Vol. VI. No. 34
*****
Wayne A. Holst, Editor
*****
Colleagues List Blog:
http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com/
*****
In This Issue -
Special Item This Week:
'Thin Places' on Our Celtic Tour
___
Colleague Comment:
Lance Woodruff
Kelly Johnson
___
Colleague Contributions:
Reginald Bibby
Ron Rolheiser
Mark Noll
Lorna Dueck
Jim Taylor
Robert Ellsberg
___
Net Notes:
Book Stirs Controversy
What Oprah Has Done for Books
John Paul II Beatified in Rome
Bard Was a Catholic but No Saint
Hockey as Canada's National Religion
Egypt's Christians Fear New Violence
Wrong to Celebrate Bin Laden's Death?
Australian Bishop Ordered to Step Down
Loose Connections and Church Membership
Vatican Halts Cathedral Methodist Ordinations
___
Global Faith Potpourri:
Seventeen ENI Geneva stories appear this week.
___
Quotes of the Week:
Jacques Ellul
Mahatma Gandhi
Morton Kelsey
Mother Teresa
Meister Eckhart
The Dalai Lama
Mary Oliver
___
On This Day:
May 8, 1973 -
Native Americans Surrender at Wounded Knee
May 13, 1981 -
John Paul Shot and Badly Wounded in Rome
June 1, 1968 -
Author-Lecturer Helen Keller Dies in CT
June 2, 1953 -
Elizabeth II Crowned in Westminster Abbey
___
Closing Thought - Thomas Aquinas
(end)
*****
Dear Friends:
In this issue of Colleagues List, I attempt
to provide a number of news items and articles
from the past six weeks, as we have been away.
Next week, I plan to introduce a number of
new books by colleagues June Maffin (Victoria)
Ron Rolheiser (San Antonio) and Douglas Hall
(Montreal). I will also include a new article
by Mathew Zachariah (Calgary.)
This week, however, I have a lot of good
material gleaned from a rather careful culling
of almost 3,000 inbox emails that confronted me
when I opened my computer on May 25th!
---
My special item this week is a brief essay on
three sacred sites Marlene and I appreciated
during our tour of the Celtic Lands.
---
Colleague comments this week are from:
Lance Woodruff and Kelly Johnson who refer to
last week's items on the death of Delton Glebe
and the forest fires of Slave Lake, Alberta.
---
Colleague contributions are provided by:
Reginald Bibby, Ron Rolheiser, Mark Noll,
Lorna Dueck, Jim Taylor and Robert Ellsberg
---
Net Notes:
"Book Stirs Controversy" - Sr. Elizabeth
Johnson was criticized for a book she
wrote four years ago which, the Vatican
claims, "does not take the faith of the
Church as its starting point."
(Publishers Weekly)
"What Oprah Has Done for Books -
the TV idol who promoted some very
fortunate authors has now ended
her regular daytime broadcasts
(Christian Science Monitor)
"John Paul II Beatified in Rome" -
great throngs attended the public
beatification of a recent pope
(The Guardian)
"Bard Was a Catholic but No Saint" -
Dr. Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury,
gave a special talk on Shakespeare at
the Hay Festival in the UK (The Telegraph)
"Hockey as Canada's National Religion" -
this not surprising article is about
Canada's national sport and, for many,
it's national religion (Vancouver Sun)
"Egypt's Christians Fear New Violence" -
while many celebrate the 'Arab Spring'
Christians in Egypt are not so happy
about developments (New York Times)
"Wrong to Celebrate Bin Laden's Death?" -
two articles are presented, reflecting
on the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama
Bin Laden early in May (National Public
Radio, The Christian Century)
"Australian Bishop Ordered to Step Down"
- an RC bishop who said he could support
the ordination of women and of married
priests is no longer in office, but these
seem to be issues that will not go away
(Ucan News, National Catholic Reporter)
"Loose Connections and Church Membership"
- the nature of church membership in
North America is in great flux today
(The Christian Century)
"Rome Halts Cathedral Methodist Ordinations"
- a Methodist ordination service was planned
for the Liverpool RC Cathedral, but under
pressure, the RC bishop of Liverpool had
to withdraw his invitation (Ucan News)
___
Global Faith Potpourri:
Seventeen Geneva-released stories appear this
week offered through the services of
Ecumenical News International.
___
Quotes of the Week:
Jacques Ellul, Mahatma Gandhi, Morton Kelsey,
Mother Teresa, Meister Eckhart, The Dalai Lama,
and Mary Oliver share insights with us.
___
On This Day:
Native Americans Surrender at Wounded Knee (1973)
John Paul Shot and Badly Wounded in Rome (1981)
Author-Lecturer Helen Keller Dies in CT (1968)
Elizabeth II Crowned in Westminster Abbey (1953)
__
Closing Thoughts - this week are from
Thomas Aquinas with comment by Matthew Fox
(end)
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/
NOTE: This page is being reconstructed.
*****
REMINDER:
ST. DAVID'S 50th ANNIVERSARY
TOUR OF CELTIC LANDS - 2011
35 PEOPLE PARTICIPATED IN THIS PILGRIMAGE
THRU CELTIC LANDS FROM APRIL 26th-May 10th.
The following is a list of tour members:
Ruth Cross, Paula Davis, Dorothy Duker,
Joeli & Tom Frank, Donna Friesen, Vi Glidden,
Joan Gray, Alex Hart, Marlene & Wayne Holst,
Merilyn King, Charlene Lazurak, Carol Lawrence and
Gerry McBride, June Martin, Sylvia and Ian McDonald,
Karen McKeown, Bonnae and Jock McTavish,
Helen Murray, Linda Nemeth, Andrea Owen, Carol Owen,
Margaret Pellici, Mathew Rubuliak, Bev and George
Setterington,Gail Shaver, Betty Smith, Christy
Stiles, Diane and Mike Trew, Joanne Wiens.
We appreciate the support and prayers of many
people and hope to continue sharing our experience
with any who are interested.
___
We have started an interest list for other,
future tours with a spiritual dimension!
Let me know if you are interested in learning
more about exciting, spiritual tourism! This
is a cutting edge ministry at St. David's.
Take a look at the St. David's, Wales Sacred Site.
For many, our day here was a trip highlight.
http://tinyurl.com/4gbg35t
*****
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 ITEM
THIN PLACES ON OUR TOUR OF THE CELTIC LANDS
While we visited many beautiful cathedrals
and other sacred buildings during our travels
in the UK and Ireland I would like to focus
today on three special sites where I felt
particularly close to God.
---
What We Visited
The ruins of Lindisfarne Priory on Holy Island,
(on England's northest coast, just south of it's
border with Scotland;) Monasterboice, near Drogheda
and the Boyne in Ireland's County Louth (north of
Dublin) and the church and yard of St. Brynach's
(in Pembrokeshire, Wales, not far from Fishguard
and St. David's Cathedral itself) - provided
for me three unique experiences of what the
ancient Christian Celts called "thin places."
Each in its own way, these ruins and graveyards -
basking in sunlight but also profoundly veiled
and misty in nature - gave me a sense that
the spirit of God was uniquely present there.
Lindisfarne was the creation of St. Aidan
who left Ireland to join the community of
Columba in Iona (western Scotland). The
intent of this mission was to convert the
English who had lost touch with their
Roman Christian influences by the fifth
century, CE.
The monastic site of Monasterboice also dates
back to the fifth century; founded by St. Buite
who was a disciple of St. Patrick. In the
9th and 10th centuries, this setting was an
important centre of learning. Most of its books
and other treasures were plundered and burned,
so only tall stone crosses and a tower remain
as mute but profound evidence of its former
glory.
The church and churchyard of Nevern boast a
beautiful celtic cross from the 10th or 11th
centuries and a 'bleeding' yew tree, whose
open wound with seeping sap is blood red.
Dedicated to St. Brynach, an Irish apostle
to the Welsh in the sixth century, the
present church dates from the 12th or 13th
century and probably overlies an earlier
site.
I was not too interested in separating true
history from legend at any of these sacred
places. My interest was in the experience
of the sacred that came to me while visiting.
Those feelings have remained with me since
I departed.
I have been changed because of it.
---
What This Means to Me
I am a person that is strongly shaped by the
rational, secular world in which I live. No
doubt, many of the people who founded and
frequented these holy sites over the centuries
had a very different understanding of
Christianity than I have today.
Still, I find myself drawn to them and to
these places in a magnificently mystical
way. My cognitive brain is not so attuned
to such places as the intuitive functions
of my head and heart. As I allow these to
influence me - especially now in retrospect -
I am drawn to a sense of awe and wonder.
I feel myself drawn into a community of
saints that stretches back for millennia
and reaches forward to infinity.
---
Wider Meanings
Sacred places exist everywhere. One does
not have to leave one's own shores to find
them. Still, it is important to visit sites
that have been blessed by the presence of
centuries of saints and pilgrims - of
diverse people of faith - many of whom
were quite unlike me and who probably led
much more difficult lives than I.
To know that the same faith which
sustained them sustains me - is
profoundly comforting.
---
Read More:
Lindisfarne -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindisfarne
Monasterboice -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monasterboice
Nevern, St. Brynach's Church -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevern
*****
COLLEAGUE COMMENT
The May 28th issue of Colleagues List:
Re: Delton Glebe Death, Slave Lake Fires
May 27th
Thanks for sharing about your friend and mentor
Delton Glebe. Reading his obituary (itself an
antique communication form) found me wondering
about who he was as a young man. I pause to
reflect on the importance of one-on-one, face-
to-face relationship. How different and important
your own communication to wider circles. For me
it gives rise to the mystery of being, and of
communication.
May Delton Glebe journey peacefully.
Sitting in an air conditioned room in Bangkok
I find myself wondering about life and loss in
Slave Lake, Alberta - one third of the homes
burned and 7,000 people evacuated. Your family
was spared some of the tragedy, but something
has happened.
Lance Woodruff, Bangkok, Thailand.
---
May 27th
Nice to have mentors we can all look to. His age -
93 years - is pretty impressive.
I've got a friend with Samaritan's Purse who has
also been helping (people in the fire) at Slave Lake.
Kelly Johnson, Calgary, Alberta
*****
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
REGINALD BIBBY
Lethbridge, AB
"A Mirror of Faith on a Canadian Wall"
Globe and Mail,
April 25th, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/3h4ffpv
___
RON ROLHEISER
San Antonio, TX
"The Gift that was Henri Nouwen"
Personal Website
May 1st, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/3k6svqs
___
MARK NOLL
South Bend, IN
"A World Without the KJV"
Christianity Today
May 6th, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/3kdjrlj
---
"British are Clueless about Origins
of Biblical Phrases from KJV"
Ucan News
May 17th, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/5uy4urd
___
LORNA DUECK
Toronto, ON
"Listen Up Moves to Prime Location"
Popular Christian current affairs program
Christianweek.org
June 2nd, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/3hr3py2
___
JIM TAYLOR
Okanagan, BC
"Changeless, but Ever Changing"
Classical music as a metaphor of God
Personal Weblog
May 19th, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/3jl47g8
_____
ROBERT ELLSBERG
Marynoll, NY
"A Remarkable Christian Life"
The Letters of Dorothy Day
National Catholic Reporter
May 20th, 2011
http://ncronline.org/node/24252
---
"All is Grace: A Biography of Dorothy Day"
by Jim Forest
America Magazine
May 23rd, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/42xgfva
*****
NET NOTES
BOOK STIRS CONTROVERSY
Four Years After Publication
Catholic Woman's Book Draws Rebuke
Publisher's Weekly
April 28th, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/4yeeod8
*****
WHAT OPRAH HAS DONE FOR BOOKS
Everything She Promoted Went Gold
Christian Science Moniter
May 24th, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/3zofd58
*****
JEAN PAUL II BEATIFIED IN ROME
Huge Crowds Participate in Celemony
The Guardian
May 1st, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/3d6jna4
*****
BARD WAS A CATHOLIC BUT NO SAINT
The Telegraph,
May 29th, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/42mddf9
*****
HOCKEY AS CANADA'S NATIONAL RELIGION
Vancouver Sun
June 1st, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/3hyag6p
*****
EGYPT'S CHRISTIANS FEAR NEW REGIME VIOLENCE
New York Times
May 31st, 2011
A surge of sectarian violence in Cairo has
turned Christian-Muslim tensions into one of
the gravest threats to the revolution's
stability.
http://tinyurl.com/3vq2bod
*****
IS IT WRONG TO CELEBRATE BIN LADIN'S DEATH?
National Public Radio
May 2nd, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/3c23r7o
---
"Justice or Vengeance?"
The Christian Century
May 4th, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/3kpq4u2
*****
AUSTRALIAN BISHOP ORDERED TO STEP DOWN
Ecumenical News International
May 2nd, 2011
Vatican removes Australian bishop who said
he was open to ordaining women
Rome (ENI news) - The Vatican on 2 May announced
that it relieved Australian bishop William Morris
of his post, five years after he published a letter
interpreted to indicate that he would be open to
ordaining women and married men as priests if it
were not prohibited by church rules. In an open
letter released in his Toowoomba diocese, which
is west of Brisbane, Morris said his 2006 letter
had been "misread, and, I believe, deliberately
misinterpreted." Morris said he was encouraged
to resign but that he declined to do so on the
grounds that doing so would "mean that I accept
the assessment of myself as breaking communion
[with the Holy See], which I absolutely refute
and reject." He added that he was being forced
into early retirement.
---
Bishop Tells Story of His Dismissal
Ucan News (You Tube Interview)
May 6th, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/3hyl9j8
---
Morale Falters in Australian Church
National Catholic Reporter
May 29th, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/5w24cl2
*****
LOOSE CONNECTIONS:
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN CHURCH MEMBERSHIP?
The Christian Century
MaY 23rd, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/3vv4rzs
*****
VATICAN HALTS METHODIST ORDINATIONS
IN UK CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL
Ucan News
May 26th, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/3wrh37l
*****
GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI
Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
26 April 2011
Methodists express repentance for massacre
of Native Americans
New York (ENI news) - In a spirit of repentance,
the United Methodist Church is making good on
a pledge to support a learning center at the
Western site of an 1864 massacre of Native
Americans led by a Methodist minister. The
UMC's General Commission on Christian Unity
and Interreligious Concerns, based in New York
City, announced that it has donated U.S.
$50,000 to the National Park Service for
developing a center at the Sand Creek
Massacre National Historic Site, near Eads,
Colorado. The donation will be used to fund
research materials and other public education
initiatives.
_____
28 April 2011
Evangelical icon David Wilkerson dies
in car crash
Washington, D.C. (ENI news) - Evangelist David
Wilkerson, who wrote the popular book "The
Cross and the Switchblade," founded New York's
Times Square Church and an international
ministry to gang members and drug addicts,
died in a traffic accident on 27 April,
according to media reports. Wilkerson, 79,
died after his car slammed into a truck on
a highway about 95 miles southeast of Dallas,
according to The Associated Press. His wife,
Gwen, was also injured but is expected to
recover, Religion News Service reports.
_____
29 April 2011
Anglican church plays central role
in British royal wedding
London (ENI news) - An estimated two billion
people around the world tuned in on 29 April
to watch the wedding of Prince William,
grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, and Catherine
Middleton at Westminster Abbey, a ceremony
infused with British pageantry and steeped
in elements of Anglicanism -- past, present
and future. The streets of London bulged with
thousands of well-wishers, some who'd camped
for days to ensure a glimpse of the happy
couple, named just before the wedding as the
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Episcopal News
Service reports.
_____
2 May 2011
After beatification, focus turns to
John Paul II's legacy
Vatican City (ENI news) - The first Mass to refer
to the late Pope John Paul II as "the blessed" was
celebrated on 2 May at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome,
ending a three-day celebration that focused on his
life and legacy. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the
Vatican's Secretary of State, celebrated the
relatively low-key Mass a day after John Paul was
beatified in a Mass in St. Peter's Square before
a massive crowd. The weekend celebration also
included a candlelight vigil on 30 April and the
placement of John Paul's casket in repose in the
St. Sebastian chapel in St. Peter's.
_____
Vatican removes Australian bishop who said
he was open to ordaining women
Rome (ENI news) - The Vatican on 2 May announced
that it relieved Australian bishop William Morris
of his post, five years after he published a letter
interpreted to indicate that he would be open to
ordaining women and married men as priests if it
were not prohibited by church rules. In an open
letter released in his Toowoomba diocese, which
is west of Brisbane, Morris said his 2006 letter
had been "misread, and, I believe, deliberately
misinterpreted." Morris said he was encouraged
to resign but that he declined to do so on the
grounds that doing so would "mean that I accept
the assessment of myself as breaking communion
[with the Holy See], which I absolutely refute
and reject." He added that he was being forced
into early retirement.
_____
Cautious, somber reactions to Bin Laden's death
from religious leaders
New York (ENI news) - Muslim, Christian and Jewish
leaders greeted the news of the death of al-Qaida
leader Osama bin Laden with varying degrees of
relief, regret and caution. Considered the
mastermind of the 11 September 2001, attacks
on the World Trade Center in New York and the
Pentagon in Washington, D.C. that killed nearly
3,000 people, bin Laden was killed by United
States forces in Pakistan, U.S. President
Barack Obama announced on 1 May.
*****
5 May 2011
British bishops will minister to traditionalists
London (ENInews)--The Archbishop of Canterbury,
Rowan Williams, appointed two new bishops who will
replace predecessors who left the Church of England
in January to become priests in the Roman Catholic
Church. The so-called "flying bishops" will also
minister to traditionalists who are opposed to
female clergy. As "provincial episcopal visitors"
to dioceses throughout southern England, bishops
Jonathan Baker and Norman Banks will, according
to a statement issued by the Church of England,
"act as spokesmen and advisors to ensure that the
integrity of differing beliefs and positions
concerning the ordination of women to the
priesthood should be mutually recognised and
respected."
*****
6 May 2011
Theologian Kung says only radical reforms
can save the Catholic church
Munich (ENI news) - The Catholic Church is
seriously, possibly terminally ill and only
an honest diagnosis and radical therapy will
cure it, one of the sharpest critics of Pope
Benedict XVI, the Swiss Catholic theologian
Hans Kung, has written. Speaking at a sold-out
event in the Literaturhaus (Literary Centre)
in Munich on 2 May, Kung who is a former
colleague of the pope at the University of
Tubingen, introduced his new book,
"Ist die Kirche noch zu retten?"
("Can the Church Still Be Saved?").
*****
11 May 2011
Queen's visit to Ireland may
'heal divisions'
Canterbury, England (ENI news) - Religious
leaders are hailing Queen Elizabeth II's
historic state visit to Ireland next week
as a sign of reconciliation following
centuries of sectarian hatred and violence.
Arriving in Dublin on 17 May for a four-day
visit, the queen will be the first British
monarch to set foot in the republic since
its founding in 1923 and the first to travel
to Dublin since King George V in 1911. She
is scheduled to visit Dublin's Garden of
Remembrance, which honors those who died
fighting to free Ireland from British rule.
She also will visit Croke Park Stadium,
where British troops killed 14 people in
1920, and attend a state dinner in Dublin
Castle, long a symbol of British power in
Ireland. The visit "will sustain a momentum
of reconciliation," Archbishop Alan Harper,
primate of the (Anglican) Church of Ireland,
told ENI news.
_____
20 May 2011
Chinese Christians find support in Africa
Nairobi, Kenya (ENI news) - Anglican clergy in
East Africa have expressed hope for an improved
relationship between church and state in China,
after a delegation from China's Ministry of State
Administration of Religious Affairs (SARA) visited
Kenya and Uganda. "They wanted to see how they can
build a relationship and trust with their churches.
China is coming from a Communist background and
there has been some mistrust of Christianity...
They wanted to understand who isa Christian …
Can he be trusted?" the Rev. Canon George
Bagamuhunda, the Provincial Secretary of the
(Anglican) Church of Uganda told ENInews on
20 May from Kampala as the Chinese delegation
of ten officials left the country.
_____
Queen Elizabeth II ends historic visit to Ireland
London (ENI news) - Queen Elizabeth II of Britain
left Ireland on 20 May after a four-day visit
that acknowledged the two countries' troubled
past, often marked by Catholic-Protestant
conflict, but featured gestures of reconciliation
that looked toward a brighter future. Her visit
to Dublin's Garden of Remembrance to pay homage
to those who died fighting to free Ireland from
British rule, her greeting in Irish at the
beginning of a speech at a state dinner at
Dublin Castle and her unexpected walkout at a
market to greet the people of Cork at her final
stop -- all contributed to a general feeling
that the visit was a remarkable success.
_____
31 May 2011
Canadian editor elected president of
Ecumenical News International
Geneva (ENI news) - The Rev. David Harris,
publisher and editor of Canada's Presbyterian
Record magazine, was elected on 30 May president
of Ecumenical News International, a Geneva-based
news service that covers international religious
news. Harris was elected at a meeting of ENI's
general assembly in Geneva. "ENI has both
tremendous challenges and tremendous
opportunities," Harris said. "We face funding
challenges because the donor organizations are
facing funding challenges. On the positive side,
however, those organizations told us they believe
in ENI news. Necessity being the mother of
invention, these challenges are forcing us to
rethink how ENI operates from the ground up,
and that is an exciting and creative process."
_____
3 June 2011
German Bishop Suggests Praying With Taliban
Is Better Than Bombing
Dresden, Germany (ENI)--The former leader of
Germany's Protestant community, Rev. Margot
Kaessmann, says she believes that a suggestion
to pray with the Taliban by candlelight is "a
much better idea than bombing water tank
lorries in Kunduz, " she told a Bible study
session at the Kirchentag, the lay church
festival now underway in Dresden. "We know
that in the end peace can only grow and be
achieved by slow, often painful and risky
reconciliation processes in which the victims
are heard and the perpetrators admit their
guilt," she told about 5,000 participants in
the event. Kaessmann, the first woman to lead
the Evangelical Church in Germany, said that
perhaps she is naïve, but added that Jesus
also was naïve.
_____
Canadian Parents Sue Over Religion
in Daycare Centers
Toronto (ENI)--A group of Catholic and Jewish
parents in Canada is taking the province of
Quebec to court to challenge a government ban
on religious teachings at subsidized daycare
centers. The parents say a Quebec policy that
prohibits religious instruction in government
subsidized daycare centers contravenes the
federal and provincial charters of rights,
according to a lawsuit filed early this week
*****
3 June 2011
Pedophilia a serious problem in Asia,
say Catholic bishops
Tokyo (ENI news) - The clergy office of the
Federation of Roman Catholic Asian Bishops'
Conferences has announced that it will hold
a seminar on "The Impact of Pedophilia-Crisis
on the Church in Asia." "[I]t is an urgent
task before us, especially the leaders of
the Church, to come together to devise some
mechanisms to prevent future occurrences of
child abuse by Church men/women," said the
office that is organising the seminar for
Asian bishops and clergy from 14 to 19
November 2011 at Assumption University
in Bangkok.
_____
Muslims contribute to German society,
church gathering told
Dresden, Germany (ENI news) - Islam is part
of a modern, changing Germany and necessary
to develop a vibrant society, President
Christian Wulff said in a panel discussion
on 2 June at the ecumenical gathering called
the Kirchentag. Christians should also be
more tolerant towards other religions,
Wulff said. "If one is not open to other
religions, one cannot expect Muslim
societies to be receptive to freedom of
religion." He then went on to appeal to
Turkey to do more for religious freedom.
*****
QUOTES OF THE MONTH
Provided courtesy of Sojourners.online:
April 27th, 2011
"The church can only be a counter-community.
If it is anything other than that, it has
already compromised itself."
- Jacques Ellul
---
May 2nd, 2011
"If you hate injustice, tyranny, lust
and greed, hate these things in yourself."
- Mahatma Gandhi
---
May 9th, 2011
"Our task is to help people concentrate on the
real but often hidden event of God's active
presence in their lives. Hence, the question is
... not how to keep people busy, but how to keep
them from being so busy that they can no longer
hear the voice of God who speaks in silence."
- Morton Kelsey, from "The Other Side of Silence"
---
May 10th, 2011
"Do not wait for leaders;
do it alone, person to person."
- Mother Teresa
---
May 16th, 2011
"The price of inaction is far greater
than the cost of making a mistake."
- Meister Eckhart
---
June 1st, 2011
"The more altruism we develop in a day,
the more peaceful we find ourselves.
Similarly, the more self-centered we
remain, the more frustrations and trouble
we encounter."
- Dalai Lama, from "Path of Bliss"
---
June 2nd, 2011
"If you judge people, you have no time
to love them."
- Mother Theresa
---
June 3rd
"On a summer morning / I sat down/ on a hillside/
to think about God / a worthy pastime. / Near me,
I saw / a single cricket; / it was moving the
grains of the hillside / this way and that way./
How great was its energy, / how humble its effort./
Let us hope / it will always be like this, /
each of us going on / in our inexplicable ways /
building the universe."
- Mary Oliver, "Song of the Builders"
*****
ON THIS DAY
May 8, 1973, militant American Indians who had held
the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks
surrendered.
http://tinyurl.com/3lmclq5
*****
On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and
seriously wounded in St. Peter's Square by Turkish
assailant Mehmet Ali Agca.
http://tinyurl.com/4yf87te
*****
On June 1, 1968, author-lecturer Helen Keller, who
earned a college degree despite being blind and deaf
most of her life, died in Westport, Conn.
http://tinyurl.com/4ynvq5k
*****
On June 2, 1953, Queen Elizabeth II of Britain was
crowned in Westminster Abbey, 16 months after the
death of her father, King George VI.
http://tinyurl.com/3oewcpx
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT
"Love brings it about that lovers are directed
not only toward themselves but also toward others."
- Thomas Aquinas
"Real love leads beyond the lovers to others.
Love expands. Love is inclusive. It enlarges the soul."
- Matthew Fox
(end)
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