Friday, March 30, 2012

Colleagues List, March 31st, 2012

Vol. VII. No. 33

*****

Wayne A. Holst, Editor

*****

HOLY WEEK ISSUE, 2012

Colleagues List Blog:
http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com/

Canadian Anglican Google Groups:
http://tinyurl.com/7o899yg

My E-Mail Address:
waholst@telusplanet.net

New "Quicklinks" are now included 
with many items. Otherwise, scroll
down to find your selection in the 
body of the blog, as in the past.

*****

Dear friends:

A blessed Holy Week to you all!

This week, I introduce a book by
a popular writer whose work
continues to reflect high quality.
Lauren Winner writes:

"Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis"

It is in many ways a continuation of
her faith journey recorded over more
than a decade and several previous
volumes. 

http://tinyurl.com/833ynv5

___

Colleague Contributions:

Michael Stogre (Espanola, ON)  -
Michael is a Jesuit priest and
medical doctor who works among
the Oji-Cree of Northern Ontario.

Lance Woodruff (Bangkok, Thailand)
Lance is a writer and communicator
who has lived many years in Asia
and interprets current democratic 
developments in Thailand for us.

http://tinyurl.com/79rash8

Brian Rude (San Salvador, El Salvador)
Brian is a Lutheran missionary pastor
who writes with many years of experience
living and working in Central America.

Jim Taylor (Okanagan, BC) 
Jim is a regular contributor to
Colleagues List. We welcome him.

http://tinyurl.com/72ogn8q
http://tinyurl.com/3m3alz8
___

Net Notes:

"The Righteous Mind" - here is a book
about a psychology frequently noted
in religious groups, but not limited 
to them (New York Times)

http://tinyurl.com/89cbzoo

"'Hunger Games' a Winner" - the popular
movie has been well attended during its
first week in cinemas around the world. 
(Wall Street Journal)

http://tinyurl.com/7gmq7sx

"Toronto Thanks John Stott" - the famous
evangelical pastor and scholar who died
some months ago was honored in Canada
(Anglican Journal)

http://tinyurl.com/877geg6

"One Psalm, Two Causes and Meanings" -
different people take different direction
from a common biblical text
(Religious News Service)

http://tinyurl.com/7xayku6

"Why Lapsed Catholics Left the Church"
- a New Jersey Catholic diocese did an
extensive survey of those no longer
attending mass (Religious News Service)

http://tinyurl.com/ccf8m32

"Christians Questioned the War of 1812"
- the witness of historic peace churches
in Canada (Anabaptists and others) is
noted during the anniversary of a famous
war in North America (Christianweek.org)

http://tinyurl.com/8x7jcee

"Lutheran Pastor Gets Jail Term in Vietnam"
- Vietnam is still a difficult place for
Christians to work (Uca News)

http://tinyurl.com/7hpachz

"Pope Prays for Freedom and Renewal in Cuba"
- here are several articles reflecting on
the pope's visit to Cuba this past week
(Associated Press, The Guardian UK, BBC)

http://tinyurl.com/85u8m
http://tinyurl.com/7asvc99
http://tinyurl.com/6wn9vgl
http://tinyurl.com/7682hbn

"Dalai Lama Awarded the 2012 Templeton Prize"
- the famous Tibetan monk and global emissary
for peace is awarded a prestigious honor
(ENI, Anglican Journal) 

http://tinyurl.com/7kcwndv 

"Mandela Digital Archives - A Virtual Treasure 
Trove" - big news this week for historians
and others was announced from South Africa
(The Guardian, UK)

http://tinyurl.com/73bdd5m
___

Global Faith Potpourri:

Thirteen faith stories appear this week courtesy
of Ecumenical News International, Geneva.
___

Wisdom of the Week:

Francis de Sales, Marilynne Robinson,
Richard Rohr and Eboo Patel share their
insights with us.
___

On This Day:

The New York Times reports on stories as they
were unfolding:

MLK Jr. led 25,000 marchers to Montgomery, AL 
protesting denial of black voting rights (1965)

http://tinyurl.com/7y6fcxy

Khrushchev becomes Soviet premier and first 
secretary of the Communist Party (1956)

http://tinyurl.com/782klb5

America's worst commercial nuclear accident 
occurs inside reactor at Three Mile Island 
(1979)

http://tinyurl.com/76keky6
___

Closing Thought: 

Meister Eckhart writes of the way that
all of life is inter-related.

May these days provide spiritual strength
and refreshment to all of you!

Wayne

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

St. David's and ACTS Ministry Announce:

OUR SPIRITUAL TRAVELERS TOUR FOR 2013
TURKEY AND THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH

April 22nd - May 8th, 2013

Tour sale begins with deposit starting June, 2012
Full payment due, January, 2013

More details such as costs to be made available 
in the Sunday worship guide and the St. David's 
Spiritual Travelers Discussion List Group as they
become available.

To join the list discussion contact:
Deb. Charnusaki - debcharnuski@hotmail.com

Your tour hosts: 

Marlene and Wayne Holst
waholst@telusplanet.net (or) 
marleneaholst@gmail.com
403-286-7416

*****

MARY JO LEDDY WEEKEND AT ST.DAVID'S
September 21st-23rd, 2012

Watch for new information as it 
becomes available.

*****

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/St_Davids_United_Church/Audio.html

*****

STUDY ARCHIVES

An accumulation of thirty-five books studied
since 2000 can quickly be found at:
http://tinyurl.com/6oxmyj4

This collection of study resources represents 
more than 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 ITEM

Book Notice:

STILL: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis
by Lauren Winner
HarperCollins Canada, 2012
244 pages, $28.00 CAD
ISBN #978-0-06-176811-8

Publisher's Promo:

In the critically acclaimed memoir "Girl 
Meets God," Lauren F. Winner chronicled her 
sojourn from Judaism to Christianity. Now, 
in "Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis,"
Winner describes how experiences of loss and 
failure unexpectedly slam her into a wall of 
doubt and spiritual despair: “My belief has 
faltered, my sense of God’s closeness has 
grown strained, my efforts at living in 
accord with what I take to be the call of 
the gospel have come undone.”

Witty, relatable, and fiercely honest, 
Winner lays bare her experience of what 
she calls the "middle" of the spiritual 
life. In elegant and spare prose, she 
explores why — in the midst of the 
overwhelming anxiety, loneliness, and 
boredom of her deepest questioning about 
where (or if) God is — the Christian story 
still explains who she is better than any 
other story she’s ever known. Still is an 
absorbing meditation combining literary 
grace with spiritual wisdom. It is sure 
to resonate with anyone looking to sustain 
a spiritual life in the midst of real life.

---

Author's Words:

In an interview with Publishers Weekly late
last year, Winner said this: "I really will
feel that I've failed if (my new book) reads
like a book about me. I hope that I've
used the first-person narration to open up
complicated questions about the middle of
the spiritual journey. I hope people find
companionship; I hope the narrator of the
book, the "me" character, is passing on things
she's received in her life. I hope that people
find wisdom and insight that seems applicable
to where they are. We all have moments when
the ground shifts, and those moments are
worth paying attention to, both as an 
individual and in the spiritual community.

---

Referring back to her early twenties when
she first became a Christian and was swept
into the first flush of the Christian life,
Winner shares her current confusions over a
time now past through the words of a literary 
character named Buddy Crawford:

"I thought I was saved. That's what was
advertised. I would accept you (Jesus) as
my personal savior; and there you were. And 
you know, I felt it too. I felt saved and
everything... But I find out all the time
(now) that I've got to keep getting saved.
Am I saved? Am I not saved? What do I do
now?... are you talking to me? Are you not
talking to me? Am I good? Am I a sinner? 
Still a sinner?...

This is a book, (says Winner,) about what
happens when you come to your Buddy Crawford
moment, and then what happens after that.

I thought that (early road of faith) would
carry me forever. I didn't anticipate, some
years in, it would carry me to a blank wall.

The enthusiasms of my conversion have worn
off... my efforts at living in accord with
what I take to be the call of the gospel
have come undone...

This is a book about entering the middle,
about being in the middle of the spiritual
life.

I was carried to the middle of my spiritual
life by two particular events. My mother
died, and I got married, and the marriage
was an unhappy one... I found myself to be
a person thinking about divorce...

Faith, after all, is supposed to sustain
you through hard times - and I'm sure for
many people faith does just that. But it
wasn't so for me.

The events that brought me to the middle
of my spiritual life were dramatic, they
were interruptions, they were grief.

This book is not a manual for "getting
through" the middle - I don't think the
middle is something to be gotten through,
and I don't have instructions in any event.

Rather, this book is about the time when
the things you thought you knew about the
spiritual life turn out not to suffice for
the life you are actually living.

This book wants to know about that time,
and then about the new ways you find, the 
new glory road that might not be a glory
road after all but just an ordinary gravel
byway, studded with the occasional bluet,
the occasional mica chip.

(The book is divided into three sections -
hitting the wall, wrestling with a God who
isn't there, and then, a moment of feeling
God's presence in places you had not known
to look before.)

I am less certain now than I was ten
years ago, fifteen years ago; but I sense
this place is certain; it is sure.

Once upon a time I thought I had arrived.
Now I have arrived at a middle. If life is
long, I am still at the beginning of the
middle.

Ths book represents a few miles of the
climb. I share it in the hope that you
might find it good company for your own
climbing. 

---

My Thoughts:

Some years ago, I wrote a review of Lauren Winner's
book "Real Sex" in which she described her passage
from an earlier life she now believed lacked sexual
discretion to one honoring pre-marital chastity. She
had come to a simple but difficult truth - God had
created sex exclusively for marriage.

She had begun writing the book before her recent
marriage and completed it after the wedding and
admitted her marital experience was decidedly
limited.

I admired the writer's intensity and engagement
with her topic and was saddened to read, in her
new book "Still" that that marriage had ended in
divorce.

If you are interested, read my review (2005) 
which was written for National Catholic Reporter
and appears on the author's personal website:

http://tinyurl.com/72edhc9

Winner always writes honestly and articulately 
about her immediate set of circumstances - 
whenever that is happening.

With "Still" we are participating in the
spiritual development of a genuinely good and
intelligent person who is not afraid to call 
it as she sees it now, and who has had to 
change her mind about strongly held earlier 
views.

Life has a way of doing that. 

Winner has been through some tough times and is 
no longer "young and passionate." She is growing 
into middle age, but is still passionate. 

I would encourage Ms. Winner to "continue writing 
as she has been writing" for more than a decade.

http://tinyurl.com/87jaag4

---

So what is "Still" really all about?

I think it is a book about next steps in the
spiritual journey after one's first stage of
living the spiritual life is no longer possible.

Some give up at this point. Winner is no quitter.
Yet, she has come to realize that passion can
carry her only so far. Then a great depth of
spiritual maturity must begin to take over.

She is not one to ruminate endlessly on 
"the mistakes of her youth" but neither
is she denying or avoiding them. 

Experience seems to be teaching her that 
maturity is built on taking one's mistakes 
seriously and moving on with lessons learned.

---

When I was at the beginning of my career,
I recall hearing many criticisms about my  
impetuosity and immaturity.

I reflected long and hard about this, and
decided that I could only be as mature as
I was at that point. I would continue to
be immature yet assertive. I would try to
benefit from my mistakes and move ahead.

I see the same qualities in Lauren Winner.
I sense a soul mate here and am glad for 
the appearance of her latest book because 
it helps to clarify and refine my own life.

Hopefully I will be able to continue reading 
of her spiritual development in many more 
books and for many more years to come.

---

Buy the book from Amazon.ca:
http://tinyurl.com/833ynv5

*****

COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

MICHAEL STROGRE
Espanola, ON

The Espanola Monitor, 
Easter, 2012

"My Place of Resurrection"

The early Celtic Christians had a wonderful 
saying that reflects their Easter faith. 
Their goal and vocation in life was to "wander 
this earth seeking their place of resurrection." 
This evocative idea is reflected in the lives of 
some famous Irish saints including St. Patrick. 
Most Irish saints seemed to know when their hour 
of death was near. So when Patrick's time came 
he wanted to be buried in Armagh, his episcopal 
centre. His guardian spirit from the time of his 
teenage captivity pointed him in another 
direction and ordered him to “return to 
the place from which you came." 

Another holy man, Brendan the navigator, traveled 
far and wide around the British isles and into 
the western seas to bring the “Good News” where 
none had gone before. legend has it that he even 
reached the shores of the new world. Be that as 
it may, when his time came, he recieved communion 
and said “God is calling me to the eternal kingdom. 
My body must be taken to Clonfert, for angels will 
be in attendance... and there is my place of 
resurrection.

A third witness to this spirituality is a little 
known Irish woman known as Canair or Canerra. She 
lived a solitary life as a hermit near Bantry bay. 
But when her death day was approaching she had a 
vision. In it all of Ireland’s churches were lit 
up like towers of fire. One in particular stood 
out. It rose from Scattery island where Senan, 
another hermit lived. At first he was reluctant to 
receive her on this island refuge. She persisted 
and won him over such that he exclaimed “Yes, 
Canair, a place of resurrection will be given 
you here on the brink of the waves.”

So whether they were wandering evangelists or 
stationary hermits they all sought to be, and 
to end, where God had called them. Jesus was 
their example. He set his face for Jerusalem 
and death on a cross. But Jerusalem was also 
his place of resurrection. Jesus rose on this 
good earth, and so will we. The earth too and
all of creation will share in the liberation 
of the children of God. (Rom. 8: 21.) Heaven
is not far away or later. It begins now with
the graced life bestowed on us as sheer gift. 
It begins with Easter and ends in “the New 
Jerusalem.” (Rev. 21:2) 
___

LANCE WOODRUFF
Bangkok, Thailand

National Catholic Reporter
March 20th, 2012

"Thailand on Edge of
Democratic Change"

http://tinyurl.com/79rash8

___

BRIAN RUDE
San Salvador, El Salvador

SAN ROMERO DAY in EL SALVADOR
March 24th, 2012

Between legislative/municipal elections 
held on March 11, and the commemoration 
of San Romero's martyrdom today, both of 
which are deeply passionate events in El 
Salvador, another intense drama has been 
unfolding in this never-a-dull-moment 
nation--especially in the media and in 
the prisons (gang sector), in their 
perpetual codependent relationship.  
Not all that is being stated or claimed 
can be true. Reported details are often 
contradictory. Conflicting interpretations 
abound.  The role of the government - as 
a whole and through individual players - 
in all of this is the area of greatest 
uncertainty and of most debate. The role 
of the Roman Catholic Church and its 
representatives is also a subject of 
diverse speculation.  

The first indicator was a sharp drop in 
the homicide rate in El Salvador, starting 
with election weekend--from 14 daily, to 1, 
or even 0, reportedly, on a couple recent 
days, about 5 overall.  At first people 
attributed this to the over-riding 
distraction of the elections themselves.  
A variation on this theme was that the 
public security forces (police and military) 
were out in full force because of the 
elections, therefore putting a brake on the 
"normal" rate of crime--and, officially, 
that this was due to the recent great 
improvement in police work.  There was 
related news about a transferral of 
numerous inmates among different prisons, 
mostly gang-sector prisons, conducted 
before the elections to avoid complications.  
A few days later, a digital newspaper 
revealed the identity of some of those 
inmates--mostly gang leaders - and the 
nature of their transferral - allegedly 
a result of negotiations between security 
authorities and gang leaders, a version 
which government authorities categorically 
denied.  Some days later, the chaplain to 
the military revealed that he had initiated 
this whole process, some months ago, 
responding to the requests of family 
members to pass on petitions to the 
respective authorities regarding 
humanitarian - health and legal - 
concerns of their incarcerated family 
members. Apparently, the inmates 
involved were interested in pursuing 
a violence-reduction agreement with the 
rival gang, which led in turn to the sharp 
drop in homicide rates.  Considering how 
one priest was demonized a couple years ago 
by all sectors of society for having passed 
on a similar such message from gang members, 
this Roman Catholic chaplain was careful to 
distance himself from any role of negotiator 
or mediator, merely having passed on petitions.  

The range of reactions covers the spectrum.  
This process is viewed with great cynicism 
by some, by others with great optimism, or 
at least a "wait and see" attitude.  It is 
judged as being from saintly to sinister, 
from sacrosanct to subversive. To this point, 
it has raised more questions than it has 
provided answers, especially the question 
as to how long-lasting this trend might be.  
In any event, it is a compelling - not to 
mention delicate - theme, from whatever angle.  

Other perspectives:

http://tinyurl.com/6pvrvd5

http://tinyurl.com/7l8r78s

***** 

JIM TAYLOR
Okanagan, BC

Personal Web Log
March 21st, 2012

"The Loneliness of
the Non-Conformist"

http://tinyurl.com/72ogn8q

---

A Palm Sunday Reflection
Wednesday March 28, 2012

"Whitewater Rafting into Jerusalem"

http://tinyurl.com/3m3alz8

*****

NET NOTES

THE RIGHTEOUS MIND
Why Don't They Think Like Me?

Reviewed in the
New York Times Review of Books
March 25th, 2012

http://tinyurl.com/89cbzoo

*****

'HUNGER GAMES' 
TRIUMPHS AT BOX OFFICE

Wall Street Journal
March 25th, 2012

http://tinyurl.com/7gmq7sx

*****

TORONTO GIVES THANKS
FOR LIFE OF JOHN STOTT

Anglican Journal
April 26th, 2012

http://tinyurl.com/877geg6

*****

ONE PSALM, TWO CAUSES,
TWO MEANINGS

Religious News Service
March 28th, 2012

http://tinyurl.com/7xayku6

*****

LAPSED CATHOLICS EXPLAIN
WHY THEY NO LONGER ATTEND

Religious News Service
March 27th, 2012

http://tinyurl.com/ccf8m32

*****

CHRISTIANS QUESTIONED 
WAR RESPONSE IN 1812

Historic Peace Churches
in Canada Recall Their History

Christianweek.org
March 23rd, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/8x7jcee

*****

LUTHERAN PASTOR GETS 
JAIL TERM IN VIETNAM
Challenged Government Policy

Uca News
March 28th, 2012

http://tinyurl.com/7hpachz

*****

POPE PRAYS FOR FREEDOM
AND RENEWAL IN CUBA

Associated Press
March 27th, 2012

http://tinyurl.com/85u8m

---

Fidel Meets Benedict

The Guardian, UK
March 28th, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/7asvc99

---

Pope Criticizes USA Embargo

BBC News
March 28th, 2012

http://tinyurl.com/6wn9vgl

---

Castro, Pope Talk Past Each Other

Associated Press Analysis
March 29th, 2012

http://tinyurl.com/7682hbn 

*****

DALAI LAMA WINS
TEMPLETON PRIZE

29 March 2012

Dalai Lama awarded 
2012 Templeton Prize

New York (ENI news) - The Dalai Lama, 
already a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, 
is the recipient of the 2012 Templeton 
Prize, often called the most prestigious 
award in religion. The announcement, 
made on 29 March by the John Templeton 
Foundation, based in West Conshohocken, 
Pennsylvania, cited the Tibetan leader's 
"incomparable global voice for universal
ethics, nonviolence, and harmony among 
world religions." 

(expanded ENI version)

Anglican Journal
March 29th, 2012

http://tinyurl.com/7kcwndv 

*****

MANDELA DIGITAL ARCHIVES
VIRTUAL TREASURE TROVE
Online Heroic Resources

The Guardian, UK
March 28th, 2012

http://tinyurl.com/73bdd5m

***** 

GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI

Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
26 March 2012

Cuban ecumenical community says 
farewell to 'el Maestro'

Matanzas, Cuba (ENI news) - The Cuban 
ecumenical community paid final tribute 
on 23 March to Prof. Francisco René 
Castellanos Morente, who died two days 
earlier at the age of 97. Professor 
emeritus at the Evangelical Theological 
Seminary in Matanzas, Castellanos served 
four decades there and taught, among 
other subjects, psychology, Greek, Hebrew, 
Latin, Biblical exegesis and folk dance, 
according to a report from the Latin 
America and Caribbean Communication 
Agency (ALC). 
_____

Anglican Covenant defeated in majority 
of Church of England dioceses

(ENI news) - A majority of dioceses in 
theChurch of England have voted down the 
proposed Anglican Covenant, a set of 
principles intended to bind the Anglican 
Communion provinces despite theological 
differences and cultural disputes. The 
six diocesan synods meeting and voting 
on the covenant this past weekend brought 
the current figures to 23 against and 15 
in favor, out of a total of 44 dioceses 
throughout the Church of England, Episcopal 
News Service (ENS) reports. The Covenant 
first was proposed in 2004 as a way that 
the communion and its 38 autonomous 
provinces might maintain unity despite 
differences, especially relating to 
biblical interpretation and human 
sexuality issues.
_____

27 March 2012

Ugandan church leaders 
recall encounters with Kony

(ENI news) - Although the Internet video 
"Kony 2012" is bringing world attention 
to an infamous Ugandan warlord, calling 
for his arrest this year, it doesn't 
mention much about the church leaders who 
continue to work for peace in Northern 
Uganda and central Africa and recently 
recalled their encounters with Joseph 
Kony. Armed with Bibles, walking sticks 
and rosaries, the leaders said they 
ventured three times between 2003 and 
2005 into the Garamba forest in the 
Democratic Republic of Congo to meet 
Kony. "I had gone there with a lot of 
fear," recalled retired Anglican Bishop 
Nelson Onono-Onweng of the northern 
Uganda diocese in an interview with 
ENI news. 
_____

Church leaders see hope 
amid suffering in Manila's slums

Manila, Philippines (ENI news) They braved 
the foul stench of garbage and had to wear 
borrowed rubber boots to avoid stepping on 
muddy pathways in one of Manila's dumps 
where poor slum dwellers live off from 
recovered plastics and metals. "No children 
deserve to live in this difficult situation, 
but somehow I see hope amid their suffering 
as they showed us they can cope and still 
smile despite all," said the Rev. Charles 
Buck of the United Church of Christ in 
Hawaii. Buck was among 226 participants 
of a 22 to 27 March meeting of the World 
Council of Churches Commission on World 
Mission and Evangelism (WCC-CWME), which 
examined mission and evangelism in a 
changing global landscape. 
_____

Report says church giving 
in U.S. on the rebound

Washington, D.C. (ENI news) - The 
recession and a sluggish recovery have 
made for a lighter collection plate in 
recent years, but a new study shows that 
giving to U.S. congregations bounced back 
in 2011 as the economy improved. According 
to the fourth annual "State of the Plate" 
survey released on 27 March, 51 percent of 
U.S. churches last year saw an increase in 
giving, up from 43 percent in 2010 and 36 
percent in 2009, Religion News Service 
reports. The national survey, sponsored by 
MAXIMUM Generosity, Christianity Today and 
the Evangelical Council for Financial 
Accountability (ECFA), asked more than 
1,360 congregations of different sizes 
to report on their donations and budgets. 

*****

28 March 2012

Religious leaders praise 
Senegal's peaceful elections 

(ENI news) - Religious leaders are 
hailing Senegal's presidential run-off 
election as a good example for democracy 
in Africa. After a peaceful vote on 25 
March, President Abdoulaye Wade conceded 
defeat to opposition candidate Macky Sall. 
It had widely been feared that Wade, who 
is 85 and has been president for 12 years, 
would cling to power. "What he (Wade) has 
done is rare and extraordinary and deserves 
public affirmation given the fact that the 
majority of African leaders continue the 
unsupportable habit of disregarding 
constitutional order," said the Rev. 
Ishmael Noko, president of the 
Interfaith Action for Peace in 
Africa (IAFPA). 
_____

Edmond Perret, former head of 
global Reformed church movement, dies

Geneva (ENI news) - The former general 
secretary of the World Alliance of 
Reformed Churches (WARC), the Rev. 
Edmond Perret, died on 24 March, aged 
87, in Geneva. "The Reformed family of 
churches worldwide has lost a brilliant 
mind, a loving leader and a pastor 
committed to societal transformation,"
said General Secretary Setri Nyomi of 
the World Communion of Reformed Churches 
(WCRC) in a statement on 28 March, 
according to a WCRC news release. 
Perret served as General Secretary o
f WARC from 1970 to 1989. In 2010,
WARC merged with the Reformed 
Ecumenical Council to become the 
WCRC. 
_____

In Myanmar, army's attacks 
on Christians continue

(ENInews) - Myanmar armed forces are 
continuing to harass the nation's 
Christian minority, according to faith 
groups and human rights organizations. 
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) 
reported that in one incident, troops 
ransacked a Baptist church, burning 
Bibles, destroying church property, 
and stealing. "These incidents 
illustrate that there is still a 
very long way to go in Burma's reform 
process," said Benedict Rogers, East 
Asia team leader for CSW. "We call 
upon President Thein Sein and all 
reform-minded officials in the 
Burmese government to take action 
to end the military's abuses, and 
to protect human rights, including 
religious freedom." 
_____

In Cameroon, Muslims and Christians 
support electoral reform

Yaounde, Cameroon (ENI news) - Religious 
leaders in Cameroon usually don't get 
involved in electoral politics. But in 
early March, a group of Muslim and 
Christian leaders went to see the 
president of the elections governing 
body, saying they were fed up with 
previous balloting that included vote-
buying, multiple voting and outright 
manipulation of vote totals. "It is 
our duty as servants of Allah to ensure 
that truth, transparency and justice 
reigns in our country, and this begins 
with elections in which every ballot 
counts," Modibo Bouba Bello, vice 
president of the Islamic Council, 
said. Bello joined the Rev. Sebastian 
Wongo Behong, secretary general of the 
Cameroon Episcopal Conference and the 
Rev. Robert Ngoyek, president of the 
Council of Protestant Churches, at 
the meeting on 1 March with Samuel 
Fonkam Azu'u, president of Elections 
Cameroon, or ELECAM.

*****

29 March 2012

Faith and labor leaders honor 
farm workers at Washington, D.C. event

Washington (ENI news) - Members of the 
faith community joined with leaders of 
the farm worker movement on 26 March to 
kick off a series of events leading up 
to the second national Cesar Chavez Day 
on 31 March, according to a National 
Council of Churches (NCC) press release. 
U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis 
honored the contributions of laborers 
by inducting martyred farm workers and 
faith leaders into the agency's Labor 
Hall of Honor. Solis dedicated the 
department's auditorium in honor of 
Cesar E. Chavez.
_____

Orthodox primates stress need for 
peace and stability in Middle East

(ENI news) - A Synaxis of the Primates 
of Eastern Orthodox Churches in the Middle 
East met in Cyprus on 27 March to discuss 
the situation of Christians in the region 
and to agree on common approaches to 
solidarity and strengthening the support 
of Christian communities, according to a 
World Council of Churches press release. 
The invitation for the gathering was 
extended by Archbishop Chrysostomos II 
of Cyprus, said the release. He was 
joined by Patriarch Theodoros II of 
Alexandria and All Africa, Patriarch 
Ignatius IV of Antioch and All the 
East, and Patriarch Theophilos III 
of Jerusalem and the Holy Land.

*****

30 March 2012

Scottish churches combat 
soaring metal theft

(ENI news) - The Church of Scotland is 
making a high-tech move to protect its 
1,600 churches and buildings from metal 
theft, a newly-popular crime that is 
estimated to cost the British economy 
about 700 million pounds a year. As 
commodity prices soar, thieves are 
taking lightning rods, lead drain pipes, 
bronze statues, iron gates, metal from 
roofs and even church bells. The church's 
insurer is distributing kits with a 
product called SmartWater that can be 
painted or sprayed onto metal. Each 
church's batch of SmartWater contains 
a unique chemical mixture that, when dry, 
can be analyzed with ultra-violet light 
to identify the original location of the 
metal, according to Kevin Roberts, Chief 
Executive of the Edinburgh-based Church 
of Scotland Insurance Company (COSIC). 
_____

German Catholics and Protestants 
create online worship listings

Berlin (ENI news) - As Palm Sunday 
and Holy Week get closer, Catholics 
and Protestants are cooperating on 
a new website that allows German 
Christians to find their nearest 
church service, anywhere in the 
country, any day of the year. "The 
dates of worship services -- including 
rosary devotions, children's worship, 
Taize prayer, Eucharist and Passion 
services -- can be accessed with a 
mouse click by Internet users," the 
Catholic Bishops Conference and the 
Council of the Protestant Church in 
Germany, who are backing the project, 
said in a statement. Church communities 
across the country and of all 
denominations are being encouraged 
to log in and add details of their 
services to the database, which 
provides maps and photos and can be 
accessed from smartphones by 
worshippers on the move. 

*****

WISDOM OF THE WEEK

Provided by Sojourners Online

March 26th, 2012

"Have patience with all things, but chiefly 
have patience with yourself. Do not lose 
courage in considering your imperfections 
but instantly set about remedying them – 
every day begin the new task."

- Francis de Sales

---

March 27th, 2012

"The moon looks wonderful in this warm evening 
light, just as a candle flame looks beautiful 
in the light of morning. Light within light...
It seems to me to be a metaphor for the human 
soul, the singular light within that great 
general light of existence."

- Marilynne Robinson, from "Gilead"

---

March 28th, 2012

"It’s a gift to joyfully recognize and accept our 
own smallness and ordinariness. Then you are free 
with nothing to live up to, nothing to prove, and 
nothing to protect. Such freedom is my best 
description of Christian maturity, because once 
you know that your 'I' is great and one with God, 
you can ironically be quite content with a small 
and ordinary 'I.' No grandstanding is necessary. 
Any question of your own importance or dignity 
has already been resolved once and for all and 
forever."

- Richard Rohr

---

March 29th, 2012

"Everywhere I go — from villages outside Kandy, 
Sri Lanka, to community centers in Amman, Jordan, 
to offices at the State Department in Washington, 
D.C. — I find people with a similar story. When 
thousands of people discover that their story is 
also someone else's story, they have the chance 
to write a new story together."

- Eboo Patel

*****

ON THIS DAY

Provided from the archives
of the New York Times

On March 25, 1965 - the Rev. Martin Luther 
King Jr. led 25,000 marchers to the state 
capitol in Montgomery, Ala., to protest the 
denial of voting rights to blacks.

http://tinyurl.com/7y6fcxy

___

On March 27, 1958 - Nikita Khrushchev became 
Soviet premier in addition to first secretary 
of the Communist Party.

http://tinyurl.com/782klb5

___

On March 28, 1979 - America's worst commercial 
nuclear accident occurred inside the Unit Two 
reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near 
Middletown, Pa.

http://tinyurl.com/76keky6

*****

CLOSING THOUGHT

Relation is the essence 
of everything that exists.

- Meister Eckhart

Contemporary physics is arriving more and more
at this awareness that Eckhart and other great
mystics have sensed over the centuries. Things
are not just things. There is no thing in and
of itself, separately defined. The essence of
thingness is not thingness - it is relationship.
The insides of an atom, the moving parts, only
function in relationship to each other.

Further, galaxies and clusters of galaxies
reveal the same truth; their existence depends
on the relationship of their parts more than
the parts themselves.

- Matthew Fox from "Christian Mystics"

(end)