As a break from the serious sacred and secular news of the day, here are two items about the Church of England.
First, a senior clergyman from Nottingham, Canon Andrew Deuchar, recently resigned after admitting "inappropriate conduct toward a woman." No details were given and the departure of Canon Deuchar, a chaplain to the Queen, will likely pass relatively unnoticed. However, I cannot help remarking that this priest was formerly the Archbishop's Secretary for Anglican Communion Affairs.
Second, a recent government study reported that one in ten English churches in inhabited by bats. Because all the species of British bats are protected, users of the churches are not allowed even to plug the holes by which the bats enter, much less try to get them out of the buildings. The study suggests covering the furniture to protect from droppings. --J. Douglas Ousley
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Our Batty Mother Church?
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Brand Erosion?
Since its founding at the English Reformation in the 16th Century, the Anglican tradition has been known for its "comprehensiveness." In particular, the Church of England and its branches in other countries have been able to include Anglo-Catholics and Evangelicals, conservatives and liberals, traditionalists and progressives.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
The PB in Jerusalem
"This morning we were spat on by a young Jewish man. Howsimilar must have been Jesus' journeys the last week of his life."
The Holy Saturday press release from the Episcopal News Service offered this quote from an address in Jerusalem by the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. The full article from which the release is excerpted contains similar veiled criticisms of the free state of Israel, just as past bulletins from the Palestinian territories frequently mentioned the “occupying” Israeli forces. No mention was made of Palestinian leadership or their terrorist allies.
Perhaps it’s not completely surprising that the Jewish man spat at American Christians who he could have suspected of mouthing anti-Israeli platitudes--and who might not have acknowledged that Israeli Christians and Muslims are free to practice their religion and even serve in the Israeli Parliament while, across the borders, Christian Palestinians are being forced to leave the Palestinian territories and Jews are slain. If the Israelis have put up barriers and checkpoints, it is to try to keep their children from being blown to bits.
I hesitate to speculate how “Jesus would have felt;” perhaps he might have been sympathetic to the disturbed “young Jewish man,” who like many Jews in the Holy Land, rarely have a peaceful night’s rest. --J. Douglas Ousley
Monday, March 3, 2008
Bishop Moore
The poet Honor Moore has written a memoir of her father, Bishop Paul Moore; an excerpt has just appeared in The New Yorker.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
How Firm a Foundation?
Rummaging through my library recently, I happened upon a book of documents written by the first Executive Officer of the Anglican Communion, Bishop Stephen Bayne. Bayne was quite famous in the early 1960's when the concept of an "Anglican Communion" first began to replace the idea of the "Church of England in other countries."
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Men and Women in the Episcopal Church
An article of mine on men and women in the Episcopal Church entitled, "The Battle of the Sexes has Subsided" was recently published in the weekly magazine, The Living Church. This essay began as an address to a group of Manhattan clergy that I belong to; my original intention was simply to survey the field.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
comment on The Boredom of Atheism
Maki Hoashi has this comment on my earlier post on atheism. (I would note that I have since read Christopher Hitchens' book and will be commenting on it shortly.):
i am unfamiliar with any official efforts to standardize the non-belief of god's existance, so my comments are restricted to observations of those loved ones. it seems to me that criticizing belief and those who believe in god does not construct a belief system in itself. it used to make me upset, but these days, i only feel sorry for those who feel they have to make fun of believers, and grow bored with their arguments maintaining their superiority by denigrating others. as i've grown older, it simply saddens me that many i love do this, especially on the holidays. their right to not-believe is not the problem -- only their hounding negativism, which seems to be a black hole into which they pour hope and faith, a sort of "i told you so" whining. what a poor sort of substitute for the potential joys of the season and beyond!
on the other hand, i also have bible-thumping friends and relatives, which can be annoying or offensive, too. i guess any form of obsession is tiresome. the japanese refer to obsessives as "otaku" which defines someone who is obsessed to the point of affecting day-to-day life -- something that goes beyond a hobby (like anime otaku, or car otaku, orfood otaku). the word is also loosely translated as "freak"! (the official name of the group which produces pokemon characters and games is actually a company called gamefreak.)
in the end, i tell myself that as humans, we are blessed because we have the right to choose to believe or not believe. and for all the negativism, i'm still happy to have the friends and relatives i have, and the diversity of peoples and beliefs all around us. happy new year, regardless of your belief or disbelief, or of your otaku! Maki Hoashi