Tag Archives: TEC

Muslim Public Affairs Council to hold convention in TEC church

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The Muslim Public Affairs Council is taking the “next step in its mission” by holding its 12th annual convention in an Episcopal church: All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena. An obvious choice really: something needs to fill the faith void in TEC.

MPAC’s founders were active in the Muslim Brotherhood – the organisation which has been so instrumental in bringing democracy to Egypt – it sponsors anti-Israel rallies, surreptitiously promotes jihad against the West, and supports Hezbollah and Hamas.

Apparently, MPAC is looking for allies; where better to look than among a bunch of witless Episcopalians:

MPAC explains that the holding of its convention at the All Saints Episcopal Church of Pasadena is a reflection of its focus on winning allies among other faiths. It boasts of establishing partnerships with the National Association of Evangelicals, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Catholic Archdiocese, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Union of Reform Judaism and other faith groups. MPAC and similar groups like the Islamic Society of North America have created an interfaith bloc willing to defend them against Rep. Michele Bachmann and other opponents.

The Episcopal Church exerts pressure to abolish the death penalty

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I’ve been ambivalent about the death penalty for a while. On the one hand, if the state has the authority to punish criminals at all – and most would agree it has – why should it not demand the ultimate penalty for the ultimate crime?

Alternately, perhaps murderers should be given more time to repent of their crimes and receive salvation through Christ. Of course, as Dr. Johnson observed, the prospect of being hanged in the morning concentrates the mind wonderfully, so a convict’s imminent demise might turn out to be his best friend.

And then there is the possibility of a judicial mistake.

The Episcopal Church is attempting to aid me in my indecision: its leaders are agitating against the death penalty. A sure sign that there must be some merit in it.

From here:

The Episcopal Church officially has opposed the death penalty for more than half a century, and its advocacy is gaining traction as momentum builds across the country to end capital punishment. Bishops and other church leaders are writing letters, joining coalitions, testifying before legislators and publicly demonstrating their opposition to the death penalty.

But now, having just taken a dip in the crystal waters of the Adriatic, I am going to stroll along its shores to the ancient town of Hvar, stop at a cafe, sample the local wine and ponder no more the vacuity of contemporary Episcopal neologisms.

Astonishing news from the Diocese of New Hampshire

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The Diocese of New Hampshire has elected a new bishop, Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld, and he is not a practising homosexual.

Before anyone jumps to the rash conclusion that the people of New Hampshire have ignored the voice of the spirit and stubbornly elected a heterosexual in an act of unrepentant rebellion, let me assure everyone that as Integrity is quick to reassure us,  at least Rev. Rob is a trusted friend of the LGBT movement.

So there is nothing to worry about. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he self-identifies as a woman well before his ordination; that’s almost as good as being gay.

What does the average candidate for the Episcopal priesthood look like these days?

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John Laubach regularly had sex with other men, wandered around his neighbourhood with a parrot on his shoulder and met his demise tied to a bedpost with electrical wire while engaging in a little recreational – if unconventional – sex. In his spare time he was studying to become an Episcopal priest. Anyone surprised by this? No? Me neither.

I want to know what happened to the parrot.

From here:

Police hunting new suspect after Chelsea businessman, 57, who ‘liked to bring young men home’ found bound, gagged and dead in his home.

Known in the Chelsea neighbourhood for carrying his parrot Bolo on his shoulder, Laubach was tied to a bedpost with an electrical cord.

He was found by a female friend with his hands and feet bound and duct tape over his mouth in what may have been a sexual tryst gone wrong.

Sources told the New York Post that Mr Laubach often met young men for sex and cops are investigating whether his death was part of a sex game gone wrong.

The Anglican obsession with global warming continues

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Since it no longer believes in Hell in the next life, the Episcopal Church can’t very well preach fire and brimstone sermons, so on Sunday, it did the next best thing: it had “a national preach-in” (whatever that is) on global warming in this life.

I can’t help noticing that the participants in the photo have warm coats on.

From here:

On Sunday, Berkeley’s St. Mark’s Episcopal Church took part in a national preach-in on global warming which linked hundreds of congregations across the country together as they reflected on their responsibility towards the planet and social action.

The Reverend Arthur Boone linked the responsibility for Christians to act on the issue of global warming to Christ’s admonition to love one another. Citing Paul’s letter to the Corinthians “Love does not insist on its own way…,” the Reverend argued that the United States, with 3% of the world’s population, cannot in good conscience continue to consumer 25% of the world’s energy resources. “If we are to love our fellow humans, we cannot insist on our own way of consuming ever more energy,” he said.

The 39 articles, Readers’ Digest version

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From here:

The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church issued the following message at the conclusion of its three-day meeting in Linthicum Heights, Maryland

A Message from Executive Council
January 29, 2012
Linthicum Heights, Maryland

God is awesome
The Good News is not fair
God always acts first

So there you have it: the Anglican Credo circa 2012, the 39 articles in a shrunken trivial trinity, a tertiary triteness, a bromidic banality, a diabolical dephlegmation.

Or perhaps it’s so profound, I missed the point and should repeat it:

God is awesome
The Good News is not fair
God always acts first

I might set it to music to see if that helps.

Occupiers urinate on a cross

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Presumably, this is an attempt by the Occupy movement to further ingratiate itself with The Episcopal Church.

Oddly enough, even though any minute I’m expecting to read a statement from an Occupy admiring bishop explaining how this furthers the church’s mission in some obscure way, it hasn’t worked.

The Occupiers have been asked to leave within two weeks. This gives them plenty of time to come up with new mischief with which to tax the limits of the gracious pastoral response that benighted clerics feel compelled to extend to anyone muttering the incantation “poor and marginalised”.

The Occupiers also stole part of a baptismal font; still, what more could they do in two weeks?

Arson.

From here:

There’s no longer room at the inn at a Manhattan church that’s sheltering Occupy Wall Streeters after a holy vessel disappeared from the altar last week.

When the Rev. Bob Brashear prepared for Sunday services at West Park Presbyterian Church on West 86th Street, he noticed parts of the bronze baptismal font were gone.

In a fire-and-brimstone message to occupiers later that day, he thundered, “It was like pissing on the 99 percent.”

In Brooklyn, at another church housing OWS protesters, an occupier urinated on a cross, according to Rabbi Chaim Gruber, who has angrily abandoned the OWS movement.

In a letter last week to OWS obtained by The Post, the rabbi fumed, “The Park Slope church housing occupiers was desecrated when an occupier peed inside the building and the pee came into contact with a cross.”

The pastor of the church did not return calls.

At West Park, Rev. Brashear walked into the church for a morning service to find the 18-inch-diameter bronze basin and lid missing from the baptismal font’s 800-pound base. Holy water — straight from the River Jordan — had been poured from the missing basin insert into the base’s bowl.

[….]

The pastor has given protesters two weeks to vacate the church.

The last sin standing according to Katharine Jefferts-Schori

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The Episcopal Church doesn’t pay much attention to personal sin, but there is still at least one sin over which TEC laments, according to presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts-Schori. It seems that anyone who disagrees with the prevailing dogma that human activity is causing global warming is committing a sin:

 

 

For those interested in searching for vestiges of orthodox Christianity in the KJS interview, the whole thing is here. I didn’t have much success.

I need your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle

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An extraordinary tale of diocesan avarice:

We have all your stuff now, but we think you owe us more!

I’d like to share with you a letter from the Bishop and Diocesan Council of The Episcopal Church’s (TEC) Diocese of the Rio Grande. But first, a little background so that you can appreciate the letter in all its fullness.

This time two years ago, approximately 80% of the parishioners of St. Mark’s on-the-Mesa (TEC) left the parish and formed Christ the King Anglican, Albuquerque, NM (Anglican Church in North America). When those parishioners left the parish, the Diocese of the Rio Grande, and the Episcopal Church, they left everything. They left the property, building, endowments, bank accounts – even paperclips and pencils. They did so in good conscience, with generosity, and with love for those who in good conscience could not leave The Episcopal Church. Based on their reading of scripture, these parishioners did not want to fight over buildings and property in civil courts. Instead, they walked away and began a new life together as Anglican followers of Jesus Christ at Christ the King Anglican Church. Not only did the new parish draw former Episcopalians, but also Christians from other denominations who wanted to worship and serve at Christ the King Anglican.

Fast forward two years to August 31, 2011 (about three weeks ago). The congregation’s rector, the Rev. Roger Weber, former priest at St. Mark’s, received this letter from TEC Bishop Michael Vono of the Diocese of the Rio Grande:

Bishop Michael Vono

August 31, 2011
Dear Father Weber,

RE: St. Mark’s on the Mesa, Albuquerque
Fair Share Obligation, Third Quarter 2009

I pray that this finds you well in the Lord! Summer is always such a gift in the ministry, a time for reflection, refreshment and anticipation for the end of the liturgical year.

On July 12 of this year, the Diocesan Council had a meeting here a [sic] Diocesan House. At that time, a group from St. Mark’s-on-the-Mesa, Albuquerque came before the Council to request forgiveness for their Fair Share obligation from the third quarter of 2009. As I am sure you are well aware, it was during this time that a good number of the clergy and congregation at St. Mark’s-on-the-Mesa left to form a new congregation, leaving the remaining members with quite a financial and emotional burden to carry. What follows is the motion as it was amended and passed that afternoon.

Motion, that the -$25,000 Fair Share obligation for St. Mark’s on-the-Mesa, Albuquerque for the third quarter of 2009 be forgiven. Moved and seconded to amend the motion by replacing it with the following: that the -$25,000 Fair Share obligation for St. Mark’s-on-the-Mesa, Albuquerque for the third quarter of 2009 be adjusted to $5,000 and that the Diocesan Council write a pastoral letter to the leadership of Christ the King Anglican Church appealing to them to cover $20,000 of the original Fair Share obligation for St. Mark’s on-the-Mesa, Albuquerque for the third quarter of 2009.

The amendment passed. The amended motion passed.

As you can see, it was the decision of Council to hold St. Mark’s-on-the-Mesa responsible for the entire Fair Share payment for the third quarter in 2009, requesting that the burden be split between the members that left and the members that stayed, dividing the responsibility roughly along the lines of how the congregation self-selected.

I would ask that you would prayerfully consider accepting the responsibility of paying the portion of the Fair Share that was required by the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande.
If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact me here at Diocesan House, or in my absence, Mr. Fred Winter or Ms. Lisa Katz-Ricker, 505-881-0636.

Your brother in Christ,
The Right Rev’d Michael L. Vono
IX Bishop, Diocese of the Rio Grande

[….]

They have no shame.
The people who left St. Mark’s-on-the-Mesa willingly surrendered their property. They literally turned the other cheek. In response, the Diocese of the Rio Grande basically said, “we have all your stuff now, but we think you owe us more.”

What does this remind me of; oh, right the title: