Vol VI. No 6
*****
Edited by Wayne A. Holst
*****
THANKSGIVING EDITION
"I weep a lot. I thank God I laugh a lot, too.
The main thing in one's own private world is
to try to laugh as much as you cry"
- Maya Angelou
*****
Colleagues List Blog:
http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com/
*****
Special Item in this Issue:
Book Notice -
"The Masque of Africa" -
Glimpses of African Belief
by V. S. Naipaul
___
Colleague Contributions:
Martin Marty
Jim Taylor
Charles Curran
___
Net Notes:
Friends of Noah
Lost Michelangelo 'Pieta' found
Hindu-Muslim Clash over holy site
Pictures of Pakistan flood disaster
Ecumenical Indian youth pray for games
A journey through the ice caves of France
Developer of in vitro wins Nobel science prize
Mario Vargas Llosa gains Nobel literature prize
Essential theology of the past quarter century
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
14 stories from Ecumenical News International
___
Quotes of the Week:
Maya Angelou
Wayne Lee Jones
Gustavo Gutierre
Beatrice of Nazareth
___
On This Day (Oct. 4th - 8th)
Oct. 6, 1981 - Anwar Sadat killed by Islamic militants
Oct. 8, 1982 - Poland banns unions including Solidarity
___
Closing Thoughts -
A Prayer for Peace, by Annette Smith
(end)
*****
Dear Friends:
This Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, our family will
gather to recount blessings of the past year and also
to remember those with special needs at this time.
I am particularly grateful for blessings received over
the past nine months, and used the occasion to inform my
sister and original daughters that they should make sure
to take the appropriate tests for early detection of colon
cancer; since such strains run in families.
May this be a reminder to Colleagues List readers as well?
---
This week, my book notice features "The Masque of Africa" -
Glimpses of African Belief, the latest by V. S. Naipaul,
the Nobel laureate in literature. Readers with a special
interest in missiology should attend to this one.
___
Colleague Contributions this week are from:
Martin Marty - who takes a hard look at a recent survey
on religion in the US (Sightings)
Jim Taylor - who sends a message to people in declining
congregations, and others too (Web Log)
Charles Curran - who critiques American Catholic bishops
for falling short in their pastoral responsibilities.
(National Catholic Reporter)
___
Net Notes:
"Friends of Noah" - an interesting story about the blessing
of animals and the Jewish roots for this popular practice
in some Christian churches (America Magazine)
"Lost Michelangelo 'Pieta' found" - a recent report tells
of the discovery of a missing Michelangelo for those
interested in his creative blend of painting and sculpture.
(The Australian)
"Hindu-Muslim Clash over holy site" - another Marty, this
time, Elsa - gives more background on the story of the Indian
High Court decision first reported here last week (Sightings)
"Pictures of Pakistan flood disaster" - this tragedy has
not had the publicity, nor the humanitarian response, it
deserves (Cathnews Asia)
"Ecumenical Indian youth pray for games" - those living in
the Commonwealth may be more aware of this international
sports event than others. Here is some background information
on it (Cathnews Asia)
"A journey through the ice caves of France" - a rather
striking comment by the artist Pablo Picasso introduces
an interesting article on the spiritually rich cave
paintings of SW France which lay undetected to humans
from prehistoric times until the Renaissance (The Tablet)
"Developer of in vitro wins Nobel science prize" -
While this news is not universally praised, the Nobel
people have seen fit to honour Robert G. Edwards and
Patrick Steptoe for their discovery of a procedure
for treating human infertility. Certainly, millions
of couples have found happiness as a result
(New York Times)
"Mario Vargas Llosa gains Nobel literature prize" -
I have been reading this Peruvian author for twenty years,
and it is satisfying to learn of his recognition
(New York Times)
"Essential theology books of the past quarter century" -
If you haven't been reading all the theology you might
have during the past 25 years, here are lists of books
offered by eight theologians who were asked to name five
of their favourites (The Christian Century)
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
14 stories are provided this week through the services
of Ecumenical News International
___
Quotes of the Week:
Wayne Lee Jones, Gustavo Gutierrez and Beatrice of
Nazareth provide their wisdom for us this week,
courtesy of Sojourners Online.
___
On This Day (Oct. 4th - 8th)
Anwar Sadat killed by Islamic militants (1981)
Poland banns unions including Solidarity (1982)
___
Closing Thoughts -
"A Prayer for Peace" by Annette Smith, concludes
Colleagues List for this week. The prayer was
used at the Ottawa-St. Lawrence Lutheran Conference,
focusing on justice and peace, in June of this year.
It was circulated through the October newsletter of
Citizens for Public Justice, Ottawa.
---
Thanksgiving blessings to all, Canadian or not!
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
__
ANNOUNCING:
ST. DAVID'S 50th ANNIVERSARY
TOUR OF CELTIC LANDS - 2011
We plan a 15-day tour of special Celtic sites
in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England -
April 26th - May 10th, 2011.
A highlight of the tour will be a visit to
St. David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire. Choir
members from our group will sing at various
informal cathedral events through the day
and at Evensong, on Saturday, May 7th!
Details are presently being finalized with
the cathedral dean, Jonathan Lean.
We are also planning to sing while visiting
Iona, Scotland and the Church of Mary Immaculate
in Inchicore, Dublin, Ireland.
THE 38 PLACES ON THE TOUR ARE NOW SOLD OUT
We have a waiting list for this trip; also an
interest list for other, future tours!
Let me know if you have an interest in exciting
spiritual tourism!
*****
MONDAY NIGHT STUDY
Announcing our New Fall Program at St. David's:
Follow this series by clicking:
http://www.1journey.net/stdavids/SD/BookStudy/25/25.htm
LISTENING FOR THE HEARTBEAT OF GOD:
A Celtic Spirituality (Philip Newell)
Including background material from the book:
THE CELTIC WAY (Ian Bradley)
Plus:
INTROS TO CELTIC SAINTS PATRICK, COLUMBA & DAVID
Join our ten week Monday Night Study, which will run
from September 20th through November 29th
Special Guest:
Dr. Wayne Davies, Department of Geography, U of C.
is a native of Wales. He will speak with us at one
session, introducing us to his homeland, and explaining
some of the important sites we plan to visit to maximize
our appreciation of the tour.
This program is being made available for regular
Monday Night study-folk plus those planning to
take the tour of Celtic Lands next spring.
36 persons, representing tour and non-tour participants
are registered for this ten-week series.
This study series is part of our St. David's fiftieth
anniversary celebrations and is available to all!
___
WEDNESDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY
Announcing our Autumn Series:
"The Book of Genesis"
Primeval and Patriarchal Stories -
Creation, Fall, Flood, Babel
Abraham, Covenant, Ishmael & Sodom.
Join us Wednesday mornings, 9-10 AM
October 6th through December 1st
*****
THURSDAY UNIVERSITY STUDY
Students, faculty and staff
"Becoming Human" by Jean Vanier
(the 1998 CBC Massey Lecture Series)
Thursdays, Oct 21 through Nov 25, Noon-1 PM
Native Centre, Small Boardroom (MSC 390)
Oct 21 – Loneliness, Chapter 1
Oct 28 – Belonging, Chapter 2
Nov 4 – From Exclusion to Inclusion, Chapter 3
[skipping Remembrance Day]
Nov 18 – The Path to Freedom, Chapter 4
Nov 25 – Forgiveness, Chapter 5
*****
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
Book Notice:
THE MASQUE OF AFRICA
Glimpses of African Belief
by V. S. Naipaul
Knopf Canada: Toronto,
Publishing date: Oct.19th, 2010
256 pages. $32.CAD.
ISBN #978-0-307-27073-3
Publisher's Promo:
Understanding Africa is critical for all concerned
with the world today. In what promises to be his
last great work of reportage, one of the keenest
observers of the continent surveys the affects of
belief and religion on the disparate peoples of Africa.
This book is his first major work of non-fiction to
be published since his international bestselling book
"Beyond Belief." The book is only superficially one of
travel - full of people, stories, and the landscapes
he visits - but it encompasses a larger narrative and
purpose; to judge the effects of belief - whether in
indigenous animisms, faiths imposed by other cultures,
or the cults of leaders and mythical history upon the
progress of civilization.
---
Author's Words:
For my travel books I travel on a theme. And the theme
of "The Masque of Africa" is African belief. I begin in
Uganda, at the centre of the continent, do Ghana, and
Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and Gabon, and end at the bottom
of the continent, in South Africa.
My theme is belief, not political or economical life;
and yet at the bottom of the continent, the political
realities are so overwhelming that they have to be
taken into account.
Perhaps an outspoken aspect of my inquiry was the
subversion of old Africa by the ways of the outside
world. The theme held until I got to the South, when the
clash of the two ways of thinking and believing became too
far one-sided. The skyscrapers of Johannesburg didn't
rest on sand. The older world of magic felt fragile,
but at the same time had an enduring quality. You felt
that they would survive any calamity.
In Africa, the practice of magic is everywhere...
to witness this, to be given some idea of its power,
was to be taken back to the beginning of things.
To reach that beginning was the purpose of my book.
---
My Thoughts:
I have been reading volumes by Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul
for more than forty years, since I lived in Trinidad, the
homeland of the author. His "Middle Passage" "The Mimic Men"
and "A House for Mr. Biswas" as well as his non-West-Indian-
based titles like "A Bend in the River" (the Congo) and
"A Turn in the South (USA) have shared common traits
of piercing cultural assessment.
Naipaul has never been a friend of religion - especially
missionary religion - which he considers a political and
cultural imposition. He opposed colonialism, but was just
as critical of post-colonialism. His visits to former
European colonies in Africa and Asia, for example, have
resulted in a merciless critique of human arrogance,
stupidity and frailty - whether perpetrated by whites,
blacks, or others.
V. S. Naipaul has always courted controversy. His move
from Trinidad to the UK, very early in his career, was
an obvious political statement about human weakness.
From there he wrote "The Mimic Men" a denigration of his
own East/West Indian roots and his espousal of English
values.
Why read a man who is obviously opposed to Christianity?
(and all the great faiths for that matter?) Because
embedded in his harsh rhetoric are kernels of truth that
we people of faith need to hear and recognize.
I read the whelps of anger in the Trinidadian papers
when a new Naipaul book would appear. But I also saw
his books sell wildly among the people he was so bent
on criticizing. When you are a good writer you can do
that and get away with it!
Naipaul's ability to get past the civil and go for
the jugular of a particular issue is not confined to
his critique of religion. He is widely read.
So, read this book to get Naipaul's take on religion
in modern Africa. His views about primal faiths are
intriguing and his assessment of the modern "success"
of Islam and Christianity in Africa (both of which he
considers foreign to the true spirit of the people)
are worth reflecting upon.
As I close yet another Naipaul tome, I am again
reminded of the "enigma" that is this great and
controversial writer. He is truly one of the most
strategic and readable commentators on our times.
---
Buy the Book:
Available, October 19th, 2010 from Amazon.ca:
http://tinyurl.com/2dnnw2z
*****
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
MARTIN MARTY
Sightings 10/4/2010
Religious Illiteracy in America
Link:
*****
JIM TAYLOR
TOUGH WORDS FOR DYING CHURCHES
Web Log
Oct. 7th, 2010
"We will need to develop new ways of being church"
http://edges.canadahomepage.net/2010/10/06/897/
*****
CHARLES CURRAN
From Richard O'Brien's
"Essays in Theology"
October 4th, 2010
"Church crisis caused by lack of pastoral leadership"
http://tinyurl.com/26oomcn
*****
NET NOTES
FRIENDS OF NOAH:
Jewish Roots for the Blessing of Animals
America Magazine
October 8th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/26ucbkw
*****
LOST MICHELANGELO 'PIETA' FOUND
The Australian
Oct. 5th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2euhqh7
*****
HINDU-MUSLIM CLASH OVER HOLY SITE
Sightings 10/7/2010
by Elsa J. Marty
Last week a high court in India announced its verdict
on a disputed holy site in the city of Ayodhya. There
is perhaps no place in India that better symbolizes
contemporary Hindu-Muslim tension. Many Hindus believe
Lord Ram, the hero of the Ramayana, was born there.
But the exact site now considered his birthplace, Ram
Janambhoomi, has been home to a mosque, Babri Masjid,
since the early sixteenth century. Hindus and Muslims
have been in a legal battle for the property for the
last sixty years. In 1992, however, Hindu extremists
destroyed the mosque, and riots erupted throughout the
country, killing more than 2,000 people. A commission
spent seventeen years investigating the course of
events and finally released a report last year indicting
leading members of the BJP, the Hindu nationalist political
party, for their role in planning the demolition of the
mosque. But the report was tabled in Parliament and has
not affected the proceedings of the criminal case...
Read the entire article: http://tinyurl.com/2c6dtg3
*****
PICTURES OF PAKISTAN FLOOD DISASTER
Cathnews Asia
Oct. 6th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/23ac5yg
*****
ECUMENICAL INDIAN YOUTH PRAY FOR GAMES
Cathnews Asia
Oct. 4th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2bsjo5o
*****
A JOURNEY THROUGH THE ICE CAVES OF FRANCE
"We have invented nothing" (Picasso)
The Tablet
October 9th, 2010
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/issue/1000228/booksandart
*****
DEVELOPER OF IN VITRO FERTILIZATION WINS NOBEL PRIZE
New York Times
October 4th, 2010
Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Mon, October 04, 2010 -- 5:55 AM ET
-----
Developer of In Vitro Fertilization Wins
Nobel Prize for Medicine
Robert G. Edwards, the British scientist who developed
in vitro fertilization, won the 2010 Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine.
In announcing the award, the prize committee at the
Karolinska Institute in Sweden said Dr. Edwards "battled
societal and establishment resistance to his development
of the in vitro fertilization procedure, which has so far
led to the birth of around 4 million people."
Read More: http://tinyurl.com/2emgtwu
---
Ecumenical News International
Geneva
October 5th, 2010
Catholic condemnation of Nobel Prize
stirs Italian press reaction
Rome (ENI). Vatican authorities have strongly criticised
the awarding of the 2010 Nobel Prize for Medicine to
Briton Robert Edwards, stating that the scientist's work
on in-vitro fertilisation does not help in the defence of
life. At the same time, a number of editorials in the
Italian press attacked the Roman Catholic position.
Vatican Radio carried an interview with Lucio Romano,
president of the Science and Life Association, on 4
October in which he said, "The award was for a technique
which reduces humanity to a product. The assignation of
the Nobel Prize to Edwards ignores all ethical issues
linked with IVF." The president of the Vatican-based
International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations,
José María Simón Castellvi, said, "Although IVF has brought
happiness to the many couples who have conceived through
this process, it has done so at an enormous cost. That cost
is the undermining of the dignity of the human person."
*****
MARIO VARGAS LLOSA WINS NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE
New York Times
Oct. 7th, 2010
The Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa has won the
2010 Nobel Prize in Literature.
The Swedish Academy said that it was honoring the 74-year-old
author "for his cartography of structures of power and his
trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt and
defeat."
Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com?emc=na
*****
ESSENTIAL THEOLOGY BOOKS OF THE PAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS
The Christian Century
October 4th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2dq99tp
*****
GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI
Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
4 October 2010
German president says 20 years later,
Islam now part of Germany
Trier, Germany (ENI). Islam is part of a modern,
changing Germany, the country's president,
Christian Wulff, told the nation in an address on
the 20th anniversary of the reunification of the
once divided nation. "Christianity is, of course,
part of Germany. Judaism is, of course, part of
Germany. This is our Judeo-Christian history. But,
now, Islam is also part of Germany," the president
told the assembled dignitaries in the northern city
of Bremen, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, on 3
October. Before his appointment as president in July
2010, Wulff, as Minister President of Lower Saxony,
appointed the first Muslim state cabinet minister
in Germany.
_____
Kenya government irks Christians,
Muslims on call for homosexuals
Nairobi (ENI). Some Kenyan Christian and Muslim
leaders have expressed anger at a government minister's
suggestion that the country's people should learn to
with live homosexuality.Faith leaders said they want an
apology from the minister. Others are calling on President
Mwai Kibaki to sack Esther Murugi, the special programs'
minister, accusing her of making "irresponsible comments"
during a speech in Mombasa, the capital of the coastal
region. "It is would be very honourable for the minister
to accept and issue an apology to the people of Kenya.
Her comments were annoying. They have hurt local people
especially in the coastal region," Anglican Bishop Julius
Kalu of Mombasa told ENI news on 4 October in a telephone
interview. Murugi told participants at a national symposium
on HIV and AIDS for homosexuals, lesbians and sex-workers
on 30 September, "We need to learn to live with the men who
have sex with other men. We are in the 21st century and
things have changed."
_____
40 years on, world interfaith peace body petitions
for 'arms down'
Tokyo (ENI). A world interfaith organization marked its
40th anniversary with a conference aimed to inspire
"mahoroba", the ancient Japanese concept of harmony and
unity. The Religions for Peace and its youth network were
also concluding a global petition for "shared security,"
which calls for a reduction in nuclear weapons and the
reallocation of the world's military spending by 10 percent
to help achieve the United Nations Millennium Development
Goals. The network has collected more than 13.5 million
signatures, many of them in Japan, which are to be
presented to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, the
permanent members of the Security Council, as well as
to world leaders. The Mahoroba Statement was adopted on
28 September in Japan's ancient capital city of Nara,
where the New York-based organization, known as Religions
for Peace, held its first world assembly in 1970.
*****
5 October 2010
Nepal's parties seek referendum
that could rescind secularism
Kathmandu (ENI). Four years after Nepal's parliament declared
the only Hindu kingdom in the world secular, three parties are
seeking a referendum to review the issue. The formerly royalist
Rastriya Prajatantra Party and two splinter groups have
proposed to the country's constituent assembly that Nepal's
29 million people be allowed to decide on whether to remain
secular or be a religious State, which they say is a question
of national importance. The assembly is currently drafting a
new constitution "Nepal had been a Hindu state for centuries,"
RPP chief and former minister Pashupati Shumsher Jung Bahadur
Rana told ENI News. The interim parliament, has to promulgate the
new constitution. Initially, the new statute was expected
to consolidate Nepal's transformation as a secular, federal
republic. But the referendum row has raised doubts about the
status of the mountain kingdom.
_____
Revised Bible seen as 'uniting point'
for all Chinese Christians
Hong Kong (ENI). The head of the United Bible Societies has
praised the newly released Revised Chinese Union Version
Bible, which took 27 years to complete, as a uniting point
for Chinese Christians around the world. Speaking at the
dedication service for the revised Chinese Bible on 27
September at St John's Anglican Cathedral in Hong Kong,
the global chairperson of the United Bible Societies,
Nora Lucero, praised the original version, first published
in 1919. She said it was a tool in "uniting and harmonising
the diversified language usage of Chinese people from various
regions" and noted that the revised version would continue
this mission.
*****
6 October 2010
New Orthodox patriarch says Kosovo
remains Serb 'sacred land'
Warsaw (ENI). The Serbian Orthodox Church's new
patriarch has reiterated his country's claim to
Kosovo during an enthronement service in the newly
independent republic that was boycotted by the Kosovo
government. "Kosovo and Metohija are today without
hundreds of thousands of expelled Serbian people.
All traces of their spiritual historical roots are
being eradicated," said Patriarch Irinej, whose sermon
was published by the Serbian church's information
service. "There are still tens of thousands of refugees
from this sacred land," said the Patriarch. They remain
turned toward their age-old bosom, and with tearful
eyes and painful hearts anticipate the day and
possibility in which they can return to their destroyed
and burned homes." The 80-year-old church leader was
preaching on 3 October at the 13th century monastery
of Pec, traditionally regarded as the see of Serbian
patriarchs. In January he had been enthroned in Serbia.
_____
South African churches among exhibitors at 'Sexpo' show
Johannesburg (ENI). Three churches were among exhibitors at
a sex exposition in South Africa, saying they aim to promote
healthy sex within marriage. The churches were among non-sex
industry organizations at the four-day Health, Sexuality and
Lifestyle Expo – South Africa that included, a cancer
prevention group, rhino protection charities and cosmetic
companies. In 2009 there had been strong criticism about
the exposition from some religious groups, but those churches
that had exhibits felt the time was opportune to preach about
the word of God, and sex, within marriage.
_____
Inter-faith council condemns West Bank mosque burning
Jerusalem (ENI). The Council of the Religious Institutions
of the Holy Land has expressed "grave concern" over the 3
October burning by militant Israeli settlers of a mosque
in the West Bank village of Beit Fajar near Bethlehem. "The
CRIHL strongly condemns these and similar acts of vandalism
and arson which have taken place in the past year," said the
council in a 5 October statement. It added, the council,
"calls upon people from all faiths - Christians, Jews and
Muslims - Palestinians and Israelis - to refrain from any
assault on places of religious significance and not to resort
to extremism and the exploitation of religion for a political
and territorial gain." The religious council represents the
Chief Rabbinate of Israel, the Palestinian Ministry of
Religious Affairs, the Palestinian [Islamic] Sharia Courts
and the assembly of the Heads of [Christian] Churches of
Jerusalem.
*****
7 October 2010
South African 'moral compass' Tutu
officially retires
Cape Town (ENI). Nobel Peace Prize Laureate,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, often described as South
Africa's moral compass, officially retired on his
79th birthday saying he wishes to devote time to
his wife, Leah, and family. Tutu, who was a major
figure in the struggle against apartheid, announced
in July that he would step down from public life,
and would stop giving media interviews, from 7
October, his birthday. "I have got a wife and family
that help to keep my head the right size. Just when
I am thinking that I am the cat's whiskers, they
remind me that, 'You are just daddy for us and
husband'," Tutu was quoted saying by the South
African Press Association. South Africa's Daily
Dispatch newspaper editorialised on 7 October,
"He has epitomised tolerance and understanding,
popularising the African concept of ubuntu,
which calls for forgiveness and to the ability
to always show 'humanity to others'." U.S.
President Barack Obama congratulated Tutu saying
in a written statement, "For decades he has been
a moral titan - a voice of principle, an unrelenting
champion of justice, and a dedicated peacemaker. "
_____
African churches can play key role in Middle East,
says WCC head
Nairobi (ENI). African churches can play a key role
in addressing the crisis in the Middle East, the
general secretary of the World Council of Churches,
the Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, has said. "This is also
a call for you as African churches," Tveit said, in
addressing the All Africa Conference of Churches in
Nairobi. "You have something to contribute in the
reflection about access to land as a matter of
justice and they [Palestinian Christians] also are
very encouraged by your way of expressing your faith,
that it is possible to pray and see results." Tveit,
a Norwegian Lutheran was in Kenya and Ethiopia in late
September as part of his first visit to Africa as WCC
general secretary. He noted the vibrancy of
Christianity on the continent. He said, during
his 23 September speech in Nairobi, that the Middle
East is a region where many conflicts in the world
get constant fuel.
_____
Bedroom must be 'playground'
say Filipino Christian counsellors
Manila (ENI). Three Filipino evangelical Christian
counsellors have designed a course for married
parishioners evolving around a topic that pastors
cannot discuss openly from their pulpits – sex.
"The Bible, not pornographic magazines, can teach
us how to enhance and enjoy our sexual life and help
strengthen our relationships as married couples,"
said the Rev. Clemente Guillermo, one of the
counsellors. He was speaking during a seminar
attended by more than 50 married couples and ENI
news on 2 October. The seminar was supported by
the Philippine Council for Evangelical Christians,
which groups evangelical churches and fellowships
nationwide.
*****
8 October 2010
Hong Kong Christian leaders urge release of Nobel
laureate Liu
Hong Kong (ENI). Hong Kong Christian leaders have urged
the government in Beijing to release 2010 Nobel Peace
Prize laureate, Liu Xiaobo, who was honoured for his
"long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human
rights in China". Representatives from the Roman
Catholic Justice and Peace Commission of Hong Kong and
the Christian Concern Hong Kong Society joined activists
in petitioning the Chinese government's liaison office in
Hong Kong soon after the announcement of the prize in Oslo
on 8 October. They asked Beijing to release Liu, who
initiated the "08 Charter" that asked for greater democracy
and respect for human rights. More than 10 000 people in
China and overseas had signed the charter. In 2009, one
year after the release of the charter, Liu was sentenced
to 11 years in prison and two years' deprivation of
political rights for "inciting the subversion of State
power". Liu has consistently maintained that the sentence
violates both China's constitution & fundamental human rights.
_____
Catholic bishops to discuss Middle East Christianity
Rome (ENI). A special meeting of Roman Catholic bishops will
be held at the Vatican beginning 10 October to discuss the
declining number of Christians in the Middle East. Monsignor
Nikola Eterovic, general secretary of the bishops' synod,
told journalists on 8 October that the meeting will take place
from 10 to 24 October, on the theme "The Catholic Church in
the Middle East: Communion and Witness". A total of 185 Roman
Catholic clerics will participate, most of them coming from
the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Cyprus,
Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Israel,
Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Syria, Turkey, the Palestinian
Territories and Yemen. While 356 million people live in the
region, Eterovic said only 5.7 million, or 1.6 percent,
are Catholic, and 20 million, or 5.6 percent, are Christian.
Pope Benedict XVI will open the synod, to which he has also
invited 12 "fraternal delegates" from the Oriental and Eastern
Churches of the Middle East, known as Orthodox churches.
_____
Malawi multi-faith group condemns Bible tearing
in Muslim area
Blantyre (ENI). Faith groups in the southern African
nation of Malawi have condemned the tearing up of Bibles
by people at Mangochi, a predominantly Muslim district
in the country's southern region. Gideon International,
a Christian organization that distributes free Bibles in
conjunction with the Bible Society of Malawi, early in
October handed out the Christian holy book to students
in the district, angering parents who thought the two
organizations were planning to convert their children.
"The Holy Bible was being given to children at a school
and all the children seemed to have been given [the Bible],
which infuriated some Muslim parents who tore the holy
books," the acting chairperson of the Public Affairs
Committee, a multi-faith pressure group, the Rev.
MacDonald Kadawati told the Nation newspaper on 7
October. "Others from the same faith quickly mobilised
each other and collected the Bibles and returned them
to Gideon International," said Kadawati.
*****
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners Online:
___
Oct. 5th, 2010
Teach me, God, to pray/in works as much as
in words / to make my actions thoughtful messages/
to make my actions more beautiful than words.
- Wayne Lee Jones
___
Oct. 7th, 2010
We often see poverty as an economic and social
issue, but we must have a deeper understanding.
In the ultimate analysis, poverty is death. It
is unjust and early death. It is the destruction
of persons, of people, and nations.
- Gustavo Gutierrez, talk at Brown University, 2000
___
Oct. 8th, 2010
As a fish swims the length and breadth of the sea and
rests in its depths, as a bird flies through the air,
so the Soul feels her mind completely unrestrained in
the height, width, and depth of Love.
- Beatrice of Nazareth, Mystic (1200-1268)
*****
ON THIS DAY
On Oct. 6, 1981, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was
shot to death by Islamic militants while reviewing
a military parade.
http://tinyurl.com/2ekhftg
_____
On Oct. 8, 1982, all labor organizations in Poland,
including Solidarity, were banned.
http://tinyurl.com/2a2z4dw
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT
From Citizens for Public Justice
October, 2010 Newsletter
Closing Prayer: God of justice, God of struggle
Morning glory God of justice, God of struggle,
through the resurrection of Jesus
you delivered humankind
from the oppression of darkness,
from death and from sin.
You invite us to new life,
to freedom and joy.
Kindle your fire in our hearts, kindle your fire
in your world
As your Spirit in Jesus
changed the course of salvation history,
encourage us
to transform those structures and institutions
that demean the dignity of your people,
especially the homeless, the poor, the untouchables,
those without power, without rights and representation.
Kindle your fire in our hearts, kindle your fire
in your world
Give vision and purpose to those who serve this country.
The vastness of our land brings with it a variety of peoples
and cultures, of needs and abilities.
Let you wisdom rest on the leaders and people of all provinces
Shine the light of peace and justice on our land.
Encourage our global citizenship and partnership pursuing dignity
for all.
Kindle your fire in our hearts, kindle your fire in your world
AMEN
*excerpt from Prayers for Peace and Justice by Annette Smith, first
written for the Ottawa-St. Lawrence Lutheran Conference, June 2010.
(end)
Monday, October 11, 2010
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Colleagues List, October 2nd, 2010
Vol. VI. No. 5
*****
Edited by Wayne A. Holst
*****
Special Item in this Issue:
Book Notice -
"More Everyday Parables" -
by colleague James Taylor
___
Colleague Communication:
Paul Verhoef
Harry Winter
Brian Arthur Brown
___
Colleague Contributions:
Martin Marty
Doug Shantz
___
Net Notes:
New York, New York
Irish Bishops Called to Rome
Joni Eareckson Tada Interviewed
The Press Continues to Misread Pope
Stephen Hawking and Religion Vs. Science
The Reality of the Celibate Life (Nouwen)
Major Holy Site Ruling re Hindus and Muslims
Coptic Pope Apologizes re Comments about Islam
Holy Books Return to Canadian Citizenship Court
Atheists Score Better than Religious in US Survey
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
9 stories from Ecumenical News International
___
Quotes of the Week:
Bernard of Clairvaux
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
John McLuckie
Henry David Thoreau
___
On This Day (Sept. 27th - Sept. 30th)
Sept. 28, 1924 - First round-the-world flight completed
Sept. 30, 1938 - Allies allow Germany's annex of Sudetenland.
___
Closing Thoughts -
Story passed along by colleague Jock McTavish
(end)
*****
Dear Friends:
Colleagues List arrives a little later in
the week than I normally send it because
Marlene and I decided to take Friday off
to see the glorious fall colours in Banff
and area while we had an opportunity.
Several weeks ago we saw a lovely array
of colour in some of the Ontario woodlands,
just beginning to appear. Now, the full glow
of golden leaves in Alberta.
We are blessed, and we want to enjoy this
for the few days they are on display!
___
Now, back to our task.
This week, I share with you a book notice
about the arrival of "More Everyday Parables"
by colleague James Taylor. This is the second
study he has written on the parables, and in it
he goes deeper and broader. Please enjoy this!
___
Paul Verhoef - Christian Reformed chaplain at the
University of Calgary is now able to announce the
fall study we have created for faculty and staff.
This year we will be reading "Becoming Human" by
Jean Vanier and we hope for a good response to this
five week program on Thursday noons in October and
November.
Harry Winter - is pleased to announce the selection
of a new superior general of the Oblates which took
place in Rome this week.
Brian Arthur Brown - suggests that there is an
alternative to burning the Qua'ran. He proposes
instead the mutual study of Jewish, Christian and
Islamic scriptures.
___
Colleague Contributions:
Martin Marty - writes of the decline in US church
attendance (Sightings)
Doug Shantz - announces the up-coming lecture -
"Imagining Women in the Early Church" by Anne Moore
this coming Monday evening at St. Andrew's United
Church, Calgary (Chair of Christian Thought)
___
Net Notes:
"New York, New York" - Art Babych, a Canadian
church writer was in the Big Apple to report
on the UN Millennial Goals conference. While there,
he created a photo essay on two major churches
which he visited while there (Anglican Journal News)
"Irish Bishops Called to Rome" - the pope has
called the Irish Catholic hierarchy to the Vatican
to discuss the sex abuse crisis that has plagued
this nation (Irish Independent)
"Joni Eareckson Tada Interviewed" - Evangelical
Christians have long honoured Joni, but her
story is one of general interest and it is told
through an interview with this remarkable woman.
(PBS, Religion and Ethics)
"The Press Continues to Misread Pope" - while some
of the popular press in the UK did quite well in
interpreting the papal visit recently, many articles
demonstrated a sad lack of religious awareness.
(Cathnews Asia)
"Stephen Hawking and Religion Vs. Science" - Again,
we visit the Sightings website for an article on
Hawking's recent published comments on God.
"The Reality of the Celibate Life (Nouwen)" - Twenty
years ago, Henri Nouwen was struggling with his
sexuality. Few knew then of his homosexuality. This
article remains a helpful reflection of Nouwen's
struggles at the time (National Catholic Reporter)
"Major Holy Site Ruling re Hindus and Muslims" -
For many years a battle has raged in Northern India
over the rightful ownership of a holy site as both
Hindus and Muslims have claimed it. Now, a high court
has ruled on a compromise settlement. Will it stand?
(BBC News)
"Coptic Pope Apologizes for Comments about Islam" -
It is hard for the Coptic Church in Egypt under the
best of times, but when a leader of that church makes
disparaging remarks against Muslims, trouble is quite
inevitable. Here is a recent story about such trouble.
(Associated Press)
"Holy Books Return to Canadian Citizenship Court" -
How to make sure that the Bible remains in Canadian
citizenship courts as a book to be respected? Allow
other holy books to be placed there as well. A truly
Canadian compromise for the good (Chrisitanweek.org)
"Atheists Score Better than Religious in US Survey" -
Some real surprises emerge from a recent survey on
religious knowledge in the US (ENI, PBS)
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
I hope you enjoy the 9 stories from Ecumenical News
International, Geneva that I have collected for you.
___
Quotes of the Week:
Bernard of Clairvaux, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, John McLuckie
and Henry David Thoreau provide insight for us this week.
___
On This Day (Sept. 27th - Sept. 30th)
Stories from the archives of the New York Times:
First round-the-world flight completed (1924)
Allies allow Germany's annex of Sudetenland (1938)
___
Closing Thoughts -
I share humour passed along by colleague Jock McTavish
Blessings on your week,
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/
__
ANNOUNCING:
ST. DAVID'S 50th ANNIVERSARY
TOUR OF CELTIC LANDS - 2011
We plan a 15-day tour of special Celtic sites
in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England -
April 26th - May 10th, 2011.
A highlight of the tour will be a visit to
St. David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire. Choir
members from our group will sing at various
informal cathedral events through the day
and at Evensong, on Saturday, May 7th!
Details are presently being finalized with
the cathedral dean, Jonathan Lean.
We are also planning to sing while visiting
Iona, Scotland and the Church of Mary Immaculate
in Inchicore, Dublin, Ireland.
38 PLACES ON THE TOUR ARE SOLD OUT
We have a waiting list for this trip; also an
interest list for other, future tours!
*****
Announcing our New Fall Study at St. David's:
Follow this study by clicking:
http://www.1journey.net/stdavids/SD/BookStudy/25/25.htm
---
LISTENING FOR THE HEARTBEAT OF GOD:
A Celtic Spirituality (Philip Newell)
Including background material from the book:
THE CELTIC WAY (Ian Bradley)
Plus:
INTROS TO CELTIC SAINTS PATRICK, COLUMBA & DAVID
Join our ten week Monday Night Study, which will run
from September 20th through November 29th
Special Guest:
Dr. Wayne Davies, Department of Geography, U of C.
is a native of Wales. He will speak with us at one
session, introducing us to his homeland, and explaining
some of the important sites we plan to visit to maximize
our appreciation of the tour.
This program is being made available for regular
Monday Night study-folk plus those planning to
take the tour of Celtic Lands next spring.
This study series is part of our St. David's fiftieth
anniversary celebrations and is provided for all!
___
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
MORE EVERYDAY PARABLES
Simple Stories for Spiritual Reflection,
by Jim Taylor. Wood Lake Books, Kelowna, BC.
2010. $19.95 CAD. 144 pages.
ISBN #978-1-55145-587-7.
Publisher's Promo:
In this second book of modern parables, author
Jim Taylor takes us... where events are ambiguous,
unsettling, or just plain ordinary... Usually, we
don't notice this place much at all in our rush to
get "the answer."
Yet, every story, every event, however ordinary or
vague, has God in it. "More Everyday Parables"
contains the kind of story that doesn't have an
explanation. Jesus made up his stories on the spot
to respond to questions of his followers. He used
things that had happened to him, or someone he had
heard about and made a story about it... Who will
ever exactly know what Jesus meant?
Taylor uses the "parable without explanation" in
this book to offer an opportunity for the reader
to reflect deeply on what the story evokes for them.
He tells his stories about everyday happenings that
we can all relate to, and then steps back and lets
us notice where and how they touched us, if they
touched us at all. Then, if we wish to go further,
the author offers some of his own reflections on
the story. This may allow new perspectives to open
for the reader.
Jim's accessible story telling style, the reflections
and Biblical references, make this book ideal for
personal study/reflection or group use.
_____
Author's Words:
Why parables? Because they were Jesus' way of
communicating his message. He didn't provide learned
lectures. He told parables.
We tragically, have turned his message into dogma. We
expound theology. We string together this verse and
that in an attempt to prove that there is a single
coherent system connecting writings that happened
1,000 years apart.
We turn the Bible into a coded message, a jigsaw puzzle
that must be put together in just the right way to make
sense. Jesus would have been appalled...
Jesus looked for examples as he walked along (on his
itinerant ministry) - the mustard seed, the village
woman...
The gospels list about 50 parables that Jesus told -
many are figures of speech that relate some commonplace
event or activity to the new kind of life Jesus promised.
---
But Jesus told parables that were more than figures of
speech. They were stories... Stories that everyone knows
about - the good Samaritan, the prodigal son, the wedding
banquet, the workers in the vineyard. I didn't include
story parables in my first book "Everyday Parables."
So I decided, when I was asked to write a sequel that
I would concentrate on that second kind.
I have deliberately not simply paraphrased the old
parables into modern language... we need to break our
imagination free of its biblical prison. The Bible was
written by a desert people who never really outgrew
their nomad roots. They wrote about droughts, not
deluges; about searing heat, not blizzards; about goats,
not supermarkets... if we limit ourselves to the
illustrations that correspond with biblical narratives,
we leave out a large part of our present-day experience.
I believe that God speaks to us through more than the
Bible. The Bible may be about God, but if God is truly
Creator, so is nature. So is science. And history.
For that reason, I have included in these modern
parables some events that would have been inconceivable
to the gospel writers. Because I believe that if Jesus
were telling parables today, he would do as he did
back then - he would talk about things that people
knew in their everyday lives...
All this leaves me with a dilemma. Because when I
choose the stories that I present as modern-day parables,
I want to tell you what their meaning is. I want to be
sure you don't miss the point.
But that is not what Jesus would have done.
So I've compromised. I tell the story, and you can,
if you wish, stop there... Or you can carry on reading
and see what I got out of it. I've included some
reflections of my own on each story. They might
illuminate your thoughts; they might not.
I would appreciate your feedback: jimt@quixoticx.ca
_____
My Thoughts:
What James Taylor does in this second of his books on
the parables of Jesus is what he has always attempted
to do in his writings so long as I have known him. He
seeks to free ancient truth from the encrustations of
time and interpretation. In that effort, there are few
who do better than Jim.
Taylor is frequently more interested in what others
think than in following any "official" explanation.
He has his opinions, of course, and he is forthright in
expressing them; usually, but not always, after due
consideration.
He teaches through his writings that the quest for truth
is a shared, not an individual process.
I have kept Taylor's books close by for the quarter
century that we have known each other and have always
been impressed that he tends to follow the rubric of
a shared truth quest in all his writing. When I first
wrote articles for him as editor of Practice of Ministry
in Canada (the 1980s) I found him only too eager to have
me struggle to express my own views.
He did much to encourage me to be a writer when I had
serious doubts about having anything to say.
Jim helped me to break free of my own tendency to "follow
the lead of others, rather than to think for myself under
the guidance of God's Spirit" (whatever that might be.)
He continues to do that with this his second attempt to
encounter that rich treasure trove of insight that are
the parables of Jesus.
Over the years, I have discovered that if there is anything
about Christianity that many people of other faith traditions
tend to appreciate, it is the stories Jesus told. Jesus is
truly one of history's greatest teachers and that truth has
not been lost on Christian and non-Christian alike.
---
I still believe there is value is approaching the parables
using the contextual methodology I was taught as a student
of theology. Go deep into the time and place of the original
situation (the 'sitz im leben') as my teachers impressed upon
me. Many good things can be learned from doing this.
But there is also much to be gained from taking this process
a step further as Taylor does. Through the use of imagination
and insight, it is possible to work with the implications of
those original stories and to project them in new, currently
applicable directions.
What does it mean to help people who have been abused and
abandoned? What does it mean to choose to go your own way?
What does it mean when you do not fit into the patterns of
accepted social norms? The good Samaritan, the prodigal son
and the wedding banquet are Jesus stories with much more value
and implication that we might often recognize at first glance.
---
Read Jim Taylor's new book on the parables because, by doing
so, you will grow through expanding your spiritual horizons.
He is good at taking you "one step further."
_____
Order from Wood Lake direct:
http://tinyurl.com/2c74hmy
Purchase at a special web price.
*****
COLLEAGUE COMMUNICATION
PAUL VERHOEF
Wayne:
Here is how we will promote the Vanier
study this fall:
UNIVERSITY FACULTY & STAFF FALL STUDY
"Becoming Human" by Jean Vanier
(the 1998 CBC Massey Lecture Series)
Thursdays, Oct 21 through Nov 25, Noon-1 PM
Native Centre, Small Boardroom (MSC 390)
Oct 21 – Loneliness, Chapter 1
Oct 28 – Belonging, Chapter 2
Nov 4 – From Exclusion to Inclusion, Chapter 3
[skipping Remembrance Day]
Nov 18 – The Path to Freedom, Chapter 4
Nov 25 – Forgiveness, Chapter 5
*****
HARRY WINTER
Dear Wayne:
We just received word that Louie Lougen, provincial
of the USA Oblate province, has been elected our
12th superior general, on his 58th birthday.
---
OMI USA
Sept. 28th, 2010
Oblates Elect New Yorker as New World Leader
http://www.omiusa.org/en/component/content/article/195
*****
BRIAN ARTHUR BROWN
An Alternative to Burning the Quar'an
Wayne:
My September blog entry has been posted:
"An Alternative to Burning the Qur'an" -
Just click on my website (below), move the cursor over
the Three Testaments bar and visit Join the Conversation.
Brian
http://www.brianarthurbrown.com/
*****
MARTIN MARTY
AMERICA'S DECLINE IN CHURCH ATTENDENCE
September 27th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2cbvpb5
*****
DOUG SHANTZ
The Chair of Christian Thought at the University of Calgary
presents The Bentall Lecture in Christian Theology with:
Dr. Anne Moore
Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies
University of Calgary:
"Imaging Women in the Early Church:
The Visual/Material Clues to Women's Leadership"
Monday, October 4, 2010 at 7:30pm
St. Andrew’s United Church
924 Heritage Dr. SW, Calgary
Everyone is welcome to join us for this free event!
*****
NET NOTES
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Crosstalk editor Art Babych (Ottawa) was in New York
during the U.N. Summit on Millennium Development Goals
Sept. 20 to 24 and shares his photos.
See the slide show...
http://tinyurl.com/2awpso8
*****
IRISH BISHOPS CALLED TO ROME
Irish Independent
September 29th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2cuz6k9
*****
JONI EARECKSON TADA INTERVIEWED
PBS Religion and Ethics
September 24th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/332ne9b
*****
THE PRESS CONTINUES TO MISREAD POPE
Cathnews Asia
September 26th, 2010
His Visit to the UK as Case in Point
http://tinyurl.com/26cgu8n
*****
STEPHEN HAWKING AND RELIGION VS SCIENCE
Sightings
9/23/2010
by Colin Bossen
Debate about God continues to be strong
http://tinyurl.com/2dlbjcj
*****
THE REALITY OF CELIBATE LIFE:
REFLECTIONS FROM HENRI NOUWEN
Provided by A.W. Richard Sipe
National Catholic Reporter
October 1st, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/28oybc7
*****
INDIAN HOLY SITE COMPROMISE BETWEEN
HINDU AND MUSLIM COMBATANTS
Attempted Settlement by Indian Court
BBC News
September 30th, 2010
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11441890
---
Holy Site has History of Violence
The Guardian UK
September 30th, 2010
Slideshow:
http://tinyurl.com/2a5ubgn
*****
COPTIC POPE APOLOGIZES FOR COMMENTS ABOUT ISLAM
Associated Press
September 27th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/22v8dre
*****
HOLY BOOKS RETURN TO CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP COURT
Christianweek.org
September 28th, 2010
http://www.christianweek.org/stories.php?id=1129
*****
ATHEISTS DO BETTER THAN RELIGIOUS
IN US SURVEY; JEWS AND MORMONS GET TOP MARKS
Ecumenical News Service
Geneva, Switzerland
September 28th, 2010
Atheists do better than religious in US religious survey
New York (ENI). If you want a question on religion answered
in the United States, ask an atheist. U.S. atheists and
agnostics are among the groups that scored highest in a
recent survey of knowledge of world religions by the
Washington-based Pew Research Centre's Forum on Religion
and Public Life. U.S. Jews and Mormons also got top marks.
The survey of 3412 adults, taken between 19 May and 6 June,
suggests that large numbers of Americans do not know,
"about the tenets, practices, history and leading figures
of major faith traditions - including their own", Pew said
when it announced the survey results on 28 September.
_____
PBS
Religion and Ethics
October 1st, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/28fnhww
*****
GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI
Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
28 September 2010
West focus on gays not real issue for Africa,
says Angolan bishop
London (ENI). The 25, not-so-young, white, Christian
supporters of Africa met in an almost empty London
church, which had been partly destroyed in the Second
World War, to hear the Anglican bishop of Angola, Andre
Soares, talk about, "the real issues" facing his
continent. Bishop Soares spoke to ENI News before the
start of the 2010 annual general meeting of the
Mozambique Angola Association, founded 103 years ago
to link Protestant churches in Britain with similar
churches in the then-Portuguese territories of Africa.
"We know a great deal about the challenge of secularism
and materialism. My country became independent from
Portugal 35 years ago on 11 November 1975," Bishop
Soares said outside St John's Church on Waterloo
Road in central London.
_____
Macau bishop says no to garbage dump at UN heritage site
Hong Kong (ENI). The Roman Catholic bishop in Macau has
spoken out against the building by the government of a
garbage storage facility next to the city's Church of St.
Lawrence, an historic building UNESCO listed as a world
cultural heritage site in 2005. Bishop Jose Lai Hung-Seng
told media on 23 September, "This is not at all good." He
explained that the proposed dump would not be in harmony
with the world cultural heritage site. The bishop said his
objection is not that the new storage facility would be
next to a church, and that it would be next to the cultural
heritage site. He hopes and believes the government will
drop its plan.
*****
29 September 2010
'Keep train on track' for Sudan peace
pleads world church leader
Nairobi (ENI). The general secretary of the World
Council of Churches has pleaded for the full
implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
for Sudan so that Africa's biggest country can
achieve stability. The Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit said
he understands from visits to the country, made
before the signing of the pact in 2005, how Sudan
desperately needs the peace agreement that ended
a decades-long civil war. "For me, this peace
agreement is such a costly gift and such an
opportunity that should not be lost," Tveit told
ENI news in an interview on 21 September at the
beginning of a seven-day visit to Kenya and
Ethiopia. On 9 January 2011, Sudan is scheduled
to hold referenda in southern Sudan and the
oil-rich Abyei border region between north and
south Sudan.
_____
Japan's Catholic bishops publish
English interfaith guidelines
Tokyo (ENI). Japan's Roman Catholic bishops have published
an English-language version of their guidelines for
interreligious dialogue. "Guidelines on Interreligious
Dialogue - The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan," is
aimed at foreign residents in the country. "In Japan, where
the number of Christians is extremely low, Catholics
frequently have contact with followers of various religions
and attend other religions' events," the bishops explain on
their Web site. "We are often puzzled or bewildered on those
occasions. It must be especially hard for foreign residents,
who are not familiar with Japanese unique rituals, customs,
and manners."
*****
30 September 2010
Christians call for calm after Indian verdict
on holy site
Bangalore, India (ENI). Churches in India have
joined other faiths and political leaders in calling
for calm after a court ruled that a religious site,
vigorously and violently disputed by Hindus and
Muslims, should be split between the two groups.
On 30 September, the high court of northern Uttar
Pradesh state handed down its verdict in the
protracted case that concerns the ownership of the
site of the former Babri mosque at Ayodhya, 700
kilometres (420 miles) south-east of New Delhi.
The case has been pending for more than half a
century. In a majority verdict, two of the three
judges declared that Hindus have the right of
ownership to the main disputed area, where the main
dome of the Muslim Babri mosque once stood. The court
granted Muslims and a Hindu group control of other
parts of the site. Hindus consider the location the
birthplace of the god Ram, and placed a Ram idol
inside the mosque in 1949.
_____
Southern Africa bishops disturbed
by Swaziland's rights abuses
Cape Town (ENI). Bishops of the Anglican Church in
Southern Africa say they are deeply disturbed by news
of growing human rights abuses in Swaziland, a kingdom
sandwiched between South Africa and Mozambique. The
bishops, meeting in Benoni near Johannesburg from 27
to 29 September for their twice-yearly synod, challenged
their church to become more involved in the quest for
democracy in Swaziland. Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape
Town, the leader of the church, said on 30 September he
could not remain silent on the issue of democracy in
Swaziland, "where power and wealth is concentrated in
the hands of a few, and political debate is hardly
permitted". A state of emergency has existed in
Swaziland for the past 37 years. Freedom of expression
is severely limited, opposition political parties are
banned, and reports of police arresting and beating up
critics are frequent.
_____
Evangelical Christian pilgrims converge on Jerusalem
Jerusalem (ENI). Thousands of evangelical Christians
from 100 countries have participated in a 30th "Feast
of Tabernacles" event, organized by the International
Christian Embassy Jerusalem, a group strongly supportive
of a united Jerusalem under Israel. The ICEJ says the
event, held from 23 to 29 September to coincide with
the Jewish holiday of the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot),
has become Israel's largest annual tourist event, and
the largest solidarity mission to Israel. Organizers
expect the festival to have injected an estimated US$15
million into the local economy. The event takes place
with the assistance of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism,
and, in 2010, about 1000 pilgrims from Brazil made up
the largest group at the embassy event.
*****
1 October 2010
Christian leaders lament during
Nigeria's 50th anniversary
Lagos (ENI). Christian leaders in Nigeria have joined
in marking 50 years of independence in Africa's most
populous nation but have also called for divine
intervention because of their concern for the state
of the nation. "Though it might seem like there is not
much to jubilate about in the nation, prophetically and
by faith, we celebrate Jubilee. We believe that as God
sees our faith, he will give us cause to be jubilant
as we begin the journey of another 50 years," said
the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria,
Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.
_____
Buzz builds around new unofficial saint of abuse victims
Vatican City. (ENI/RNS). Mother Mary MacKillop won't be
canonised until 17 October but some Catholics already have
an unofficial title for the 19th-century Australian nun:
Patron Saint of Whistleblowers. MacKillop (1842-1909),
Australia's first native-born saint, was co-founder of
the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, an order
of nuns dedicated to the religious instruction of children
and care for the poor. The strong-willed MacKillop, who
worked under harsh conditions in the Australian outback,
was once briefly excommunicated by her bishop for reasons
that have never been entirely clear.
*****
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners Online:
September 28th, 2010
Many of those who are humiliated are not humble.
Some react to humiliation with anger, others with
patience, and others with freedom. The first are
culpable, the next harmless, the last just.
- Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs
___
September 29th, 2010
We live in hope because we believe, like St. Paul,
that love never dies. Human beings in the historical
process have created enclaves of love by their active
practice of solidarity throughout the world, and with
a view to the full-orbed liberation of peoples and
all humanity.
- Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, from his Nobel Lecture
___
September 30th, 2010
"This is completely unacceptable. Sacrilege would not
be too strong a word. It's loot, taken violently and
inappropriately in the first place. A tabot is a very
holy object; no one can see it apart from priests.
Westminster Abbey is one of the most visited sites in
London. To have it on public display there is an offence
to Orthodox Ethiopian Christians. For one Christian church
to refuse to return it to another seems profoundly wrong.”
- Rev. John McLuckie, a British priest, on Westminster
Abbey’s refusal to return a tabot, a small tablet that
symbolises the Ark of the Covenant, taken by British
troops in the 19th century, to the Ethiopian Orthodox
Church. (Source: Guardian/Observer)
_____
October 1st, 2010
The heavens are as deep as our aspirations are high.
- Henry David Thoreau
*****
ON THIS DAY -
On Sept. 28, 1924, two United States Army planes
landed in Seattle, Washington, having completed the
first round-the-world flight in 175 days.
http://tinyurl.com/2fgunet
_____
Sept. 30, 1938, British, French, German and Italian
leaders agreed at a meeting in Munich that Nazi Germany
would be allowed to annex Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.
http://tinyurl.com/38gyrvb
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT
(provided by colleague Jock McTavish)
A bishop had decreed that woman housekeepers for
priests should be at least fifty years of age. He
was startled, in the visitation of his diocese, to
discover a priest who thought he was observing the
law by keeping two housekeepers, each of whom was
twenty-five years of age.
Anthony de Mello, S.J.
(end)
COLLEAGUES LIST
Vol. VI. No. 5
Oct. 2nd, 2010
*****
Edited by Wayne A. Holst
*****
Special Item in this Issue:
Book Notice -
"More Everyday Parables" -
by colleague James Taylor
___
Colleague Communication:
Paul Verhoef
Harry Winter
Brian Arthur Brown
___
Colleague Contributions:
Martin Marty
Doug Shantz
___
Net Notes:
New York, New York
Irish Bishops Called to Rome
Joni Eareckson Tada Interviewed
Reading the Bible in South Africa
The Press Continues to Misread Pope
Stephen Hawking and Religion Vs. Science
The Reality of the Celibate Life (Nouwen)
Major Holy Site Ruling re Hindus and Muslims
Coptic Pope Apologizes re Comments about Islam
Holy Books Return to Canadian Citizenship Court
Atheists Score Better than Religious in US Survey
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
9 stories from Ecumenical News International
___
Quotes of the Week:
Bernard of Clairvaux
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
John McLuckie
Henry David Thoreau
___
On This Day (Sept. 27th - Sept. 30th)
Sept. 28, 1924 - First round-the-world flight completed
Sept. 30, 1938 - Allies allow Germany's annex of Sudetenland.
___
Closing Thoughts -
Story passed along by colleague Jock McTavish
(end)
*****
Dear Friends:
Colleagues List arrives a little later in
the week than I normally send it because
Marlene and I decided to take Friday off
to see the glorious fall colours in Banff
and area while we had an opportunity.
Several weeks ago we saw a lovely array of
of colour in some of the Ontario woodlands,
just beginning to appear. Now, the full glow
of golden leaves in Alberta.
We are blessed, and we want to enjoy this
for the few days they are on display!
___
Now, back to our task.
This week, I share with you a book notice
about the arrival of "More Everyday Parables"
by colleague James Taylor. This is the second
study he has written on the parables, and in it
he goes deeper and broader. Please enjoy this!
___
Paul Verhoef - Christian Reformed chaplain at the
University of Calgary is now able to announce the
fall study we have created for faculty and staff.
This year we will be reading "Becoming Human" by
Jean Vanier and we hope for a good response to this
five week program on Thursday noons in October and
November.
Harry Winter - is pleased to announce the selection
of a new superior general of the Oblates which took
place in Rome this week.
Brian Arthur Brown - suggests that there is an
alternative to burning the Qua'ran. He proposes
instead the mutual study of Jewish, Christian and
Islamic scriptures.
___
Colleague Contributions:
Martin Marty - writes of the decline in US church
attendance (Sightings)
Doug Shantz - announces the up-coming lecture -
"Imagining Women in the Early Church" by Anne Moore
this coming Monday evening at St. Andrew's United
Church, Calgary (Chair of Christian Thought)
___
Net Notes:
"New York, New York" - Art Babych, a Canadian
church writer was in the Big Apple to report
on the UN Millennial Goals conference. While there,
he created a photo essay on two major churches
which he visited while there (Anglican Journal News)
"Irish Bishops Called to Rome" - the pope has
called the Irish Catholic hierarchy to the Vatican
to discuss the sex abuse crisis that has plagued
this nation (Irish Independent)
"Joni Eareckson Tada Interviewed" - Evangelical
Christians have long honoured Joni, but her
story is one of general interest and it is told
through an interview with this remarkable woman.
(PBS, Religion and Ethics)
"Reading the Bible in South Africa" - Times change.
A generation ago the Bible served as a major tool
in the liberation of South Africa from racist rule.
New, a new look at the Bible is needed (Sightings)
"The Press Continues to Misread Pope" - while some
of the popular press in the UK did quite well in
interpreting the papal visit recently, many articles
demonstrated a sad lack of religious awareness.
(Cathnews Asia)
"Stephen Hawking and Religion Vs. Science" - Again,
we visit the Sightings website for an article on
Hawking's recent published comments on God.
"The Reality of the Celibate Life (Nouwen)" - Twenty
years ago, Henri Nouwen was struggling with his
sexuality. Few knew then of his homosexuality. This
article remains a helpful reflection of Nouwen's
struggles at the time (National Catholic Reporter)
"Major Holy Site Ruling re Hindus and Muslims" -
For many years a battle has raged in Northern India
over the rightful ownership of a holy site as both
Hindus and Muslims have claimed it. Now, a high court
has ruled on a compromise settlement. Will it stand?
(BBC News)
"Coptic Pope Apologizes for Comments about Islam" -
It is hard for the Coptic Church in Egypt under the
best of times, but when a leader of that church makes
disparaging remarks against Muslims, trouble is quite
inevitable. Here is a recent story about such trouble.
(Associated Press)
"Holy Books Return to Canadian Citizenship Court" -
How to make sure that the Bible remains in Canadian
citizenship courts as a book to be respected? Allow
other holy books to be placed there as well. A truly
Canadian compromise for the good (Chrisitanweek.org)
"Atheists Score Better than Religious in US Survey" -
Some real surprises emerge from a recent survey on
religious knowledge in the US (ENI, PBS)
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
I hope you enjoy the 9 stories from Ecumenical News
International, Geneva that I have collected for you.
___
Quotes of the Week:
Bernard of Clairvaux, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, John McLuckie
and Henry David Thoreau provide insight for us this week.
___
On This Day (Sept. 27th - Sept. 30th)
Stories from the archives of the New York Times:
First round-the-world flight completed (1924)
Allies allow Germany's annex of Sudetenland (1938)
___
Closing Thoughts -
I share humour passed along by colleague Jock McTavish
Blessings on your week,
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/
__
ANNOUNCING:
ST. DAVID'S 50th ANNIVERSARY
TOUR OF CELTIC LANDS - 2011
We plan a 15-day tour of special Celtic sites
in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England -
April 26th - May 10th, 2011.
A highlight of the tour will be a visit to
St. David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire. Choir
members from our group will sing at various
informal cathedral events through the day
and at Evensong, on Saturday, May 7th!
Details are presently being finalized with
the cathedral dean, Jonathan Lean.
We are also planning to sing while visiting
Iona, Scotland and the Church of Mary Immaculate
in Inchicore, Dublin, Ireland.
38 PLACES ON THE TOUR ARE SOLD OUT
We have a waiting list for this trip; also an
interest list for other, future tours!
*****
Announcing our New Fall Study at St. David's:
Follow this study by clicking:
http://www.1journey.net/stdavids/SD/BookStudy/25/25.htm
---
LISTENING FOR THE HEARTBEAT OF GOD:
A Celtic Spirituality (Philip Newell)
Including background material from the book:
THE CELTIC WAY (Ian Bradley)
Plus:
INTROS TO CELTIC SAINTS PATRICK, COLUMBA & DAVID
Join our ten week Monday Night Study, which will run
from September 20th through November 29th
Special Guest:
Dr. Wayne Davies, Department of Geography, U of C.
is a native of Wales. He will speak with us at one
session, introducing us to his homeland, and explaining
some of the important sites we plan to visit to maximize
our appreciation of the tour.
This program is being made available for regular
Monday Night study-folk plus those planning to
take the tour of Celtic Lands next spring.
This study series is part of our St. David's fiftieth
anniversary celebrations and is provided for all!
___
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
MORE EVERYDAY PARABLES
Simple Stories for Spiritual Reflection,
by Jim Taylor. Wood Lake Books, Kelowna, BC.
2010. $19.95 CAD. 144 pages.
ISBN #978-1-55145-587-7.
Publisher's Promo:
In this second book of modern parables, author
Jim Taylor takes us... where events are ambiguous,
unsettling, or just plain ordinary... Usually, we
don't notice this place much at all in our rush to
get "the answer."
Yet, every story, every event, however ordinary or
vague, has God in it. "More Everyday Parables"
contains the kind of story that doesn't have an
explanation. Jesus made up his stories on the spot
to respond to questions of his followers. He used
things that had happened to him, or someone he had
heard about and made a story about it... Who will
ever exactly know what Jesus meant?
Taylor uses the "parable without explanation" in
this book to offer an opportunity for the reader
to reflect deeply on what the story evokes for them.
He tells his stories about everyday happenings that
we can all relate to, and then steps back and lets
us notice where and how they touched us, if they
touched us at all. Then, if we wish to go further,
the author offers some of his own reflections on
the story. This may allow new perspectives to open
for the reader.
Jim's accessible story telling style, the reflections
and Biblical references, make this book ideal for
personal study/reflection or group use.
_____
Author's Words:
Why parables? Because they were Jesus' way of
communicating his message. He didn't provide learned
lectures. He told parables.
We tragically, have turned his message into dogma. We
expound theology. We string together this verse and
that in an attempt to prove that there is a single
coherent system connecting writings that happened
1,000 years apart.
We turn the Bible into a coded message, a jigsaw puzzle
that must be put together in just the right way to make
sense. Jesus would have been appalled...
Jesus looked for examples as he walked along (on his
itinerant ministry) - the mustard seed, the village
woman...
The gospels list about 50 parables that Jesus told -
many are figures of speech that relate some commonplace
event or activity to the new kind of life Jesus promised.
---
But Jesus told parables that were more than figures of
speech. They were stories... Stories that everyone knows
about - the good Samaritan, the prodigal son, the wedding
banquet, the workers in the vineyard. I didn't include
story parables in my first book "Everyday Parables."
So I decided, when I was asked to write a sequel that
I would concentrate on that second kind.
I have deliberately not simply paraphrased the old
parables into modern language... we need to break our
imagination free of its biblical prison. The Bible was
written by a desert people who never really outgrew
their nomad roots. They wrote about droughts, not
deluges; about searing heat, not blizzards; about goats,
not supermarkets... if we limit ourselves to the
illustrations that correspond with biblical narratives,
we leave out a large part of our present-day experience.
I believe that God speaks to us through more than the
Bible. The Bible may be about God, but if God is truly
Creator, so is nature. So is science. And history.
For that reason, I have included in these modern
parables some events that would have been inconceivable
to the gospel writers. Because I believe that if Jesus
were telling parables today, he would do as he did
back then - he would talk about things that people
knew in their everyday lives...
All this leaves me with a dilemma. Because when I
choose the stories that I present as modern-day parables,
I want to tell you what their meaning is. I want to be
sure you don't miss the point.
But that is not what Jesus would have done.
So I've compromised. I tell the story, and you can,
if you wish, stop there... Or you can carry on reading
and see what I got out of it. I've included some
reflections of my own on each story. They might
illuminate your thoughts; they might not.
I would appreciate your feedback: jimt@quixoticx.ca
_____
My Thoughts:
What James Taylor does in this second of his books on
the parables of Jesus is what he has always attempted
to do in his writings so long as I have known him. He
seeks to free ancient truth from the encrustations of
time and interpretation. In that effort, there are few
who do better than Jim.
Taylor is frequently more interested in what others
think than in following any "official" explanation.
He has his opinions, of course, and he is forthright in
expressing them; usually, but not always, after due
consideration.
He teaches through his writings that the quest for truth
is a shared, not an individual process.
I have kept Taylor's books close by for the quarter
century that we have known each other and have always
been impressed that he tends to follow the rubric of
a shared truth quest in all his writing. When I first
wrote articles for him as editor of Practice of Ministry
in Canada (the 1980s) I found him only too eager to have
me struggle to express my own views.
He did much to encourage me to be a writer when I had
serious doubts about having anything to say.
Jim helped me to break free of my own tendency to "follow
the lead of others, rather than to think for myself under
the guidance of God's Spirit" (whatever that might be.)
He continues to do that with this his second attempt to
encounter that rich treasure trove of insight that are
the parables of Jesus.
Over the years, I have discovered that if there is anything
about Christianity that many people of other faith traditions
tend to appreciate, it is the stories Jesus told. Jesus is
truly one of history's greatest teachers and that truth has
not been lost on Christian and non-Christian alike.
---
I still believe there is value is approaching the parables
using the contextual methodology I was taught as a student
of theology. Go deep into the time and place of the original
situation (the 'sitz im leben') as my teachers impressed upon
me. Many good things can be learned from doing this.
But there is also much to be gained from taking this process
a step further as Taylor does. Through the use of imagination
and insight, it is possible to work with the implications of
those original stories and to project them in new, currently
applicable directions.
What does it mean to help people who have been abused and
abandoned? What does it mean to choose to go your own way?
What does it mean when you do not fit into the patterns of
accepted social norms? The good Samaritan, the prodigal son
and the wedding banquet are Jesus stories with much more value
and implication that we might often recognize at first glance.
---
Read Jim Taylor's new book on the parables because, by doing
so, you will grow through expanding your spiritual horizons.
He is good at taking you "one step further."
_____
Order from Wood Lake direct:
http://tinyurl.com/2c74hmy
Purchase at a special web price.
*****
COLLEAGUE COMMUNICATION
PAUL VERHOEF
Wayne:
Here is how we will promote the Vanier
study this fall:
UNIVERSITY FACULTY & STAFF FALL STUDY
"Becoming Human" by Jean Vanier
(the 1998 CBC Massey Lecture Series)
Thursdays, Oct 21 through Nov 25, Noon-1 PM
Native Centre, Small Boardroom (MSC 390)
Oct 21 – Loneliness, Chapter 1
Oct 28 – Belonging, Chapter 2
Nov 4 – From Exclusion to Inclusion, Chapter 3
[skipping Remembrance Day]
Nov 18 – The Path to Freedom, Chapter 4
Nov 25 – Forgiveness, Chapter 5
*****
HARRY WINTER
Dear Wayne:
We just received word that Louie Lougen, provincial
of the USA Oblate province, has been elected our
12th superior general, on his 58th birthday.
---
OMI USA
Sept. 28th, 2010
Oblates Elect New Yorker as New World Leader
http://www.omiusa.org/en/component/content/article/195
*****
BRIAN ARTHUR BROWN
An Alternative to Burning the Quar'an
Wayne:
My September blog entry has been posted:
"An Alternative to Burning the Qur'an" -
Just click on my website (below), move the cursor over
the Three Testaments bar and visit Join the Conversation.
Brian
www.BrianArthurBrown.com
*****
MARTIN MARTY
AMERICA'S DECLINE IN CHURCH ATTENDENCE
September 27th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2cbvpb5
*****
DOUG SHANTZ
The Chair of Christian Thought at the University of Calgary
presents The Bentall Lecture in Christian Theology with:
Dr. Anne Moore
Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies
University of Calgary:
"Imaging Women in the Early Church:
The Visual/Material Clues to Women's Leadership"
Monday, October 4, 2010 at 7:30pm
St. Andrew’s United Church
924 Heritage Dr. SW, Calgary
Everyone is welcome to join us for this free event!
*****
NET NOTES
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Crosstalk editor Art Babych (Ottawa) was in New York
during the U.N. Summit on Millennium Development Goals
Sept. 20 to 24 and shares his photos.
See the slide show...
http://tinyurl.com/2awpso8
*****
IRISH BISHOPS CALLED TO ROME
Irish Independent
September 29th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2cuz6k9
*****
JONI EARECKSON TADA INTERVIEWED
PBS Religion and Ethics
September 24th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/332ne9b
*****
THE PRESS CONTINUES TO MISREAD POPE
Cathnews Asia
September 26th, 2010
His Visit to the UK as Case in Point
http://tinyurl.com/26cgu8n
*****
STEPHEN HAWKING AND RELIGION VS SCIENCE
Sightings
9/23/2010
by Colin Bossen
Debate about God continues to be strong
http://tinyurl.com/2dlbjcj
*****
THE REALITY OF CELIBATE LIFE:
REFLECTIONS FROM HENRI NOUWEN
Provided by A.W. Richard Sipe
National Catholic Reporter
October 1st, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/28oybc7
*****
INDIAN HOLY SITE COMPROMISE BETWEEN
HINDU AND MUSLIM COMBATANTS
Attempted Settlement by Indian Court
BBC News
September 30th, 2010
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11441890
---
Holy Site has History of Violence
The Guardian UK
September 30th, 2010
Slideshow:
http://tinyurl.com/2a5ubgn
*****
COPTIC POPE APOLOGIZES FOR COMMENTS ABOUT ISLAM
Associated Press
September 27th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/22v8dre
*****
HOLY BOOKS RETURN TO CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP COURT
Christianweek.org
September 28th, 2010
http://www.christianweek.org/stories.php?id=1129
*****
ATHEISTS DO BETTER THAN RELIGIOUS
IN US SURVEY; JEWS AND MORMONS GET TOP MARKS
Ecumenical News Service
Geneva, Switzerland
September 28th, 2010
Atheists do better than religious in US religious survey
New York (ENI). If you want a question on religion answered
in the United States, ask an atheist. U.S. atheists and
agnostics are among the groups that scored highest in a
recent survey of knowledge of world religions by the
Washington-based Pew Research Centre's Forum on Religion
and Public Life. U.S. Jews and Mormons also got top marks.
The survey of 3412 adults, taken between 19 May and 6 June,
suggests that large numbers of Americans do not know,
"about the tenets, practices, history and leading figures
of major faith traditions - including their own", Pew said
when it announced the survey results on 28 September.
_____
PBS
Religion and Ethics
October 1st, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/28fnhww
*****
GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI
Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
28 September 2010
West focus on gays not real issue for Africa,
says Angolan bishop
London (ENI). The 25, not-so-young, white, Christian
supporters of Africa met in an almost empty London
church, which had been partly destroyed in the Second
World War, to hear the Anglican bishop of Angola, Andre
Soares, talk about, "the real issues" facing his
continent. Bishop Soares spoke to ENI News before the
start of the 2010 annual general meeting of the
Mozambique Angola Association, founded 103 years ago
to link Protestant churches in Britain with similar
churches in the then-Portuguese territories of Africa.
"We know a great deal about the challenge of secularism
and materialism. My country became independent from
Portugal 35 years ago on 11 November 1975," Bishop
Soares said outside St John's Church on Waterloo
Road in central London.
_____
Macau bishop says no to garbage dump at UN heritage site
Hong Kong (ENI). The Roman Catholic bishop in Macau has
spoken out against the building by the government of a
garbage storage facility next to the city's Church of St.
Lawrence, an historic building UNESCO listed as a world
cultural heritage site in 2005. Bishop Jose Lai Hung-Seng
told media on 23 September, "This is not at all good." He
explained that the proposed dump would not be in harmony
with the world cultural heritage site. The bishop said his
objection is not that the new storage facility would be
next to a church, and that it would be next to the cultural
heritage site. He hopes and believes the government will
drop its plan.
*****
29 September 2010
'Keep train on track' for Sudan peace
pleads world church leader
Nairobi (ENI). The general secretary of the World
Council of Churches has pleaded for the full
implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
for Sudan so that Africa's biggest country can
achieve stability. The Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit said
he understands from visits to the country, made
before the signing of the pact in 2005, how Sudan
desperately needs the peace agreement that ended
a decades-long civil war. "For me, this peace
agreement is such a costly gift and such an
opportunity that should not be lost," Tveit told
ENI news in an interview on 21 September at the
beginning of a seven-day visit to Kenya and
Ethiopia. On 9 January 2011, Sudan is scheduled
to hold referenda in southern Sudan and the
oil-rich Abyei border region between north and
south Sudan.
_____
Japan's Catholic bishops publish
English interfaith guidelines
Tokyo (ENI). Japan's Roman Catholic bishops have published
an English-language version of their guidelines for
interreligious dialogue. "Guidelines on Interreligious
Dialogue - The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan," is
aimed at foreign residents in the country. "In Japan, where
the number of Christians is extremely low, Catholics
frequently have contact with followers of various religions
and attend other religions' events," the bishops explain on
their Web site. "We are often puzzled or bewildered on those
occasions. It must be especially hard for foreign residents,
who are not familiar with Japanese unique rituals, customs,
and manners."
*****
30 September 2010
Christians call for calm after Indian verdict
on holy site
Bangalore, India (ENI). Churches in India have
joined other faiths and political leaders in calling
for calm after a court ruled that a religious site,
vigorously and violently disputed by Hindus and
Muslims, should be split between the two groups.
On 30 September, the high court of northern Uttar
Pradesh state handed down its verdict in the
protracted case that concerns the ownership of the
site of the former Babri mosque at Ayodhya, 700
kilometres (420 miles) south-east of New Delhi.
The case has been pending for more than half a
century. In a majority verdict, two of the three
judges declared that Hindus have the right of
ownership to the main disputed area, where the main
dome of the Muslim Babri mosque once stood. The court
granted Muslims and a Hindu group control of other
parts of the site. Hindus consider the location the
birthplace of the god Ram, and placed a Ram idol
inside the mosque in 1949.
_____
Southern Africa bishops disturbed
by Swaziland's rights abuses
Cape Town (ENI). Bishops of the Anglican Church in
Southern Africa say they are deeply disturbed by news
of growing human rights abuses in Swaziland, a kingdom
sandwiched between South Africa and Mozambique. The
bishops, meeting in Benoni near Johannesburg from 27
to 29 September for their twice-yearly synod, challenged
their church to become more involved in the quest for
democracy in Swaziland. Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape
Town, the leader of the church, said on 30 September he
could not remain silent on the issue of democracy in
Swaziland, "where power and wealth is concentrated in
the hands of a few, and political debate is hardly
permitted". A state of emergency has existed in
Swaziland for the past 37 years. Freedom of expression
is severely limited, opposition political parties are
banned, and reports of police arresting and beating up
critics are frequent.
_____
Evangelical Christian pilgrims converge on Jerusalem
Jerusalem (ENI). Thousands of evangelical Christians
from 100 countries have participated in a 30th "Feast
of Tabernacles" event, organized by the International
Christian Embassy Jerusalem, a group strongly supportive
of a united Jerusalem under Israel. The ICEJ says the
event, held from 23 to 29 September to coincide with
the Jewish holiday of the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot),
has become Israel's largest annual tourist event, and
the largest solidarity mission to Israel. Organizers
expect the festival to have injected an estimated US$15
million into the local economy. The event takes place
with the assistance of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism,
and, in 2010, about 1000 pilgrims from Brazil made up
the largest group at the embassy event.
*****
1 October 2010
Christian leaders lament during
Nigeria's 50th anniversary
Lagos (ENI). Christian leaders in Nigeria have joined
in marking 50 years of independence in Africa's most
populous nation but have also called for divine
intervention because of their concern for the state
of the nation. "Though it might seem like there is not
much to jubilate about in the nation, prophetically and
by faith, we celebrate Jubilee. We believe that as God
sees our faith, he will give us cause to be jubilant
as we begin the journey of another 50 years," said
the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria,
Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.
_____
Buzz builds around new unofficial saint of abuse victims
Vatican City. (ENI/RNS). Mother Mary MacKillop won't be
canonised until 17 October but some Catholics already have
an unofficial title for the 19th-century Australian nun:
Patron Saint of Whistleblowers. MacKillop (1842-1909),
Australia's first native-born saint, was co-founder of
the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, an order
of nuns dedicated to the religious instruction of children
and care for the poor. The strong-willed MacKillop, who
worked under harsh conditions in the Australian outback,
was once briefly excommunicated by her bishop for reasons
that have never been entirely clear.
*****
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners Online:
September 28th, 2010
Many of those who are humiliated are not humble.
Some react to humiliation with anger, others with
patience, and others with freedom. The first are
culpable, the next harmless, the last just.
- Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs
___
September 29th, 2010
We live in hope because we believe, like St. Paul,
that love never dies. Human beings in the historical
process have created enclaves of love by their active
practice of solidarity throughout the world, and with
a view to the full-orbed liberation of peoples and
all humanity.
- Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, from his Nobel Lecture
___
September 30th, 2010
"This is completely unacceptable. Sacrilege would not
be too strong a word. It's loot, taken violently and
inappropriately in the first place. A tabot is a very
holy object; no one can see it apart from priests.
Westminster Abbey is one of the most visited sites in
London. To have it on public display there is an offence
to Orthodox Ethiopian Christians. For one Christian church
to refuse to return it to another seems profoundly wrong.”
- Rev. John McLuckie, a British priest, on Westminster
Abbey’s refusal to return a tabot, a small tablet that
symbolises the Ark of the Covenant, taken by British
troops in the 19th century, to the Ethiopian Orthodox
Church. (Source: Guardian/Observer)
_____
October 1st, 2010
The heavens are as deep as our aspirations are high.
- Henry David Thoreau
*****
ON THIS DAY -
On Sept. 28, 1924, two United States Army planes
landed in Seattle, Washington, having completed the
first round-the-world flight in 175 days.
http://tinyurl.com/2fgunet
_____
Sept. 30, 1938, British, French, German and Italian
leaders agreed at a meeting in Munich that Nazi Germany
would be allowed to annex Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.
http://tinyurl.com/38gyrvb
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT
(provided by colleague Jock McTavish)
A bishop had decreed that woman housekeepers for
priests should be at least fifty years of age. He
was startled, in the visitation of his diocese, to
discover a priest who thought he was observing the
law by keeping two housekeepers, each of whom was
twenty-five years of age.
Anthony de Mello, S.J.
(end)
*****
Edited by Wayne A. Holst
*****
Special Item in this Issue:
Book Notice -
"More Everyday Parables" -
by colleague James Taylor
___
Colleague Communication:
Paul Verhoef
Harry Winter
Brian Arthur Brown
___
Colleague Contributions:
Martin Marty
Doug Shantz
___
Net Notes:
New York, New York
Irish Bishops Called to Rome
Joni Eareckson Tada Interviewed
The Press Continues to Misread Pope
Stephen Hawking and Religion Vs. Science
The Reality of the Celibate Life (Nouwen)
Major Holy Site Ruling re Hindus and Muslims
Coptic Pope Apologizes re Comments about Islam
Holy Books Return to Canadian Citizenship Court
Atheists Score Better than Religious in US Survey
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
9 stories from Ecumenical News International
___
Quotes of the Week:
Bernard of Clairvaux
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
John McLuckie
Henry David Thoreau
___
On This Day (Sept. 27th - Sept. 30th)
Sept. 28, 1924 - First round-the-world flight completed
Sept. 30, 1938 - Allies allow Germany's annex of Sudetenland.
___
Closing Thoughts -
Story passed along by colleague Jock McTavish
(end)
*****
Dear Friends:
Colleagues List arrives a little later in
the week than I normally send it because
Marlene and I decided to take Friday off
to see the glorious fall colours in Banff
and area while we had an opportunity.
Several weeks ago we saw a lovely array
of colour in some of the Ontario woodlands,
just beginning to appear. Now, the full glow
of golden leaves in Alberta.
We are blessed, and we want to enjoy this
for the few days they are on display!
___
Now, back to our task.
This week, I share with you a book notice
about the arrival of "More Everyday Parables"
by colleague James Taylor. This is the second
study he has written on the parables, and in it
he goes deeper and broader. Please enjoy this!
___
Paul Verhoef - Christian Reformed chaplain at the
University of Calgary is now able to announce the
fall study we have created for faculty and staff.
This year we will be reading "Becoming Human" by
Jean Vanier and we hope for a good response to this
five week program on Thursday noons in October and
November.
Harry Winter - is pleased to announce the selection
of a new superior general of the Oblates which took
place in Rome this week.
Brian Arthur Brown - suggests that there is an
alternative to burning the Qua'ran. He proposes
instead the mutual study of Jewish, Christian and
Islamic scriptures.
___
Colleague Contributions:
Martin Marty - writes of the decline in US church
attendance (Sightings)
Doug Shantz - announces the up-coming lecture -
"Imagining Women in the Early Church" by Anne Moore
this coming Monday evening at St. Andrew's United
Church, Calgary (Chair of Christian Thought)
___
Net Notes:
"New York, New York" - Art Babych, a Canadian
church writer was in the Big Apple to report
on the UN Millennial Goals conference. While there,
he created a photo essay on two major churches
which he visited while there (Anglican Journal News)
"Irish Bishops Called to Rome" - the pope has
called the Irish Catholic hierarchy to the Vatican
to discuss the sex abuse crisis that has plagued
this nation (Irish Independent)
"Joni Eareckson Tada Interviewed" - Evangelical
Christians have long honoured Joni, but her
story is one of general interest and it is told
through an interview with this remarkable woman.
(PBS, Religion and Ethics)
"The Press Continues to Misread Pope" - while some
of the popular press in the UK did quite well in
interpreting the papal visit recently, many articles
demonstrated a sad lack of religious awareness.
(Cathnews Asia)
"Stephen Hawking and Religion Vs. Science" - Again,
we visit the Sightings website for an article on
Hawking's recent published comments on God.
"The Reality of the Celibate Life (Nouwen)" - Twenty
years ago, Henri Nouwen was struggling with his
sexuality. Few knew then of his homosexuality. This
article remains a helpful reflection of Nouwen's
struggles at the time (National Catholic Reporter)
"Major Holy Site Ruling re Hindus and Muslims" -
For many years a battle has raged in Northern India
over the rightful ownership of a holy site as both
Hindus and Muslims have claimed it. Now, a high court
has ruled on a compromise settlement. Will it stand?
(BBC News)
"Coptic Pope Apologizes for Comments about Islam" -
It is hard for the Coptic Church in Egypt under the
best of times, but when a leader of that church makes
disparaging remarks against Muslims, trouble is quite
inevitable. Here is a recent story about such trouble.
(Associated Press)
"Holy Books Return to Canadian Citizenship Court" -
How to make sure that the Bible remains in Canadian
citizenship courts as a book to be respected? Allow
other holy books to be placed there as well. A truly
Canadian compromise for the good (Chrisitanweek.org)
"Atheists Score Better than Religious in US Survey" -
Some real surprises emerge from a recent survey on
religious knowledge in the US (ENI, PBS)
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
I hope you enjoy the 9 stories from Ecumenical News
International, Geneva that I have collected for you.
___
Quotes of the Week:
Bernard of Clairvaux, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, John McLuckie
and Henry David Thoreau provide insight for us this week.
___
On This Day (Sept. 27th - Sept. 30th)
Stories from the archives of the New York Times:
First round-the-world flight completed (1924)
Allies allow Germany's annex of Sudetenland (1938)
___
Closing Thoughts -
I share humour passed along by colleague Jock McTavish
Blessings on your week,
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/
__
ANNOUNCING:
ST. DAVID'S 50th ANNIVERSARY
TOUR OF CELTIC LANDS - 2011
We plan a 15-day tour of special Celtic sites
in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England -
April 26th - May 10th, 2011.
A highlight of the tour will be a visit to
St. David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire. Choir
members from our group will sing at various
informal cathedral events through the day
and at Evensong, on Saturday, May 7th!
Details are presently being finalized with
the cathedral dean, Jonathan Lean.
We are also planning to sing while visiting
Iona, Scotland and the Church of Mary Immaculate
in Inchicore, Dublin, Ireland.
38 PLACES ON THE TOUR ARE SOLD OUT
We have a waiting list for this trip; also an
interest list for other, future tours!
*****
Announcing our New Fall Study at St. David's:
Follow this study by clicking:
http://www.1journey.net/stdavids/SD/BookStudy/25/25.htm
---
LISTENING FOR THE HEARTBEAT OF GOD:
A Celtic Spirituality (Philip Newell)
Including background material from the book:
THE CELTIC WAY (Ian Bradley)
Plus:
INTROS TO CELTIC SAINTS PATRICK, COLUMBA & DAVID
Join our ten week Monday Night Study, which will run
from September 20th through November 29th
Special Guest:
Dr. Wayne Davies, Department of Geography, U of C.
is a native of Wales. He will speak with us at one
session, introducing us to his homeland, and explaining
some of the important sites we plan to visit to maximize
our appreciation of the tour.
This program is being made available for regular
Monday Night study-folk plus those planning to
take the tour of Celtic Lands next spring.
This study series is part of our St. David's fiftieth
anniversary celebrations and is provided for all!
___
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
MORE EVERYDAY PARABLES
Simple Stories for Spiritual Reflection,
by Jim Taylor. Wood Lake Books, Kelowna, BC.
2010. $19.95 CAD. 144 pages.
ISBN #978-1-55145-587-7.
Publisher's Promo:
In this second book of modern parables, author
Jim Taylor takes us... where events are ambiguous,
unsettling, or just plain ordinary... Usually, we
don't notice this place much at all in our rush to
get "the answer."
Yet, every story, every event, however ordinary or
vague, has God in it. "More Everyday Parables"
contains the kind of story that doesn't have an
explanation. Jesus made up his stories on the spot
to respond to questions of his followers. He used
things that had happened to him, or someone he had
heard about and made a story about it... Who will
ever exactly know what Jesus meant?
Taylor uses the "parable without explanation" in
this book to offer an opportunity for the reader
to reflect deeply on what the story evokes for them.
He tells his stories about everyday happenings that
we can all relate to, and then steps back and lets
us notice where and how they touched us, if they
touched us at all. Then, if we wish to go further,
the author offers some of his own reflections on
the story. This may allow new perspectives to open
for the reader.
Jim's accessible story telling style, the reflections
and Biblical references, make this book ideal for
personal study/reflection or group use.
_____
Author's Words:
Why parables? Because they were Jesus' way of
communicating his message. He didn't provide learned
lectures. He told parables.
We tragically, have turned his message into dogma. We
expound theology. We string together this verse and
that in an attempt to prove that there is a single
coherent system connecting writings that happened
1,000 years apart.
We turn the Bible into a coded message, a jigsaw puzzle
that must be put together in just the right way to make
sense. Jesus would have been appalled...
Jesus looked for examples as he walked along (on his
itinerant ministry) - the mustard seed, the village
woman...
The gospels list about 50 parables that Jesus told -
many are figures of speech that relate some commonplace
event or activity to the new kind of life Jesus promised.
---
But Jesus told parables that were more than figures of
speech. They were stories... Stories that everyone knows
about - the good Samaritan, the prodigal son, the wedding
banquet, the workers in the vineyard. I didn't include
story parables in my first book "Everyday Parables."
So I decided, when I was asked to write a sequel that
I would concentrate on that second kind.
I have deliberately not simply paraphrased the old
parables into modern language... we need to break our
imagination free of its biblical prison. The Bible was
written by a desert people who never really outgrew
their nomad roots. They wrote about droughts, not
deluges; about searing heat, not blizzards; about goats,
not supermarkets... if we limit ourselves to the
illustrations that correspond with biblical narratives,
we leave out a large part of our present-day experience.
I believe that God speaks to us through more than the
Bible. The Bible may be about God, but if God is truly
Creator, so is nature. So is science. And history.
For that reason, I have included in these modern
parables some events that would have been inconceivable
to the gospel writers. Because I believe that if Jesus
were telling parables today, he would do as he did
back then - he would talk about things that people
knew in their everyday lives...
All this leaves me with a dilemma. Because when I
choose the stories that I present as modern-day parables,
I want to tell you what their meaning is. I want to be
sure you don't miss the point.
But that is not what Jesus would have done.
So I've compromised. I tell the story, and you can,
if you wish, stop there... Or you can carry on reading
and see what I got out of it. I've included some
reflections of my own on each story. They might
illuminate your thoughts; they might not.
I would appreciate your feedback: jimt@quixoticx.ca
_____
My Thoughts:
What James Taylor does in this second of his books on
the parables of Jesus is what he has always attempted
to do in his writings so long as I have known him. He
seeks to free ancient truth from the encrustations of
time and interpretation. In that effort, there are few
who do better than Jim.
Taylor is frequently more interested in what others
think than in following any "official" explanation.
He has his opinions, of course, and he is forthright in
expressing them; usually, but not always, after due
consideration.
He teaches through his writings that the quest for truth
is a shared, not an individual process.
I have kept Taylor's books close by for the quarter
century that we have known each other and have always
been impressed that he tends to follow the rubric of
a shared truth quest in all his writing. When I first
wrote articles for him as editor of Practice of Ministry
in Canada (the 1980s) I found him only too eager to have
me struggle to express my own views.
He did much to encourage me to be a writer when I had
serious doubts about having anything to say.
Jim helped me to break free of my own tendency to "follow
the lead of others, rather than to think for myself under
the guidance of God's Spirit" (whatever that might be.)
He continues to do that with this his second attempt to
encounter that rich treasure trove of insight that are
the parables of Jesus.
Over the years, I have discovered that if there is anything
about Christianity that many people of other faith traditions
tend to appreciate, it is the stories Jesus told. Jesus is
truly one of history's greatest teachers and that truth has
not been lost on Christian and non-Christian alike.
---
I still believe there is value is approaching the parables
using the contextual methodology I was taught as a student
of theology. Go deep into the time and place of the original
situation (the 'sitz im leben') as my teachers impressed upon
me. Many good things can be learned from doing this.
But there is also much to be gained from taking this process
a step further as Taylor does. Through the use of imagination
and insight, it is possible to work with the implications of
those original stories and to project them in new, currently
applicable directions.
What does it mean to help people who have been abused and
abandoned? What does it mean to choose to go your own way?
What does it mean when you do not fit into the patterns of
accepted social norms? The good Samaritan, the prodigal son
and the wedding banquet are Jesus stories with much more value
and implication that we might often recognize at first glance.
---
Read Jim Taylor's new book on the parables because, by doing
so, you will grow through expanding your spiritual horizons.
He is good at taking you "one step further."
_____
Order from Wood Lake direct:
http://tinyurl.com/2c74hmy
Purchase at a special web price.
*****
COLLEAGUE COMMUNICATION
PAUL VERHOEF
Wayne:
Here is how we will promote the Vanier
study this fall:
UNIVERSITY FACULTY & STAFF FALL STUDY
"Becoming Human" by Jean Vanier
(the 1998 CBC Massey Lecture Series)
Thursdays, Oct 21 through Nov 25, Noon-1 PM
Native Centre, Small Boardroom (MSC 390)
Oct 21 – Loneliness, Chapter 1
Oct 28 – Belonging, Chapter 2
Nov 4 – From Exclusion to Inclusion, Chapter 3
[skipping Remembrance Day]
Nov 18 – The Path to Freedom, Chapter 4
Nov 25 – Forgiveness, Chapter 5
*****
HARRY WINTER
Dear Wayne:
We just received word that Louie Lougen, provincial
of the USA Oblate province, has been elected our
12th superior general, on his 58th birthday.
---
OMI USA
Sept. 28th, 2010
Oblates Elect New Yorker as New World Leader
http://www.omiusa.org/en/component/content/article/195
*****
BRIAN ARTHUR BROWN
An Alternative to Burning the Quar'an
Wayne:
My September blog entry has been posted:
"An Alternative to Burning the Qur'an" -
Just click on my website (below), move the cursor over
the Three Testaments bar and visit Join the Conversation.
Brian
http://www.brianarthurbrown.com/
*****
MARTIN MARTY
AMERICA'S DECLINE IN CHURCH ATTENDENCE
September 27th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2cbvpb5
*****
DOUG SHANTZ
The Chair of Christian Thought at the University of Calgary
presents The Bentall Lecture in Christian Theology with:
Dr. Anne Moore
Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies
University of Calgary:
"Imaging Women in the Early Church:
The Visual/Material Clues to Women's Leadership"
Monday, October 4, 2010 at 7:30pm
St. Andrew’s United Church
924 Heritage Dr. SW, Calgary
Everyone is welcome to join us for this free event!
*****
NET NOTES
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Crosstalk editor Art Babych (Ottawa) was in New York
during the U.N. Summit on Millennium Development Goals
Sept. 20 to 24 and shares his photos.
See the slide show...
http://tinyurl.com/2awpso8
*****
IRISH BISHOPS CALLED TO ROME
Irish Independent
September 29th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2cuz6k9
*****
JONI EARECKSON TADA INTERVIEWED
PBS Religion and Ethics
September 24th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/332ne9b
*****
THE PRESS CONTINUES TO MISREAD POPE
Cathnews Asia
September 26th, 2010
His Visit to the UK as Case in Point
http://tinyurl.com/26cgu8n
*****
STEPHEN HAWKING AND RELIGION VS SCIENCE
Sightings
9/23/2010
by Colin Bossen
Debate about God continues to be strong
http://tinyurl.com/2dlbjcj
*****
THE REALITY OF CELIBATE LIFE:
REFLECTIONS FROM HENRI NOUWEN
Provided by A.W. Richard Sipe
National Catholic Reporter
October 1st, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/28oybc7
*****
INDIAN HOLY SITE COMPROMISE BETWEEN
HINDU AND MUSLIM COMBATANTS
Attempted Settlement by Indian Court
BBC News
September 30th, 2010
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11441890
---
Holy Site has History of Violence
The Guardian UK
September 30th, 2010
Slideshow:
http://tinyurl.com/2a5ubgn
*****
COPTIC POPE APOLOGIZES FOR COMMENTS ABOUT ISLAM
Associated Press
September 27th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/22v8dre
*****
HOLY BOOKS RETURN TO CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP COURT
Christianweek.org
September 28th, 2010
http://www.christianweek.org/stories.php?id=1129
*****
ATHEISTS DO BETTER THAN RELIGIOUS
IN US SURVEY; JEWS AND MORMONS GET TOP MARKS
Ecumenical News Service
Geneva, Switzerland
September 28th, 2010
Atheists do better than religious in US religious survey
New York (ENI). If you want a question on religion answered
in the United States, ask an atheist. U.S. atheists and
agnostics are among the groups that scored highest in a
recent survey of knowledge of world religions by the
Washington-based Pew Research Centre's Forum on Religion
and Public Life. U.S. Jews and Mormons also got top marks.
The survey of 3412 adults, taken between 19 May and 6 June,
suggests that large numbers of Americans do not know,
"about the tenets, practices, history and leading figures
of major faith traditions - including their own", Pew said
when it announced the survey results on 28 September.
_____
PBS
Religion and Ethics
October 1st, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/28fnhww
*****
GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI
Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
28 September 2010
West focus on gays not real issue for Africa,
says Angolan bishop
London (ENI). The 25, not-so-young, white, Christian
supporters of Africa met in an almost empty London
church, which had been partly destroyed in the Second
World War, to hear the Anglican bishop of Angola, Andre
Soares, talk about, "the real issues" facing his
continent. Bishop Soares spoke to ENI News before the
start of the 2010 annual general meeting of the
Mozambique Angola Association, founded 103 years ago
to link Protestant churches in Britain with similar
churches in the then-Portuguese territories of Africa.
"We know a great deal about the challenge of secularism
and materialism. My country became independent from
Portugal 35 years ago on 11 November 1975," Bishop
Soares said outside St John's Church on Waterloo
Road in central London.
_____
Macau bishop says no to garbage dump at UN heritage site
Hong Kong (ENI). The Roman Catholic bishop in Macau has
spoken out against the building by the government of a
garbage storage facility next to the city's Church of St.
Lawrence, an historic building UNESCO listed as a world
cultural heritage site in 2005. Bishop Jose Lai Hung-Seng
told media on 23 September, "This is not at all good." He
explained that the proposed dump would not be in harmony
with the world cultural heritage site. The bishop said his
objection is not that the new storage facility would be
next to a church, and that it would be next to the cultural
heritage site. He hopes and believes the government will
drop its plan.
*****
29 September 2010
'Keep train on track' for Sudan peace
pleads world church leader
Nairobi (ENI). The general secretary of the World
Council of Churches has pleaded for the full
implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
for Sudan so that Africa's biggest country can
achieve stability. The Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit said
he understands from visits to the country, made
before the signing of the pact in 2005, how Sudan
desperately needs the peace agreement that ended
a decades-long civil war. "For me, this peace
agreement is such a costly gift and such an
opportunity that should not be lost," Tveit told
ENI news in an interview on 21 September at the
beginning of a seven-day visit to Kenya and
Ethiopia. On 9 January 2011, Sudan is scheduled
to hold referenda in southern Sudan and the
oil-rich Abyei border region between north and
south Sudan.
_____
Japan's Catholic bishops publish
English interfaith guidelines
Tokyo (ENI). Japan's Roman Catholic bishops have published
an English-language version of their guidelines for
interreligious dialogue. "Guidelines on Interreligious
Dialogue - The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan," is
aimed at foreign residents in the country. "In Japan, where
the number of Christians is extremely low, Catholics
frequently have contact with followers of various religions
and attend other religions' events," the bishops explain on
their Web site. "We are often puzzled or bewildered on those
occasions. It must be especially hard for foreign residents,
who are not familiar with Japanese unique rituals, customs,
and manners."
*****
30 September 2010
Christians call for calm after Indian verdict
on holy site
Bangalore, India (ENI). Churches in India have
joined other faiths and political leaders in calling
for calm after a court ruled that a religious site,
vigorously and violently disputed by Hindus and
Muslims, should be split between the two groups.
On 30 September, the high court of northern Uttar
Pradesh state handed down its verdict in the
protracted case that concerns the ownership of the
site of the former Babri mosque at Ayodhya, 700
kilometres (420 miles) south-east of New Delhi.
The case has been pending for more than half a
century. In a majority verdict, two of the three
judges declared that Hindus have the right of
ownership to the main disputed area, where the main
dome of the Muslim Babri mosque once stood. The court
granted Muslims and a Hindu group control of other
parts of the site. Hindus consider the location the
birthplace of the god Ram, and placed a Ram idol
inside the mosque in 1949.
_____
Southern Africa bishops disturbed
by Swaziland's rights abuses
Cape Town (ENI). Bishops of the Anglican Church in
Southern Africa say they are deeply disturbed by news
of growing human rights abuses in Swaziland, a kingdom
sandwiched between South Africa and Mozambique. The
bishops, meeting in Benoni near Johannesburg from 27
to 29 September for their twice-yearly synod, challenged
their church to become more involved in the quest for
democracy in Swaziland. Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape
Town, the leader of the church, said on 30 September he
could not remain silent on the issue of democracy in
Swaziland, "where power and wealth is concentrated in
the hands of a few, and political debate is hardly
permitted". A state of emergency has existed in
Swaziland for the past 37 years. Freedom of expression
is severely limited, opposition political parties are
banned, and reports of police arresting and beating up
critics are frequent.
_____
Evangelical Christian pilgrims converge on Jerusalem
Jerusalem (ENI). Thousands of evangelical Christians
from 100 countries have participated in a 30th "Feast
of Tabernacles" event, organized by the International
Christian Embassy Jerusalem, a group strongly supportive
of a united Jerusalem under Israel. The ICEJ says the
event, held from 23 to 29 September to coincide with
the Jewish holiday of the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot),
has become Israel's largest annual tourist event, and
the largest solidarity mission to Israel. Organizers
expect the festival to have injected an estimated US$15
million into the local economy. The event takes place
with the assistance of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism,
and, in 2010, about 1000 pilgrims from Brazil made up
the largest group at the embassy event.
*****
1 October 2010
Christian leaders lament during
Nigeria's 50th anniversary
Lagos (ENI). Christian leaders in Nigeria have joined
in marking 50 years of independence in Africa's most
populous nation but have also called for divine
intervention because of their concern for the state
of the nation. "Though it might seem like there is not
much to jubilate about in the nation, prophetically and
by faith, we celebrate Jubilee. We believe that as God
sees our faith, he will give us cause to be jubilant
as we begin the journey of another 50 years," said
the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria,
Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.
_____
Buzz builds around new unofficial saint of abuse victims
Vatican City. (ENI/RNS). Mother Mary MacKillop won't be
canonised until 17 October but some Catholics already have
an unofficial title for the 19th-century Australian nun:
Patron Saint of Whistleblowers. MacKillop (1842-1909),
Australia's first native-born saint, was co-founder of
the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, an order
of nuns dedicated to the religious instruction of children
and care for the poor. The strong-willed MacKillop, who
worked under harsh conditions in the Australian outback,
was once briefly excommunicated by her bishop for reasons
that have never been entirely clear.
*****
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners Online:
September 28th, 2010
Many of those who are humiliated are not humble.
Some react to humiliation with anger, others with
patience, and others with freedom. The first are
culpable, the next harmless, the last just.
- Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs
___
September 29th, 2010
We live in hope because we believe, like St. Paul,
that love never dies. Human beings in the historical
process have created enclaves of love by their active
practice of solidarity throughout the world, and with
a view to the full-orbed liberation of peoples and
all humanity.
- Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, from his Nobel Lecture
___
September 30th, 2010
"This is completely unacceptable. Sacrilege would not
be too strong a word. It's loot, taken violently and
inappropriately in the first place. A tabot is a very
holy object; no one can see it apart from priests.
Westminster Abbey is one of the most visited sites in
London. To have it on public display there is an offence
to Orthodox Ethiopian Christians. For one Christian church
to refuse to return it to another seems profoundly wrong.”
- Rev. John McLuckie, a British priest, on Westminster
Abbey’s refusal to return a tabot, a small tablet that
symbolises the Ark of the Covenant, taken by British
troops in the 19th century, to the Ethiopian Orthodox
Church. (Source: Guardian/Observer)
_____
October 1st, 2010
The heavens are as deep as our aspirations are high.
- Henry David Thoreau
*****
ON THIS DAY -
On Sept. 28, 1924, two United States Army planes
landed in Seattle, Washington, having completed the
first round-the-world flight in 175 days.
http://tinyurl.com/2fgunet
_____
Sept. 30, 1938, British, French, German and Italian
leaders agreed at a meeting in Munich that Nazi Germany
would be allowed to annex Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.
http://tinyurl.com/38gyrvb
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT
(provided by colleague Jock McTavish)
A bishop had decreed that woman housekeepers for
priests should be at least fifty years of age. He
was startled, in the visitation of his diocese, to
discover a priest who thought he was observing the
law by keeping two housekeepers, each of whom was
twenty-five years of age.
Anthony de Mello, S.J.
(end)
COLLEAGUES LIST
Vol. VI. No. 5
Oct. 2nd, 2010
*****
Edited by Wayne A. Holst
*****
Special Item in this Issue:
Book Notice -
"More Everyday Parables" -
by colleague James Taylor
___
Colleague Communication:
Paul Verhoef
Harry Winter
Brian Arthur Brown
___
Colleague Contributions:
Martin Marty
Doug Shantz
___
Net Notes:
New York, New York
Irish Bishops Called to Rome
Joni Eareckson Tada Interviewed
Reading the Bible in South Africa
The Press Continues to Misread Pope
Stephen Hawking and Religion Vs. Science
The Reality of the Celibate Life (Nouwen)
Major Holy Site Ruling re Hindus and Muslims
Coptic Pope Apologizes re Comments about Islam
Holy Books Return to Canadian Citizenship Court
Atheists Score Better than Religious in US Survey
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
9 stories from Ecumenical News International
___
Quotes of the Week:
Bernard of Clairvaux
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
John McLuckie
Henry David Thoreau
___
On This Day (Sept. 27th - Sept. 30th)
Sept. 28, 1924 - First round-the-world flight completed
Sept. 30, 1938 - Allies allow Germany's annex of Sudetenland.
___
Closing Thoughts -
Story passed along by colleague Jock McTavish
(end)
*****
Dear Friends:
Colleagues List arrives a little later in
the week than I normally send it because
Marlene and I decided to take Friday off
to see the glorious fall colours in Banff
and area while we had an opportunity.
Several weeks ago we saw a lovely array of
of colour in some of the Ontario woodlands,
just beginning to appear. Now, the full glow
of golden leaves in Alberta.
We are blessed, and we want to enjoy this
for the few days they are on display!
___
Now, back to our task.
This week, I share with you a book notice
about the arrival of "More Everyday Parables"
by colleague James Taylor. This is the second
study he has written on the parables, and in it
he goes deeper and broader. Please enjoy this!
___
Paul Verhoef - Christian Reformed chaplain at the
University of Calgary is now able to announce the
fall study we have created for faculty and staff.
This year we will be reading "Becoming Human" by
Jean Vanier and we hope for a good response to this
five week program on Thursday noons in October and
November.
Harry Winter - is pleased to announce the selection
of a new superior general of the Oblates which took
place in Rome this week.
Brian Arthur Brown - suggests that there is an
alternative to burning the Qua'ran. He proposes
instead the mutual study of Jewish, Christian and
Islamic scriptures.
___
Colleague Contributions:
Martin Marty - writes of the decline in US church
attendance (Sightings)
Doug Shantz - announces the up-coming lecture -
"Imagining Women in the Early Church" by Anne Moore
this coming Monday evening at St. Andrew's United
Church, Calgary (Chair of Christian Thought)
___
Net Notes:
"New York, New York" - Art Babych, a Canadian
church writer was in the Big Apple to report
on the UN Millennial Goals conference. While there,
he created a photo essay on two major churches
which he visited while there (Anglican Journal News)
"Irish Bishops Called to Rome" - the pope has
called the Irish Catholic hierarchy to the Vatican
to discuss the sex abuse crisis that has plagued
this nation (Irish Independent)
"Joni Eareckson Tada Interviewed" - Evangelical
Christians have long honoured Joni, but her
story is one of general interest and it is told
through an interview with this remarkable woman.
(PBS, Religion and Ethics)
"Reading the Bible in South Africa" - Times change.
A generation ago the Bible served as a major tool
in the liberation of South Africa from racist rule.
New, a new look at the Bible is needed (Sightings)
"The Press Continues to Misread Pope" - while some
of the popular press in the UK did quite well in
interpreting the papal visit recently, many articles
demonstrated a sad lack of religious awareness.
(Cathnews Asia)
"Stephen Hawking and Religion Vs. Science" - Again,
we visit the Sightings website for an article on
Hawking's recent published comments on God.
"The Reality of the Celibate Life (Nouwen)" - Twenty
years ago, Henri Nouwen was struggling with his
sexuality. Few knew then of his homosexuality. This
article remains a helpful reflection of Nouwen's
struggles at the time (National Catholic Reporter)
"Major Holy Site Ruling re Hindus and Muslims" -
For many years a battle has raged in Northern India
over the rightful ownership of a holy site as both
Hindus and Muslims have claimed it. Now, a high court
has ruled on a compromise settlement. Will it stand?
(BBC News)
"Coptic Pope Apologizes for Comments about Islam" -
It is hard for the Coptic Church in Egypt under the
best of times, but when a leader of that church makes
disparaging remarks against Muslims, trouble is quite
inevitable. Here is a recent story about such trouble.
(Associated Press)
"Holy Books Return to Canadian Citizenship Court" -
How to make sure that the Bible remains in Canadian
citizenship courts as a book to be respected? Allow
other holy books to be placed there as well. A truly
Canadian compromise for the good (Chrisitanweek.org)
"Atheists Score Better than Religious in US Survey" -
Some real surprises emerge from a recent survey on
religious knowledge in the US (ENI, PBS)
_____
Global Faith Potpourri:
I hope you enjoy the 9 stories from Ecumenical News
International, Geneva that I have collected for you.
___
Quotes of the Week:
Bernard of Clairvaux, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, John McLuckie
and Henry David Thoreau provide insight for us this week.
___
On This Day (Sept. 27th - Sept. 30th)
Stories from the archives of the New York Times:
First round-the-world flight completed (1924)
Allies allow Germany's annex of Sudetenland (1938)
___
Closing Thoughts -
I share humour passed along by colleague Jock McTavish
Blessings on your week,
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/
__
ANNOUNCING:
ST. DAVID'S 50th ANNIVERSARY
TOUR OF CELTIC LANDS - 2011
We plan a 15-day tour of special Celtic sites
in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England -
April 26th - May 10th, 2011.
A highlight of the tour will be a visit to
St. David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire. Choir
members from our group will sing at various
informal cathedral events through the day
and at Evensong, on Saturday, May 7th!
Details are presently being finalized with
the cathedral dean, Jonathan Lean.
We are also planning to sing while visiting
Iona, Scotland and the Church of Mary Immaculate
in Inchicore, Dublin, Ireland.
38 PLACES ON THE TOUR ARE SOLD OUT
We have a waiting list for this trip; also an
interest list for other, future tours!
*****
Announcing our New Fall Study at St. David's:
Follow this study by clicking:
http://www.1journey.net/stdavids/SD/BookStudy/25/25.htm
---
LISTENING FOR THE HEARTBEAT OF GOD:
A Celtic Spirituality (Philip Newell)
Including background material from the book:
THE CELTIC WAY (Ian Bradley)
Plus:
INTROS TO CELTIC SAINTS PATRICK, COLUMBA & DAVID
Join our ten week Monday Night Study, which will run
from September 20th through November 29th
Special Guest:
Dr. Wayne Davies, Department of Geography, U of C.
is a native of Wales. He will speak with us at one
session, introducing us to his homeland, and explaining
some of the important sites we plan to visit to maximize
our appreciation of the tour.
This program is being made available for regular
Monday Night study-folk plus those planning to
take the tour of Celtic Lands next spring.
This study series is part of our St. David's fiftieth
anniversary celebrations and is provided for all!
___
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
MORE EVERYDAY PARABLES
Simple Stories for Spiritual Reflection,
by Jim Taylor. Wood Lake Books, Kelowna, BC.
2010. $19.95 CAD. 144 pages.
ISBN #978-1-55145-587-7.
Publisher's Promo:
In this second book of modern parables, author
Jim Taylor takes us... where events are ambiguous,
unsettling, or just plain ordinary... Usually, we
don't notice this place much at all in our rush to
get "the answer."
Yet, every story, every event, however ordinary or
vague, has God in it. "More Everyday Parables"
contains the kind of story that doesn't have an
explanation. Jesus made up his stories on the spot
to respond to questions of his followers. He used
things that had happened to him, or someone he had
heard about and made a story about it... Who will
ever exactly know what Jesus meant?
Taylor uses the "parable without explanation" in
this book to offer an opportunity for the reader
to reflect deeply on what the story evokes for them.
He tells his stories about everyday happenings that
we can all relate to, and then steps back and lets
us notice where and how they touched us, if they
touched us at all. Then, if we wish to go further,
the author offers some of his own reflections on
the story. This may allow new perspectives to open
for the reader.
Jim's accessible story telling style, the reflections
and Biblical references, make this book ideal for
personal study/reflection or group use.
_____
Author's Words:
Why parables? Because they were Jesus' way of
communicating his message. He didn't provide learned
lectures. He told parables.
We tragically, have turned his message into dogma. We
expound theology. We string together this verse and
that in an attempt to prove that there is a single
coherent system connecting writings that happened
1,000 years apart.
We turn the Bible into a coded message, a jigsaw puzzle
that must be put together in just the right way to make
sense. Jesus would have been appalled...
Jesus looked for examples as he walked along (on his
itinerant ministry) - the mustard seed, the village
woman...
The gospels list about 50 parables that Jesus told -
many are figures of speech that relate some commonplace
event or activity to the new kind of life Jesus promised.
---
But Jesus told parables that were more than figures of
speech. They were stories... Stories that everyone knows
about - the good Samaritan, the prodigal son, the wedding
banquet, the workers in the vineyard. I didn't include
story parables in my first book "Everyday Parables."
So I decided, when I was asked to write a sequel that
I would concentrate on that second kind.
I have deliberately not simply paraphrased the old
parables into modern language... we need to break our
imagination free of its biblical prison. The Bible was
written by a desert people who never really outgrew
their nomad roots. They wrote about droughts, not
deluges; about searing heat, not blizzards; about goats,
not supermarkets... if we limit ourselves to the
illustrations that correspond with biblical narratives,
we leave out a large part of our present-day experience.
I believe that God speaks to us through more than the
Bible. The Bible may be about God, but if God is truly
Creator, so is nature. So is science. And history.
For that reason, I have included in these modern
parables some events that would have been inconceivable
to the gospel writers. Because I believe that if Jesus
were telling parables today, he would do as he did
back then - he would talk about things that people
knew in their everyday lives...
All this leaves me with a dilemma. Because when I
choose the stories that I present as modern-day parables,
I want to tell you what their meaning is. I want to be
sure you don't miss the point.
But that is not what Jesus would have done.
So I've compromised. I tell the story, and you can,
if you wish, stop there... Or you can carry on reading
and see what I got out of it. I've included some
reflections of my own on each story. They might
illuminate your thoughts; they might not.
I would appreciate your feedback: jimt@quixoticx.ca
_____
My Thoughts:
What James Taylor does in this second of his books on
the parables of Jesus is what he has always attempted
to do in his writings so long as I have known him. He
seeks to free ancient truth from the encrustations of
time and interpretation. In that effort, there are few
who do better than Jim.
Taylor is frequently more interested in what others
think than in following any "official" explanation.
He has his opinions, of course, and he is forthright in
expressing them; usually, but not always, after due
consideration.
He teaches through his writings that the quest for truth
is a shared, not an individual process.
I have kept Taylor's books close by for the quarter
century that we have known each other and have always
been impressed that he tends to follow the rubric of
a shared truth quest in all his writing. When I first
wrote articles for him as editor of Practice of Ministry
in Canada (the 1980s) I found him only too eager to have
me struggle to express my own views.
He did much to encourage me to be a writer when I had
serious doubts about having anything to say.
Jim helped me to break free of my own tendency to "follow
the lead of others, rather than to think for myself under
the guidance of God's Spirit" (whatever that might be.)
He continues to do that with this his second attempt to
encounter that rich treasure trove of insight that are
the parables of Jesus.
Over the years, I have discovered that if there is anything
about Christianity that many people of other faith traditions
tend to appreciate, it is the stories Jesus told. Jesus is
truly one of history's greatest teachers and that truth has
not been lost on Christian and non-Christian alike.
---
I still believe there is value is approaching the parables
using the contextual methodology I was taught as a student
of theology. Go deep into the time and place of the original
situation (the 'sitz im leben') as my teachers impressed upon
me. Many good things can be learned from doing this.
But there is also much to be gained from taking this process
a step further as Taylor does. Through the use of imagination
and insight, it is possible to work with the implications of
those original stories and to project them in new, currently
applicable directions.
What does it mean to help people who have been abused and
abandoned? What does it mean to choose to go your own way?
What does it mean when you do not fit into the patterns of
accepted social norms? The good Samaritan, the prodigal son
and the wedding banquet are Jesus stories with much more value
and implication that we might often recognize at first glance.
---
Read Jim Taylor's new book on the parables because, by doing
so, you will grow through expanding your spiritual horizons.
He is good at taking you "one step further."
_____
Order from Wood Lake direct:
http://tinyurl.com/2c74hmy
Purchase at a special web price.
*****
COLLEAGUE COMMUNICATION
PAUL VERHOEF
Wayne:
Here is how we will promote the Vanier
study this fall:
UNIVERSITY FACULTY & STAFF FALL STUDY
"Becoming Human" by Jean Vanier
(the 1998 CBC Massey Lecture Series)
Thursdays, Oct 21 through Nov 25, Noon-1 PM
Native Centre, Small Boardroom (MSC 390)
Oct 21 – Loneliness, Chapter 1
Oct 28 – Belonging, Chapter 2
Nov 4 – From Exclusion to Inclusion, Chapter 3
[skipping Remembrance Day]
Nov 18 – The Path to Freedom, Chapter 4
Nov 25 – Forgiveness, Chapter 5
*****
HARRY WINTER
Dear Wayne:
We just received word that Louie Lougen, provincial
of the USA Oblate province, has been elected our
12th superior general, on his 58th birthday.
---
OMI USA
Sept. 28th, 2010
Oblates Elect New Yorker as New World Leader
http://www.omiusa.org/en/component/content/article/195
*****
BRIAN ARTHUR BROWN
An Alternative to Burning the Quar'an
Wayne:
My September blog entry has been posted:
"An Alternative to Burning the Qur'an" -
Just click on my website (below), move the cursor over
the Three Testaments bar and visit Join the Conversation.
Brian
www.BrianArthurBrown.com
*****
MARTIN MARTY
AMERICA'S DECLINE IN CHURCH ATTENDENCE
September 27th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2cbvpb5
*****
DOUG SHANTZ
The Chair of Christian Thought at the University of Calgary
presents The Bentall Lecture in Christian Theology with:
Dr. Anne Moore
Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies
University of Calgary:
"Imaging Women in the Early Church:
The Visual/Material Clues to Women's Leadership"
Monday, October 4, 2010 at 7:30pm
St. Andrew’s United Church
924 Heritage Dr. SW, Calgary
Everyone is welcome to join us for this free event!
*****
NET NOTES
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Crosstalk editor Art Babych (Ottawa) was in New York
during the U.N. Summit on Millennium Development Goals
Sept. 20 to 24 and shares his photos.
See the slide show...
http://tinyurl.com/2awpso8
*****
IRISH BISHOPS CALLED TO ROME
Irish Independent
September 29th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2cuz6k9
*****
JONI EARECKSON TADA INTERVIEWED
PBS Religion and Ethics
September 24th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/332ne9b
*****
THE PRESS CONTINUES TO MISREAD POPE
Cathnews Asia
September 26th, 2010
His Visit to the UK as Case in Point
http://tinyurl.com/26cgu8n
*****
STEPHEN HAWKING AND RELIGION VS SCIENCE
Sightings
9/23/2010
by Colin Bossen
Debate about God continues to be strong
http://tinyurl.com/2dlbjcj
*****
THE REALITY OF CELIBATE LIFE:
REFLECTIONS FROM HENRI NOUWEN
Provided by A.W. Richard Sipe
National Catholic Reporter
October 1st, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/28oybc7
*****
INDIAN HOLY SITE COMPROMISE BETWEEN
HINDU AND MUSLIM COMBATANTS
Attempted Settlement by Indian Court
BBC News
September 30th, 2010
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11441890
---
Holy Site has History of Violence
The Guardian UK
September 30th, 2010
Slideshow:
http://tinyurl.com/2a5ubgn
*****
COPTIC POPE APOLOGIZES FOR COMMENTS ABOUT ISLAM
Associated Press
September 27th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/22v8dre
*****
HOLY BOOKS RETURN TO CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP COURT
Christianweek.org
September 28th, 2010
http://www.christianweek.org/stories.php?id=1129
*****
ATHEISTS DO BETTER THAN RELIGIOUS
IN US SURVEY; JEWS AND MORMONS GET TOP MARKS
Ecumenical News Service
Geneva, Switzerland
September 28th, 2010
Atheists do better than religious in US religious survey
New York (ENI). If you want a question on religion answered
in the United States, ask an atheist. U.S. atheists and
agnostics are among the groups that scored highest in a
recent survey of knowledge of world religions by the
Washington-based Pew Research Centre's Forum on Religion
and Public Life. U.S. Jews and Mormons also got top marks.
The survey of 3412 adults, taken between 19 May and 6 June,
suggests that large numbers of Americans do not know,
"about the tenets, practices, history and leading figures
of major faith traditions - including their own", Pew said
when it announced the survey results on 28 September.
_____
PBS
Religion and Ethics
October 1st, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/28fnhww
*****
GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI
Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
28 September 2010
West focus on gays not real issue for Africa,
says Angolan bishop
London (ENI). The 25, not-so-young, white, Christian
supporters of Africa met in an almost empty London
church, which had been partly destroyed in the Second
World War, to hear the Anglican bishop of Angola, Andre
Soares, talk about, "the real issues" facing his
continent. Bishop Soares spoke to ENI News before the
start of the 2010 annual general meeting of the
Mozambique Angola Association, founded 103 years ago
to link Protestant churches in Britain with similar
churches in the then-Portuguese territories of Africa.
"We know a great deal about the challenge of secularism
and materialism. My country became independent from
Portugal 35 years ago on 11 November 1975," Bishop
Soares said outside St John's Church on Waterloo
Road in central London.
_____
Macau bishop says no to garbage dump at UN heritage site
Hong Kong (ENI). The Roman Catholic bishop in Macau has
spoken out against the building by the government of a
garbage storage facility next to the city's Church of St.
Lawrence, an historic building UNESCO listed as a world
cultural heritage site in 2005. Bishop Jose Lai Hung-Seng
told media on 23 September, "This is not at all good." He
explained that the proposed dump would not be in harmony
with the world cultural heritage site. The bishop said his
objection is not that the new storage facility would be
next to a church, and that it would be next to the cultural
heritage site. He hopes and believes the government will
drop its plan.
*****
29 September 2010
'Keep train on track' for Sudan peace
pleads world church leader
Nairobi (ENI). The general secretary of the World
Council of Churches has pleaded for the full
implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
for Sudan so that Africa's biggest country can
achieve stability. The Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit said
he understands from visits to the country, made
before the signing of the pact in 2005, how Sudan
desperately needs the peace agreement that ended
a decades-long civil war. "For me, this peace
agreement is such a costly gift and such an
opportunity that should not be lost," Tveit told
ENI news in an interview on 21 September at the
beginning of a seven-day visit to Kenya and
Ethiopia. On 9 January 2011, Sudan is scheduled
to hold referenda in southern Sudan and the
oil-rich Abyei border region between north and
south Sudan.
_____
Japan's Catholic bishops publish
English interfaith guidelines
Tokyo (ENI). Japan's Roman Catholic bishops have published
an English-language version of their guidelines for
interreligious dialogue. "Guidelines on Interreligious
Dialogue - The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan," is
aimed at foreign residents in the country. "In Japan, where
the number of Christians is extremely low, Catholics
frequently have contact with followers of various religions
and attend other religions' events," the bishops explain on
their Web site. "We are often puzzled or bewildered on those
occasions. It must be especially hard for foreign residents,
who are not familiar with Japanese unique rituals, customs,
and manners."
*****
30 September 2010
Christians call for calm after Indian verdict
on holy site
Bangalore, India (ENI). Churches in India have
joined other faiths and political leaders in calling
for calm after a court ruled that a religious site,
vigorously and violently disputed by Hindus and
Muslims, should be split between the two groups.
On 30 September, the high court of northern Uttar
Pradesh state handed down its verdict in the
protracted case that concerns the ownership of the
site of the former Babri mosque at Ayodhya, 700
kilometres (420 miles) south-east of New Delhi.
The case has been pending for more than half a
century. In a majority verdict, two of the three
judges declared that Hindus have the right of
ownership to the main disputed area, where the main
dome of the Muslim Babri mosque once stood. The court
granted Muslims and a Hindu group control of other
parts of the site. Hindus consider the location the
birthplace of the god Ram, and placed a Ram idol
inside the mosque in 1949.
_____
Southern Africa bishops disturbed
by Swaziland's rights abuses
Cape Town (ENI). Bishops of the Anglican Church in
Southern Africa say they are deeply disturbed by news
of growing human rights abuses in Swaziland, a kingdom
sandwiched between South Africa and Mozambique. The
bishops, meeting in Benoni near Johannesburg from 27
to 29 September for their twice-yearly synod, challenged
their church to become more involved in the quest for
democracy in Swaziland. Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape
Town, the leader of the church, said on 30 September he
could not remain silent on the issue of democracy in
Swaziland, "where power and wealth is concentrated in
the hands of a few, and political debate is hardly
permitted". A state of emergency has existed in
Swaziland for the past 37 years. Freedom of expression
is severely limited, opposition political parties are
banned, and reports of police arresting and beating up
critics are frequent.
_____
Evangelical Christian pilgrims converge on Jerusalem
Jerusalem (ENI). Thousands of evangelical Christians
from 100 countries have participated in a 30th "Feast
of Tabernacles" event, organized by the International
Christian Embassy Jerusalem, a group strongly supportive
of a united Jerusalem under Israel. The ICEJ says the
event, held from 23 to 29 September to coincide with
the Jewish holiday of the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot),
has become Israel's largest annual tourist event, and
the largest solidarity mission to Israel. Organizers
expect the festival to have injected an estimated US$15
million into the local economy. The event takes place
with the assistance of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism,
and, in 2010, about 1000 pilgrims from Brazil made up
the largest group at the embassy event.
*****
1 October 2010
Christian leaders lament during
Nigeria's 50th anniversary
Lagos (ENI). Christian leaders in Nigeria have joined
in marking 50 years of independence in Africa's most
populous nation but have also called for divine
intervention because of their concern for the state
of the nation. "Though it might seem like there is not
much to jubilate about in the nation, prophetically and
by faith, we celebrate Jubilee. We believe that as God
sees our faith, he will give us cause to be jubilant
as we begin the journey of another 50 years," said
the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria,
Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.
_____
Buzz builds around new unofficial saint of abuse victims
Vatican City. (ENI/RNS). Mother Mary MacKillop won't be
canonised until 17 October but some Catholics already have
an unofficial title for the 19th-century Australian nun:
Patron Saint of Whistleblowers. MacKillop (1842-1909),
Australia's first native-born saint, was co-founder of
the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, an order
of nuns dedicated to the religious instruction of children
and care for the poor. The strong-willed MacKillop, who
worked under harsh conditions in the Australian outback,
was once briefly excommunicated by her bishop for reasons
that have never been entirely clear.
*****
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners Online:
September 28th, 2010
Many of those who are humiliated are not humble.
Some react to humiliation with anger, others with
patience, and others with freedom. The first are
culpable, the next harmless, the last just.
- Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs
___
September 29th, 2010
We live in hope because we believe, like St. Paul,
that love never dies. Human beings in the historical
process have created enclaves of love by their active
practice of solidarity throughout the world, and with
a view to the full-orbed liberation of peoples and
all humanity.
- Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, from his Nobel Lecture
___
September 30th, 2010
"This is completely unacceptable. Sacrilege would not
be too strong a word. It's loot, taken violently and
inappropriately in the first place. A tabot is a very
holy object; no one can see it apart from priests.
Westminster Abbey is one of the most visited sites in
London. To have it on public display there is an offence
to Orthodox Ethiopian Christians. For one Christian church
to refuse to return it to another seems profoundly wrong.”
- Rev. John McLuckie, a British priest, on Westminster
Abbey’s refusal to return a tabot, a small tablet that
symbolises the Ark of the Covenant, taken by British
troops in the 19th century, to the Ethiopian Orthodox
Church. (Source: Guardian/Observer)
_____
October 1st, 2010
The heavens are as deep as our aspirations are high.
- Henry David Thoreau
*****
ON THIS DAY -
On Sept. 28, 1924, two United States Army planes
landed in Seattle, Washington, having completed the
first round-the-world flight in 175 days.
http://tinyurl.com/2fgunet
_____
Sept. 30, 1938, British, French, German and Italian
leaders agreed at a meeting in Munich that Nazi Germany
would be allowed to annex Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.
http://tinyurl.com/38gyrvb
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT
(provided by colleague Jock McTavish)
A bishop had decreed that woman housekeepers for
priests should be at least fifty years of age. He
was startled, in the visitation of his diocese, to
discover a priest who thought he was observing the
law by keeping two housekeepers, each of whom was
twenty-five years of age.
Anthony de Mello, S.J.
(end)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)