I saw a billboard the other day: “Let Us Pimp Your Ride!” It looked to be a respectable business. The terms pimp and pimpin’ have weasled their way onto everyman’s tongue. Here’s a man who is fed up wid it.
So you’re upset cuz the retail gal didn’t say “Merry Christmas” after you’d spoiled your younguns with a few hundred dollars’ more foreign made electronics? Why?
Whatever happened to Separation of Church & Store?
The Episcopal Diocese of Newark, for years the epitome of liberal Protestant Christianity in America, acknowledged Thursday in an unusually candid report that it has suffered a steep slide in membership and needs a bishop who can revitalize its struggling parishes.
The diocese, which covers seven northern New Jersey counties including Bergen, Passaic, Hudson and Morris, has lost nearly 24,000 congregants, or 46 percent of its membership, since 1972. That’s nearly three times the average decline in the Episcopal Church nationwide, the report said.
The report blames the exodus from the pews mostly on what it says is a failure of Episcopalians to welcome newcomers, enthusiastically discuss their faith with outsiders and maintain vibrant and creative parishes.
“We are not welcoming the Christ in many of our neighbors, who think we are exclusive, irrelevant, passe or boring,” it said. “For some, we are too radical.”
The report doesn’t signal a retreat from the diocese’s liberal positions. On the contrary, it celebrates a tradition of social justice that it says dates back to the early 20th century and includes bishops who spoke out on issues ranging from child labor to racism to the Vietnam War. Under Croneberger and his predecessor, Bishop John Shelby Spong, the diocese ordained numerous gay priests and performed blessings for same-sex couples. About 20 openly gay and lesbian priests work in the diocese, which has 27,600 members and 113 parishes.
Full article.
HT New Forum
The council’s four sessions from 1962 to 1965 and its 16 landmark documents modernized the liturgy, renewed the priesthood and religious life, enhanced the role of lay Catholics, opened dialogue with other churches and non-Christians, and identified the church as the “people of God” attuned to the problems and hopes of the world.
Although the council defined no new dogma, Catholics who lived through the Vatican II era will never forget the changes — some of them abrupt — that visited their church communities in the mid-1960s.
Altars were turned around so that priests faced the people. The Mass in Latin gave way to Mass in the vernacular. Other sacraments were updated and simplified. Men and women religious adopted a more modern form of dress.
The [partisan] whole story.
Russian Orthodox Church backs Vatican on gay seminarians
The Bible, Father Vyzhanov observed, condemns homosexual acts in terms that “do not leave any room for a different interpretation.” He said that Orthodox believers have trouble comprehending Protestant groups that have given their blessing to same-sex unions.
The Orthodox Church spokesman said that exclusion of homosexuals from seminaries and from the priesthood should be a common policy, since homosexuality can never be accepted as normal, and those who have same-sex attraction must be understood to “suffer from a serious illness.”
Back a day early from a planned two day camping trip to a state park near Gonzales. Why are we back early? Because it’s
C
O
L
D
in Texas!
Especially out in the woods between a pond and a river! I was surprised at how warm I was through the night in my sleeping bag … but it was whiling away the daylight hours that looked grim. [Everyone was grateful that dad, that would be me, had decided not to take the canoe … ‘cuz, of course, fun would have been en-f-f-f-f-f-orced.] On Thursday the predicted high was in the 30’s with the night’s temp dipping to the 20’s.
The day before we arrived in Gonzales, they’d had freezing rain and sleet. In Texas!
As we were nearing the park, we saw icicles hanging from the street signs. “Ha, ha, ha!” said I, “Who cares? We’re the Huneycutts! We’re from Western North Carolina!”
He he. Back in Houston, in doors, heat on.
Texas!
