Colleagues List, March 13th, 2010

Vol V. No. 29


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Edited by Wayne A. Holst


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Blogsite:

http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com/


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In this issue:

Book Notice -

"Common Ground:
 Islam, Christianity and Religious Pluralism"
 by Paul L. Heck, Georgetown U. Press (2009)

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Colleague Contributions:

Larry OConnor
Ken Kuhl
Jim Taylor
Lorna Dueck

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Net Notes

Beginning With the Word
Persecution of Christians in Iraq
World Vision Workers Killed in Pakistan
100 US Anglican Parishes to Join Catholics
Disgrace Charge Brought Against Aussie Bishop
Nigerian Muslims Blamed for Christian Slaughter
Lutherans in Canada & US Join in Global Service
Ulster Devolution Approved for Police and Justice
Asian Catholics Bring Vitality to Canadian Church
Campaign to Restore Kairos Funding Gains Momentum

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Global Faith Potpourri:

Fifteen Articles from Ecumenical News International

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Quotes of the Week:

Dorothy L. Sayers
Hans van Dillen
David Cole
Parker Palmer
Maya Angelou

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On This Day:

March 8, 1917 - Russian Revolution begins in St. Petersburg
March 10, 1985 - Chernenko, dies; Gorbachev chosen successor

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Closing Meditation - On our immigrant population


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Dear Friends

We at St. David's have enjoyed a recent presentation
by Ola Mohajer, a bioscience and religious studies
major at the University of Calgary. She is a Shiite
Muslim, but like many young people her age, she is
not that so committed to the religious community of
her parents! She does relate to progressive young
Muslims at the university and is a re-elected science
commissioner on the new Student Council for 2010-11.

Ola is very aware of her faith in a Canadian context
and dresses accordingly. She was born in Lebanon, but
moved with her family to Calgary when a year old.

Ola is coming to St. David's for a Monday night
Q&A to complete our winter series on a high note.
Our people met her when she gave a presentation
on Islam at a Sunday morning service in January.

She is warm, intelligent and very Canadian. She
hopes to invite the people of our congregation to
one of the mosques in the city as a kind of return
invitation. We look forward to this exchange.

___


I give this introduction because I believe that we
at St. David's are forging a healthy start to a
relationship with the Muslim community in our city.
We are doing this as part of our larger ministry focus
on "Adventuresome Spirituality."

During the past year we have invited a Jewish guest who
introduced us to Passover rites; a Coptic Christian who
explained the history of his faith to Western Christians
who had little awareness of his tradition; the Tibetan
Buddhist community who shared an evening with us prior
the Dalai Lama's visit to Calgary. Soon we will welcome
Ola back with us.

We are doing these things because we want to grow in our
awareness of the people who are our neighbours.

__


This week I am introducing a book entitled -

"Common Ground: Islam, Christianity and Religious
Pluralism" by Paul L. Heck, Georgetown U. Press, (2009)

This could be a helpful guide for you as you also seek to
enhance your understanding of religion, spirituality and
pluralism.

___


Colleague Contributions:

Larry O'Connor (London, ON) - offers us an interesting
article by Joan Chittister on how she reads developments
in Ireland in the wake of the tragic abuse scandal there
(National Catholic Reporter)

Ken Kuhl (London, ON) - provides a 'starter' article,
followed by others, on a growing church crisis in Germany.
The pope's own brother Georg confessed to physical, not
sexual, abuse. The German church launched investigations
(Cathnews USA and Asia, The Times Online)

Jim Taylor (Okanagan, BC) - developes a theory on how
patriarchal hierarachies seem to develop. Human institutions
have a way of working against the good formative values they
were originally created to support (Jim Taylor's Weblog)

Lorna Dueck (Burlington, ON) - connects two current topics -
the Paralympics and the Haitian earthquake, through her own
special way of column-writing (Globe and Mail)

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Net Notes:

"Beginning With the Word" - Stephen Miller writes of how
the the King James Bible had a strong influence on the
prose style of American writers. He adds insights from
Robert Alter - a famous Jewish specialist in liturgical
language (Wall Street Journal)

"Persecution of Christians in Iraq" - read a study,
from a Canadian evangelical perspective, on persecution
of the Christians in Iraq. It is part of a series on
persecuted Christians currently being experienced around
the world (Evangelical Fellowship of Canada)

"World Vision Workers Killed in Pakistan" - nationals
working for WV were the victims. It is the worst case
of violence suffered by the agency in its history and
WV has suspended its operations in Pakistan
(Cathnews Asia)

"100 US Anglican Parishes to Join Catholics" - in
response to the pope's invitation, 100 traditionalist
Anglican parishes plan to enter the Catholic church
as a group (Catholic News Service)

"Disgrace Charge Brought Against Aussie Bishop" -
meanwhile, in Australia, fellow Anglican bishops
have brought formal charges of "disgraceful and
scandalous behaviour" against a colleague.
(The Age, Sydney AU)

"Nigerian Muslims Blamed for Christian Slaughter" -
on the fault line of Muslim and Christian tensions
in Nigeria comes this story which developed through
the week. I provide a number of current reports
(Cathnews Asia, Assist News, Guardian UK, and
the Wall Street Journal)

"Lutherans in Canada & US Join in Global Service" -
twenty-five and more years after Canadian and American
Lutherans separated along national lines and merged
with other Lutherans in their respective countries,
new mutal ventures in mission are being planned
(ELCA News, Chicago)

"Ulster Devolution Approved for Police and Justice" -
The parliament at Westminster, London is in the process
of granting new powers of home rule to Northern Ireland
(The Telegraph, UK)

"Asian Catholics Bring Vitality to Canadian Church" -
one sign of encouragement in Canadian church life today
is the growth and influence of Christian immigrants
from China, Korea, Vietnam and elsewhere.
(Western Catholic Reporter)

"Campaign to Restore Kairos Funding Gains Momentum" -
late last year, many Canadians were upset when the
government pulled its funding from Kairos - a major
CIDA-funded global justice organization. There are
signs that funding may eventually be restored.
(ACC News)

____


Global Faith Potpourri - enjoy fifteen articles
from ENI reporting on events from around the world.

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Quotes of the Week:

Dorothy L. Sayers, Hans van Dillen, David Cole,
Parker Palmer & Maya Angelou offer their insights.

___

On This Day (March 8th - March 10th):

The first shots of the Russian Revolution were fired
in St. Petersburg (1917) and almost 70 years later,
the first steps in the dismantling of the USSR occured
when Mikhail S. Gorbachev came to power (1985)

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Our closing thoughts this week - a prayer on behalf
of our immigrant populations - has been provided by
Sojourners Online.

Blessings on your continuing Lenten journey.

Wayne


*****

SPECIAL ST. DAVID'S LINKS

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

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

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ST DAVID'S ACTS WEB PAGE

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

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THE FUTURE OF FAITH by Harvey Cox

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

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

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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.


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SPECIAL ITEM

COMMON GROUND:
Islam, Christianity and Religious Pluralism
by Paul L. Heck, Georgetown U. Press (2009)
$24.95 US. Paper.240 pp. ISBN #978-1-58901-507-4

Publisher's Promo:

This book defends the thesis that if Christianity
and Islam cannot be easily reconciled, it may be
possible to view them through a single, albeit
refractive lens.

Paul Heck undertakes a study of religious pluralism
as a given theological and social reality. He seeks
to approach both religions in tandem as part of a
broader discussion on the nature of the good society.

Rather than compare Christianity and Islam as two
species of faith, religious pluralism offers a prism
through which a society as a whole - secular and
religious alike - can consider together its core
beliefs and values. Seen as distinct, yet together,
both faiths offer reference points that all can
comprehend and discuss knowledgeably.

This book analyses how the two faiths understand
theology, ethics, and politics - specifically
democracy and human rights - and offers a way for
the religious discussion to move forward.

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Author's Comments:

Insight into the common ground between Christianity
and Islam will offer direction for wider discussion.

I attempt to approach the two faiths through the
prism of religious pluralism, co-existing within
society. This study of religious pluralism does not
aim to cram different religions into a single box but
seeks to reach a deeper understanding of religion.

My goal is to seek insight into Christian-Muslim
thinking. Where are the two faiths alike and where
are they different? How does that tell us something
about each?

Does the study of religious pluralism within a
single society have a common purpose? Do the truths
they hold in common cross a broad range of issues -
spiritual, ethical and political?

There is plenty of uncommon ground, but the evidence,
I argue, tilts in the direction of commonality amidst
diversity.

I am not arguing for the creation of a common ground
but suggesting its long-standing existence. (It is
something we can discover and claim from an honest
recovery of our respective traditions.)

I create six chapters that explore topics of central
importancce to Islam with reference to commonality
in Christianity. The first two deal with theology
and revelation. The second two deal with ethics -
the face of God and the existence of evil. The final
two deal with politics - democarcy and human rights.

My conclusions support the idea of a common ground
but also recognize its current fragility.

Both religions hold to a common ground in that each
calls people to live with a God who, given common
biblical origins, is the one God.

Both struggle for a godly society based on moral
teachings. Secular democracies are not a threat to
religious authority, but religion's friend.

This book offers a way of looking at religion through
the refraction offered by society. I see the "religious
pluralism" idea as a great challenge to the prevailing
notion of religion as identity marker. It can be
explored and discussed in light of the wider human
experience.

___

My Thoughts:

Thirty years ago - I was making door-to-door contacts
with people in my North West Calgary community as a new
congregational developer - I became aware of the growing
number of Muslims living in my suburban neighbourhood.

They came from many parts of Asia and Africa, and were
drawn to the educational and occupational opportunities
they found here in Calgary.

Over time, I became aware of similar changes in the
population configuration of many Canadian cities. Town
and country/rural parts of the country have not been
similarly affected.

I invited the imam of the local Sunni mosque to speak
to my congregation because I wanted to "humanize" the
development I saw taking place. Interestingly, the
inter-national magazine of my denomination picked up
the story. Apparently, a new trend was detected.

Three decades later the trends have only continued to
demonstrate that my country and city is going through
a major transformation of its citizenry. The majority
of students at the university where I teach are no
longer of white racial background (this includes Asians
and Latinos.) What we once called "visible minority"
folk are truly becoming "the visible majority."

I find the book "Common Ground: Islam, Christianity
and Religious Pluralism" by Paul Heck most helpful to
me because it acknowledges the cultural pluralism I
have been describing - not just in other parts of the
world, but right here at home.

Heck approaches the challenge as an evolution in human
relations. He assumes, for example, that Muslims are
growingly comfortable living in Western nations and
are open to the secular, democratic institutions that
have emerged in our socities. Christians would do well
to see these Muslims among us as allies, and not
adversaries, in terms of religious committments.

The author of this book wants his readers to view
the two faith traditions are standing on a certain
"common ground" regarding theology, ethics and
politics. We need to work together, recognizing our
differences, but determined to build societies
together that reflect the values we share.
This is a perspective that applies globally as well
as locally. We can demonstrate - generally and
specifically - that religious committment can be a
unifying, peaceable phenomenon and not a divisive,
confrontational reality.

We can recognize there will always be religious
differences, but our commonalities can prove to be
more significant.

Together, we can build new societies - globally and
close to home - as we grow more aware and respectful
of the various faith traditions which which we share
our lives.

If you are interested in building bridges with people
of other faith traditions - as I have for thirty
years here in Calgary - this book could provide some
excitingly new perspectives.

___


Buy the book: http://tinyurl.com/ylop4dr


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COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

LARRY O'CONNOR

I thought you might be interested in this...

Peace, Larry

___


National Catholic Reporter
February 19th, 2010
by Joan Chittister

Being in Ireland as the country and the church continue
the torturous process of resolving -- if that's possible
-- the standoff between victims of sexual abuse and the
local episcopacy, I find myself returning again and again
to a strange but impelling image from a filmic past.

It is the closing scene of Frederico Fellini's 1960 Italian
film masterpiece, "La Dolce Vita," the scene on the beach
in which you expect to see the man's search for love finally
resolved. He is a professional figure, a sophisticated man
who specializes in beguiling women and then abandoning them.

This last encounter with a simple young woman on the beach
seems idyllic. Now, you're certain, love will soften the
differences fate has created between them. But the movement
of each character toward the other stops. Between them on
the shore is an inlet too wide to negotiate in suit and shoes.

As the tide comes in and the inlet widens they attempt a
conversation, calling to one another across the gulf, but,
you come to realize, they are not capable of either hearing
or understanding what the other one is saying. And therein
lies the tale. There are encounters in which, without great
effort on both sides, communication, however desirable,
is not possible.

I've been watching the Irish sex abuse situation here for
years. And learning about communication from every minute
of it. This is not the United States of America. This is
Catholic Ireland. Nothing could be more different than these
two cultures in their approach to a church problem. In the
United States when the sexual abuse crisis erupted and the
church retreated behind a plexiglass of legal responses,
people picketed churches, signed petitions, demonstrated
outside chanceries, and formed protest groups.

In Ireland, the response had another kind of chill about it,
however. In Ireland the gulf got wider and deeper by the day.
It felt like the massive turning of a silent back against the
bell towers and statues and holy water fonts behind it. No
major public protests occurred. "Not at all," as they are
fond of saying. But the situation moved at the upper echelon
of the country relatively quietly but like a glacier. Slowly
but inexorably.

A country which, until recently, checked its constitution
against "the teachings of the church" and had, therefore,
allowed no contraceptives to be sold within its boundaries,
unleashed its entire legal and political system against the
storm.

They broke a hundred years of silence about the abuse of
unwed mothers in the so-called "Magdalene Launderies." They
investigated the treatment of orphaned or homeless children
in the "industrial schools" of the country where physical
abuse had long been common. The government itself took
public responsibility for having failed to monitor these state-
owned but church-run programs. And they assessed
compensatory damages, the results of which are still under
review in the national parliament.

Meanwhile, the average Irish person in the pews digested
the information and, at the same time, calmly but clearly
to declare a separation between "the faith and the church,"
between the sacramental system and the individual conscience.

The sacraments they continued to respect, but church attendance
has tumbled in the cities. Their individual consciences, on the
other hand, they reclaimed. "They won't be telling us what to do
anymore," an old man on the street said in one of the earliest
public interviews on the problem. "We'll be deciding that for
ourselves." And, to judge by local conversations and polling
data years later, nothing much has changed in that regard.

The fact is that there is still an undigested part of the
problem that may well determine the responses of the next
generation toward both faith and church more than it affects
this one. For them, the issue is not the nature of fallen
humanity. Mortal frailty the Irish have learned well over
the centuries. The issue is responsibility. On two levels.

The survivor's response to the meeting of Pope Benedict XVI
with the Irish Episcopacy had the ring of repugnance about
it. "Pope Benedict," Andrew Madden, a spokesperson for the
survivors said, "has not articulated full acceptance of the
findings of the Murphy Report, as we asked him to do," (RTE1

News, February 16.) That is needed, he went on, "to quell the
rise in revisionism and the surge in denial from some quarters
within the Catholic church in relation to its findings."

The message is clear:

First, until the church, in an official way, admits that the
findings of the Murphy Report on the overwhelming amount of
child abuse that went on in Dublin are true and accepts
responsibility for the climate that made cover up an episcopal
practice, the case, at least in the victims' minds, is not
closed. Archbishop Dermot Clifford of Cashel lamented that the
Murphy investigation might well be extended to all the dioceses
in Ireland. If that happens, he said, "the past won't be past
for a long time."

Second, until the bishops who were part of the cover up all
resign, the victims argue, the church will not have proven
either their rejection of the practice, their determination
to change or their ownership of the problem.

Point: Four bishops criticized in the report have offered their
resignations, but so far the pope has officially accepted onl
one of them. All were auxiliary bishops at the time of the first
reports of abuse. They did nothing to bring the situation to
light.

But none of them, no one in the Irish episcopacy, has yet to
admit to their own role in a cover-up. No bishop, in a land
where the burden of guilt fell heavily on the backs of Irish
people, has admitted his own guilt, his own defense of the
institution rather than the care of the children. No one has
said, "The church -- I -- was wrong in the handling of this
scandal. Therefore, I,too, am responsible for this abuse."

So how are the Irish people reacting to the impasse? Well, as
they opened Catholic Schools Week in Ireland this month, the
Market Research Bureau of Ireland was reporting that 74
percent of the population think that "the church did not react
properly to the Murphy Report" and that 61 percent of the
population"want no Catholic control of elementary schools."
Little more than half of the respondents think the church will
really change to prevent abuse in the future, and 47 percent
feel more negative than before toward the church.

Most telling of all, perhaps, is the fact that the support of
the older generation which, at its best, was once only marginally
higher than the support of 18-24 year olds, may be shifting even
lower. "The fallout from the Murphy report was a shock to the
bishops," Archbishop Clifford said, and "had a far greater
negative effect on older people than the previous two
investigations had been."

"While they were preaching at us they were damaging our
children," an old woman said. "What more can you say?"

From where I stand, it seems that the long-awaited meeting
between the pope and the bishops of Ireland is over now, more
with a yawn than a standing ovation. In true Irish fashion,
everybody's talking about it, but if the data is saying
anything, it may be that the love affair between the people
and the church is on very rocky ground; one side is not hearing
the other and the gulf is growing wider every day.

*****

KEN KUHL

Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
8 March 2010

Pope's brother says willing to testify
about scandal-hit choir he led

Trier/Rome (ENI). The Pope and his brother have
been drawn into a controversy surrounding the sexual
abuse of members of a boy's choir in Germany. The
Vatican says that the brother of Pope Benedict XVI
was not involved with the choir at the time the
sexual abuse allegedly took place, but a German
Catholic lay group has demanded that the pontiff
explain what he knew about the situation when he
was a bishop in Bavaria. Germany's Stern magazine
in its 8 March edition quoted the Roman Catholic
lay reform Group We Are Church as saying, "Pope
Benedict should explain himself".

___

Cathnews USA
March 9th, 2010

Pope's brother apologizes over school punishment

Pope Benedict's elder brother Monsignor Georg Ratzinger
has asked forgiveness for slapping pupils at the German
boarding school where he was choirmaster and also
apologized for failing to act over more violent
punishment at the school.

Read more...
http://www.cathnewsusa.com/article.aspx?aeid=19979

___

The Times of London:
March 10, 2010

Pope's brother: I hit children while working
at boarding school, by Richard Owen, Rome

The Pope's brother gave a rare insight yesterday
into a pervasive culture of violence at Roman Catholic
institutions, admitting that he hit children while he
was choirmaster at a German boarding school.

Georg Ratzinger led Germany's leading Catholic boys'
choir, the Regensburger Domspatzen, for 30 years until
1994. The school and its choir are at the centre of
allegations of sexual abuse over several decades.

In an interview with the Catholic newspaper Passauer
Neue Presse, Monsignor Ratzinger, 86, said that he had
no knowledge of sexual abuse but admitted that boys were
often punished harshly, sometimes in an arbitrary manner.

"I myself handed out slaps repeatedly, although I always
had a bad conscience about it," he said...

Read the rest of the article:
http://tinyurl.com/ylpt7pn

___


Cathnews USA
March 10th, 2010

German Church launches new abuse investigations

Germany's Catholic Church has ordered two separate
investigations yesterday into allegations of widespread
sexual abuse in its institutions, and into whether Pope
Benedict knew about them while he was a diocesan bishop.

Read more...
http://tinyurl.com/yb7zu9n


*****

JIM TAYLOR

INEVITABLE PROGRESSIONS

Among the bigger B.C. lakes, Okanagan Lake is unique. It has
no major river feeding it.

Perhaps for the same reason, it has no deep bays. When sudden
storms lash the lake, boaters have few natural places to seek
shelter.

So regional authorities built a “safe harbour” in Okanagan
Centre, just south of my home.

When I first saw it, it had a breakwater, and not much else.
Boaters launched fishing skiffs and light runabouts by backing
their trailers down the gravel slope into the water.

As time passed, the regional government rebuilt the breakwater
with bigger pilings. They installed a concrete launching ramp.

They paved the roadway. Regimented parking spaces replaced
anarchy.

And last summer, a commissionaire began locking the harbour’s
gates at 11:00 each night, and re-opening them at 5:00 a.m.
Overnight parkers got tickets, or had their vehicles towed.

I’m not objecting to that change. Local residents had long
lobbied for a means of controlling late-night parties and abuse
of a free facility.

But I also see a kind of inevitable progression taking place...

Read of how institutions and patriarchies tend to evolve,
click: http://edges.canadahomepage.net/2010/03/10/759/


*****

LORNA DUECK

Globe and Mail
March 12th, 2010

Lorna combines two current themes - the Paralympics
and Haitian relief - in a special story of hope.

Owning Haiti's Podium
http://tinyurl.com/ylakckv


*****

NET NOTES

BEGINNING WITH THE WORD

Wall Street Journal
March 8th, 2010

The King James Bible has influenced the prose style and
literary voice of many American writers. Robert Alter
traces its effect in "Pen of Iron."

Read the review: http://tinyurl.com/yh4me36


*****


PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN IRAQ

Evangelical Fellowship of Canada Report
March 9th, 2010

http://tinyurl.com/yjkzpoo


*****


SIX WORLD VISION WORKERS KILLED IN PAKISTAN

Cathnews Asia
March 11th, 2010

Six Pakistani workers from the US-based Christian charity
World Vision were shot dead and seven others wounded in an
attack on their office in Mansehra, a popular tourist
destination in northern Pakistan.

Read more... http://tinyurl.com/yg4cden


*****

100 US ANGLICAN PARISHES TO JOIN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Catholic News Service
March 9th, 2010

ORLANDO, Fla. -- About 100 traditionalist Anglican
parishes in the United States have decided to join
the Catholic Church as a group.

Read More:
http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/03/10/US-1/


*****

DISGRACE CHARGE BROUGHT AGAINST BISHOP

The Age (Australia)

Provided by:
Ken Kuhl
London, ON

Written by Barney Zwartz
March 9, 2010

Two South Australian Anglican bishops have brought
formal charges of disgraceful and scandalous behaviour
against a third, claiming that he tried to stack his
diocesan council to get a $1 million payout and that he
protected and promoted a senior priest accused of sexual
abuse...

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

*****

NIGERIAN MUSLIMS BLAMED FOR SLAUGHTER OF 500 CHRISTIANS

Cathnews Asia
March 8th, 2010

Nigerian government sources are blaming Muslim clans for
the slaughter of up to 550 Christians in a weekend attack
on a Christian village.

Read the article: http://tinyurl.com/yf4qtl3


___

Assist News
March 10th, 2010

Nigerian Police Reduce the Number of Christian Deaths
http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2010/s10030050.htm

___


The Guardian
March 11th, 2010

Nigerian Sectarian Massacre Murder Charges
http://tinyurl.com/y8ejgfa

___


Wall Street Journal
March 11th, 2010

Massacres Shake Uneasy Nigeria
http://tinyurl.com/y98q6f2


*****

LUTHERANS IN CANADA, UNITED STATES
TO ENGAGE IN GLOBAL SERVICE TOGETHER

ELCA NEWS SERVICE
March 5, 2010

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Canada (ELCIC) will engage in mission and ministry
overseas together as part of a new agreement between
both denominations.

More http://www.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?a=4467


*****

ULSTER DEVOLUTION APPROVED RE POLICE AND JUSTICE

The Telegraph (UK)
March 10th, 2010

Powers are to be handed over to the Northern Ireland
Assembly ­finally paving the way for devolution to be
completed.

Read the article: http://tinyurl.com/ye8ht7n


*****


ASIAN CATHOLICS BRING VITALITY TO CHURCH IN CANADA

Western Catholic Reporter
March 8th, 2010
by Chris Miller

Despite language barriers, the disruptive experience
of immigration and other obstacles, Asian Catholics are
integrating into Canadian life and keeping their faith
alive in Edmonton.

Read the article: http://tinyurl.com/yj2349d


*****

CAMPAIGN TO RESTORE KAIROS FUNDING GAINS MOMENTUM

Anglican News Service
March 8th, 2010

With letters, fundraising concerts, and MP meetings,
Canadians are ramping up support for KAIROS: Canadian
Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, which was denied its
traditional funding from the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA) on Nov. 30.

Mary Corkery, KAIROS's executive director, said she is
seeing "greater momentum" from the supportive NGO and
church community since the fall decision. "People
do understand that social justice is a fundamental
expression of who we are as Christians," she said.

Read the article and locate related links:
http://tinyurl.com/ybwsbsk


*****

GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI

Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
8 March 2010

Russian and Polish churches break ice with talks

Warsaw (ENI). Poland's Roman Catholic Church has launched
its first dialogue with Russian Orthodox leaders, in a bid
to rebuild relations between the two countries. "Although
these were introductory talks, key problems of mutual
interest were discussed, and it was agreed to start work
on a joint document about our churches' contribution to
the labour of reconciliation," church representatives
said in a joint statement. "Both sides stressed the
historic significance of this initiative and the
conversations now begun, which are an important first
step towards bringing our local churches closer and
reconciling our nations."

_____


Questions arise as 'most godless place' gets first saint

Melbourne, Australia (ENI). Australia - described in the
19th century by a Scottish church minister as "the most
Godless place under heaven" - will get its first saint
when Sister Mary McKillop is canonised by Pope Benedict
XVI later in the year. Some Protestant church leaders
have, however, raised questions about the need to find
"proof of a miracle" in order for her sainthood to be
confirmed. Mary McKillop, the daughter of a Roman
Catholic, Scottish immigrant, at just 24, established
the Order of the Sisters of St. Joseph in South East
Australia in the late 1800s.

*****

9 March 2010

Sri Lanka's religious leaders call
for fair polls in April

Bangalore, India (ENI). Sri Lankan religious leaders have
called for free and fair polls scheduled for April in an
election campaign that has already been marred by violence.
"If you cannot uphold law and reject violence during the
elections, how can we trust that you will do this after
the elections?" leaders of Sri Lanka's Congress of Religions
challenged about 7000 candidates set to contest 225 seats
for the national parliament in the 8 April elections.
This is the clear message our forum has sent out for the
elections," the Rev. Jayasiri Peiris, former general
secretary of the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka,
told Ecumenical News International on 8 March. He was
explaining a statement the religious leaders released on
2 March in the majority Sinhala language.

_____


Muslim woman in Canada expelled over
face veil files complaint

Toronto (ENI). A Muslim woman has filed a human rights
complaint after she was expelled from a Canadian college
for refusing to remove her face veil. The Egyptian-born
woman, who is a permanent resident of Canada, was enrolled
in a government-sponsored French language class for new
immigrants in Montreal, Quebec. The school, CÉGEP St.
Laurent, expelled her in November 2009 after she refused
to remove her niqab, a veil that covers the face with only
a slit for the eyes. The school argued that the niqab
interfered with the language teaching, since part of
the class involves proper elocution and seeing how a
person pronounces words in French.

_____


Theologian hailed as pioneer
in church activism in South Africa
Johannesburg (ENI). South African theologian Steve de Gruchy,
who died in a river accident near the Drakensberg mountains,
has been hailed as a pioneer in church activism, economic
and ecological justice. The 48-year-old University of KwaZulu-
Natal professor drowned after he fell off a river tube on the
Mooi River. De Gruchy waved to his 15-year-old son David that
he was alright, but did not reappear. His body was recovered
700 metres downstream on 24 February some days after the
accident. The general secretary of the World Alliance of
Reformed Churches, the Rev. Setri Nyomi, said, "We have lost
a great theologian and one who understands our Christian
calling and mission to be intricately linked with being
God's agents of transformation and justice in the world."
The Rev. Prince Dibeela of the United Congregational Church
of Southern Africa called De Gruchy a "God-loving son of
Africa".

_____


Christians, Muslims issue
religious freedom plan after US summit

Washington, DC (ENI/RNS). Christian and Muslim leaders from
the United States, the Vatican and the Middle East have issued
a "plan of action" to address religious freedom and peace
building after a three-day summit at Washington National
Cathedral. The group's two-page statement committed to
working with government and community officials to address
the global economic downturn, natural disasters and the
conflict in the Middle East, Religion News Service reports.
"The worship of God who demands serious moral purpose is at
the very core of Christianity and Islam," the statement reads.
"Therefore, religious leaders must cooperatively work with
each other and the political leaders in their respective
countries in response to these crises."


*****

10 March 2010

Group seeks to restore Hinduism as secular
Nepal's State religion


Kathmandu (ENI). The marquees near Nepal's Pashupatinath
temple in the Himalayan country's capital resembled a
carnival with people trooping in from morning to night.
But for some members of minority religions, including
people among about 700 000 Christians who were given
the privilege of religious freedom in 2006, the Hindu
gathering has been a cause for concern. The group
Christian Solidarity Worldwide has warned that Nepal's
new constitution, which will go into effect in May, may
not allow people to convert from one religion to another.
Kalidas Dahal, a Hindu who claims to have supernatural
powers, on 1 March began a nine-day prayer meeting aiming
to show the coalition government the public support
Hinduism still enjoys in Nepal.

_____


World Council of Churches,
World Evangelical Alliance heads meet

Geneva (ENI). Leaders of the World Evangelical Alliance
and the World Council of Churches and have met in Geneva
to discuss common concerns around Christian unity such as
evangelism and religious liberty. The Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit,
general secretary of the WCC, and WEA's international
director, the Rev. Geoff Tunnicliffe, met for the first
time in 2007 at the Global Christian Forum in Limuru, Kenya.
Their meeting in Geneva was their first encounter since
Tveit began his tenure as WCC general secretary in January.
"This important meeting was helpful in building bridges of
understanding in regards to evangelism, religious liberty
and caring for the vulnerable. We look forward to ongoing
conversations with the WCC," Tunnicliffe was quoted as
saying in a WCC statement on 10 March.

_____


Korean church leaders liken death penalty ruling
to 'State violence'

Tokyo (ENI). Korean church leaders have criticised a
ruling that the death penalty is constitutional, calling
it "an expression of violence committed by State power".
"We believe that the judgment is against the right to life
as a basic right of the Constitution," said the Rev. Oh-Sung
Kwon, general secretary of the National Council of Churches
in Korea, in a statement. It was co-signed by the Rev.
Sang-Bok Jung, who chairs the council's justice and peace
committee. On 25 February, South Korea's Constitutional
Court ruled, in a 5-4 decision, in favour of the death
penalty that was imposed on a 72-year-old fisherman, who
had been tried for murder for a second time and had his
conviction from 14 years earlier, was upheld.

*****

11 March 2010

Pakistan churches condemn lethal attack
on World Vision centre

Bangalore, India (ENI). Churches in Pakistan have
deplored the killing of six World Vision staff members
as the international Christian humanitarian organization
announced it has suspended its operations in the country.
Dean Owen of World Vision said after the attack, "All of
World Vision’s operations in the country have been
suspended for the time being." He said World Vision had
received "no threatening letters" before the killing.
News agency reports said unidentified gunmen lined up
the staff at a field hospital in the small town of Ogi
in the Mansehra district on 10 March and shot them
indiscriminately before detonating bombs that damaged
the building housing the healthcare facilities for those
affected by the earthquake that ravaged the area in 2005.
In addition to the deaths, eight staff members were
injured

_____


Some faith leaders see religion
behind violence in Nigeria

Lagos, Nigeria (ENI). Some religious leaders in Nigeria
are viewing the latest outbreak of lethal violence in the
country's central region - a part of the country once seen
as a haven of tolerance - as religiously motivated. This
Day newspaper in Nigeria on 10 March quoted the general
secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Engineer
Samuel Salifu as saying in Abuja that the crisis in Plateau
State is religious. "It is clear that the crisis in Jos is
purely religious, though it may have the undertone of culture,
it may also have the undertone of politics. But it's becoming
clear every day that it is religious and our understanding of
it is that it is premeditated cold blooded murder of innocent
Christians in those affected villages," Salifu said in the
interview.

_____


Restoring work-free Sundays is goal of European lawmaker

Warsaw (ENI). A German politician has launched the European
Union's first international citizens' referendum, demanding
the restoration of Sunday as a day for rest and family life.
"This is the right time to show that, as European citizens,
we want to involve ourselves, not only through elections, but
also in other ways," Martin Kastler, a European Parliament
member for Germany's co-governing Christian Social Union,
explained on the petition Web site, www.freesunday.eu.
"The work-free Sunday is part of our European culture.
We need time for our families and relationships, for civil
society and religion," said Kastler.


*****

12 March 2010

Polish church challenged to speak up
for poor and marginalised - Feature

Warsaw (ENI). A Polish sociologist has urged the Catholic
Church to speak out in defence of the poor, after figures
showed the former communist country that now plays a strong
economic role in the region has the highest child poverty
rate in the European Union. "While some problems were
inherited from the previous system, the more serious ones
have arisen since communism," said Professor Ewa Les, a
specialist at Warsaw University's Social Policy Institute,
who noted that the country is devoting the fewest resources
to family welfare and support in the EU. "Although the
church's historic record has been a good one, and it does
at lot to help at local level, it isn't using its
possibilities to highlight current social hardships.
This passivity is a great loss," said Les in an interview
with Ecumenical News International.

_____


Unity is crucial, says Rwanda religious leader
after grenade blasts

Kigali (ENI). Rwanda's Muslim leader, who works with
Christians on peace issues, has urged citizens in his
country to remain united following grenade blasts in
the country's capital, Kigali. "For us in Rwanda, unity
and reconciliation are a must," Sheikh Saleh Habimana,
the Mufti of Rwanda, told Ecumenical News International
on 11 March in Kigali. "For the last 16 years Rwandans
have managed to live side by side, on a foundation of
zero tolerance of revenge." On 4 March two synchronised
grenade blasts injured 16 people in Kigali and a third
unrelated explosion killed one person in Gisenyi, a small
town in the west of the country. Two weeks earlier, a
similar blast killed two people.

_____


Muslim cleric who walked path of
inter-faith dialogue is mourned

Trier, Germany (ENI). Sunni Muslim cleric Sheikh Mohammed
Sayyid Tantawi, whom religious leaders have hailed for his
involvement in inter-faith dialogue, as well as for attacking
those who kill innocent people in the name or religion, has
died. Arabnews.com reported that he was boarding an early
morning flight when he suffered severe pain and fell on the
stairs. He was 81 when he died on 10 March. Tantawi, grand
imam of the Al-Azhar Mosque in Egypt, and the spiritual
leader of around one billion Sunni Muslims, died of a heart
attack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 10 March. World religious
and political leaders, including the office of the U.S.
president, have paid tribute to Tantawi.


*****

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

March 8th, 2010
Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first
at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never
known a man like this Man ... A prophet and teacher
who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed
or patronised ... who rebuked without querulousness
and praised without condescension; who took their
questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped
out their sphere for them, never urged them to be
feminine or jeered at them for being female ...

Nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds
of Jesus that there was anything [inferior] about
woman's nature.

- Dorothy L. Sayers, from book, "Are Women Human?"

___


Los Angeles Times
March 8th, 2010

"At the moment, Haiti is flooded with help -- the whole
humanitarian circus is here. Most came with no planning
horizon and will soon leave. And then what? We'll try,
but it won't be enough. In that respect, we'll be back
to square one."

- Hans van Dillen, head of mission of the Dutch chapter
  of Doctors Without Borders, which has provided medical
  services in Haiti for much of the last 15 years, on the
  impending departure of medical personnel who came in the
  aftermath of the earthquake.

___


Washington Post
March 9th, 2010

"This is like putting on every student's desk,
when you walk into class, five different magazines,
several television shows, some shopping opportunities
and a phone, and saying, 'Look, if your mind wanders,
feel free to pick any of these up and go with it.'"

- David Cole, Georgetown Law professor, on why he
   has banned laptops from his classes.

___


March 10th, 2010

True self, when violated, will always resist us,
sometimes at great cost, holding our lives in check
until we honor its truth.

- Parker Palmer, from book "Let Your Life Speak"

___


March 11th, 2010

The fact that people become heroes and sheroes can
be credited to their ability to identify and empathize
with "the other." These men and women could continue
to live quite comfortably ... but they chose not to.

They make the decision to be conscious of the other
-- the homeless and the hopeless, the downtrodden and
oppressed. Heroism has nothing to do with skin color
or social status. It is a state of mind and a willingness to
act for what is right and just.

- Maya Angelou, excerpted from "An American Odyssey:
  From Martin Luther King to Rodney King"


*****

ON THIS DAY

On March 8, 1917, Russia's February Revolution (so called
because of the Old Style calendar used by Russians at the
time) began with rioting and strikes in St. Petersburg.

http://tinyurl.com/yk3b583

_____


March 10, 1985, Konstantin U. Chernenko, Soviet leader for just
13 months, died at age 73. His death was announced on March 11th.
Politburo member Mikhail S. Gorbachev was chosen to succeed him.
http://tinyurl.com/yl268fu

*****

Closing Meditation:

A Prayer for Our Immigrant Population

Break our hearts over what breaks yours, Lord. For our
immigrant brothers and sisters, who endure hostility and
marginalization simply on the basis of their ethnicity or
immigration status, we ask your strength. And for those
of us who call ourselves followers of the welcoming Christ,
grant us the strength to stand with and for those who live
as equals before you, even if they are not equals before
the law or equals in the eyes of some. Amen. (Sojourners)


(end)

Colleagues List, March 6th, 2010

Vol V. No. 28

*****

Edited by Wayne A. Holst


*****

Blogsite:

http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com/


*****


In this issue:

Special Item -

"The Most Dangerous Man in America"

My Reflection on a Film Nominated as a
Documentary Feature, 2010 Academy Award
___


Colleague Contributions:

Michael Trew
John Stackhouse Jr.
Reginald Stackhouse
Martin Marty
___


Net Notes:

Is Going for Gold Unchristian?
Hockey Almost Religion in Canada
Medical Hazards of Spiritual Care
Nun 'Cured' by Pope Falls Ill Again
UK Lords Approve Gay Church Marriage
Ian Paisley is Stepping Down in Ulster
Korean Catholics Proud of Olympic Champ
Major UK Ecumenical Events Honour Romero
Earlier Divorce Granted Kerala Christians
1641 Massacre of Protestants to be Studied
Kenney Denies Role in Gay Rights Text Removal
_____


Global Faith Potpourri:

Thirteen News Items from
Ecumenical News International

___

Quotes of the Week:

Stanley Hauerwas
Tewanee Joseph
Virginia Woolf
Tahir ul-Qadri
Donald Miller
Anne Lamott
Kurt Vonnegut

___


On This Day (Feb. 28th - March 5th)
March 1st - Annual St. David's Day Celebrated in Wales

Feb. 28, 1993 - Waco, TX - US gun battle with Davidians
March 3, 1991 - Rodney King severely beaten by LA police
March 3, 1847 - Birthday of Alexander Graham Bell (obit)
March 5, 1946 - Churchill delivers "Iron Curtain" speech

___


Closing Meditation - by Henri Nouwen


*****

Dear Friends

It's Academy Awards weekend and I want to suggest
a film worthy of your consideration, whether or not
it wins a prize on Sunday evening.

The film is entitled: "The Most Dangerous Man in America"
and it has been nominated in the category of Documentary
Feature.

If it is not showing in a local theatre, be alert to an
appearance - down the way - in a video store near you.

In the meantime, I offer you my reflections on this very
remarkable movie which Marlene and I saw here in Calgary
last weekend.

___


Colleague Contributions:

Michael Trew - is a fellow member of St. David's. We've
known each other for more than twenty years. Mike is a
psychiatrist who holds a very responsible position as
Senior Medical Director, Addictions & Mental Health,
with Alberta Health Services. Read what he has to say on
the subject of how suicide is presented in the media.

John Stackhouse Jr. - no stranger to Colleague List,
tackles the subject of offering invocational prayers
at secular events. Do you agree with him?

Reginald Stackhouse - no relation to John (above)
but the father of John who is editor of the Globe & Mail,
complements our current prime minister, and offers some
sage advice - "focus on the big stuff, Mr. Harper."

Martin Marty - comments on an article featuring Lauren
Ashley, self-proclaimed Miss Beverly Hills, and appearing
in a local newspaper, The Advocate. She suggests a
consistent reading of scripture on the subject of gays
likely to be ignored by literalists and missed by others.

___


Net Notes:

"Is Going for Gold Unchristian?" - Mags Storey opens
our reflections on Canada's great showing at the
2010 Winter Olympics with an interesting question
that challenges Canadian "politeness" as a common
way to describe us (Christian Week)

"Hockey Almost Religion in Canada" - the games were
capped with that wonderful win in men's hockey. It
was enough to prompt the New York Times to suggest
that hockey is not only our national sport but
actually a national religion.

"Medical Hazards of Spiritual Care" - How do people
cope with cancer? Some recent medical studies are
suggesting that religion can be both a plus and a
minus factor (Christianity Today)

"Nun 'Cured' by Pope Falls Ill Again" - many of us
know that John Paul II has been "fast tracked" for
canonization, the first step to sainthood in the
Catholic church. Now, we learn the disturbing news
that one of his healing miracles actually failed.
(The Guardian UK)

"UK Lords Approve Gay Church Marriage" - the august
British House of Lords has just approved gay marriage
for the Church of England. But what of those clergy
who refuse to perform such rights? Here are two
articles on the subject (The Telegraph, UK)

"Ian Paisley is Stepping Down in Ulster" - Paisley
has been controversial all his life. Now, in his
senior years, he has become a statesmanlike figure.
Ian, I almost like you now! (The Guardian UK)
"Korean Catholics Proud of Olympic Champ" - from
a land that had very few Christians a century ago
appears the story of public, as well as religious,
acclaim for a Christian sports figure (Cathnews Asia)

"Major UK Ecumenical Events Honour Romero" - on
March 24th, many in El Salvador and around the world
will honour Oscar Romero on the thirtieth anniversary
of his martyrdom. The British are planning major
ecumenical commemorations (Independent Catholic News)
"Earlier Divorce Granted Kerala Christians" - Kerala's
Catholics have not had the same divorce rights as its
other citizens, but that is changing (Cathnews Asia)

"1641 Massacre of Protestants to be Studied" - the
history of poisoned Protestant-Catholic relations in
Ireland is a sequence of historial disasters, both
real and imagined. Here is a story of a project that
may help to set at least part of the record straight
and lead to better understanding (Belfast Telegraph)

"Kenney Denies Role in Gay Rights Text Removal" -
a man whose views of gays are well-known denies that
he was responsible for removing gay rights texts for
a citizenship guide he overseas as Canada's current
Minister of Immigration (Globe and Mail)

____


Global Faith Potpourri:

Enjoy the thirteen news items I have located for you
from Geneva-based Ecumenical News International service

___


Quotes of the Week:

Stanley Hauerwas, Tewanee Joseph, Virginia Woolf,
Tahir ul-Qadri, Donald Miller, Anne Lamott and
Kurt Vonnegut share good reflection pieces.

__


On This Day (Feb. 28th - March 4th):

We are St. David's Calgary are growingly interested
in the patron saint after which our church is named.
March 1st is the day St. David is celebrated in Wales.
I include the Wikipedia article on the commemoration.

The Branch Davidians (a Seventh Day Adventist sect)
took on federal agents at a fatal Waco Texas shootout
(1992); Rodney King, a black man, was severely beaten
by members of the Lost Angeles police force and the
ingnomineous act was caught on video (1991); Alexander
Graham Bell was born on March 3rd (1847) and died in
Baddeck, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Read his obituary.
Winston Church delivered his famous "Iron Curtain"
speech in Fullerton, MO, anticipating the Cold War
(1946).

These articles are courtesy of the New York Times.

___


Closing thoughts are provided by Henri Nouwen.

Continued blessings on your Lenten journey.

Wayne


*****

SPECIAL ST. DAVID'S LINKS

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

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

___


ST DAVID'S ACTS WEB PAGE

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

__


THE FUTURE OF FAITH by Harvey Cox

Monday Night Study, January 18th - March 29th, 2010
An insightful description of where Christian faith
is moving in the twenty-first century.
Follow our class videos, power point presentations,
other notes and study resources. Bookmark this link:

http://www.1journey.net/stdavids/SD/BookStudy/24/24.htm

___


STUDY ARCHIVES

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

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


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


SPECIAL ITEM

My reflection on:
THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA

A 2009 documentary - introduced to Canada at the Toronto
International Film Festival last September.

It is directed by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith.

The film follows Daniel Ellsberg and explores the events
leading up to the publication of the Pentagon Papers (1971)
which exposed the top-secret military history of the
United States involvement in Vietnam.

"More than a documentary; it is a suspense thriller"
- The Boston Globe

___


"DANGEROUS" IS A FILM NOMINATED
AS A DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FOR THE
2010 ACADEMY AWARDS

Some major historical events are remembered as facts;
and some as paradigm shifts in their own right.

This film describes a significant change in human
consciousness as it recounts the stages of moral
transformation occurring in Daniel Ellsberg's life.

Ellsberg was a US Defense Department-contracted policy
analyst, who, in a dramatic act, leaked 47 volumes
(7,000) pages of top secret CIA documents to the press
and congress almost forty years ago. The upshot of this
was that US public sentiment finally turned against
the Vietnam war which was continuing indefinitely.

After that act, the Nixon administration adopted a
paranoid bunker mentality, which resulted in "dirty
tricks" performed by a squad of White House "plumbers"
which sought to stop such leaks by gathering negative
information on perpetrators like Ellsberg.

"Watergate" - became synonymous with Nixon's attempt
to find evidence against Ellsberg by trying to steal
confidential files from his psychiatrist whose office
was located in that now-famous Washington building.

Ultimately, Nixon was forced to resign in disgrace as the
details of what had transpired slowly dribbled out during
subsequent senate hearings. (Boston Globe)

Ellsberg was charged on various counts, but ultimately all
charges against him were dropped.

All this happened because a "not-very-religious man" of
great gifts and recognized political influence determined
to heed the promptings of his conscience and do something
about it - even though he risked his career and implicated
others close to him in the process.

His son, colleague Robert Ellsberg, is portrayed live in
the film as being deeply influenced by his father's
behaviour. Robert helped his father copy those pages.

The film dramatizes a kind of secular spiritual journey
of a man who changes from warrior to anti-warrior, from
military analyst to peace activist, and from patriot
to "traitor" (New York Times)

Henry Kissinger famously and derisively dubbed Ellsberg
"The most dangerous man in America."

Ellsberg certainly performed one of the most daring
whistleblowing acts of the century (L.A. Times) but
most of those who lived through those historic events
quickly determined whether he was a traitor or a hero.

His supporters remember him as a larger-than-life
figure. His detractors regard him as "slippery" -
with a flair for political theatre - who got off on
a legal technicality.

My sense is that most Canadians who remember Ellsberg
consider him a hero. I certainly do; and am honoured to
call his son Robert a friend as a result of our literary
collaboration.

Whether or not people love or detest Ellsberg, however,
he is clearly one who changed the course of history. He
did so by defining a different paradigm (or way of viewing
reality) based on recognizing his situation honestly;
following his conscience; and making a decisive break from
former committments when others would have compromised
their integrity for the sake of personal security.

"This story changed the world... We have not celebrated
Daniel Ellsberg enough," says the New York Magazine.


***

What the Pentagon Papers Episode Taught Me About: -

Loyalty

I was brought up during an era when loyalty to institutions
was expected. Those who stepped "outside the bounds" were
considered traitors. Whether the institution was political,
educational, healthcare/social service or religious - that
commitment was required.

To recognize how much has changed, we need only consider
a modern tragedy - the sex abuse scandals currently plaguing
the Catholic church in many places. Decades ago, it was
assumed that an honourable institution was worth protecting
above all other considerations. When it became clear,
however, that bishops placed loyalty to the institution
ahead of concern for the people within it, most of us
recoil in profound anger and chagrin.
This suggests to me how profound has been our general
change of attitude regarding loyalty to institutions. No
institution stands above the law - as the bishops of Ireland
have dramatically discovered. If that can happen on the
Emerald Isle, it can happen anywhere.

What applies to secular institutions, applies to the church.

___


Transparency

This means that those who would defend institutions
must come to view integrity in new ways.

In the past, people were much more willing to accept
the "appearance" of trustworthiness as tantament to
trustworthiness itself. Today it has become a truism
that leaders must not only "reflect" integrity, they
must in truth "be" people of integrity.
The checks and balances we have established to assure
this have increased exponentially in recent years.
My parents automatically respected persons with
"professonal" roles. But that changed. What I
gradually experienced became their experience too.

Several weeks before he died, my father told me that
"respect for church leaders" was "no longer automatic"
as far as he was concerned. He advised me to continue
to live the life I had chosen, through great struggles,
and he could now support me in that.

"Leaders have to prove they are leaders" he implied.
"I no longer trust them automatically, and I assume
the same about you," he told me.

This exchange with my dad - within weeks of his death
- became greatly liberating. I never expected that
he would choose transparency over automatic respect.

What he now allowed made life so much freer for me.

I believe that - in his own way - Daniel Ellsberg
influnced my dad's thinking - even though the
connection between the two (i.e. the societal
implications of this development in my dad's mind)
would necessitate an explanation I cannot provide
here.

___


Enigma

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" (the
more things change, the more they stay the same) -
is a famous french axiom that both Daniel Ellsberg
and I came to recognize and acknowledge.

One of the significant discoveries decribed by
Ellsberg in the documentary is that - whatever
had changed in the public mind since the historic
Pentagon Papers episode - people tend to forget
the price that was paid and too easily assume that
"things are different now."

Ellsberg and I share an enigma. We as humans are
too easily lulled into complacency over important
issues like "trust" and "transparency" - and that
is something about which we must be perpetually
on guard.

As much as our situation seems to have changed,
the fact remains that it probably has not changed.
Theologians may ascribe that to the vagaries of
human nature. Evil may be defeated, they may say,
but it is never fully overcome this side of eternity.

To counter that, I keep harping on some issues - even
when I may sound like an aging, broken record.

Margaret Atwood once stated that some things need to be
said again and again.

When it comes to important matters like the people
in whom I invest my social trust - in government,
education, health and church - as well as those
I care about - I must be perpetually alert.
I will continue to repeat some things, perhaps long
after some may think I should cease and desist. That
simply means I am responding to voices deep inside me
that will not be silenced.

___


"The Most Dangerous Man in America"

Read the New York Times review:
September 16th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/ldr24c

Watch several trailers:
http://www.mostdangerousman.org/trailer/

Cheer for the film during the Academy Awards
presentations this weekend.

Anticipate its appearance on DVD.

View it by yourself or with people who
are important to you.


*****


COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

MICHAEL TREW

Alberta Views
March, 2010

Suicide in Alberta (second highest rate in the nation
following Quebec) was the major theme of the February
issue of Alberta Views. On page 62 (Alberta by Numbers)
an extensive listing of various types of confirmed
suicides was provided as well as statistics of hospital
Emergency Room visits by those attempting suicide or
performing other self-inflicted injuries.

In accompanying articles, graphic verbal imagery -
- while creative in nature - concerned Mike.

___


College Michael Trew wrote an extensive letter to the
Alberta Views editor which appeared this month.

Here are some excerpts:

"First, I would like to thank you for taking on the
challenging task of writing about the difficult subject
of suicide. Your articles are generally well-written, with
a respect for the challenging language of suicide and the
need to emphasise hope and help-seeking. They help to
explain how complex suicidal behaviour can be...
"However, I am concerned by a few aspects of your issue.
The depiction of suicide on page 62 is particularly
troublesome. It may be offensive or even traumatizing to
those who have had a loved one die by suicide... in
several instances the authors used the term "committed"
rather than the preferred "died by" suicide...

"Media guidelines (see www.casp-acps.ca) advise against
describing in detail, in picture or text, a method of
suicide. (Some of your articles go into too much detail
and emphasis on methods.) Guidelines advise against
this for a very important reason. Research indicates
the potential for copycat suicides and contagion effect
when potentially suicidal people read/see articles
containing this information. These depictions can
increase suicide - an outcome I am sure you did not
intend..."

- Dr. Michael Trew

___


If your are interested, try to locate the February
issue of Alberta Views in a library. Unfortunately,
an electronic version is hard to find.


*****

JOHN STACKHOUSE

John Stackhouse's Weblog
February 26th, 2010
Invocations at Secular Events

A friend writes: I have been asked to say grace at our
company¹s anniversary dinner. It is a secular Canadian
company. The people who will be attending the dinner
come from different cultural and religious backgrounds.
I felt awkward about this and asked for the rationale
behind it. The person in charge of the program simply
says she wants this to be an opportunity for us to give
thanks for the success we have enjoyed in the past 70
years of our company¹s history. And besides she has
had no complaints when other people said grace in our
company¹s previous annual dinners. What is your
opinion on this? Is there a way I can do it in a
winsome way or does this violate the spirit of respect
in a pluralistic society..?

Read the full blog article and posted comments"
http://tinyurl.com/yglndnc


*****

REGINALD STACKHOUSE

Globe and Mail
March 3rd, 2010

"Focus on the Big Stuff, Mr. Harper"

Read the article - http://tinyurl.com/ykahav4


*****


MARTIN MARTY

Sightings
March 1st, 2010

"Biblical Literalism"

Read the article - http://tinyurl.com/yek2kaq


*****


NET NOTES

IS GOING FOR GOLD UNCHRISTIAN?

Christian Week
March 2nd, 2010
by Mags Storey

http://www.christianweek.org/stories.php?id=858


*****


HOCKEY ALMOST A RELIGION IN CANADA

New York Times
February 28th, 2010

Read the article: http://www.blogger.com/goog_1267843755623


*****


THE MEDICAL HAZARDS OF SPIRITUAL CARE

Christianity Today
March 3rd, 2010

Terminal cancer patients do better when doctors
and medical staff are spiritually supportive

http://tinyurl.com/yflxxg8


*****


NUN 'CURED' BY POPE FALLS ILL AGAIN

The Guardian
March 5th, 2010

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


*****


LORDS VOTE TO ALLOW CHURCH HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGES

The Telegraph

March 3rd, 2010

Homosexuals may be allowed to hold civil partnership
ceremonies in churches after the House of Lords voted in
favour of scrapping a ban on same-sex religious unions.
Read the article, click: http://tinyurl.com/ya5f72l

___


The Telegraph,
March 4th, 2010

Clergy could be sued if they refuse to carry out
'gay marriages' in church, leading figures have warned.

Read the article, click: http://tinyurl.com/yzcvae7


*****


NORTHERN IRELAND'S IAN PAISLEY STEPPING DOWN AS MP

The Guardian
March 3rd, 2010
by Henry McDonald

Democratic Unionist MP will not stand in general
election after representing North Antrim for 40 years

Read the article: http://tinyurl.com/y86ljnf


*****

KOREAN CATHOLICS PROUD OF THEIR OLYMPIC CHAMPION

Cathnews Asia
March 2nd, 2010
Catholics in Korea were overjoyed to see Stella Kim Yu-na
make the sign of the cross during her Gold Medal performance
at the Olympic figure skating competition on Feb. 23rd.

Read more... http://tinyurl.com/yl7orwd


*****


MAJOR UK ECUMENICAL EVENTS HONOUR ROMERO

Independent Catholic News
February 7th, 2010

Thirtieth Anniversary of Oscar Romero Martyrdom

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=15607


*****


EARLIER DIVORCE GRANTED KERALA CHRISTIANS

Cathnews Asia
March 1st, 2010

Striking down a clause in the Indian Divorce Act as
"discriminatory", Kerala's High Court has allowed
Christian couples to apply for divorce after less
than two years of their marriage.

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


*****

1641 MASSACRE OF PROTESTANTS TO BE STUDIED

Belfast Telegraph
March 5th, 2010
Scottish Academics to Study a Longstanding Enigma
Project to Investigate Deep Wound in Irish History

Read the article: http://tinyurl.com/y9jnfh9


*****

KENNEY DENIES ROLE IN REMOVAL OF GAY RIGHTS TEXT

Globe and Mail
March 4th, 2010

Read the article: http://tinyurl.com/y9uskcp

___


Reaction from Scott Brissen:

Globe and Mail
March 4th, 2010

Please click: http://www.blogger.com/goog_1267843755659


*****


GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI

Ecumenical News International
News Highlights

1 March 2010

Protest to go on against Israeli occupation of
Christian-owned land

Beit Sahour, West Bank (ENI). Palestinian activists say they
will continue protests against an apparent re-occupation of
an abandoned Israeli army outpost on the outskirts of Beit
Sahour near Bethlehem, despite being repelled by the Israel
Defence Forces. "We are going to be there next week. We
object to the military presence there, and will demonstrate
peacefully against that presence there," said Bethlehem
University professor Mazin Qumsiyeh, who belongs to the Greek
Melkite Church and lives in Beit Sahour. People at the 28
February protest said it turned violent after Israeli border
police officials fired stun grenades, tear gas and rubber
bullets at a group of about 75 banner-waving demonstrators.
They had marched up to the outpost to protest about the
Israeli presence there.

_____


Jewish groups laud hate-crimes charge
in Canadian cross burning

Toronto (ENI). Canadian Jewish groups have been among the
first to applaud the laying of hate-crime charges against
two men accused of using racial epithets, and burning a cross
at the home of an interracial couple in the country's Nova
Scotia province. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced
on 24 February that it had charged two men with public
incitement of hatred, mischief and uttering threats. The
charges were laid after an incident in the early hours of
21 February, when Shayne Howe, who is black, found a two-
metre-high cross burning in front of his home in Poplar Grove,
Nova Scotia in eastern Canada. Howe heard a man yell, "Die,
nigger, die," before he ran off. Howe is black; his wife,
Michelle Lyon, is white. She is a distant relative of the
two accused men, Nathan Neil Rehberg, aged 20, and his brother
Justin Chad Rehberg, who is 19.

_____


Scottish pensioner, aged 90, leaves fortune
to Salvation Army

Edinburgh (ENI). The Salvation Army is renowned for helping
people, sometimes when they are in desperate need. But in its
own hour of need, a Salvation Army branch in a small Scottish
town got a pleasant shock after it received a donation of
850,000 British pounds (US$1.3 million) from a pensioner who
had benefited from the Christian organization's welfare services.
When 90-year-old Robert Saddler, a retired Edinburgh architect
who lived in Forfar, 120 kilometres( 75 miles) north-east of
the Scottish capital, died in 2009 he left the Salvation Army
a small fortune in his will. Major Jim McCluskey, team leader
of the army's Angus county's community service, told Ecumenical
News International, "We have been thrown a lifeline with this
legacy. It is truly God sent."


*****

2 March 2010

Washington Cathedral hosts Christian-Muslim summit

New York (ENI). Washington National Cathedral is
currently hosting a summit of Christian and Muslim
faith leaders, which seeks to promote understanding
and reconciliation between the two traditions, and
is due to culminate in a public dialogue on 3 March.
The summit began on 1 March, and organizers told
Ecumenical News International it is the first of four
interfaith dialogues on reconciliation planned with
representatives of the Shi'a and Sunni Muslim traditions
along with members of the Roman Catholic and (Anglican)
Episcopal churches. The author and associate editor of
The Washington Post newspaper, David Ignatius, is
moderating the summit. Still, the Washington-based
Institute on Religion and Democracy, which is often
critical of "liberal" stands taken by ecumenical
institutions, said that the summit had the potential
for leading to "appeasement to Islamists".

_____


Sikh beheadings 'shows dangers' Pakistan minorities face
Bangalore, India (ENI). Christian groups in Pakistan and
India have joined political and other religious leaders
in deploring the recent beheading of two young Sikh men
by a Taliban group in Pakistan, and have demanded security
for religious minorities in the Muslim-majority nation.
"We condemn this diabolic act," said Victor Azariah,
general secretary of the National Council of Churches of
Pakistan, in a telephone interview with Ecumenical News
International on 1 March. "This is yet another instance
of growing insecurity to the [religious] minorities here."

_____


Church in Poland faces new clergy shortfall

Warsaw (ENI). Poland's Roman Catholic Church has reported
a further decline in priestly and monastic vocations, which
has raised fears about the church's long-term capacity to
provide for the pastoral needs of its members. "For the
first time in years, the [total] number of diocesan
seminary students has fallen below 4000," the church's
Catholic information agency, KAI, has reported. "The number
of male monastic seminarians is comparable to the previous
year's," but the agency reported on 18 February, "the sharp
fall has continued among female religious orders, with ever
fewer women joining up."


*****

3 March 2010

German Protestants and Catholics face
their own face image crises

Trier, Germany (ENI). Germany's churches may be facing
the biggest credibility crisis in their parishes for
decades after a bout of unprecedented negative media
coverage. At the end of February, Margot Kässmann, the
first woman to lead the Evangelical Church in Germany
(EKD), resigned as bishop and leader of the Protestant
church grouping after only four months in office, because
of a drink-drive offence. In the same week, a Catholic
Bishops' Conference consultation in Freiburg addressed
the issue of widespread sexual abuse of children by
clergy and lay people that surfaced late in January,
and damaged the largest church in the country.

_____


Nigerian Christian leaders protest attacks in the north

Lagos, Nigeria (ENI). Two Christian groups have called on
Nigeria's federal and state authorities to make sure those
in charge in the northern part of the country to
investigate attacks they say are carried out by Islamic
extremists, on Christians in the region. The Pentecostal
Fellowship of Nigeria has urged the federal government
to ensure an end to attacks on and discrimination against
Christians in northern Nigeria, while the ecumenical
Christian Association of Nigeria has rued a lack of
response from police in states in the north, where
sectarian violence has taken place.

_____


Hong Kong Christians urge China to release
Sichuan quake investigator

Hong Kong (ENI). Hong Kong's Christian Council, which has
called on its members to pray and offer assistance for
those hit by recent lethal earthquakes in Haiti and Chile,
is also urging Beijing to release a Chinese environmentalist
jailed for five years. Tan Zuoren was sent to prison after
he investigated building works carried out before the 2008
earthquake that killed 70 000 people in China's Sichuan
province. He was sentenced on 9 February after he had
independently looked into shoddy construction in Sichuan
schools after the May 2008 quake in which thousands of
students in the Chinese province died.

____


US state lawmaker wants to allow guns in churches

Baton Rouge, Louisiana (ENI/RNS). A Louisiana state lawmaker
is proposing to allow people who are legally qualified to
carry concealed weapons to bring them to houses of worship
as long as the pastor or church board approves. The proposal,
filed ahead of the legislative session that opens on 29 March,
is one of 74 house bills that have been filed so far, Religion
News Service reports. State Representative Henry Burns, a
member of the Republican Party, filed a bill to let a church,
temple, mosque or other religious institution authorise "any
person issued a valid concealed handgun permit" to carry it
into a place of worship.


*****

4 March 2010

Women play secondary role in news,
global media project finds

Geneva (ENI). The Chinese proverb that women hold up half
the sky does not apply to the news arena, results of the
2010 Global Media Monitoring Project suggest. "Only 24
percent of persons seen, heard, or read about in the news
are female," said the project, coordinated by the Toronto-
based World Association for Christian Communication, in a
preliminary report released in Geneva. The findings are on
the agenda of the 54th session of the U.N. Commission on the
Status of Women in New York from 1 to 12 March. "We hope
that what we are going to say about the representation of gender
in the media will be taken seriously by media managers," said
Abebech Wolde with the Ethiopian Media Women's Association
and the project coordinator in her country.


*****

5 March 2010

Bishops of Hiroshima and Nagasaki want
nuclear weapons' ban

Tokyo (ENI). The Roman Catholic bishops of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki - the only cities to have endured war-time nuclear
bombings - are urging world leaders to abolish nuclear
weapons. And on 5 March, a group of nine churches in Britain
launched a similar campaign to the Japanese bishops that
calls on the British Government to make a commitment to
achieving a world free of nuclear weapons, thereby building
a safer future for all. Nagasaki Archbishop Mitsuaki Takami
and Hiroshima Bishop Joseph Atsumi Misue released a joint
statement on 26 February ahead of a nuclear security summit
scheduled for April in Washington, D.C. and a review
conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in
New York in May.

_____


Jesus Bus to raise economic justice awareness
in hard-hit US state

New York (ENI). Inspired by the spirit of International
Women's Day, women from many nations will take a Jesus
Bus in June through the hard-hit U.S. state of Michigan
to highlight the connection between justice and the
economy. The World Alliance of Reformed Churches says
that it is calling on churches to recognise the gifts
of women, to celebrate the fruits of their labour and
to increase efforts to remove barriers to equality and
partnership on 8 March, International Women's Day. In
a statement on 4 March, the alliance said that in June
around 250 women from 100 countries will witness the
impact of the financial crisis on the American city of
Grand Rapids when they take the Jesus Bus sponsored by
local churches.

*****


QUOTES OF THE WEEK

Sojourners Online
March 1st, 2010

Indeed, nonviolence is not just one implication
among others that can be drawn from our Christian
beliefs; it is at the very heart of our
understanding of God.
- Stanley Hauerwas, from his book,
  "The Peaceable Kingdom"

___


The positive energy has been incredible. There has
been an outpouring of pride [among natives] the likes
of which I've never seen before.

- Tewanee Joseph, CEO of the Four Host First Nations,
  on the involvement of native peoples in the Vancouver
  Olympics. (Globe and Mail, Toronto)

___


March 2nd, 2010

Once conform, once do what other people do because
they do it, and a lethargy steals over all the finer
nerves and faculties of the soul.
- Virginia Woolf, from her essay, "Montaigne"

___


Al Jezeera
March 2nd, 2010

They [terrorists] can't claim that their suicide
bombings are martyrdom operations and that they
become the heroes of the Muslim Umma [global
brotherhood]. No, they become heroes of hellfire,
and they are leading towards hellfire. There is
no place for any martyrdom and their act is never,
ever to be considered jihad.

- Dr. Tahir ul-Qadri, a London-based Pakistani
  Muslim scholar, in a fatwa (religious ruling)
  against terrorism and suicide bombing.

_____


March 3rd

I want to keep my soul fertile for changes, so
things keep getting born in me, so things keep
dying when it's time for them to die. I want to
keep walking away from the person I was a moment
ago, because a mind was made to figure things out,
not read the same page recurrently.

- Donald Miller, from book "Through Painted Deserts"

___


March 4th, 2010

I do not at all understand the mystery of grace --
only that it meets us where we are but does not
leave us where it found us.

- Anne Lamott, from her book "Traveling Mercies"

___


March 5th, 2010

I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without
going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things
you can't see from the center

- Kurt Vonnegut, from first novel "Player Piano"

*****

ON THIS DAY

March 1st 2010

St. David's Day, Wales
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_David%27s_Day


*****

Feb. 28, 1993, a gun battle erupted near Waco, Texas,
when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried
to serve warrants on the Branch Davidians; four agents and
six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began.

http://tinyurl.com/yds8tuw

_____


On March 3, 1991, in a case that sparked a national outcry,
motorist Rodney King was severely beaten by Los Angeles police
officers in a scene captured on amateur video.

http://tinyurl.com/ycsf9n5

_____


March 3rd, 1847, Alexander Graham Bell born (see obit)

http://tinyurl.com/yeu9bj9

_____


On March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill delivered his famous
"Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo.
http://tinyurl.com/yh7yqjm


*****

CLOSING MEDITATION

Dear God, give me the courage to live and work
for a new heaven and a new earth as Jesus did.
Give me the freedom to be critical where I see
evil and to offer praises whereI see good. Most
of all, make me faithful to the vision you have
given me, so that wherever I go and whomever I
meet, I can be a sign of your all-renewing love.

Amen.


- Henri Nouwen, from "With Open Hands"


(end)

Colleagues List, February 27th, 2010

Vol V. No. 27


*****


Edited by Wayne A. Holst


*****

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


*****

In this issue:

Special Item -

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

Simone Weil
Dorothy Day
Albert Schweitzer

___


My Comment:

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

___


Colleague Contributions:

Thérèse Castonguay
Ian Hunter
Jim Taylor
Doug Koop
Robin Walker

___


Net Notes:

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

_____


Global Faith Potpourri:

Fifteen Stories from Ecumenical News International

___


Quotes of the Week:

Kim Fabricius
Jamaica Kincaid
Andrew Bacevich
Toni Morrison
Olav Fykse Tveit

___


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

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

___


Closing Prayer

(end)


**********



Dear Friends:

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

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

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

___


Colleague Contributions This Week:

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

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

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

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

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

___

Net Notes:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

_____


Global Faith Potpourri:

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

_____


Quotes of the Week:

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

___


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

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

____


A closing reflection ends our Colleagues List.

Blessings to all,

Wayne


*****


SPECIAL ST. DAVID'S LINKS

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

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

___


ST DAVID'S ACTS WEB PAGE

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

__


THE FUTURE OF FAITH by Harvey Cox

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

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

___


STUDY ARCHIVES

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

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

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


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


SPECIAL ITEMS

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

SIMONE WEIL
(1909-1943)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read my thoughts on her comment, below.

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

___


DOROTHY DAY
(1897-1980)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


*****

ALBERT SCHWEITZER
(1875-1965)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

___


My Comment:

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

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

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

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

I have these thoughts in response to her comments.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


*****


COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

SR. THERESE CASTONGUAY
Montreal, QC

Hello, Wayne,

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

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

TC

*****

IAN HUNTER
St. Thomas, ON

Globe and Mail
February 24th, 2010

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


*****

JIM TAYLOR
Okanagan, BC

"Fear of Being Forgotten"

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

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

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


*****

DOUG KOOP
Winnipeg, MB

Christian Week
February 23rd, 2010

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


*****


ROBIN WALKER
Brandon, MB.

Memorable Senior Moment

Get out of the car!

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

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

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

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

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

Robin+


*****


NET NOTES

SEXUALLY CONFUSED

The Guardian
February 24th, 2010

http://tinyurl.com/yf7y6tq


*****


THE LANGUAGE GOD TALKS

Publishers Weekly Online
February 24th, 2010

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


*****


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

Catholic News Service
February 22nd, 2010

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

_____


The Tablet
February 27th, 2010

Too little, too late, again
by David Quinn

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


*****

CARDINAL GEORGE AT BRIGHAM YOUNG

Zenit News from Rome
February 24th, 2010

Cardinal at Mormon University Urges Working Together

PROVO, Utah

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

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

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

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


*****


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

Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
22 February 2010

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

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

___


Anglican Journal
February 23rd, 2010

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


*****


BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION'S END?

Wall Street Journal
February 26th, 2010

Pulling Episcopalians toward Rome with their
beloved liturgy.

Read the article:

http://tinyurl.com/ybn9rpd


*****

CENSURE AGAINST ELCA CONGREGATION LIFTED

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

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

Complete the article, click:

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


*****

GRANT TO FAITH GROUP SPARKS DEBATE

Globe and Mail
February 22nd, 2010

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


*****

RELIC REVEALS NOAH'S ARK WAS CIRCULAR

The Guardian
February 22nd, 2010
by Maev Kennedy

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

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

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


*****

GERMAN BISHOPS ASSURE RAPID RESPONSE TO ABUSE REPORT

Zenit News from Rome
February 23rd, 2010

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

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

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

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

Read the article:

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

___

The Tablet
February 27th, 2010

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

___

Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
25 February 2010

German Catholics announce plans to deal with
sex abuse claims

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


*****


LUTHERAN BISHOP RESIGNS OVER ALLEGED DRUNK DRIVING

Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
24 February 2010

First female German Protestant leader quits
after drinking offense

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

___

ELCA News
February 24th, 2010

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


*****

GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI

Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
22 February 2010

African churches use mobile phone to ring up
growth in members

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

_____


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

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


*****

23 February 2010

World church leader urges other faiths
to join Christians on climate

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

_____

Group says 'naked' body scanners
breach Islamic teachings

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

_____


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

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

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


*****

February 24th, 2010

Protestants, Catholics regret resignation
of German bishop

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

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

_____


Philippine Catholics, officials,
debate condoms and AIDS prevention

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

_____

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

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

_____


Tutu urges Kenyan truth commission head to resign

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

_____


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

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

_____


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

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


*****

26 February 2010

World church body anxious about treatment of
Egypt's Christians

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

_____


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

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

_____


Asia's largest Christian event focuses
on green spirituality

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

_____


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

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

*****

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

Sojourners Online

February 22nd, 2010

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

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

___


February 23rd

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

- Jamaica Kincaid,
  Caribbean-American novelist and professor

___


February 24th, 2010

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

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

___


February 25th, 2010

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

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

___


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

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


*****

ON THIS DAY

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

http://tinyurl.com/y9n9dxu

_____


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

http://tinyurl.com/yfg3amz

_____


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

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

http://tinyurl.com/yktnp5e

_____


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

http://tinyurl.com/yb49yqp


*****

CLOSING PRAYER

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

(end)