Saturday, February 27, 2010

Colleagues List, February 27th, 2010

Vol V. No. 27


*****


Edited by Wayne A. Holst


*****

Blogsite:
http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com/


*****

In this issue:

Special Item -

"Spiritual Leaders Who Changed the World - Part II"
They Advocated Change and Displayed Love in Action

Simone Weil
Dorothy Day
Albert Schweitzer

___


My Comment:

We Can Learn from Spiritual Guides Who
Function Outside of Organized Religion

___


Colleague Contributions:

Thérèse Castonguay
Ian Hunter
Jim Taylor
Doug Koop
Robin Walker

___


Net Notes:

Sexually Confused
The Language God Talks
More on Irish Abuse Scandal
Cardinal George at Brigham Young
Aussie Anglicans Sign Up With Pope
Beginning of the Reformation's End?
Censure of ELCA Congregation Lifted
Grant to Faith Groups Sparks Debate
Relic Reveals Noah's Ark was Circular
German Bishops Respond Rapidly to Scandal
Lutheran Bishop Resigns over Drunk Driving

_____


Global Faith Potpourri:

Fifteen Stories from Ecumenical News International

___


Quotes of the Week:

Kim Fabricius
Jamaica Kincaid
Andrew Bacevich
Toni Morrison
Olav Fykse Tveit

___


On This Day (Feb. 20th - Feb. 23rd):

Feb. 20, 1962 - John Glenn first American to orbit earth
Feb. 21, 1965 - Malcolm X is shot and killed by assassins
Feb. 23, 1954 - Salk vaccine inoculation of children begins
                       - WEB DuBois Born: Negro Leader & Author (obit)
Feb. 26, 1993 - Bomb explodes in World Trade Center; six dead.

___


Closing Prayer

(end)


**********



Dear Friends:

We are now finding our way through Lent. Very soon we will
arrive at Easter, but hopefully we are making the bsst use
of our journey throught this special time of the Christian year.

I decided to share with you my readers three more spiritual
leaders from our Thursday noon university study. May you
find the notes on Simone Weil, Dorothy Day and Albert
Schweitzer interesting like I did presenting them.

We can learn from spiritual guides who remain outside of
organized religion, and I offer my thoughts on that topic
as well.

___


Colleague Contributions This Week:

Thérèse Castonguay - a Grey Nun living in Montreal is an
old friend and faithful reader of Colleagues List. When she
read here that Brother André was the first Canadian to be
recognized by the Catholic church as a saint she wrote to set
the record straight. Thanks for the correction, Thérèse!

Ian Hunter - no stranger to this list, wrote an article on
Tiger Woods which appeared in the Globe and Mail this week.
I pass it on to you for your consideration.

Jim Taylor - has some thoughts on why people put memorial
name plaques on park benches. An interesting contribution
as usual, Jim!

Doug Koop - writes in spite of the fact we are still locked
into winter (Winnipeg usually moreso than Calgary.) Doug, who
is editor of Christian Week, has his mind on butterflies.
Read his article which appeared this week.

Robin Walker - another Manitoban, and dean of the Anglican
cathedral in Brandon, has light thoughts to pass on to you!

___

Net Notes:

"Sexually Confused" - Zoe Margolis, a UK writer, expresses a
sentiment frequently heard in North America. She fears that
faith schools - which will be granted certain teaching rights
under a new law passed by Parliament - will keep students in
the dark about important life issues (The Guardian UK)

"The Language God Talks" - Herman Wouk, the prolific writer
of some decades ago - has not been publishing much recently.
After all, he is 94. Now, he is coming out with a new book
on a favourite subject - the relationship of science and
faith. Welcome this famous Jewish writer back again!
(Publishers Weekly)

"More on Irish Abuse Scandal" - I have articles from Catholic
News Service and The Tablet (UK) to keep you current on the
developments in Ireland. Here is an issue that is not going
to go away for a long time, if ever.

"Cardinal George at Brigham Young" - The Catholic Archbishop
of Chicago got a warm reception when he addressed a large
crowd at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. BYU, by
the way, is a big Mormon school (Zenit News, Rome)

"Aussie Anglicans Sign Up With Pope" - the ink on the
invitation from the pope has not dried, and a group of
Anglicans from Australia have requested the right to
join the Catholic church and yet remain Anglicans too.
Read the article from Anglican Church News (Toronto)
"Beginning of the Reformation's End?" - will they lose the
majestic liturgical resonances of Cranmer and the Book of
CommonPrayer and other great services of the Anglican
tradition? Some fear that is the price Anglicans will pay
for going over to Rome (Wall Street Journal)

"Censure on ELCA Congregation Lifted" - a decade ago,
Abiding Peace Lutheran Church in North Kansas City, MO
was censured for calling a pastor in a committed same
sex relationship. Now that church has been warmly
welcomed back into the fold (ELCA News)

"Grant to Faith Groups Sparks Debate" - direct government
grants to church-related programs are usually taboo in
Canada. When the City of Winnipeg recently made a sizable
donation to a downtown Youth For Christ project it got
some people up in arms (Globe and Mail)

"Relic Reveals Noah's Ark was Circular" - while excursions
on Mount Ararat to find the ship that survived the flood are
no longer de rigeur, some researchers are still trying to
probe details of that mythological boat (The Guardian, UK)

"German Bishops Respond Rapidly to Scandal" - learning from
the fiasco in Ireland, it would seem, is at the heart of
a very different response to the recent bad news in Germany
(Zenit News, Rome)

"Lutheran Bishop Resigns over Drunk Driving" - another very
sad news report from Germany this week. Bishop Margot
Kaessemann is stepping down from several significant posts.
(ENI and ELCA News)

_____


Global Faith Potpourri:

Fifteen Stories from Ecumenical News International bring you
up to date on religion developments from around the world.

_____


Quotes of the Week:

Kim Fabricius, Jamaica Kincaid, Andrew Bacevich,
Toni Morrison and Olav Fykse Tveit share their wisdom
with you this week.

___


On This Day (Feb. 20th - Feb. 26th):

John Glenn (1962) Malcolm X (1965) Jonas Salk (1954),
W.E.B. DuBois (1868) and the World Trade Centre explosion
of 1993 - nine years before 9/11 - are the stories from
the New York Times archives this week.

____


A closing reflection ends our Colleagues List.

Blessings to all,

Wayne


*****


SPECIAL ST. DAVID'S LINKS

Contact us at: asdm@sduc.ca (or) admin@sduc.ca
St. David's Web Address - http://sduc.ca/

Listen to audio recordings of Sunday services -
http://sduc.ca/services.htm

___


ST DAVID'S ACTS WEB PAGE

Created and maintained by Colleague Jock McTavish
http://stdavidscalgary.net/

__


THE FUTURE OF FAITH by Harvey Cox

Monday Night Study, January 18th - March 29th, 2010
An insightful description of where Christian faith
is moving in the twenty-first century.

Follow our class videos, power point presentations,
other notes and study resources. Bookmark this link:
http://www.blogger.com/goog_1267288544621

___


STUDY ARCHIVES

A collection of twenty-five+ studies conducted since 2000 can
quickly be found at: http://bookstudies.stdavidscalgary.net/

This collection of study resources represents a decade of
Monday Night Studies at St. David's, plus extra courses too!

You are welcome to use our course outlines, class notes and
resource pages in your personal and group reflections.


********************************************************


SPECIAL ITEMS

SPIRITUAL LEADERS WHO CHANGED THE WORLD - PART II
They Advocated Change and Displayed Love in Action

SIMONE WEIL
(1909-1943)

Weil was one of the most influential philosophers of
the 20th century and is considered the "patron saint"
of those who strive to live a spiritual life outside
organized religion.

She was born of non-observant Jewish parents in Paris
and even as a young girl she was committed to learning
as well as to oppressed and suffering people. She
was able to gain a superior education and began teaching
in a high school. Unsatisfied, she started tracking down
issues of injustice. Not content to merely write about it
she engaged in work alongside people who laboured in
unjust conditions like the French grape harvesters, and
workers in a Renault car factory. She went so far as to
take up arms with the Republican Army in Spain during its
1930s revolution. During World War II she worked with the
exiled Free French under Charles DeGaulle in England.

Weil was profoundly drawn into the spiritual life and
had a number of mystical experiences that affected her
deeply. She developed a great love for Jesus, but
decided not to undergo baptism because she saw her
calling as "a believer outside the church."

Two of her key books include "Gravity and Grace"
(Routledge, 1992) and "Waiting for God" (Harper 2009)
-  both reprinted.

Her writing reflects both freshness and integrity;
demonstrating how a profound faith can exist outside
religious institutions.

"Religion, insofar as it is a sense of consolation, is
a hindrance to true faith," she once wrote poignantly,
"and in this sense atheism is a purification."

Read my thoughts on her comment, below.

Read More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_Weil

___


DOROTHY DAY
(1897-1980)

Founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, Dorothy Day
was one of the great lay activists of the 20th century.
She has become an inspiration to faith-based social-and-
political-change movements, worldwide.

Born into Chicago poverty she was inspired to move beyond
it through education and social awareness, but she remained
committed to seeing beauty amid squalor wherever she met it.

Day won a scholarship and studied at the University of
Chicago, but two years into her program (1916) she quit
school and moved to New York to work as a newspaper reporter.
She was consumed by socialist causes, and invested much
energy in demonstrations for the rights of women.

Her upbringing had been largely irregligious but as an
adult she was drawn into the Catholic church. She was much
impressed by the liturgy and commitment to serving immigrants.

She had a daughter out of wedlock but determined to join
the church and have her baptized.

In 1932 she met Paul Maurin, a Catholic social reformer
who had embraced poverty and envisioned a social order
based on the Gospels that would unit intellectuals and
workers. The two started the "Catholic Worker" newspaper
to share their vision and experience. Soon circulation
mushroomed. She sought to make the newspaper's ideals
realities for many people. She created living space
for impoverished women and men in the famous "Hell's
Kitchen" zone of lower Manhatten as well as in 32 other
locations across the country.

It was in a Catholic Worker community that one of our
own colleagues, Robert Ellsberg, was impressed by the
vision of Dorothy Day. He subsequently worked to
tell her story and share her message by editing a
number of Day's books (see below.)

Day remained a probing radical all her life; and
was a strong adversary of her nation's involvement
in the Vietnam war.

When she died, some of her supporters sought to have
her canonized. Others felt she would oppose such
efforts, chosing instead to direct the monies invested
in that process in support of the poor.

"This work of ours toward a new heaven and a new
earth," she said, "shows a correlation between the
material and the spiritual... Food for the body is
not enough. There must be food for the soul."

Her most famous book is her autobiography entitled:
"The Long Loneliness" (St. Thomas More Press, 1993.)

Ellsberg edited "Dorothy Day: Selected Writings"
(Orbis, 1992) and more recently "The Duty of Delight:
The Diaries of Dorothy Day" (Marquette University
Press, 2008.)

Read More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Day


*****

ALBERT SCHWEITZER
(1875-1965)

Schweitzer was one of the world's great humanitarians. He
was a physician, philosopher, theologian and musicologist.
While he sought to be a citizen of the world through his work,
it was his missionary effort in Africa that won him the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1952.

His religious philosophy is summed up in the famous phrase
"reverence for life," which means love and compassion for
all living things.

He made a significant contribution to biblical scholarship
with his famous "The Quest of the Historical Jesus" (a
current reprint was produced by Johns Hopkins University
Press, Baltimore, 1998.)

His thesis was that any modern attempt to determine the
historical Jesus and his context is inherently subjective
and scientifically insufficient because of a lack of
non-biblical sources to serve as comparisons. While many
have challenged these points his main contribution had been
to affirm the mystical nature of Jesus and the eschatological
(Kingdom of God) dimension of Jesus' teaching.

Schweitzer, notwithstanding, there have been many modern
scholarly attempts to compare the Jesus of history with
the Christ of faith (colleague Marcus Borg would use the
terms "pre-Easter" and "post-Easter" Jesus). Whatever views
of Schweiter and his theological contribution we may
hold, there is no doubt that - more than 100 years ago -
he established many of the parameters for much of the debate
that followed in his wake.

He was an organist and Bach scholar who wrote significant
treatises on that great composer, but he is mainly
remembered for his compassionate missionary service in
Africa.

In 1913 he established a hospital in Lambarene, Gabon
where he treated thousands of Africans for leporsy and
sleeping sickness. Along with his wife Helene Bresslau
he spent the rest of his life in Africa and used the
money from his Nobel Peace Prize to expand his hospital
and build a leper colony.

"Nothing is the world is ever accomplished without
enthusiasm and self-sacrifice," he once said.

Read More: http://tinyurl.com/nlv5c9

A Schweitzer website to visit:
http://www.schweitzerfellowship.org/

___


My Comment:

We Can Learn from Guides Who Strive for the
Spiritual Life Outside Organized Religion

"Religion, insofar as it is a sense of consolation,
is a hindrance to true faith," Simone Weil once wrote
poignantly. "In this sense atheism is a purification."

Simon Weil words strike the reader and I find that
they challenge me to think more deeply about why I
choose participation in the life of an actual
congregation as part of my spiritual life.

Weil states that seeking consolation as a reason for
engagement with a faith community can in fact be
a hindrance to your faith. Atheism, on the other hand,
can effect a purification of it.

I have these thoughts in response to her comments.

When I teach classes at the university and students
ask me why I am a Christian I tell them that I gain
both "consolation" and "challenge" from my faith. I
think that being part of a church community gives me
a place of support and prompts me to be and to do
more than I could on my own.

If all I sought from my church was consolation - I
believe that Weil is right. Mere warm fuzzies can
actually be a danger to faith.

Balancing that, however, it the "challenge" of the
Gospel to follow Jesus and live compassion and justice.

I am convinced that there are many good people who
would probably be better off following their faith
journey outside of organized religion. I have heard
too many horror stories and know too much about what
bad religion can do to simply repeat the weathered
cliche that being in the Christian community would be
the best thing for everyone.

At the same time, and in spite of some bad experience
in my own life, I continue to want to affiliate with
a meaningful Christian community.

As you might gather, I no longer associate going to
church with going to heaven. I know quite a few
atheists and agnostics who will probably be better off
in their "eternity" than some self-righteous churchgoers.
Still, I choose to bepart of the church, while allowing
those who reject it their right.

I continue to learn much from spiritual guides who brook
no pretense about being religious.


*****


COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

SR. THERESE CASTONGUAY
Montreal, QC

Hello, Wayne,

Thank you for keeping me on your mailing list.
I always find your messages interesting and very
informative. I am sorry that I seldom answer.
Free time is rare around here!

Re: Brother André - he is the first Canadian man
to become a saint in 2010. The foundress of the
Grey Nuns, Ste. Marguerite d'Youville was canonized
in 1990. Another saint is Marguerite Bourgeois,
foundress of the Sisters of the Congregation of
Notre Dame. She was born and raised in France and
died in Canada in 1700. She was canonized in 1982.

TC

*****

IAN HUNTER
St. Thomas, ON

Globe and Mail
February 24th, 2010

"Tiger Woods was never more than a golpher"
http://tinyurl.com/yzwq62w


*****

JIM TAYLOR
Okanagan, BC

"Fear of Being Forgotten"

A shiny new park bench appeared on a beach by the lake.
The seat and back are polished concrete. The frame is
cast iron, bolted down to a concrete pad.
Its a nice bench, a comfortable place to sit, looking out
across a little bay to the hills on the far side of the lake.

The bench is a memorial to a 20-year-old son who died a
little less than a year ago...

Read the article: http://tinyurl.com/yfmqy57


*****

DOUG KOOP
Winnipeg, MB

Christian Week
February 23rd, 2010

"Wondering where the butterflies are"
http://www.christianweek.org/stories.php?id=851


*****


ROBIN WALKER
Brandon, MB.

Memorable Senior Moment

Get out of the car!

This is supposedly a true account recorded in the
Police log of Sarasota, Florida.)

An elderly Florida lady did her shopping and, upon
returning to her car, found four males in the act of
leaving with her vehicle. She dropped her shopping bags
and drew her handgun, proceeding to scream at the top
of her lungs, “I have a gun, and I know how to use it!
Get out of the car!”

The four men didn’t wait for a second threat. They got
out and ran like mad. The lady, somewhat shaken, then
proceeded to load her shopping bags into the back of
the car and got into the driver’s seat. She was so
shaken that she could not get her key into the ignition.
She tried and tried, and then she realised why. It was
for the same reason she had wondered why there was a
football a Frisbee and two 12-packs of beer in the
front seat. A few minutes later, she found her own
car parked four or five spaces farther down.

She loaded her bags into the car and drove to the police
station to report her mistake. The sergeant to whom she
told the story couldn’t stop laughing. He pointed to the
other end of’ the counter, where four pale men were
reporting a car jacking by a mad, elderly woman described
as white less than five feet tall, glasses, curly white
hair, and carrying a large handgun. No charges were filed.

Moral Of the story?
If you’re going to have a senior moment.. make it memorable.

Robin+


*****


NET NOTES

SEXUALLY CONFUSED

The Guardian
February 24th, 2010

http://tinyurl.com/yf7y6tq


*****


THE LANGUAGE GOD TALKS

Publishers Weekly Online
February 24th, 2010

Author writes at age 94 - New Herman Wouk book:
"The Language God Talks: On Science and Religion"
http://tinyurl.com/ybcth7w


*****


IRISH SEX ABUSE VICTIMS REMAIN UNHAPPY
AFTER MEETING WITH ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN

Catholic News Service
February 22nd, 2010

Read the article
: http://www.blogger.com/goog_1267288544664

_____


The Tablet
February 27th, 2010

Too little, too late, again
by David Quinn

http://www.thetablet.co.uk/article/14354


*****

CARDINAL GEORGE AT BRIGHAM YOUNG

Zenit News from Rome
February 24th, 2010

Cardinal at Mormon University Urges Working Together

PROVO, Utah

The president of the U.S. episcopal conference drew
an unusually large crowd at the Mormon Brigham Young
University, telling his audience that Catholics and
Mormons have to unite to defend common values.

Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago,
addressed a group of about 12,000 on Tuesday, according
to the Salt Lake Tribune.

"I'm personally grateful," Cardinal George said, "that,
after 180 years of living mostly apart from one another,
Catholics and Latter-day Saints have come to see one
another as trustworthy partners in the defense of shared
moral principles."

Read the entire article:
http://www.zenit.org/article-28459?l=english


*****


AUSTRALIAN ANGLICAN GROUP
FIRST TO SIGN UP TO POPE'S CALL

Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
22 February 2010

Australian Anglican group 'first'
to sign up to Pope's call

Melbourne, Australia (ENI). A group of "traditional
Anglicans" in Australia has voted to accept the
recent invitation of Pope Benedict XIV to convert
to full communion with the Roman Catholic Church,
whilst retaining their membership of the Anglican
Church. Meeting in Melbourne, the Australian branch
of Forward in Faith, which comprises many members
of the international anglo-catholic grouping called
the Traditional Anglican Communion, "received with
gratitude" the Pope's invitation to join Rome.
They decided unanimously to establish a working
group to enable the process to move forward.

___


Anglican Journal
February 23rd, 2010

Read the article: http://tinyurl.com/ydquvks


*****


BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION'S END?

Wall Street Journal
February 26th, 2010

Pulling Episcopalians toward Rome with their
beloved liturgy.

Read the article:

http://tinyurl.com/ybn9rpd


*****

CENSURE AGAINST ELCA CONGREGATION LIFTED

ELCA News
February 22nd, 2010
by John R. Brooks

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- For nearly 10 years members of
Abiding Peace Lutheran Church in North Kansas City,
Mo., have been worshiping under public censure and
admonition, placed on the congregation for hiring a
pastor in a committed same-sex relationship. Today
the public censure has been lifted, and members of
Abiding Peace have been welcomed back to the fold....

Complete the article, click:

http://www.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?a=4454


*****

GRANT TO FAITH GROUP SPARKS DEBATE

Globe and Mail
February 22nd, 2010

Read the article: http://tinyurl.com/y8msafy


*****

RELIC REVEALS NOAH'S ARK WAS CIRCULAR

The Guardian
February 22nd, 2010
by Maev Kennedy

Newly translated tablet gives building instructions
Amateur historian's find was almost overlooked
That they processed aboard the enormous floating wildlife
collection two-by-two is well known. Less familiar, however,
is the possibility that the animals Noah shepherded on to
his ark then went round and round inside.

According to newly translated instructions inscribed in
ancient Babylonian on a clay tablet telling the story of
the ark, the vessel that saved one virtuous man, his family
and the animals from god's watery wrath was not the pointy-
prowed craft of popular imagination but rather a giant
circular reed raft...

Read more: http://tinyurl.com/yc5hwov


*****

GERMAN BISHOPS ASSURE RAPID RESPONSE TO ABUSE REPORT

Zenit News from Rome
February 23rd, 2010

General Assembly Takes Up
Issue of Sexual Misconduct
FREIBURG IM BREISGAU, Germany.

A suspicion of sexual abuse must be followed by a
"perfect and absolutely transparent explanation,"
says the president of the German episcopal conference.

Archbishop Robert Zollitsch affirmed this Monday when
he spoke to the press about the program of discussions
at the bishops' spring general assembly.

On the agenda is the issue of cases of sexual abuse
of minors in certain Jesuit schools. Around 100 former
students have come forward in recent days reporting
they were abused; most were students at one school...

Read the article:

http://www.zenit.org/article-28448?l=english

___

The Tablet
February 27th, 2010

Bishops Apologize to Abuse Victims
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/article/14361

___

Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
25 February 2010

German Catholics announce plans to deal with
sex abuse claims

Trier, Germany (ENI). Germany's Roman Catholic bishops
have given details of plans to deal with allegations of
sexual abuse by clergy and lay people that have rocked
their church in Germany over the past month. In the
midst of the biggest scandal to hit the church, the
bishops have accepted responsibility for what has taken
place, and on 25 February they announced a four-point
plan to deal with the crisis detailed in a statement
they released after a four-day meeting Freiburg. Germany's
bishops have appointed their youngest colleague, Stephan
Ackermann of Trier, to coordinate all issues related to
the sexual abuse of minors.


*****


LUTHERAN BISHOP RESIGNS OVER ALLEGED DRUNK DRIVING

Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
24 February 2010

First female German Protestant leader quits
after drinking offense

Trier, Germany (ENI). The first woman elected to
lead Germany's 24 million Protestants through the
Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Bishop Margot
Kässman, has said she is resigning, only days after
she was apprehended for a drink-driving offense.
She said she will immediately give up her posts as a
bishop and as head of the EKD, but will continue as
a pastor. Kässmann, a Lutheran and the chairperson
of the EKD, the umbrella organisation of Germany's
Protestants, was caught drink-driving on the evening
of 20 February evening in Hanover. She allegedly
jumped a red traffic light and was found three times
over the legal limit...

___

ELCA News
February 24th, 2010

Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson Comments:
http://tinyurl.com/ycqk5dw


*****

GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI

Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
22 February 2010

African churches use mobile phone to ring up
growth in members

Nairobi (ENI). A mobile phone suspended on a belt
round the waist, or from the neck, is a common sight
among members of church congregations in Africa. Now,
church leaders are heaping praise on mobile phones,
sometimes called cell phones, because they say the
instruments help congregations grow. Mobile phone use
increased rapidly in Africa about 10 years ago. At
that time, however, some Christians on the continent
criticised the phones for being "marks of materialism".
Now, that has changed. "It is as if cell phones have
come to revolutionise everything, even Christianity,"
says Anglican Bishop Charles Gaita of Nyahururu in
central Kenya. "They are making things happen quickly."
Gaita says mobile phones make it easier and cheaper for
the church to spread word about its activities, such
as Bible studies and meetings.

_____


Hindu leader Ravi Shankar urges Catholic clergy
to resist extremism with love

Vailankanni, India (ENI). Hindu leader Shri Ravi Shanka
has told a national meeting of Catholic priests in India
that religious extremism "can be fought only through love,
genuine spirituality and education". "The speed [of the
spread] of fundamentalism surprises me but we have to
fight it," Shankar, founder of the Art of Living movement,
told the Assembly of Indian Catholic Priests, who were
meeting to mark the Year for Priests that Pope Benedict
XVI declared in June 2009. More than 800 Catholic priests
from across India plus several bishops led by Cardinal
Claudio Hummes, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for
Clergy, were among those present when Shankar addressed
the gathering at Vailankanni in Tamil Nadu earlier in February.


*****

23 February 2010

World church leader urges other faiths
to join Christians on climate

Geneva (ENI). Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and Muslims
could strengthen Christians in persuading global
leaders to agree to ambitious and sustainable goals
at the next international talks on climate change if
they joined forces, says the newly appointed general
secretary of the World Council of Churches. The Rev.
Olav Fyske Tveit was speaking to journalists before
he was officially installed on 23 February as the
general secretary of the WCC, a grouping of 560
million Christians from mainly Anglican, Orthodox
and Protestant churches. On many issues, the
organization works closely with the Roman Catholic
Church, which serves on some WCC committees.

_____

Group says 'naked' body scanners
breach Islamic teachings

Toronto (ENI). An Islamic group is recommending that
Muslims avoid the new full-body scanners at airports,
and opt for body frisk searches instead because the new
technology violates religious teachings. The Fiqh
Council of North America, a group of Muslim scholars,
says the scanners see through clothes to create a
three-dimensional image of a person's naked body.
In a statement, the group said, "It is a violation
of clear Islamic teachings that men or women be seen
naked by other men and women." The statement noted
that the scans are, "against the teachings of Islam,
natural law and all religions and cultures that stand
for decency and modesty".

_____


Indian school book with Jesus holding
cigarette, beer, is removed

Kathmandu (ENI). Officials in a north-eastern Indian
state, where more than 70 percent of the population
are Christians, have confiscated school textbooks that
contained an image of Jesus holding a beer can in one
hand and a cigarette in the other. Officials of the
St. Joseph Girls' Higher Secondary School in Shillong,
the capital of India's predominantly tribal and Christian
state of Meghalaya, said they have filed a complaint with
police against the publisher of the book, Skyline
Publication, based in New Delhi.

Parents brought the illustration to the notice of the
school authorities who in turn reported it to the state's
education ministry. Police have seized about 30 copies of
the book, meant as an aid for the teaching of writing and
spelling, while the school, run by nuns, has asked its
students to return any remaining copies in which the
image was used to illustrate the word "idol".


*****

February 24th, 2010

Protestants, Catholics regret resignation
of German bishop

Trier, Germany (ENI). Protestant and Roman Catholic
leaders have expressed their regret about the
resignation of Bishop Margot Kässmann, the first
woman to lead 24 million German Protestants, who
belong to the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).
At a 24 February press conference in Hanover, where
she was resident bishop, Kässmann said she was
resigning from her leadership positions, only days
after she was stopped for a drink-driving offence.

When she made her announcement she was flanked by
her four grown-up daughters. Kässmann said she had
given up her posts as a bishop and as head of the
EKD but would continue serving as a pastor.

_____


Philippine Catholics, officials,
debate condoms and AIDS prevention

Manila (ENI). Roman Catholic leaders in the Philippines
have lambasted a government campaign that encourages
condom use to help prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS,
while a health official has blamed the church for
thwarting its drive. The Archbishop of Lipa, Ramon
Arguelles, on 23 February called for the resignation
of the Philippines health department secretary,
Esperanza Cabral. Arguelles was quoted on the Catholic
Bishops Conference Web site as saying it is "immoral
[for Cabral] to be pushing for the use of condoms,
which we all know are not a deterrent to AIDS".
Cabral told reporters, however, "We are a secular
state where the Church and State are separate."

_____

Indian women's self-sufficiency promoter
wins Niwano Peace Prize

Geneva (ENI). The Niwano Peace Foundation has announced
it will award its 2010 peace prize to Ela Ramesh Bhatt,
an Indian Hindu who is a follower of the teachings of
Mahatma Gandhi, and who applies them to enable women
to become self-sufficient. In a 24 February statement
announcing the winner of the Niwano Peace Prize, the
foundation said Bhatt is "known as the 'gentle
revolutionary'." It added, "She has dedicated her
life to improving the lives of India's poorest and
most oppressed women workers.

_____


Tutu urges Kenyan truth commission head to resign

Nairobi (ENI). Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop
Desmond Tutu and a group of nine other former heads and
members of national truth commissions, have urged Bethuel
Kiplagat to resign as the head of Kenya's Truth, Justice
and Reconciliation Commission. Tutu, the former Anglican
archbishop of Cape Town and chairperson of South Africa's
Truth Truth and Reconciliation Commission said in a
statement sent to Ecumenical News International in Nairobi
that retired diplomat Kiplagat does not meet the essential
standards for a person in that post."

_____


Sermons 'set back cause of women, Christianity by centuries'

Canterbury, England (ENI). A leading advocate in England for
the ordination of women as priests has complained that two
sermons by an (Anglican) Church of England minister have set
back the cause of women and Christianity, by centuries. In
an interview with Ecumenical News International, US-born
Christina Rees said that the Rev. Mark Oden, a priest at
St Nicholas' Church in Sevenoaks, Kent, and the church's
rector, the Rev. Angus MacLeay, appear not to understand
that the Bible must be read with an understanding of its
context.

_____


Web 'Chat church' gets employee
into tangle with regular body

Johannesburg (ENI). South Africa's biggest Dutch Reformed
Church, the Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk, is investigating
an Internet church set up by one of its employees that the
church's governing body complains allows swearing, and gives
a platform to atheists. Jean Oosthuizen's "Kletskerk", which
translates from Afrikaans as "chat church", is facing a
special investigation by a team from the NGK's general
synod, said Kobus Gerber, NGK spokesperson. Oosthuizen
serves as news editor of one of the church's publications.
The call for a probe came after the NGK leadership cut all
links with the Kletskerk, which has been popular since it
went 'live' in 2005.


*****

26 February 2010

World church body anxious about treatment of
Egypt's Christians

Geneva (ENI). --Senior officials of the World Council of
Churches have warned that Christian Copts in Egypt are
being made to feel like "aliens in their own country".
At the same time they have urged churches in the North
African country to "continue their involvement in Muslim-
Christian dialogue". In a statement on 26 February the
executive committee of the WCC, which represents 560
million Christians worldwide, said, "It is a matter of
regret that in Egypt today Christians can easily fall
victim to violence and hatred, and that their security
is not fully guaranteed. Many Copts, in particular, are
made to feel like aliens in their own country."

_____


Faith-based groups grow as part of New Zealand
left politics - Feature

Melbourne, Australia (ENI). New Zealand politics has taken
on an unexpected religious flavour since the left wing of
the political divide adopted faith-based groups into their
normally secular structures. Whilst New Zealand has a
number of longstanding faith-based political parties,
they have been seen as representing the right wing of the
political spectrum. The development of affiliated religious
subgroups within the Labour Party and the Greens is
unprecedented.

_____


Asia's largest Christian event focuses
on green spirituality

Maramon, India (ENI). The annual Maramon convention of the
Mar Thoma Church, which lays claim to being Asia's biggest
Christian gathering, has in 2010 focused on caring for the
earth, with government officials handing out tens of thousands
of saplings for planting. "If we persist with the unscientific
exploitation of natural resources and neglect of environmental
concerns, there will not be anything left for the future
generations in the earth in which we live," cautioned
Metropolitan Joseph Mar Thoma, head of the Mar Thoma Church.

_____


Black churches in US team up to tackle problems facing
black men

Washington DC (ENI/RNS). --The leaders of three black
Methodist denominations are joining together - for the
first time in 45 years - to address unemployment, crime
and other problems that disproportionately affect black
men in the United States. "When people talk about us being
in an economic downturn, that's nice talk for the general
community, but for the African-American community, we are
in depression," said Senior Bishop John R. Bryant of the
African Methodist Episcopal Church, Religion News Service
reports. "Our people are hurting."

*****

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

Sojourners Online

February 22nd, 2010

[Some say,] "But pacifism is so impractical!"
As if Christian ethics were utilitarian, as if
there were a calculus for shalom! ... In any
case, it is not as if the whole church has
tried pacifism and found it wanting, the fact
is that the whole church has not tried
pacifism at all.

- Kim Fabricius, from his book, "Propositions on
  Christian Theology: A Pilgrim Walks the Plank

___


February 23rd

Express everything you like. No word can
hurt you. None. No idea can hurt you. Not
being able to express an idea or word will
hurt you more. Like a bullet.

- Jamaica Kincaid,
  Caribbean-American novelist and professor

___


February 24th, 2010

"The American people and the governing class have
accepted that war has become a permanent condition.
Protracted war has become a widely accepted part
of our politics."

- Andrew Bacevich, retired Army Col. (and now
  history professor at Boston University) whose son
  was killed in Iraq in 2007, on how eight years of
  war have affected American foreign policy.
  (Washington Post)

___


February 25th, 2010

Love is or it ain't.
Thin love ain't love at all.

- Toni Morrison, writer
   and winner of the 1993
   Nobel Prize for Literature

___


"The cross is and will forever be the sign of the
church. This is the symbol that we have together,
the symbol of what we have together, the symbol of
what the churches have to give to the world. From
the beginning to the end.²

- Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, in his installation as
  new general secretary, World Council of Churches.


*****

ON THIS DAY

On Feb. 20, 1962, astronaut John Glenn became the
first American to orbit Earth as he flew aboard
the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule.

http://tinyurl.com/y9n9dxu

_____


On Feb. 21, 1965, former Black Muslim leader Malcolm X
was shot and killed by assassins identified as Black
Muslims as he was about to address a rally in New York
City; he was 39.

http://tinyurl.com/yfg3amz

_____


On Feb. 23, 1954, the first mass inoculation of children
against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh.

On Feb. 23, 1868, W.E.B. DuBois Dies in Ghana; Negro Leader
and Author, was born. Read obituary.

http://tinyurl.com/yktnp5e

_____


On Feb. 26, 1993, a bomb exploded in the garage of New York's
World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than
1,000 others.

http://tinyurl.com/yb49yqp


*****

CLOSING PRAYER

We thank you, gracious God, for the freedom we
have to practice and live out our faith. We pray
for our brothers and sisters around the world who
do not have that freedom, for our fellow Christians
who find themselves persecuted for seeking to follow
you. Strengthen them with courage, with discernment,
and with faith. Help us not only to do what we can
to aid them, but also to learn what we can from them.
Make us more and more aware of your body -- the Church,
Lord Jesus. Amen.

(end)

Friday, February 19, 2010

Colleagues List, February 20th, 2010

Vol V. No. 26

*****

Edited by Wayne A. Holst


*****

Blogsite:

http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com/

*****

In this issue:

Special Item:

"Spiritual Leaders Who Changed the World"
 They Changed the World By Their Writing

Joseph Campbell
Thomas Berry
Huston Smith

My Comment:

We Can Benefit from Spiritual Guides
of Other Faiths and of No Formal Faith

___

Colleague Contributions:

Mathew Zachariah
Ken Kuhl
Doug Shantz
Margaret Somerville

___


Net Notes:

A New Kind of Christianity
Does Suffering Improve Us?
The Churches and Gay Youth
Brother Andre - First Quebec Saint
Vatican Lists Best Albums of All Time
Russian Olympic Chaplain Discovers Faith
Pope Meets Irish Bishops on Abuse Scandal
Top Olympic Chaplain is Experienced Player
Building Peace Thru Non-Violence in N.Ireland

___


Global Faith Potpourri:

Nineteen Stories from Ecumenical News International

___


Quotes of the Week:

Elaine Puckett
Mahatma Gandhi
T.S. Eliot
Rainer Maria Rilke
Thérèse of Lisieux

___


On This Day (Feb 16th - Feb. 19th):

Feb. 16, 1923 - Tomb of King Tut unsealed in Egypt
Feb. 17, 1972 - Nixon makes historic trip to China
Feb. 19, 1945 - US Marines land on Iwo Jima (WWII)

___

Closing:

A Prayer for Lent

(end)


**********

Dear Friends:

I would like to provide you with background
on three spiritual guides that I have come to
know and appreciate in my spiritual journey.

I never met Joseph Campbell or Huston Smith
but their work has influenced my life over
the years and I have used their books often
in my writing and teaching.

I did meet Thomas Berry at a retreat in
Southern Ontario about twenty years ago. He
was kind enough to allow me an interview with
him as we discussed eco-theological issues
at a time when I was being introduced to
to the subject in general and his work in
particular.

During Lent, the University of Calgary
Chaplaincy, the Bookstore and I are working
together to offer a course on spiritual
leaders from a broad sprectrum of humanity.

The six-part series began this week and we
focused on the mentors noted.

I thought that at least some of you might be
interested in my comments. I offer web links
that will hopefully take you further if you
wanted more. I also add some thoughts on why
I believe it is worthwhile to study people
like this.

___


Colleague Contributions:

This week Mathew Zachariah suggested I consider
a letter to the Globe and Mail editor (Feb. 12th)
in response to the article "A Church Facing the
Threat of Extinction" shared here last week.
Thanks for a careful reading of both Colleagues
List and the Globe and Mail, Mathew!

Ken Kuhl - shares an article from the Victoria
Times Colonist on creative uses for churches
that are no longer serving as places of worship.

Doug Shantz - on sabbatical right now, is still
responsible for the lecture series that continue
to be offered at the U of C in his absence. This
year, Dr. Ronald A. Kuipers of the Institute of
Christian Studies in Toronto will be giving two
lecturs in the Iwaasa Series on Urban Theology.
May your reasearch in Europe continue well,
Doug!

Margaret Somerville - appears again this week,
courtesy of the Christianity.ca website. She
writes about unavoidable ignorance and the
resulting mistakes that occur when medical
decisions are made by fallible humans. Your
thoughts are always stimulating, Margaret.

___


Net Notes:

"A New Kind of Christianity" - is the title of a
new book by emerging church leader Brian McLaren.
I offer an interview with the author and two
takes on the book from differing places on the
theological spectrum (Sojourners Online,
ChristianWeek.org, Spirituality & Practice)

"Does Suffering Improve Us?" - Ed. Halliwell,
writing from the UK, gives a Buddhist perspective
on suffering, a seasonal topic for the Christian
season of Lent, I would suggest (The Guardian)

"The Churches and Gay Youth" - Heidi Neumark
is a Lutheran pastor (ELCA) at Trinity Church,
Manhattan. I knew Heidi as a college student
and fellow worshipper at St. John's Lutheran
Church, Summit NJ. She is interviewed on her
creative work with gay youth.
(PBS, Religion and Ethics)

"Brother Andre First Quebec Saint" - anyone
who travels to Montreal is the better for
taking time to visit St. Joseph's Oratory on
the old north side. The man behind that great
facility was a humble Catholic layman, Alfred
Bassette. In the early twentieth century he was
a popular spiritual healer in a city that was
considerably more "piously Catholic" than it
is today (Globe and Mail)

"Vatican Lists Best Albums of All Time" -
those who consider L'Osservatore Romano
(long viewed as a mouthpiece of the Vatican)
a stogy old rag should take another look.
(Wall Street Journal)

"Russian Olympic Chaplain Discovers Faith" -
offers a classic conversion story in a modern
context. Katarina Antaniuk, is a chaplain
with the Russian team at the Winter Olympics
in Vancounver. Imagine this story appearing
twenty years ago! (Christianity.ca)

"Pope Meets Irish Bishops on Abuse Scandal" -
in an unprecedented action this week, the pope
summoned the Irish hierarchy to a serious
reprimand for allowing the well-publicized
priestly sexual abuse tragedy in that land.
Detractors viewed the pope's action as quite
inadequate. Others viewed it as appropriate.
I offer several perspectives. (BBC, ENI,
National Catholic Reporter, The Tablet,
Catholicculture.org) What do you think?

"Top Olympic Chaplain is Experienced Player" -
read comments from Paul Kobylarz, head chaplain
at the Winter Olympics. A veteran contender
himself, Kobylarz is participating in his
fifth games  (Christianity Today)

"Building Peace Thru Non-Violence in N.Ireland" -
we continue to watch developments in Ulster,
hoping that the historic Good Friday Accord
of eleven years ago will hold and bring both
peace and full self-government to this nation.
(Christian Science Monitor - a Christian
Science perspective)

___


Global Faith Potpourri:

Ecumenical News International offers nineteen
new and interesting mini-reports on religious
issues from across the world this week.

___


Quotes of the Week:

Elaine Puckett, Mahatma Gandhi, T.S. Eliot,
Rainer Maria Rilke and Thérèse of Lisieux
share their spiritual wisdom with us.

___


On This Day (Feb 16th - Feb. 19th):

The ancient tomb of King Tut was unsealed in Egypt
87 years ago this week (1923); President Nixon made
his historic trip to China 38 years ago this week
(1972); and US Marines landed on Iwo Jima 55 years
ago this week as WWII drew to a close in the
Pacific (1945). Read of these special times in
human history. Consider the interesting article
that speculates on the cause of King Tut's death
3,000 years ago.

___

Closing:

Sojourners offers us a lenten prayer.

Blessings on your lenten journey.

Wayne

*****

SPECIAL ST. DAVID'S LINKS

Contact us at: asdm@sduc.ca (or) admin@sduc.ca
St. David's Web Address - http://sduc.ca/

Listen to audio recordings of Sunday services -
http://sduc.ca/services.htm

___


ST DAVID'S ACTS WEB PAGE

Created and maintained by Colleague Jock McTavish
http://stdavidscalgary.net/

__


THE FUTURE OF FAITH by Harvey Cox

Monday Night Study, January 18th - March 29th, 2010

An insightful description of where Christian faith
is moving in the twenty-first century.

Follow our class videos, power point presentations,
other notes and study resources. Bookmark this link:
http://www.1journey.net/stdavids/SD/BookStudy/24/24.htm

___


STUDY ARCHIVES

A collection of twenty-five+ studies conducted since 2000 can
quickly be found at: http://bookstudies.stdavidscalgary.net/

This collection of study resources represents a decade of
Monday Night Studies at St. David's, plus extra courses too!
You are welcome to use our course outlines, class notes and
resource pages in your personal and group reflections.

********************************************************

SPECIAL ITEMS

"SPIRITUAL LEADERS WHO CHANGED THE WORLD"

Joseph Campbell
Thomas Berry
Huston Smith

This Lent the University of Calgary chaplains are once again
sponsoring a study of "Spiritual Leaders Who Changed the World"
(Part Two.) The University Bookstore and St. Davids ACTS
ministry are co-sponsors and I am leading the six sessions on
Thursdays through to Holy Week.

We are studying the book by that title (Skylight Paths, second
edition, 2008) edited by Ira Rifkin. For those interested in
the first notes we created for this course (first edition, 2002)
please click the following link: http://tinyurl.com/ycswgxj

Selected leaders from the 75 biographies appearing in the text
are determined by classmembers as we cannot study all of them.
Here are thoughts I gathered for our first session:

_____


Joseph Campbell (1904-1987)

Campbell developed an international reputation as a teacher of
comparative mythology. A Roman Catholic by background, he did
not consider himself a Christian but was profoundly interested
in spiritual meaning. He had a great gift as a storyteller and
was able to integrate narratives from many cultural traditions
into the popular lectures he gave as a professor at Sarah
Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY for 38 years.

As a teacher in the English Department, Campbell explored the
myths of different cultures - complemented this with many
psychological insights contained in mythology - and from this
he developed spiritual ideas of significance for moderns from
timeless mythological themes.

A breakthrough book, coming early in his career, was entitled
"Hero With A Thousand Faces." It is still in print (New World
Publishers have recently published his complete works.)

This book introduced Campbell's concept of archetypal images
common to all humanity - regardless of culture and creed;
the myth of the eternal return - describing a cyclical view
of life we are inclined to follow; and the heroic journey
that every person  takes. He believed there are common
mythological themes pervading and integrating all great
religious traditions.

Campbell's popularity surged when, just before his death in
1987, the US media commentator Bill Moyers interviewed him
and produced "Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth,"
published by Bantam paperback, 1988; also still in print.

Campbell's maxim "Follow your bliss" became a popular
reminder that personal happiness can result when we listen
to our deepest intuitions and persue our most passionate
interests in life.

Read more about Joseph Campbell, click:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Campbell

___


Thomas Berry (1914-2009)

Thomas Berry, priest/scientist, elder of the environmental
movement, and self-defined "geologian" - was a cosmological
historian and an advocate for a new planetary civilization.
He sought to transform our thinking from human to earth-
centredness.

Berry believed that each era of humankind (classic, medieval,
age of discovery, etc.) had its "great work." Berry believed
that our society's "great work" was to connect technological
advances to environmental concerns. He proposed that we are
entering the "Ecozoic Age," an era when humanity must seek
to reconnect to the earth and create a new way of life that
reverses the destruction it has long inflicted upon the
planet. He advocated for the extension of legal rights to
"other than human" interests and believed that corporations
should be limited by law to morally accountable activities.

In his book "The Universe Story" completed with coauthor/
scientist Brian Swimme, Berry developed the idea that
science is now telling us a "new story" which began with
the "Great Unfolding" - (their term for the big bang.)

Humans, says Berry, need to rediscover their place in an
ever-evolving cosmos and find their creative role in a
changing world.

Two other popular books were "The Dream of the Earth"
and "The Great Work: Our Way into the Future."

"The universe itself," says Berry, "is the enduring reality
and the enduring value even while it finds expression in
a continuing sequence of transformations."

Learn more about Thomas Berry, click:
http://www.thomasberry.org/

___


Huston Smith (1919 - )

Smith pioneered in the field of discovering "comonalities"
among what he called the world's wisdom traditions (Hindu,
Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Confucianism, Sikhism,
Taoism, Jainism, Islam, and the Primal Religions.) He took
their study out of the classroom and into people's homes
via television and popular books.

Born in China to Methodist missionary parents, Smith came
to the USA at age seventeen to study to become a missionary.
Instead, however, he continued his university studies and
graduated from Chicago with a PhD in philosophy of religion.

Smith differs from many religion scholars by his habit of
dispensing with the observational study of religion in
favour of firsthand experience.

He consistently sought out the mystical in each religion
and taught that all the world's major religious traditions
are embued with the Divine and are therefore worthy of
study, respect, and understanding.

After retirement, Smith got involved with debates over
religious freedom and between science and religion. He
called for the recognition of traditional religious
wisdom alongside modern achievements of science.
Some of his most famous books are: "The World's Religions:
Our Great Wisdom Traditions" (revised, 2006), "Why
Religion Matters: The Fate of the Human Spirit in an
Age of Disbelief" (2006).

As he nears the end of his life, Smith has written
his autobriography "Tales of Wonder: Adventures Chasing
the Divine" with Jeffrey Paine (2009).

Read my (2009) Globe and Mail review of this book:
http://tinyurl.com/m63mva


*****

My Comment:

We Can Learn Much from Spiritual Guides
of Other Faiths and No Formal Faith.

A disaffected Catholic who nevertheless spent much
of his life seeking and interpreting spiritual meaning
from many human traditions. A priest/scientist who,
while decades ahead of his time, is helping us see
creation and human destiny with a new set of eyes.
A Protestant missionary's son who determined that
his future lay in interpreting faith traditions to
each other.

Each of these spiritual leaders evolved into persons
who remained part of their origins but who continued
to grow and bring others to new depths and heights of
spiritual awareness. Their stories may be much like
our own. Their visions can provide new faith direction.

We can learn something about the future of faith by
remembering our past. Several generations ago we
began to discover the value of inter-church dialogue.

We were enchanted by the practices and understandings
of other Christians. But we also learned that to
truly engage with others we needed some sure footing
in our own traditions. You cannot relate to others
without an identity of your own.

The same truth applies as we now begin the very
adventursome journey of discovering other faith
traditions - the new ecumenism for our time. Knowing
where we stand will enhance - not detract from - our
learning from others.

The three figures I have noted are pioneers and
possible models for us. Each one took on a special
dimension of the inter-spiritual quest. Each one
offers support for our own journeys that can lead
to more peaceful, just lives and a more peaceful,
just world.

*****

COLLEAGUE COMMENT

MATHEW ZACHARIAH

February 14th, 2010

Hello Wayne: The Archbishop of Toronto has written a
short but pointed response letter to Michael Valpy's
article about Anglicanism which appeared in the Friday
(February 12th) edition of the Globe and Mail.

It is worth quoting. Mathew

____


Proximity to death is healthy

Someone once noted that the odds on death are
pretty impressive - one out of one person dies
(A Church Facing the Threat of Extinction -
February 10th Globe and Mail). Yet, most of us
do not spend our lives lamenting that, rather,
we get busy living. The church is always one
generation from death. That is actually healthy.

The church, in every generation, must reach
out and invite others to share in the Gospel.
To rely on children's automatically following
their parents in a religious practice is not
sustaining. Faith must be a personal response
to God.
Christendom may be dead but Christ is alive.
The Anglican Church will continue to attract
people, regardless of their heritage, because
we offer intelligent faith, caring community,
compassionate concern for others, and above
all, space to encounter the living God who
can and does change lives.

- Colin R. Johnson, Archbishop of Toronto
  (Anglican Church of Canada)

*****

KEN KUHL

Victoria Times-Colonist
February 18th, 2010
by Grania Litwin

Churches at crossroads

New uses pondered for Anglican properties that will
be closed to worship

What do the Conservatory of Music, Belfry Theatre,
Ballet Victoria and the Canadian College of Performing
Arts all have in common? They're all located in former
churches.

And in a year or two, 10 more Greater Victoria church
properties could be sold or leased, holding opportunity
for creative new uses...

Read the article: http://tinyurl.com/yzkklfm


*****

DOUG SHANTZ

Announcing:
The Iwaasa Lecture on Urban Theology
Dr. Donald A. Kuipers,
Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto, ON.

What's So Critical About Faith (and)
Cross-Pressured Authenticity:
Charles Taylor on Religious Identity
in a Secular Age

http://tinyurl.com/ygwfbbf
(click to open attachment for details)


*****

MARGARET SOMERVILLE

Virtual House News
February 19th, 2010

The Dangers of False Certainty

Read the article, click:
http://tinyurl.com/y8lr5ym


*****

NET NOTES

A NEW KIND OF CHRISTIANITY
by Brian McLaren

Interview with the author
Sojourners Online
February 18th, 2010

http://tinyurl.com/yamqf8j

__

Two Reviews:

Christian Week
February 16th, 2010

McLaren Lets the Cat Out of the Bag

http://www.christianweek.org/stories.php?id=840

___

Spirituality and Practice
February, 2010

http://tinyurl.com/y9g9fmt

*****

DOES SUFFERING IMPROVE US?

The Guardian
February 18th, 2010

http://tinyurl.com/ykk6zw4


*****

THE CHURCH AND GAY YOUTH

PBS Religion and Ethics
February 19th, 2010.
Read the article, click:

http://tinyurl.com/ycgpus5


*****

BROTHER ANDRE FIRST QUEBEC SAINT

Globe and Mail
February 13th, 2010
by Rheal Seguin

http://tinyurl.com/ybq4b6u


*****

VATICAN LISTS BEST ALBUMS OF ALL TIME

Wall Street Journal
February 16th, 2010
The Beatles, Michael Jackson, and U2 Make Vatican
Newspaper's List of Best Albums; Bob Dylan Snubbed
The Vatican has previously denounced rock music as the
devil's work but in a surprise change of tune on Sunday
the Holy See's official newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano,
published what it called "a semiserious guide" to the
top ten rock and pop albums of all time, including works
by the Beatles, Michael Jackson and U2.

Read the article, click: http://www.blogger.com/goog_1266636003323

*****

RUSSIAN OLYMPIC CHAPLAIN DISCOVERED FAITH

Finds it is for More Than Just Old Ladies

Virtual House News (EFC)
February 19th, 2010

http://tinyurl.com/ya7b42z


*****

POPE MEETS IRISH BISHOPS ON SEX ABUSE SCANDAL

BBC News
February 15th, 2010

Ireland's Roman Catholic bishops meet Pope Benedict
XVI at the Vatican over the Irish child sex abuse
scandal.

http://tinyurl.com/y9eulag

___


Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
February 15th, 2010

Irish bishops castigated before Vatican
meeting with Pope

Dublin (ENI). Twenty-four Irish Roman Catholic bishops
received a tongue-lashing on 15 February from a top Vatican
official as they began two days of unprecedented meetings
with Pope Benedict XVI and his officials. The bishops are
in Rome following the publication, on 26 November, of an
Irish government-commissioned report, led by Judge Yvonne
Murphy, into how the Roman Catholic Church in Dublin dealt
with allegations against priests of sexual abuse. The day
began with a Mass for the 24 Irish bishops before their
encounter at the Vatican. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the
Vatican's Secretary of State, a right-hand man of the Pope,
described abuse scandal as "humiliating" and "abominable".
___

The Tablet
February 19th, 2010
Heinous crimes, grave failures

Editorial

It was an unprecedented event in Catholic history.
Pope Benedict XVI summoned the entire hierarchy of the
Church in Ireland to Rome this week and publicly rebuked
them. The sexual abuse of children by members of the
clergy was "a heinous crime and grave sin", he told them.

In a statement afterwards, the Vatican made clear it was
errors of judgement and omissions that stood at the heart
of the crisis".

In other words, it was the bishops' fault.

As inquiry after inquiry has revealed, they consistently
covered up the activities of abusive priests to protect
the Church's good name from scandal. The result is a
scandal 1,000 times worse, from which the Church in
Ireland may never recover.

Read more... http://www.thetablet.co.uk/article/14311

_____

CatholicCulture.org
February 16th, 2010

Concluding Statement of Vatican and Irish Bishops

http://tinyurl.com/yko6pdc

___

National Catholic Reporter
February 18, 2010

Irish abuse victims disappointed, angered

"We were expecting something and we got nothing"
  by Michael Kelly, Catholic News Service

Accountability

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Victims of clerical child sexual
abuse and groups representing them reacted with a mix
of anger and disappointment to a Vatican statement
issued after a papal meeting with Irish bishops.

Marie Collins, who was abused by a Dublin priest,
told Catholic News Service that she thought it was
"pathetic" that the statement was "so far away from
accepting that there was a policy of coverup."
"I wasn't expecting much from the meeting, but the
fact that the resignation of bishops was not even
on the agenda had been insulting," she said...

___


Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
February 18th, 2010

Vatican gets flak for not taking Irish abuse cases
seriously enough
Rome (ENI). The Vatican is facing criticism by victims
of abuse and some church commentators for failing to take
the issue of sexual abuse in the Irish church seriously
enough. Some Irish victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic
said that the pope and Ireland's bishops did not discuss the
resignation of bishops who covered up the abuse, said the
Rome-based La Repubblica newspaper on 17 February.

"Pope Benedict fails to lead his Church through crisis in Ireland,"
was the 17 February headline in IrishCentral.com, which describes
itself as a Web site for the global Irish community. Itcarried a
column by "Father Tim", who is described as an Irish Catholic J
esuit missionary and is the site's spiritual specialist.


*****

HEAD OLYMPICS CHAPLAIN IS EXPERIENCED PLAYER

Christianity Today
February 16th, 2010
by Luanne Radecki Blackburn

The head Christian chaplain at the Vancouver Olympics draws
on years of playing professional hockey in U.S. and Sweden.

http://tinyurl.com/ybkj5fu


*****

BUILDING PEACE THROUGH NON-VIOLENCE
IN NORTHERN IRELAND

Christian Science Monitor
February 18th, 2010

Read the article, click: http://tinyurl.com/yzwk9lw


*****

GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI

Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
15 February 2010

Southern African Anglican bishops lambaste
gay-bashing in Africa

Cape Town (ENI). The bishops of the Anglican Church in
Southern Africa say they are disturbed by the debate
among Ugandan lawmakers and clergy of a draft law that
seeks to criminalise homosexuality. "It even proposes
imposing the death penalty, which we regard as a breach
of God's commandment, 'You shall not murder,' given in
Exodus 20:13," the bishops, who are meeting near Mbabane
In Swaziland, said in a statement made available to
Ecumenical News International. The bishops called on
all Christians to stand up against the proposed law so
that it is not passed in Uganda or anywhere else in the
world, and called on Uganda's president and lawmakers
"to engage in dialogue with their counterparts on the
rights of minorities".

_____


Debate on minarets moves from Switzerland to Germany

Trier, Germany (ENI). Reactions to an attempt by a small
Muslim community in a German industrial town to build a
minaret on its mosque have triggered a debate that some
politicians and religious figures fear is sparking a rise
in extremist rhetoric. The debate follows a vote in a
November 2009 national referendum in Switzerland not to
allow the construction of any more minarets in that country,
and also talk in neighbouring France of banning the burqa,
an all-covering garb that some Muslim women wear. The Muslim
community in the south-western town of V÷lkingen near
Saarbrucken have applied for permission to build a minaret
on top of their mosque on the banks of the Saar River.

_____

Churches deplore hospital blast in Pakistan,
rue security

Kochi, India (ENI). Church officials in Pakistan have
condemned the bombing of a hospital in Karachi earlier
in the month that killed 27 people, including five
Christians from two families, and left over 100 injured,
and have accused the government of being unable to deal
with violence in the country. "We condemn this diabolic
act. Bomb explosions in a hospital are most shocking,"
Nuzat William, president of YWCA Pakistan told Ecumenical
News International on 11 February from her Karachi office.
In a press statement giving details of the Christians
killed, Aftab Mughal, director of Minorities Concern of
Pakistan, also condemned the 5 February blast that was
triggered from a motorbike parked at the Jinnah
Postgraduate Medical Centre Hospital.


*****

16 February 2010

Polish church stands by commemoration of
German war dead

Warsaw (ENI). A Polish archbishop has defended a
Roman Catholic parish that created a memorial to
German civilians who drowned when their ships were
torpedoed by Soviet submarines in the final months
of the Second World War. "I do not agree that this
monument skirts over differences," said Archbishop
Jozef Zycinski of Lublin. "In times of war, all those
who faced dramatic situations and died without knowing
the fate of their loved ones, were victims, irrespective
of which side they found themselves on." The church
leader was reacting to a protest letter by lawmakers
from Poland's centre-right opposition Law and Justice
party who demanded the dismantling of the monument in
the northern port of Gdynia to victims from the Wilhelm
Gustloff.

_____


Madagascan church leader happy at release
of radio journalists

Nairobi (ENI). The president of the Madagascar's largest
Protestant church has welcomed the release of two
imprisoned church radio journalists, but has warned they
are still facing trial for allegedly colluding in an army
mutiny after reporting on the action. "Yes the journalists
have been temporary released. So while on the one hand we
are happy, we are not satisfied about the decision of the
tribunal. You will see, they are not really free, as they
are awaiting trial," the Rev. Lala Rasendrahasina, who
heads the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM)
told Ecumenical News International.

_____

International help may be needed after
Cook Island cyclone disaster
Melbourne, Australia (ENI). A state of emergency was
declared in the Cook Islands after Tropical Cyclone Pat
struck on 10 February causing heavy damage to the island
of Aitutaki. The day after winds of up to 200 kilometres
(120 miles) an hour tore through the South Pacific nation,
the leader of the Cook Islands Christian Church said his
denomination would be at the forefront of recovery efforts.
Some Cook Island residents believe it is difficult for a
tiny nation to flag international help when it is over
shadowed by the massive earthquake that has claimed more
than 200 000 lives in Haiti.

_____


'World's oldest pastor' dies in Japan
after publishing new book

Tokyo (ENI). The Rev. Tsuneharu Oshima, an active pastor
at the age of 101, has died in the western Japan city of
Kobe according to the Mikage Shinai Christ Church, where
his funeral and memorial service were held. The church,
which is a local congregation of a Pentecostal denomination,
The Japan Assemblies of God, said that Oshima "finished his
precious work of evangelism and mission, fought out a fight
of faith, ran the distance that he ought to run to the end".
Oshima's local church, Kobe Philadelphia Church, part of the
Free Christian Missionary Fellowship where he served as the
senior pastor, had described him as "the oldest pastor in
the world", until he died on 13 February. The church was
rebuilt after the devastating Kobe earthquake in 1995.

*****

17 February 2010

Christians begin Lent pondering
how they can act for others

Geneva (ENI). Christians observing the Lenten time of
sacrifice are being urged to engage in acts that enable
a better sharing of world resources. Eastern Orthodox
churches began Lent on Great Monday, two days before
Western Christians on Ash Wednesday. It is a 40-day
period inspired by the time Jesus spent in the
wilderness, a story shared in the Bible's New
Testament. Observant Christians often give up meat,
alcohol or chocolate or engage in some type of fasting.
In Geneva, Jenny Borden, the interim executive director
of the Geneva-based Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, said,
"Despite the goodness and bounty of God's gifts to us
in creation so many people experience scarcity: famine,
hunger, deprivation and want."

Speaking at an Ash Wednesday service at Geneva's
Ecumenical Centre, Borden said, "It is a good time to
think carefully about the injustice of the world food
situation, where food is unjustly and unsustainably
produced, and unjustly and unsustainably consumed, and
where the right to food for all people is not met,"
said Borden.

_____


Former Canadian chief military chaplain faces sex charges

Toronto (ENI). A retired head chaplain with Canada's armed
forces has been charged with sexual assault in connection
with an alleged attack in 1972. Retired Brigadier-General
Roger Bazin was a young Roman Catholic chaplain in the
early stages of his career when the incident is alleged
to have occurred. The charges, laid on 16 February, stem
from an alleged attack on a man at an armed forces base
in the province of Ontario. They were filed in a civilian
court. Bazin, who is now aged 72, served as chaplain
general - the head of the military chaplaincy - from 1992
to 1995, when he retired. He lives in St. Claude, Manitoba.

____


Anglicans in England call for more action
on violent videos

London (ENI). The Church of England Synod, a key Anglican
governing body, has demanded that the British government
review regulations of video games, saying they are having
a disturbing effect on society. A delegate to the synod,
which met in London from 8 to 12 February, had offered to
show the assembly of bishops, clergy and laity a compilation
of violent images. "Why is it acceptable, indeed lawful, to
portray the killing and burning of a woman in 'Fatality',
the sawing of a woman in 'Mortal Kombat', playing football
with severed heads, the chainsaw killing of a man in 'Saw 3',
rape, torture and so on?" asked Tom Benyon. "There is a
bubbling sewer of gratuitously violent and sexual pornography
and games all around us. I have seen their pernicious effect;
a family member who saw a so-called game had nightmares."

____


US state poised to end ban on teachers' head scarves

Portland, Oregon (ENI/RNS). Oregon is poised to become the
48th U.S. state to permit teachers to wear headscarves and
other religious dress in school, ending an 87-year ban that
was originally intended to keep Roman Catholic nuns out of
public schools. The 51-8 vote by the state's House of
Representatives is the first decision towards repealing
Oregon's ban on religious garb. If passed, Nebraska and
Pennsylvania would be the only remaining states to prohibit
religious clothing, Religion News Service reports.


*****

18 February 2010

Ukrainian churches optimistic after
key presidential election

Warsaw (ENI). Orthodox church leaders have welcomed
the victory claimed by Viktor Yanukovich in Ukraine's
presidential election, but which a court will rule on
later this month, seen as a turning-point for the
former Soviet republic. "You have made your choice.
I hope that the period of upheavals and instability
will now pass into history," Patriarch Kirill I of
Moscow and All Russia told Ukrainians in a message.

"Ukraine will have to cover a very difficult path.
For a long time the country has been in a difficult
political and economic situation … However, the
future of Ukraine depends most of all on her citizens
themselves. No country in the world has a right to
order you what to do and how to live.
_____


Nepalese seek to correct error about
Buddha's birthplace - Feature

Kathmandu (ENI). The largest party in Nepal wants the
South-Asian republic's government to ask Newsweek magazine
editor Fareed Zakaria, to correct "an error" in his book
about the Buddha. The founder of Buddhism, a religion that
ascribes to non-violence with more than 300 million
followers worldwide, the Buddha was born in 523 BC as
Prince Siddharth to a royal family in Lumbini, a city
in southern Nepal, they said. However, since he attained
enlightenment in India and died there, many people think
the Buddha was Indian. "Zakaria's book, 'The Post-American
World', sends out the wrong message that the Buddha was
Indian," Dinanath Sharma, a member of parliament from the
Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), told Ecumenical
News International. "He was Nepali, which is borne out by
the fact that UNESCO has included Lumbini in its list of
world heritage sites.

_____


Only 5 of top 25 US churches report membership growth

Washington DC (ENI/RNS). Membership has increased in the
Roman Catholic Church - the largest Christian body in the
United States - but the No. 2 Southern Baptist Convention,
along with most traditional Protestant denominations,
reported continuing decline, according to new figures
released by the U.S. National Council of Churches. Both
the Southern Baptists and Catholics reported membership
losses in 2009's Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches;
in the 2010 edition released on 12 February, however, only
the Catholics reported a rebound, with a 1.5 percent growth
rate, to more than 68 million members. Southern Baptists held
on to the No. 2 spot, at 16.3 million members, but that figure
represented a 0.2 percent drop from 2009 and the second
consecutive year of decline. The Presbyterian Church (USA)
experienced the greatest loss among the top 10 denominations
(3.3 percent), down to 2.8 million members.


*****

19 February 2010

Orthodox leader 'resists opposition' with call
for church unity

Geneva (ENI). The Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomeos I,
a key leader for the world's 300 million Orthodox
Christians, has written a Lenten encyclical that
stresses the need for greater unity for churches,
and counters accusations from some of his bishops
that ecumenism is heresy. At the same time, a letter
from the head of the U.S. National Council of Churches
to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shows that
Bartholomeos also faces pressure in Turkey. His See
is in Istanbul, the capital of Turkey, and his
official title is "Archbishop of Constantinople,
New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch."

_____

Japanese pastor dismissed for giving communion
to unbaptised

Tokyo (ENI). Japan's largest Protestant denomination
has dismissed one of its pastors for continuing to
allow unbaptised people to receive Holy Communion at
his local church. The sacked minister, the Rev. Jiro
Kitamura of the United Church of Christ in Japan, is
appealing the decision because he says he cannot accept
it. The pastor has campaigned for some time to give the
Eucharist, another name for Holy Communion, to those
who have not been baptised. During Holy Communion
services, in Protestant churches, people receive bread
and wine as symbols of the body and blood of Jesus. "

_____

European court censures Turkey over
religious identification

Warsaw (ENI). European human rights judges have
condemned Turkey for requiring citizens to specify
their religious status on its national identity cards.
"This is in breach of the state's duty of neutrality
and impartiality, since it leads the State to make
an assessment of the applicant's faith," the European
Court of Human Rights said on 2 February. The case
was taken to Strasbourg in 2005 by Sinan Isik, an
Izmir-based member of Turkey's Alevi community,
after local courts refused to allow him to remove
the "Muslim" tag from his national identity document.

_____


Women in US protest for right to
mixed-gender prayers

Washington DC (ENI/RNS). The walls that segregate
Muslim men from women inside many American mosques took
a long time to go up, and it could be a long timebefore
they come down. On 20 February Fatima Thompson was to
find out just how firm those walls are, Religion News
Service reports. Thompson, 44, was planning for about
30 like-minded Muslims to help her stage a "stand-in"
at the Islamic Center of Washington, D.C., in a bid to
persuade mosque leaders to remove a seven-foot partition
behind which women pray -- or at least allow women the
option of praying in front of it.


*****

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

Sojourners
Febraury 16th, 2010

When we think about laying down a life for another
we usually think in terms of a singular event. But
it is possible for us to lay down our lives over the
course of a lifetime, minute by minute and day by day.
And it is the work of the Spirit to empower us as we
seek to lose ourselves in acts of lovingkindness and
sacrificial living.

- Elaine Puckett, professor at Candler School
   of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia

___


February 16, 2010

There are limits to self-indulgence,
none to restraint.

- Mahatma Gandhi

___


February 17th, 2010

Teach us to sit still ...
And let my cry come unto Thee.

- T.S. Eliot, from his poem,
   "Ash Wednesday"

___


Noted by Jock Mctavish
February 17th, 2010

If a sadness rises in front of you,
larger than any you have ever seen;
if an anxiety like light and cloud-shadows
moves over your hands and over everything you do.
You must realize that something is happening to you,
that life has not forgotten you,
that it holds you in its hand
and will not let you fall.

- Rainer Maria Rilke
  "Letters to a Young Poet"
___


February 18th, 2010

I have not the courage to search through books for
beautiful prayers ... Unable either to say them all
or choose between them, I do as a child would do who
cannot read -- I say just what I want to say to God,
quite simply, and [God] never fails to understand.

- Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church.
   French Carmelite nun, canonized in 1925.


*****


ON THIS DAY -

On Feb. 16, 1923, burial chamber of King Tutankhamen's
recently unearthed tomb was unsealed in Egypt.

http://tinyurl.com/yh9upb8

___


New York Times
February 17th, 2010

Malaria Is a Likely Killer in King Tut's Post-Mortem
by John Noble Willford

The application of advanced radiological and genetic
techniques to Egyptian mummies is a new step in the
reach of historical inquiry through science.

http://tinyurl.com/yg5r4xw
_____


On Feb. 17, 1972, President Nixon departed on his
historic trip to China.

http://tinyurl.com/yghxneu

_____


Feb. 19, 1945, during World War II, some 30,000 United
States Marines landed on the Western Pacific island of
Iwo Jima, where they encountered ferocious resistance
from Japanese forces. The Americans took control of the
strategically important island after a month-long battle.

http://tinyurl.com/yd29buj


*****

A PRAYER FOR LENT

As we enter the season of Lent, may we be
reminded that we are dust and that it is
to dust that we will return.

Humble us, Lord, and give us a heightened
sense of our utter helplessness apart from
you and the acute need for our dependence
on you. Be near us, we pray. Amen
(end)

Friday, February 12, 2010

Colleagues List, February 13th, 2010

Vol V. No. 25

*****

Edited by Wayne A. Holst


*****

Blogsite:
http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com/


*****

FAMILY DAY WEEKEND EDITION

In this issue:

Book Notice -

"Thieves in the Temple"
 G. Jeffrey Macdonald

__


University Lenten Study -

"Spiritual Leaders Who Changed the World"
  (part two)

___


Colleague Comment:

Derek Evans
Ken Kuhl
An Old Friend
Corrine Tessier
Jock McTavish

___


Colleague Contributions:

Doug Koop
Lorna Dueck

___


Net Notes:

School Sacks Science Teacher
Synod: Bible Not Modern Textbook
Catholic Colleges and Tests of Faith
The Ten Most Redeeming Films of 2009
Anglicanism in Canada Could Disappear
Why Pope John Paul II Whipped Himself
South Africa Honours Mandela's Release
Irish Victims Ask $1 Billion from Church
ELCA Delegation Meets Orthodox & Catholics
Local Churches Offer Welcome Mat for Olympics
UK Hindu Man Granted an Open-Air Cremation Pyre

__


Global Faith Potpourri:

Seventeen Stories from Ecumenical News International

___


Quotes of the Week:

James Baldwin
Alice Walker
Laura LeNoir
Ruth Bell Graham
C.S. Lewis

___


On This Day (Feb. 10th - Feb. 12th):

Feb. 10, 1962 - USSR exchanges Gary Powers for Rudolph Abel
                          Boris Pasternak, Nobel winner, was born (obit)

Feb. 11, 1945 - Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin Meet at Yalta
                          Thomas Edison, inventor, was born (obit)

Feb. 12, 1973 - First US POWs Released from Vietnam Conflict
                          Charles Darwin, scientist, was born (obit)
___


Closing:

A Prayer of John Wesley

(end)


*****

Dear Friends:

It is Family Day Weekend in Alberta and some
other Canadian provinces. I like the idea and
some of the creative ways families are planning
their time together.

It is also the first weekend of the Olympic
Winter Games, 2011 edition, held in Vancouver and
Whistler, British Columbia. Twenty-three years ago
these same games put Calgary on the global map.

May much good result from Vancouver 2011!

___


In this issue of Colleagues List I introduce a book
that will not appear in stores for another six weeks.
"Thieves in the Temple" by G. Jeffrey Macdonald (a
proof copy, not a finished product) was sent to me
by colleague Shona Cook who works as a publicist for
the Perseus Books Group. Thanks for thinking of me,
Shona! I hope that my introduction here will prompt
interest in many quarters.

__


February 17th is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of
Lent. This year I will once again conduct a six-part
lenten study series, co-sponsored by the U of C Chaplains
and Bookstore and St. David's United Church.

It is entitled:

"Spiritual Leaders Who Changed the World" (part two)
beginning Thursday, February 18th in Wellness Centre
classrooms, MacEwan Hall.

We are using the Skylight Press book (second edition)
edited by Ira Rifkin by the same title, and will be
studying several leaders per week, selected from
dozens by those who participate in the study.

Joseph Campbell, Thomas Berry and Huston Smith
are our first subjects.

Thanks to colleagues Paul, Kelly, Sam and Darcie,
and others, for the support provided again this term.

___


Colleague Comment:

(more detail, below)

The following friends have been in touch with me this
week with information I am now passing on to you:

Derek Evans - will be awarded a Doctor of Divinity
degree by Vancouver School of Theology this spring.
Congratultions to you, Derek. You deserve it!

Ken Kuhl - provides an article from the UK as members
of the Church of England debate endorsement or not
for Canadian and American Anglican dissidents.

An Old Friend - who wishes anonymity got some laughs
from my Thomas Aquinas article last week, and forwarded
several articles to clarify the piece I shared concerning
Benedict XVI's advise to the people of England and Wales
re human rights. Thanks, friend.

Corrine Tessier - works out of the Centre run by the
Sisters Faithful Companions of Jesus here in Calgary.
Colleague Mary Robertson suggested that Corrine share
information on an upcoming program with you.

Jock McTavish - discovered a prayer by Thomas Merton
this week and he would like you to enjoy it too.
___


Colleague Contributions:

Doug Koop - longtime friend and colleague - editor of
Christian Week which is quoted often here - shares an
editorial stemming from the infamous remark about Haiti
made by US evangelist Pat Robertson.

Lorna Dueck - wrote this week in the Globe and Mail
about what is journalistically described as "Olympic
Trafficking" and we provide it here for you.

___


Net Notes:

"School Sacks Science Teacher" - a story from Southern
Ohio about evolution in the classroom (Guardian, UK)

"Synod: Bible Not Modern Textbook" - from the other side
of the pond, a resolution re the compatibility of religion
and science (Guardian, UK)

"Catholic Colleges and Tests of Faith" - if Catholic
parents send their children to Catholic colleges in
order to confirm their Catholic values, they may be
in for a surprize says this article from the Wall
Street Journal.

"The Ten Most Redeeming Films of 2009" - some weeks
back we shared a list provided by Spirituality and
Practice. This time, as Oscar Night approaches, we
provide another list (Christianity Today)

"Anglicanism in Canada Could Disappear" - many
Anglican churches on Vancouver Island, BC seem
destined for closure (Globe and Mail)
"Why Pope John Paul II Whipped Himself" - suffering
brought John Paul closer to Christ, says a recent
book about him. Whipping may not be necessary for
you, says this article, but self-denial is a vital
means of Christian growth (Christianity Today)

"South Africa Honours Mandela's Release" - twenty
years ago on February 12th, 1991 Nelson Mandela
was released from prison. South Africans still
remember and idolize their 91 year old hero
(Guardian, UK)

"Irish Victims Ask $1 Billion from Church" -
Victims are approaching the pope for a settlement
after hearing him express 'outrage' 'shame' and
'profound regret' at abuses by priests.
(Religious News Service)

"ELCA Delegation Meets Orthodox & Catholics" -
the same group of Lutherans that visited the
Archbishop of Canterbury last week paid visits
to the Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul and the
Pope in Rome this week (ELCA News)

"Local Churches Offer Welcome Mat for Olympics" -
many congregations are involved in a variety of
services for people involved in the Vancouver
Winter Olympic Games (Anglican Journal)

"UK Hindu Man Granted Open-Air Cremation Pyre" -
some years ago we reported his request was denied
by the English courts. Now, there is a victory.
(Guardian, UK)

___


Global Faith Potpourri:

Around the World With ENI

___


Quotes of the Week:

James Baldwin, Alice Walker, Laura LeNoir
Ruth Bell Graham and C.S. Lewis offer wisdom.

___


Read up on these anniversaries
occurring February 10th through February 12th:

The USSR exchanges Gary Powers for Rudolph Abel, and
Boris Pasternak was born.

Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin met at Yalta to shape
post-WWII Europe. Thomas Edison was born.

The first US POWs were freed after the Vietnam conflict
and Charles Darwin was born.
___


Closing:

The words and sentiments may be dated
but their meaning remains the same -
A Prayer of John Wesley

___


A happy Family Day Weekend to those who
celebrate it officiall or non-officially!

And may you experience a meaningful season
of Lent this year

Wayne

*****

SPECIAL ST. DAVID'S LINKS

Contact us at: asdm@sduc.ca (or) admin@sduc.ca
St. David's Web Address - http://sduc.ca/

Listen to audio recordings of Sunday services -
http://sduc.ca/services.htm

___


ST DAVID'S ACTS WEB PAGE
Created and maintained by Colleague Jock McTavish
http://stdavidscalgary.net/

__


THE FUTURE OF FAITH by Harvey Cox

Monday Night Study, January 18th - March 29th, 2010
An insightful description of where Christian faith
is moving in the twenty-first century.

Follow our class videos, power point presentations,
other notes and study resources. Bookmark this link:
http://www.1journey.net/stdavids/SD/BookStudy/24/24.htm

___


STUDY ARCHIVES

A collection of twenty-five+ studies conducted since 2000 can
quickly be found at: http://bookstudies.stdavidscalgary.net/

This collection of study resources represents a decade of
Monday Night Studies at St. David's, plus extra courses too!

You are welcome to use our course outlines, class notes and
resource pages in your personal and group reflections.

********************************************************


SPECIAL ITEMS

Book Notice:

THIEVES IN THE TEMPLE
The Christian Church and the
Selling of the American Soul,
by G. Jeffrey MacDonald.
Basic Books, New York. March, 2010.
$32.95 CAD. 211 pages.
ISBN # 978-0-465-00932-9

Publisher's Promo:

The proliferation of megachurches across the United
States and the emergence of the "Religious Right"
as a powerful political constituency have heralded
the arrival of a new golden age for Christianity in
America.

But this contemporary church arrives at a great cost.

The search for new members, influence and revenue is
persistent, and the methods of aquisition often have
little to do with the principles of faith.

Entertainment and convenience have supplanted religious
edification as primary attractions. Churches become
companies and congregations become consumers.

G. Jeffrey MacDonald's "Thieves in the Temple: The
Christian Church and the Selling of the American Soul"
provides an incisive critique of this grand bargain,
bemoaning the rise of the corporate church and also
expressing the need for a new religious reformation.
"Thieves in the Temple" points out very real social
consequences of Christian America's shift from disciple
to consumer. Rates of religious conversion have sky-
rocketed, and the corporatized church, MacDonald argues,
has helped foster perverse Christian theologies that
inform - often with devastating effect - how we now
approach everything from crime to foreign relations
and public discourse.

Without a recognition of the church's wayward course,
he argues, we will not only lose its potential for
social good but also see it hijacked for lesser or
even sinister ends.

MacDonald is a journalist and ordained minister of
the United Church of Christ, a graduate of Yale
Divinity School and resident of Newburyport, MA.

__


Author's Words:

What has become of the Christian Church? Once devoted
to molding Americans into better people, in recent
years it has gotten a corporate makeover. In a very
desparate attempt to bolter their membership rolls,
ministers have begun to treat their churches more
like companies, and their congregations more like
consumers.

As a minister of a small church, I witnessed firsthand
this lapse into consumerism. In an attempt to cast a
wide net for souls, many churches have sacrificed their
authority to transform Americans' self-serving impulses
for the better. In the headlong rush to operate more
like businesses, churches are sacrificing their moral
authority, perhaps permanently.

The result is a crisis for the American conscience...
In the new religious marketplace, does the church
offer Americans a way to the highest things or yet
another space in which to be self indulgent? For me,
no issue is more important than this one.

I cherish the idea of the church community as a
distinct people, called by the Holy Spirit to follow
Jesus, to live counterculturally, to bear witness,
to make sacrifices, and to change the world for the
better as agents of God's love. I can't stand to see
the church reduced to being an instrument that
strokes worshippers' ego and reinforces destructive
habits of the heart.

We need a wisdom that's not learned by simply
observing nature, where strong species simply devour
weak ones... America needs the church to be the
elevating influence that God intended it to be.
Our job, however tough, is to make that happen,
even in the age of the new religious marketplace.

___


My Comment:

As we read of church closings taking place among the
old Canadian mainline (see item "Anglicanism in Canada
Could Disappear" in the Net Notes section of this week's
CL) I am reminded of a comment I heard a friend use
to describe his move from my own United Church of
Canada congregation to a local 'big box' church -
"We left because we wanted to hear good preaching."

(What I also picked up was a sincere yearning for a simple,
uncomplex Gospel shorn of such things as seeing the good in
other faith traditions or disturbing issues like actually
being hospitable and non-threatening to gay people.)

While I am all for good church preaching and teaching,
(I have spent almost fifty years engaged with it)
experience tells me that life is actually not as simple
and unfettered as we would like. Who does not want to hear
'good preaching?' - that's a motherhood statement.

Frankly, I fear that the authentic Good News is missing
from many churches. No sector of the Canadian church has
a corner on the Gospel. Current challenges to the mainline
may actually be a blessing in disguise. They can focus us
on what is important, not on what is simple or popular.

___

Some years ago, my wife and I attented a local Calgary
"megachurch" to experience what people are offered there.

The pastor (backed by the latest in music and technology)
quoted with sincerity a few passages from Paul's book of
Romans and devastatingly declared that it should be quite
obvious to any Bible-believer that gays were unwelcome and
could not be saved.

(He did allow that some people may have an orientation
for which they needed to repent and from which they needed
to be healed.)

It was all I could do to keep Marlene in her pew beside me!
A woman who usually prefers to take a back seat was all but
ready to make a scene and stomp out of the church in disgust!
"How can someone consider himself a Christian," she said,
"... and come out with such terrible things?" "Why should
people believe the words of a Bible like that?

It did not help when I tried to calm her down (she is
still upset about it some years later) by saying that
we have to tolerate what he honestly believes even if
we find it totally unacceptable ourselves.

___

Why do I give this extensive story and commentary?
Because I believe that the 'popular' modern megachurch
phenomenon will suffer an even greater bust, in time,
than mainline Protestantism. Megachurch faith is, to a
great extent, superficial and sometimes dangerous.

Even though I have Christian friends who will disagree,
I fear it is a house largely built upon the sand. It
is currently quite popular (there is a rather distinct
"Canadian" kind of megachurch more reflective of our
own cultural values) but I suspect it too will disintegrate
sooner rather than later.

That said, let no one think that I am an uncritical fan
of the formerly significant mainline church that the
"big box" superstore church seems to be replacing.
I do not excuse sidelined Protestantism for its dependence
on culture and tradition long after the writing was on the wall.
I am no fan of entrenched hierarchies and rote belief-systems.

The "emerging church" movement which I learn from is one
that is attempting to move beyond both mainline and
evangelical Protestantism toward a truly renewed faith.

We need to go even further. Many Catholic and other
Christians share with many Protestants a desire for
post-denominational Christianity - i.e. diverse and
inclusive communities of "The Way" as we have come
to learn existed during the time of the early church.

I think G. Jeffrey MacDonald shares good insights
in "Thieves." His ideas take us beyond both American
and Protestant Christianity to envision the kinds of
renewal to which many aspire for future generations.
I hope to spend more time with this book over the
next months - applying ideas found here to the
spiritual world with which I am most familiar.

When "Thieves" appears in bookstores this spring, I
hope at least some of you will also consider it.

___


Reserve a copy from Amazon.ca:
http://tinyurl.com/yj5ebzl


*****

CHAPLAINS' LENTEN BOOK STUDY -
SPIRITUAL LEADERS WHO CHANGED THE WORLD (Part Two)

http://www.ucalgary.ca/events/node/3042


*****


COLLEAGUE COMMENT

DEREK EVANS

Doctor of Divinity to be Awarded
at Vancouver School of Theology
May 10th, 2010

VST News: http://tinyurl.com/yfjszl3

*****

KEN KUHL

CHURCH OF ENGLAND KEEPS DISTANCE
FROM BREAKAWAY US ANGLICANS

The Guardian
February 10th, 2010

Slender lifeline offered to dissidents who split
from US church after it elected gay bishop
by Stephen Bates

The Church of England today offered the slenderest of
lifelines to the dissident US conservative Episcopalians
who split from their church after it elected a gay bishop.

The general synod - the church's parliament, meeting in
London - passed a motion recognising the breakaway group's
desire to remain Anglicans but declined to promise to ally
with them in their ongoing wrangles with the mainstream US
church.

Read the article, click: http://tinyurl.com/ygnnxh9


*****


AN OLD FRIEND

Re: Thomas Aquinas (February 6th, 2010)

Thanks for the chuckle with your comments on "minutiae."
As we both know well, lo these past 45 years or more now,
"the devil's in the details," but where the devil lurks,
there must also be the Good! And only one is Good...

So, under the heading of "minutiae," here goes...
Your sentence - at first reading at least - stopped me
cold:

"There is no question that Thomas had a major influence
on the approach to abortion and birth control, for
example, officially advocated by modern Catholics."

Only when I mentally rewrote it thus did I stop chuckling:
"For example, there is no question that Thomas had a major
influence on the approach officially advocated by modern
Catholics to abortion and birth control..."

___


Wayne says:

My friend also suggested I read the following reports
from Rome to "clarify" an article shared on Colleagues
List last week which implied the pope was telling the
government of England and Wales how to legislate human
rights...

Zenit News, Rome
February 1st, 2010

Pope's Words to Bishops of England & Wales
Fidelity to the Gospel in No Way Restricts
the Freedom of Others

VATICAN CITY Here is the English-language address
Benedict XVI delivered today upon receiving in audience
the RC bishops of England and Wales at the conclusion of
their five-yearly "ad limina" visit...

Read the rest of the article, click:
http://www.zenit.org/article-28218?l=english

___


Zenit News, Rome
February 7th, 2010

Pope's Equality Position Misunderstood, Says Aide
Father Lombardi Analyzes Comments on UK Legislation

VATICAN CITY - Benedict XVI has been under fire this past week
for supposedly condemning equality legislation in the United Kingdom
that seeks to protect gays and women in the workplace.

His comments, however, were misunderstood, says a Vatican
spokesman.

Read this article, click:
http://www.zenit.org/rssenglish-28288


*****

CORINNE TESSIER

Announcing a Workshop at Calgary's FCJ Centre

"The Holiness of Masculine and Feminine"
Wed. March 3rd &10th, 2010

I am offering two 3 hour evening workshops on March 3
and 10th that may be of interest to you.

The workshop is based in Christianity and offers biblical
exploration and reflection related to masculine and feminine
aspects of God and the implications for our faith and our
lives.

I am happy to answer any of your questions. You can call or
email me. My contact information is:

Corinne Tessier, CMA MBA FCMA, President
Affirming Workplace Solutions Inc.
Suite 701-836 15 Avenue SW
Calgary, AB T2R 1S2 403-860-0574
ctessier@affirmingworkplace.ca
http://www.affirmingworkplace.ca/


*****


JOCK MCTAVISH

Reflection:

When I am liberated by silence,
When I am no longer involved
in the measurement of life,
but in the living of it,

I can discover a form of prayer in which
there is effectively no distraction.

My whole life becomes a prayer.
My whole silence is full of prayer.
The world of silence in which I am
immersed contributes to my prayer.

Thomas Merton
*****

COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

DOUG KOOP

SPEAK OF THE DEVIL

Christianweek.org
February 9th, 2010

Pat Robertson's "pact with the devil" comments
may have been ill-informed and poorly timed, but
the underlying question of spiritual reasons for
"natural disasters" persists.


Read the article, click: http://tinyurl.com/yzr52nd


*****

LORNA DUECK

OLYMPIC TRAFFICKING

Globe and Mail
February 13th, 2010

"Sex for Sale is Hardly Sporting"

Read the article, click: http://tinyurl.com/yghg3me


*****

NET NOTES

SCHOOL SACKS SCIENCE TEACHER

The Guardian
February 9th, 2010

http://tinyurl.com/y8w5juq


*****

SYNOD SAYS BIBLE NOT MODERN TEXTBOOK

The Guardian
February 12th, 2010

Anglican council backs motion that religion and
science are compatible after debate among members.
Read the article: http://tinyurl.com/y86rmg9


*****

CATHOLIC COLLEGES AND TESTS OF FAITH

Wall Street Journal
February 12th, 2010
by David Gibson

A study's findings dismay conservatives.
http://tinyurl.com/yhd4goe


*****

THE TEN MOST REDEEMING FILMS OF 2009

Christianity Today
February 10th, 2010

http://tinyurl.com/ykjvcsa


*****

ANGLICANISM IN CANADA COULD DISAPPEAR

Globe and Mail
February 10th, 2010

Report Recommends Church Closings

http://tinyurl.com/yhbsfop


*****

WHY POPE JOHN PAUL II WHIPPED HIMSELF

Christianity Today
February 8th, 2010

http://tinyurl.com/ydnpwha

*****

SOUTH AFRICA HONOURS MANDELA'S RELEASE

The Guardian (UK)
February 11th, 2010

Read the article, click:
http://tinyurl.com/ydrkus2

*****

IRISH SEX ABUSE VICTIMS ASK CHURCH FOR $1 BILLION

Religion News Service
February 11th, 2010
by Francis X. Rocca
VATICAN CITY -- Irish victims of clerical sex abuse
have asked Pope Benedict XVI for over $1.37 billion
in compensation, in a letter that the head of Ireland's
Catholic Church will hand-deliver to the pope next week.

The letter also requests a meeting with Benedict during
his forthcoming visit to Britain, expected to take place
in September.

Cardinal Sean Brady received the letter from the
representatives of sex abuse victims on Monday (Feb. 8),
according to a report in the Irish Independent.

Bishop John McAreavey of Dromore said the pope will receive
the letter when he meets with Irish bishops next Monday and
Tuesday, reportedly to discuss last November's Murphy
Commission report. That report traced a pattern of clerical
physical and sexual abuse over three decades, from 1975-2004,
which had been covered up by the Archdiocese of Dublin.

In December, Benedict expressed 'outrage,' 'shame,' and
'profound regret' over the report's revelations, and the
Vatican announced he would write a letter to Irish Catholics
'in which he will clearly indicate the initiatives that are
to be taken in response to the situation.' The pope's letter
is widely expected to be published shortly after next week's
meeting.


*****

ELCA DELEGATION MEETS WITH ORTHODOX AND CATHOLICS

ELCA News
February 10th, 2010

Lutherans meet with Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate

ISTANBUL, Turkey (ELCA) -- A delegation of clergy and
lay leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) stressed "the long view" in ecumenical
dialogue, a topic of discussion with leaders of the
Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate here Feb. 9. The
Lutherans and Orthodox discussed the status of some
of the 28 international Orthodox theological
dialogues, dialogue difficulties and the overall
desire for Christian unity.

More http://www.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?a=4444

___

ELCA News
February 11, 2010

ELCA Delegation, Pope Benedict XVI Meet,
Exchange Greetings

VATICAN CITY (ELCA) -- Continuing dialogue between
Lutherans and Catholics was a common theme expressed
in an exchange of messages here between a delegation
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
and Pope Benedict XVI. Speaking for the Lutherans,
the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop and
president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF),
called such dialogues "a sign of hope and commitment,"
while the pope emphasized hope for the continuing
Lutheran-Catholic dialogue.

More: http://www.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?a=4446


*****

LOCAL CHURCHES ROLL OUT WELCOME MAT FOR OLYMPICS

ACC News
February 10th, 2010

http://tinyurl.com/yfhsvvu


*****

UK HINDU MAN WINS RIGHT TO OPEN AIR FUNERAL PYRE

The Guardian
February 10th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/yl7hlnv

*****

GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI

Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
8 February 2010

Church leaders hail Northern Ireland political agreement

Dublin (ENI). Church leaders in Ireland have welcomed an
agreement concluded between the two largest political
parties in Northern Ireland, which will see the completion
of a process of devolving power from the British government.
The Roman Catholic Primate of All Ireland Cardinal Sean Brady
hailed news of the agreement reached on 5 February, saying,
"My prayer is that everyone in our society will reflect on
what has been agreed today with a spirit of generosity and
concern for the good of the whole community." Brady also
expressed his hopes for a resolution of issues concerning
sectarian parades, which have in past led to violent
confrontations.

_____


Hong Kong Methodists may give up schools
if new policy imposed

Hong Kong (ENI). The Hong Kong Methodist Church has warned
it may abandon its schools if the government insists on new
management committees that churches warn will prevent them
from providing Christian education. The Methodist Church
announced its decision after a 4 February ruling by Hong
Kong's Appeal Court against the territory's Roman Catholic
diocese, which lost a second legal challenge against new
laws requiring the appointment of representatives from
outside onto school management committees. "The church
prefers to give up the schools rather than forming the
new incorporated management committees," the president
of the Hong Kong Methodist Church, the Rev. Lo Lung-kwong,
told Ecumenical News International.
_____


English-born Jerusalem Anglican leader laid to rest

Jerusalem (ENI). An Anglican church leader and ecumenical
activist, the Rev. Michael H. Sellors, has been buried at
Jerusalem's Mount Zion Protestant Cemetery. Sellors died of
heart failure on 27 January, and he was laid to rest on 2
February. He was 73, and had been in poor health for a few
weeks preceding his death. In Jerusalem, where he had been
dean of the Cathedral of St George from 1997 to 2002,
"Father Michael", as he was known, was a familiar face
among the city's ecumenical community, as well as to Jewish
and Muslim religious leaders. [465 words, ENI-10-0087]

_____


Born in the rubble of Haiti 12 days after the quake

Port-au-Prince (ENI). Marie Sylsalve cradled her 10-day-old
son, McAnley, and reflected on the past weeks that have taken
an almost incomprehensible toll on her family and nation. She
last saw her husband, Andre, in the moments immediately
following the 12 January earthquake that struck Haiti, hitting
its capital especially hard. The family's home was destroyed
and Sylsalve saw a wall fall on Andre. She presumes he is dead.
Twelve days later she gave birth in the ruins. The birth of
McAnley cheered her somewhat, but Sylsalve, who worked as a
vendor and now lives at a displacement site in the Belair
neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince, is faced with supporting
her infant son and three other children.


*****

9 February 2010

World church leader hails G7 debt relief for Haiti,
asks IMF to copy

Geneva (ENI). The general secretary of the World Council of
Churches, the Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, has written to the finance
ministers of the Group of Seven leading industrialised nations
to thank them for pledging to write off Haiti's outstanding debts
to G7 countries. At the same time, Tveit, a Norwegian Lutheran,
warned that the approval by the International Monetary Fund of
more loans to Haiti after its devastating earthquake on 12
January would cause extra problems for the stricken country.
"The decision of the IMF approving more loans to Haiti after
the earthquake will only add to Haiti’s burden, nearly doubling
the country's debt to that institution, as there is no clear
willingness or definitive moves yet to cancel the country's
current debt," Tveit wrote. On 22 January, the general secretary
of the Geneva-based Lutheran World Federation, the Rev. Ishmael
Noko, had said, "I call for an immediate and complete moratorium
on Haiti's debt service obligations and cancellation of the
remaining debt."

____


Indian Christians hope European visit will
highlight their plight

Bangalore, India (ENI). Church officials have expressed hopes
that a visit to India by a European Union delegation, which
led to protests by some Hindu groups, will draw attention to
the plight of harassed Christians in the Kandhamal region of
the country's eastern Orissa state. The 11-member delegation,
with serving ambassadors among its members, was led by EU
political affairs secretary Christophe Manet. On 3 February,
angry protestors, said to be Hindu extremists, greeted the
delegation with shouts of "go back", as it landed at
Bhubaneswar airport in the capital of Orissa state. Christians
said the protestors were backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party,
which has a reputation for being a Hindu nationalist group.
_____


Australian bishop searches India for priests
to work in outback

Melbourne, Australia (ENI). An Australian bishop has gone to
India to find priests to work in an area of Australia that
ranges from tropical islands to the wilderness of the Australian
outback. Bishop Brian Heenan of the Roman Catholic diocese of
Rockhampton in the state of Queensland told the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation that Indian priests would help
overcome an extreme shortage of home-grown clergy. "These
priests can come, please God, for maybe two years or three
years and then, if all is going well, they will probably go
back to India, and others will come and take their place,"
Heenan said. The bishop said he would also be happy to hear
from priests elsewhere in the world who were interested in
working in his diocese.

_____


US Baptist leaders urge Obama to help Haiti missionaries

Washington, DC (ENI/RNS). Southern Baptist leaders have
appealed to U.S. President Obama to assist in the release
of 10 American missionaries charged with kidnapping children
in Haiti. "We do not know all of the facts of this case, but
we are concerned that the continued detainment and possible
conviction of these Baptist mission volunteers will distract
the world's attention and undermine the relief efforts so
desperately needed by the Haitian people," wrote the leaders
in a 5 February letter to Obama. The missionaries, five men
and five women, are said to belong to an Idaho-based church.
They were arrested in January and charged in February with
trying to take 33 children across the border to the Dominican
Republic 17 days after the earthquake that killed more than
200,000 people in Haiti.


*****

10 February 2010

Christians urged to pray for Olympic snow
over Vancouver area

Toronto (ENI). With the opening ceremony of the 2010
Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, set for 12
February, many people are focused on praying for the
athletes, for the community hosting the event, and,
just as passionately, for snow. The British Columbia
cities of Vancouver and Whistler are hosting the winter
games but the Vancouver area has been hit recently by
unseasonably warm temperatures. Hundreds of workers
have spent days and nights trucking and airlifting
extra snow to outdoor venues.

_____


Haiti's humanitarian workers stress need for patience -
Feature

Port-au-Prince (ENI). A woman fastens poles together
with strips of cloth to make rafters for the temporary
home she is building in a camp for earthquake survivors
in Croix-des-Bouguets, north of the Haitian capital of
Port-au-Prince.Quake survivors continue to move around
from place to place as aftershocks happen. Reports of
aid deliveries to one camp will provoke families from
other camps to migrate there. Still, life is messy in
Haiti. Humanitarian practice, even during relatively
small emergencies, is hard and imperfect work, and this
is a fact that donors and even non-emergency staff from
humanitarian groups often do not fully understand.
_____


German snow church is Japanese festival's tallest
structure - Feature

Tokyo (ENI). One of the outstanding sculptures of the
week-long Sapporo Snow Festival in the far north of
Japan is of the Frauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady,
dedicated to Mary the mother of Jesus, in Dresden,
Germany. For seven days each February, snow and ice
statues and sculptures of all shapes and sizes turn
the city of Sapporo on Hokkaido, the northernmost of
Japan's four main islands, into a venue for winter
images representing different themes. The Frauenkirche,
in the eastern German city of Dresden near the border
with the Czech Republic, presents itself at the festival,
"as a symbol of a reunited Germany". The church is
considered unusual because, though it is Protestant,
it bears the title of "Our Lady", which Roman Catholic
churches more commonly use. [
_____


Scottish police upset with monks' high-powered wine

London (ENI/RNS). A small band of Benedictine monks
in the south of England has come under fire for
producing a fortified wine that critics describe as
the "scourge of Scotland" for its high alcohol content.
The tipple, officially known as "Buckfast tonic wine"
but nicknamed "commotion motion" or "wreck the hoose
juice" by devotees in Britain's far north, is turned
out at Buckfast Abbey, a monastery in the Devonshire
hills of southwest England, Religion News Service
reports. But "Buckie" has become a national favourite
brew in Scotland - doubtless in part because it contains
about 15 percent alcohol by volume. In other words,
it packs a punch, as the police report.


*****

11 February 2010

Christian leaders around world distressed
at Philippines arrests

Manila/Geneva (ENI). Christian leaders around the world
have condemned the arrest in the Philippines of a church
official and other health workers in the southeast Asian
country, and say they are worried about reports of torture
being inflicted on those held.

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches,
the Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, joined other church leaders in
expressing his concerns in an 11 February letter addressed
to Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and members
of her cabinet. Tveit called for the immediate release of
those detained.
_____


Uganda's Anglican church wants changes to
anti-homosexuality law

Nairobi (ENI). The Anglican Church of Uganda says it wants
to see changes to a proposed law which would jail homosexuals
and even execute them in some cases, which many international
church and secular leaders have condemned. Still, the church
has said there is still a need for a law that would clearly
address gay issues in the east African country, and that
Ugandan Anglicans remain strongly opposed to the acceptance
and promotion of homosexuality. "The Church of Uganda
associates itself with the concerns expressed in the Anti
Homosexuality Bill 2009," Archbishop Henry Orombi said in
a 9 February statement. [486 words, ENI-10-0100]

*****

12 February 2010

South Africa's Zuma asked: Why no mention of churches
in apartheid fight?

Cape Town (ENI). In a parliamentary speech before
Nelson Mandela, one of the major driving forces
behind the end of apartheid, Jacob Zuma, the current
South African president, promised his people more job
opportunities and a continued fight against crime,
but in thanking those who had fought for freedom, he
ignored the country's churches. Zuma was speaking on
the 20th anniversary on 11 February of the release of
Mandela, an event that would catapult the collapse of
apartheid and the introduction of universal suffrage
in Africa's southernmost nation, which is also the
continent's most prosperous.

_____


Dutch church probe decides 'atheist' pastor
won't face discipline

Utrecht, Netherlands (ENI). A self-proclaimed atheist
can continue to serve as a local pastor of the Protestant
Church in the Netherlands, and no longer faces disciplinary
action because of his controversial position on how to
describe God. A special assembly of Zierikzee, a regional
church body tasked with investigating the theological
statements of Pastor Klaas Hendrikse, has said its work
is, "completed". The 3 February decision to allow
Hendrikse to continue working as a pastor followed the
advice of a regional supervisory panel that the statements
by Hendrikse, "are not of sufficient weight to damage the
foundations of the church".

_____


Sex abuse charges 'shocking and disastrous'
says German bishop

Trier, Germany (ENI). A German bishop has described as,
"shocking and disastrous" recent new allegations of sexual
abuse by clergy at an elite Roman Catholic school run by
the church's Jesuit order. The order has asked anyone
abused in Jesuit schools across Germany to come forward.
So far, three priests are accused of systematic sexual
abuse. The Catholic Church hierarchy has been quick to
condemn the abuse, and promised to take action. At the
centre of the allegations is Canisius College in Berlin.
On 28 January, the college said there had been systematic
abuse of pupils by three Jesuit priests in the 1970s and
1980s. So far, 40 cases are known, with new victims coming
forward each day, after the Jesuit leadership urged them
to do so.


*****

QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Sojourners
February 9th, 2010

Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live
without and know we cannot live within. I use the word
"love" here not merely in the personal sense but as a
state of being, or a state of grace -- not in the
infantile ... sense of being made happy but in the
tough and universal sense of quest and daring and
growth.

- James Baldwin, from book "The Fire Next Time"

___


February 10th, 2010

Tell the truth, have you ever found God in church?
I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping
for [God] to show. Any God I ever felt in church I
brought in with me. And I think all the other folks
did too. They come to church to share God, not
find God.

- Alice Walker, from her book The Color Purple

___


"I feel better, I feel lighter, I got my privacy
back. People say, 'You'll be back.' But I read more,
walk the dogs more. I'll be fine."

- Laura LeNoir, Birmingham, Ala., explaining why she
  ended her Facebook account. (USA Today)

___


"A happy marriage is the union of two forgivers."

- Ruth Bell Graham, poet, philanthropist, and
   deceased wife of evangelist Billy Graham

___


February 12th, 2010

We are all receiving Charity. There is something
in each of us that cannot be naturally loved. It
is no one's fault if they do not so love it ...

You might as well ask people to like the taste
of rotten bread or the sound of a mechanical drill.
We can be forgiven, and pitied, and loved in spite
of it, with Charity; no other way. All who have
good parents, wives, husbands, or children, may
be sure that at some times -- and perhaps at all
times in respect of some one particular trait or
habit -- they are receiving Charity, are loved
not because they are lovable but because Love
Himself [Christ] is in those who love them.

- C.S. Lewis, from his book, "The Four Loves"


*****

ON THIS DAY

On Feb. 10, 1962, USSR exchanges U-2 pilot Francis
Gary Powers for Rudolph Abel, a Soviet spy.
Feb. 10, 1890, Boris Pasternak, the Russian Nobel
Prize-winning novelist and poet, was born.

http://tinyurl.com/ygfyh6y

_____


Feb. 11, 1945, Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin signed the
Yalta Agreement during World War II.

Feb. 11, 1847, Thomas Edison, inventor, was born.

http://tinyurl.com/yh6xqlz

_____


Feb. 12, 1973, the first release of American prisoners of
war from the Vietnam conflict took place.

Feb. 12th, 1809, Charles Darwin, scientist, was born

http://tinyurl.com/yjzstn3


*****

CLOSING PRAYER

I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will. Put me to doing, put me to
suffering. Let me be employed for you or laid aside for
you, exalted for you or brought low for you. Let me be
full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me
have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to
your pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God, you are mine, and I
am yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on
earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.

- Adapted from John Wesley's Covenant Prayer

(end)