During her time as Bishop of Southampton, Bishop Debbie has been involved in a variety of roles. As non-executive chair of Love Southampton, her passion for seeing social transformation through ecumenical outreach and community engagement was enhanced. She has also been an Ambassador of the Rose Road Association which provides direct care for children and young adults with complex physical and learning disabilities and support for their families.

The role of Diocesan Bishop is not completely new to Bishop Debbie who has been the acting Bishop of Winchester following the retirement of Bishop Tim Dakin in February 2022. In an unsettled environment, Bishop Debbie spent time listening and understanding the challenges that people were facing, whilst working towards building reconciliation and unity.

One of Bishop Debbie’s priorities has been to encourage parishes to thrive….

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Posted in Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops

(World) Depraved hearts–One murder in rural Mississippi underscores the nation’s struggle to contain violent crime

Hours passed. Authorities believe the trio dropped the girls off, then made their way down Highway 61, not far behind Troy Morris. Morris, meanwhile, had pulled over and tried to report his flat tire to the mail service. When that didn’t work, he called Troop M, his highway patrol substation. While he was talking with the dispatcher, a vehicle turned around and stopped beside Morris’ truck. It was the three young men. Norman and Washington remained inside while the driver, Damion Whittley, stepped out and walked up to Morris’ window. Investigators believe he asked for a cigarette or a light. It’s likely Morris had both. He was fond of smoking.

When Whittley walked back to his vehicle, he got a gun. Whatever happened next left Morris dead. Life as they’d known it vanished for the other three men, too, right along with their tail lights as they sped off into the night.

No one can say for sure whether Morris knew Whittley or if Whittley knew him. Most folks around town assumed the motive was robbery. But according to Mark Cochran, owner of Blackwell Hauling, the company that contracted for the postal service, the trucks carried only packages and letters. “No money,” Cochran ­maintains. “Everybody knows that.”

Whatever the motive, Morris’ death was a deeply felt loss, especially at his workplace. Just as calls for defunding police began wreaking havoc on officer recruitment and retention, Troop M lost a career patrolman, a supervisor with 28 years of experience. It also lost a dispatcher. In her last exchange with him that night, the ­dispatcher heard Morris talking with his killer. It was too much. She quit.

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Posted in Anthropology, Death / Burial / Funerals, Ethics / Moral Theology, Law & Legal Issues, Pastoral Theology, Police/Fire, Rural/Town Life, Theology

(Washington Post) Sitting all day increases dementia risk — even if you exercise

In news that we shouldn’t take sitting down, a study just published in JAMA finds that people who stay seated for long hours at work and home are at much higher risk of developing dementia than people who sit less.

The negative effects of extended sitting can be so strong, researchers found, that even people who exercise regularly face higher risk if they sit for much of the day.

The study, which involved 49,841 men and women aged 60 or older, “supports the idea that more time spent in sedentary behaviors increases one’s risk of dementia,” said Andrew Budson, a professor of neurology at Boston University and author of “Seven Steps to Managing Your Aging Memory,” who was not involved with the study.

The results also underscore just how pervasive the consequences of sitting can be, affecting our minds, as well as our bodies, and they hint that exercise by itself may not be enough to protect us.

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Posted in Anthropology, Health & Medicine, Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market

(NYT) In El Paso, Migrants With Nowhere to Go Strain a Welcoming City

The city of El Paso, a West Texas way station long accustomed to migrants arriving from Mexico, has begun to buckle under the pressure of thousands upon thousands of people coming over the border, day after day.

The usual shelters have been filled. So too have the hundreds of hotel rooms wrangled by the city to house migrants. A new city-run shelter opened over the weekend in a recreational center, and rapidly filled all of its roughly 400 beds. Another shelter is planned in a vacant middle school.

Mayor Oscar Leeser said over the weekend that the city had reached a “breaking point” and was no longer able to help all the migrants on its own. He welcomed the buses, chartered by the administration of Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, that once again began carrying hundreds of migrants out of the city to Denver, Chicago or New York. The mayor said he was seeking millions of dollars in additional aid from the Biden administration.

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Posted in America/U.S.A., Foreign Relations, Immigration, Mexico, Politics in General, Urban/City Life and Issues, Venezuela

A Prayer for the Feast Day of Paula and Eustochium

Compel us, O God, to attend diligently to thy Word, as didst thy faithful servants Paula and Eustochium, that, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, we may find it profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness; and that thereby we may be made wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Posted in Church History, Spirituality/Prayer

A Prayer to Begin the Day from the Salisbury Book of Occasional Offices

O Lord Jesus Christ, who hadst compassion on the widow of Nain, and didst say unto her, Weep not: Comfort, we beseech thee, the hearts of those who mourn the loss of their beloved, and when thou comest in thy kingdom, wipe away all tears from their eyes; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end.

Posted in Spirituality/Prayer

From the Morning Bible Readings

O taste and see that the Lord is good!
Happy is the man who takes refuge in him!
O fear the Lord, you his saints,
for those who fear him have no want!

–Psalm 34:8-9

Posted in Theology: Scripture