Sometimes you can’t go to mom & dad like the members of the congregation can. So what are we to do? Just some sailing souls looking for a space to tell our stories and have someone listen.

Here I have created a blog for the offspring of Bishops, Pastors, Preachers, Teachers, Prophets  Priests, & Ministers of all walks of faith… (Christian, Baptist, COGIC, Catholic, etc.) of ALL ages… We all have the same feelings & similar stories that need to be told.

Sharing our stories, saving our lives.

This could get interesting.

I still think there should be a more explicit connection between the faith witness of an archdiocese or diocese and its status as a red hat see. A scandal-ridden bishop taints his diocese. There should not be red hats for Boston, Philadelphia, or Edinburgh. Or any other archdiocese touched by serious cover-up of criminal clergy. At least not for another round or two of appointments. Additionally, the premiere see of a region should shift to another city. Keep an archbishop  in Philadelphia, for example, by all means, because of its size and standing. But the metropolitan should be in Pittsburgh or Hartford of elsewhere.

Even if Pope Francis doesn’t take my suggestion and shake up the hierarchy, it does look good that Rome is getting serious about the cover-up of sex abuse. We’ll see how this plays out in places like Newark.

(He) would not work in any position involving children, the agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office states. He would have no affiliation with youth groups. He would not attend youth retreats. He would not hear the confessions of minors.

But (he) has openly done all of those things for the past several years through an unofficial association with a Monmouth County church, St. Mary’s Parish.

And the Newark Star-Ledger has photos with their article that seem to show it.

Youth retreats: check.

Youth pilgrimage: check.

Youth confessions: check.

Even the hospital where he was assigned as a chaplain in 2009 didn’t want him when they found out about the criminal charges.

The archbishop’s spokesperson, Jim Goodness has his own bullet points on the matter. Fr Fugee is a victim. He’s been supervised wherever he’s served Catholic youth. His agreement was not to be around young people without supervision. His position overseeing continuing formation of clergy is a “pencil-pushing job.” Not something serious, it seems.

To a degree I feel a small amount compassion for the priest. He’s about my age, and he can never serve as a parish pastor. The Catholics of his diocese, and presumably his bishop, have invested a lot in his education and formation. What on earth can you do with a guy like this? Let him push pencils for another two decades? Suppose he is a sex addict in recovery. How can he find meaningful work in accord with his gifts that will allow him to escape from the cycles of shame and addiction? The man deserves a crack at that. He got his second chance to remain a priest and to function as such. But he seems to have pushed back against the rules. It’s a common quality of addicts: they will claim they are above the rules. So what kind of guy do we have here?

The archdiocese said he served as a confessor on a youth retreat only as a last-minute replacement. And only for a few hours. A deacon who was present too. The priest spent extended time with young people, including hearing their confessions “behind closed doors.” Deacon Paul Franklin described himself as “flabbergasted.”

If I had known (his full history), I would have objected immediately. The fact that he is apparently violating this agreement makes me wonder if he was going to honor other agreements. It creates a suspicion.

This is on Archbishop Myers, this suspicion. This is the basic definition of scandal. It is a moral matter of grave seriousness. Archbishop Myers has a long-standing rep as one of those “loyal, orthodox” bishops. But like his brother in Kansas City, he seems to have a moral blind spot where his clergy are concerned. Will it come back to bite him? The editorial board of the paper is calling for his resignation. One self-described “devout Catholic, whom (sic) defends the faith at all cost,” wrote:

I can’t disagree, that if all that is alleged is true, Meyers (sic) must resign.

The legal agreement itself states:

The Archdiocese shall not allow him to minister to any minor/child under the age of 18 or work in any position in which children are involved.

That seems pretty clear. No wiggle room for supervision. It sure looks like Archbishop Myers is headed for the hot seat on this one. And Newark is going to get Kansas City-ugly before it’s over.

Stephen of Perm (ca. 1340– 1396) was the son of a father from somewhere, and a mother from the Komi or Permic or Zyrian people, who were so ethno-linguistic that they needed three names. Born in Ustiug, Stephen served as a canonarch and reader as soon as they let him, and soon went to the seminary in Rostov, where he immersed himself in Greek so he could read the scriptures in the original Hebrew. While at seminary he decided to evangelize his mother’s people.

At the time Permic, a member of the language family (Uralic) that includes Hungarian, Finnish, and Nganasan, had no written form. Rather than just try to shoehorn the Permic pronunciations into the Cyrillic alphabet, Stephen, like Cyril and Methodius centuries before, created a brand new alphabet using recycled letters — in his case from Greek and Slavonic, adding in a few “Komi tribal signs” (something like runes) to give it that authentic Zyrian flavor. (Sadly his beautiful script was replaced in the seventeenth century with a barely-augmented Cyrillic.) Once he had the alphabet done, he set to work immediately translating the scriptures and services. He is referred to as the founding-father of Permian literature, as well as the Enlightener of Perm and Apostle to the Permians. His mom just called him Fasha. Probably.

That done, he sought permission to use his new alphabet, which he secured from Bishop Gerasimus of Kolomna (whom we haven’t met). He (Stephen) was made a hierodeacon as well as apostle-with-portfolio to Perm. He labored among the Zyrians (or Zariane) for seventeen years, making many converts and many enemies, as is usually the case in such scenarios. At one point the pagan priest Pam of Perm, seeking to shame him, said, “Okay, if your god is so great, let’s see you walk through fire.” To Pam’s dismay, Stephen had the bystanders torch an old house, whereupon he grabbed Pam’s hand and said, “You’re on. Let’s do it together and see whose god is the real God.” At that moment Pam remembered that he had left something on the stove, and excused himself hastily. The crowd turned on him and was going to kill him, but Stephen intervened, and he was instead given life in exile with no chance of parole. Many Permians converted to Christianity on the spot, and in the resulting commotion nobody noticed that Stephen never actually walked through the fire. Word of all of this got back to Metropolitan Pimen, who called Stephen to Moscow and consecrated him Bishop of Perm. The new bishop immediately began founding churches, and also schools in which to train new priests and deacons. As the diocese grew, monasteries also sprang up in, as is their wont, inconvenient places.

Word of all this got back to Novgorod, which had in some official sense or other been (or fancied itself) in charge of the whole region. They sent an military invasion force comprised of investigators (or vice versa), but these were seen off at the border by Permian irregulars. The next year, Stephen went to Novgorod and had a word with the bishop, and everything was ironed out. Stephen also became good buds with Sergius of Radonezh, a much-loved fourteenth century Russian monk. Their friendship was so close that one time when Stephen was in the neighborhood but could not drop in, he bowed toward Sergius’ monastery and said, “Peace to you, brother.” Sergius, who was at table at the time, immediately stood up and, bowing in Stephen’s direction, said, “Hail, good shepherd. God’s peace to you.”

At last, on a trip to Moscow, Stephen took ill and died. He is interred at one of two monasteries in Moscow; my sources can’t remember which. His cult sprang up almost immediately, and he has been a beloved saint of the Permic people, and non-Zyrian Orthodox and Catholics too, ever since.

Rhode Island

The most densely Catholic state in America has passed marriage equality, with only procedural steps left until the bill becomes law. Rhode Island will become the 10th state in the US (plus the District of Columbia), and the final one in New England, to extend marriage rights. ABC News reports that Catholic legislators were central to the bill’s passage, admitting their personal struggles with same-gender marriage but ultimately voting in favor:

“Sen. Maryellen Goodwin, D-Providence, said she lost sleep over her vote but decided, despite opposition from the Catholic Church, to vote ‘on the side of love.’

“‘I’m a practicing Catholic. I’m proud to be a Catholic,’ she said, adding that it was the personal stories of gays, lesbians and their families in her district who convinced her. ‘I struggled with this for days, for weeks. It’s certainly not an easy vote.’”

Rhode Island had been a hold out in an otherwise LGBT-supportive region, and it is clear that the power of personal narratives from same-gender couples and their families is continuing to shape legislative struggles. Marriage licenses could be issued as early as August 1st.

France

After months of heated, and even violent, demonstrations about marriage, the National Assembly legalized recognition for same-gender couples last Tuesday and France became the 14th nation globally to have marriage equality. Opposition leaders promised a judicial appeal to the nation’s Constitutional Council, according to a report on The Atlantic  website that also credits this issue with reinvigorating a waning conservative movement in France.

Conservative Catholic lay movements backed anti-equality efforts since mid-2012, largely focused on their claims that adopted children’s health is harmed when placed with LGBT parents. The Catholic bishops’ comments seem confused, as an earlier document affirmed same-gender relationships while recent comments seem to warn about violence that will erupt if LGBT rights progress.  Think Progress reports that, even amid the wonderful news that France passed marriage laws, a troubling backlash may result:

“The advancement of same-sex marriage and adoption in France has been very contentious, with opponents promising retaliatory violence for the law’s passage. Indeed, violent hate crimes against gay French citizens have increased in recent weeks…death threats were sent to lawmakers because of their intention to support marriage equality. In the lead up to today’s vote, the hashtag #IlFautTuerLesHomosexuels, or “Homosexuals must be killed,” has been trending on Twitter.”

The French Catholic bishops should now focus on  the potential for violence in France. They need to defend each person’s life and dignity, especially those of LGBT persons.

Delaware

Delaware progressed closer to marriage equality after the state House passed a bill in a 23 to 18 vote, sending the bill to the Senate. CBS Philly reports that if the Senate passes the bill, Delaware’s governor has promised to sign it and marriage licenses could commence as early as July 1, 2013. Delaware previously allowed civil unions for same-gender couples, and these previously granted licenses would automatically be converted to marriages with the passage of the bill.

Nevada

After the emotional appeals of many, including a gay Catholic state senator reported on yesterday in Bondings 2.0, the Nevada Senate took first steps towards legalizing marriage equality by repealing legislation that defined marriage heteronormatively and replacing it with a bill to open marriage regardless of gender. USA Today reports that if the state Assembly passes it, and then both legislatures again in 2015 the final step would be a referendum in 2016.

–Bob Shine, New Ways Minisry

In torture, the Saints sang out in joy:
This is our exchange with the Master!
In return for bodily wounds
He will clothe us at the resurrection with a garment of light;
In return for dishonour, we shall receive crowns;
In return for imprisonment, paradise;
In return for condemnation with evil-doers, life with the angels!
At their prayers, Lord, save our souls!

While we do not know if they have been tortured, the lines if imprisonment and dishonour ring true, and I see the hymn as one recalling to mind in particular the martyrs who died for Christ, but also recalling all who are persecuted for Christ’s sake. And it is a sad fact that persecution was not restricted to the days before the Christianising of the Roman Empire, but has been — and still is — a constant presence in the life of God’s people in much of the world.

In the words of the Orthodox prayers [from the Prayer Book of Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, Massachusetts], my prayers for all persecuted for the Faith:

Remember, O Lord, our brethren who are in captivity and deliver them from every misfortune.
(Morning Prayers)

For [them that travel by sea, land and air, for the sick], the afflicted, for captives, and their salvation, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For our deliverance from all tribulation, danger and necessity, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
(The Great Litany)

I appreciate retired Bishop Joe Pennel making a case against these closed meetings and I agree with each of his ten points. However, I think there are some additional points to be made against any closed meetings in the Church, accepted for those prescribed in the Book of Discipline. First, we saw and many, including myself, wrote about during General Conference 2012 an atmosphere of mistrust among the delegates. This was especially true between the different layers of the Church, i.e. clergy, laity, and episcopacy. Closed meetings only serve to foster feelings of mistrust. Closed meetings lead us to wonder if the bishops have something to hide. Our Church is moving toward a crisis mode and the divide is only going to grow, but one major way to bridge the gap and work to heal the wounds of mistrust is to be as transparent and accountable as possible. We need the bishops to be the example of the Church and show us all how to lead and serve within the Body. Closed meetings are bad leadership and if anything these closed meetings will only pull the scab off the wounds from General Conference.

Second, no doubt the bishops are using Church apportionment monies to fund this “retreat” (if not please tell me and I will retract) and if this is the case it is unfortunate the bishops choose to use Church money without any transparency. I understand that training, continuing education, and spiritual renewal are vital parts to a healthy laity, clergy, and episcopacy and therefore the Church, but there comes a time to stop training and start doing. One reason I hear over and over again why the bishops do not spend more time in the local churches is because of the demands on their schedule, but their schedule is always filled with training sessions and meetings around the country. (Although I will applaud Nashville Area Bishop Bill McAlilly for coming to our district more in his first year than our precious bishop did in the last 4 years.) Another way to heal the wounds in our Church is for each level to spend more time with each other listening and talking with each other and working to understand each other. Seeing our bishops, district superintendents, and other clergy spend time “training” in resorts like St Simons Island and San Diego on Church money while the lay people struggle to make ends meet while still maintaining their tithing commitment and haven’t had a vacation in years is discouraging at best. I think that if the leaders of our Church were a little more frugal with the Church’s money it would work to heal the rifts in the Church.

But that news was premature, evidently the bishops have not been released, and orthodox patriarchates have been issuing statements to deny the good news (Antiochian diocese in North America in English, and a joint declaration by the Greek Orthodox and Syrian Orthodox patriarchs of Antioch in Arabic).  That lends the question of who abducted the bishops more than academic importance.

But if the veracity of the bishops’ liberation is problematic, the identity of the captors is even more so.  Predictably, the state news agency blamed the rebels, and the opposition blamed the government.  Church sources meanwhile refrained from assigning blame, or blamed foreign (even Chechen) extremists (here in Arabic, translated into English here).

The conflicting news just highlights the difficulty of getting any reliable information on the situation in Syria, and the complexity of that situation.  Although the human penchant for thinking in binaries pits Assad and his Alawite minority against a Sunni majority “opposition” or “rebels” (depending on the political inclination of the commenter), substantial largely neutral populations join with fissures within the two combatant sides to yield intractable complexity.  The fact that the bishops were abducted in “rebel-held territory” may suggest that they were abducted by “the rebels,” but which group?  There are more than a few.  And all sides in Syria have a vested interested in presenting a very skewed version of the events.  Until some more reliable information escapes the warzone, we’ll have to wait and hope.

23 April 2013

Gunmen abduct two bishops in northern Syria

The bishops are the most senior Christian clerics kidnapped since the conflict began

The kidnapping was reported by Syrian state media and confirmed by a member of the official opposition leadership.

Yohanna Ibrahim is head of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Aleppo and Boulos Yaziji leads the Greek Orthodox Church in the city.

They are the most senior Christian clerics caught up directly in the war.

It was not immediately clear who had kidnapped them.

Christians made up about 10% of the mainly Sunni Muslim country’s population before the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began just over two years ago.

According to the UN, at least 70,000 people have been killed overall in the civil war and more than one million are now living as refugees in neighbouring countries.

‘Driver killed’

State TV announced that an “armed terrorist group” had kidnapped the two bishops as they carried out “humanitarian work in Aleppo countryside”.

Abdulahad Steifo, a Syriac member of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, said the men had been kidnapped on the road to Aleppo from the rebel-held Bab al-Hawa crossing, which is close to the Turkish town of Reyhanli.

Asked who was behind their abduction, he said: “All probabilities are open.”

In an interview with BBC Arabic’s Saeed Shehada a week ago, Bishop Ibrahim said he was optimistic about the future of Christians in Syria:

“There is no persecution of Christians and there is no single plan to kill Christians. Everyone respects Christians. Bullets are random and not targeting the Christians because they are Christians,” he said.

To read the full article on the BBC News website click here

Follow us on Twitter: @syriaschristian

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Archbishop Piero Marini

This latest announcement is particularly important because it comes from another Vatican official, Archbishop Piero Marini, president of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.  In February, Archbishop Vincent Paglia,  head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Family, also announced his support for civil unions.

John Allen of The National Catholic Reporter reports that Marini revealed his support in an interview with La Nacion newspaper in Costa Rica, which just closed a Eucharistic Congress. Here’s the relevant part of the interview (translated by The National Catholic Reporter):

“Q: Costa Rica has opened a discussion about what it means to be a secular state. What do you think of these decisions?

A: This is already a reality in Europe. A secular state is fine, but if it turns into a secularist state, meaning hostile to the Catholic Church, then there’s something wrong. Church and state should not be enemies to one another. In these discussions, it’s necessary, for instance, to recognize the union of persons of the same sex, because there are many couples that suffer because their civil rights aren’t recognized. What can’t be recognized is that this [union] is equivalent to marriage.” (emphasis mine)

(John Allen’s blog post contains the entire English translation of the interview; for the original Spanish-language version of the interview, click here.)

We have in this statement, the familiar caution that civil unions should not be considered equal to marriage, which may put a damper on this development, However, I’ve argued before, viewed in context, the approval of civil unions is really a giant step forward.  No one would have guessed even a year ago that there would possibly be so much growing support for civil unions among the hierarchy.  For a list of recent statements by bishops and cardinals, click here.

Of course, the most newsworthy recent announcement of civil unions support came with the revelation that when Pope Francis was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, he supported the idea of civil unions as a compromise.  John Allen provides some interesting background to this piece of news:

“On March 19, TheNew York Times reported that when Argentina was gearing up for a bitter national debate on gay marriage in 2009 and 2010, Bergoglio quietly favored a compromise solution that would have included civil unions for same-sex couples.

“That report was denied by Miguel Woites, director of the Argentinian Catholic Information Agency, a news outlet linked to the Buenos Aires archdiocese. Woites insisted Bergoglio would ‘never’ have favored any legal recognition of same-sex unions and said the Times report was a ‘complete error.’

“In early April, however, a senior official in the Argentine bishops’ conference told NCR that Bergoglio did, in fact, favor civil unions.

“Mariano de Vedia, a veteran journalist for Argentina’s leading daily, told NCR he could confirm Bergoglio’s position had been correctly described in the Times account.

“Guillermo Villarreal, a Catholic journalist in Argentina, said it was well known at the time that Bergoglio’s moderate position was opposed by Archbishop Héctor Rubén Aguer of La Plata, the leader of the hawks. The difference was not over whether to oppose gay marriage, but how ferociously to do so and whether there was room for a compromise on civil unions.

“Villareal described the standoff over gay marriage as the only vote Bergoglio ever lost during his six years as president of the conference.”

Perhaps most interesting is Allen’s reporting of a speculation of how Pope Francis might react in the future to the idea of civil unions, now that he is in Rome:

“Speaking today on an Italian cable news network, church historian Alberto Melloni, seen as a voice of the progressive wing of Italian Catholicism, predicted that ‘sooner or later, this openness [to civil unions] will arrive in the magisterium of the pope.’ However, Melloni also said he believes Francis will move with ‘caution’ and ‘prudence.’ “

With the number of bishops speaking out for civil unions, especially those right in the Vatican, perhaps Francis won’t have to be as cautious as Melloni supposes.

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry

The identity of the group responsible for the abduction is not yet clear amid the broad speculations circulating.  We hope for these bishops’ swift release, for their own sake, for the sake of their flocks, and for the sake of the Syrian people.

On this date in 1876, the first National League baseball game was played in Philadelphia. Attendees spoke for years afterwards about the outrageous cost of the hot dogs.

Vitalis (d. ca. 625) was a monk from Gaza who at age 60 moved to Alexandria, citing Gaza’s deplorable lack of prostitutes. He spent his days working, and his money in the red-lampada district. His custom was to hire a prostitute for the night, tell her to take the shift off and sleep, and pray until dawn for her salvation. Each night he went to a different prostitute, working his way through his little black codex, then going back to the alphas and starting over. He swore them to secrecy, though, so his reputation in the city was a bit soiled. People spat at him and threw things at him, but he bore it all silently. Through his intercessions, many of these women were able to leave their unhealthy trade and get married, go to monasteries, or find more wholesome day jobs. Finally a good, upstanding citizen struck him on the head with something unpleasantly heavy and hard, and after he staggered back to his cell, he died. All the prostitutes and ex-prostitutes of the city came to his vigil and funeral, and the true nature of his work was revealed. Many miracles took place at his grave and it became a pilgrimage destination. Better yet, he was allowed to remain in it. He is, of course, the patron saint of prostitutes.

Theodore of Sykeon (d. 613) was the son of either a camel-riding circus acrobat or an imperial messenger (although I suppose there’s no reason he couldn’t have been both). His mother was a self-prostituting innkeeper. When he was six, she gave him a golden belt and began to plan a civil service career for him, but St. George came to her in a dream and nixed the idea. Her lucky break came when she hired a fabulous cook, the inn got three stars in the Michelin Red Guide, business boomed, and she was able to quit her night job (if you get my drift). She landed a respectable husband, and left the inn and the boy to her sister.

In time, Theodore wandered off to Jerusalem, where he became in turns a monk, priest and hermit. He left his hermitage after it morphed into a monastery complex of several buildings (as hermitages will do), and took to hanging from the cliffside in an iron cage. He must have come down from time to time, because he was eventually dragged off to Anastasiopolis (near Angora) and forced onto the bishop’s throne. His manner of living remained very simple, though. A visiting African monk, Antiochus, wrote that Theodore drank only water and ate only uncooked vegetables with vinegar and salt. My source says he also wrote that Theodore’s eyebrows met in the middle, but we shouldn’t hold that against him. Against Antiochus, I mean. After trying for ten years to tender his resignation, Theodore finally managed to return to hermiting. This came during a squabble involving dishonest managers of church lands, one of whom pulled the chair out from under the bishop, sending him crashing to the floor. “That’s it,” he said. “I quit.”

In retirement he unleashed his inner wonderworker, healing many people of many illnesses, including the Emperor Maurice’s leprous (or elephantiasisous) son. He also reconciled estranged married couples, and helped barren women conceive. He had further the gift of prophecy. Emperor Heraclius for example sought the saint’s blessing before a battle, but refused his invitation to dinner. “Bad move,” Theodore said, intimating that it would result in the army’s defeat, which of course it did. We are also told of his discernment — once he refused to use a chalice which turned out to be a repurposed chamber pot.

Finally he died (we’re not told under what circumstances so we’ll assume there was no foul play involved), and later his bones were moved to Constantinople, which was something of a relic magnet in those days, as we have seen. He is not, alas, the patron saint of recycling.

Our eastern saints today are Theodore of Perge and his companions (d. 220). Invited by the authorities to serve the emperor but refusing to perform the requisite pagan ritual, Theodore was placed on a red-hot plate (obviously not at Appleby’s) and anointed with boiling tar. A miraculous earthquake caused a gusher of water to put out the fire, cool the plate, and wash the tar off — Theodore remained unharmed. The commander accused Theodore of sorcery, and Theodore suggested the attending pagan priest, Discorius, be given the same treatment, saving himself by praying to Zeus. Discorius weighed his options and decided to become a Christian on the spot. He got on the plate, prayed to Christ, and expired before things got really ouchy.

Next they dragged Theodore behind two horses, but the horses collapsed at the city walls (an odd detail, I thought — something in their contract?). A heavenly chariot came down and took Theodore away, but the soldiers nabbed him, which is confusing. Anyway he and his companions were thrown into a fiery furnace, which worked as well as it did for Shadrach, Abednego, and the other guy, which is to say not at all. The commander then suggested to Theodore’s mother, who was encouraging the guys to be steadfast, that she talk some sense into him. She said he was prophesied at birth to die for Christ by crucifixion, so the commander crucified him, beheading everybody else (including mum). Theodore hung on the cross for three days, praying the whole time, which on the whole is an admirable way to go if crucifixion is the best you can manage.

Our western saint today is Anselm of Canterbury (ca. 1033 – 1109). Denied his monastic desires at fifteen by his noble father, he slummed around his hometown for a bit, then ran away to Normandy. There he entered a Benedictine monastery, working his way up from mailboy to abbot (of nearby Bec). He gathered scholars thither from all over Europe, and wrote works of theology and philosophy. After the death of the Archbishop of Canterbury (his friend Lanfranc), he visited England, but William II would neither allow him to return to Bec, nor fill the vacant archbishopric. Encroaching death, however, has a wonderful way of clearing the mind, and when Will felt it, he repented munificently and attempted to solve both problems by offering Anselm the see. The wily abbot, however, sent by return mail a list of demands — the king must return seized lands, accede to Anselm’s authority, and reject antipope Clement III in favor of propope Urban II. Willy said both yay and nay, and as the two were haggling, the other English bishops forced the crozier into Anselm’s hand and dragged him to the cathedral to be archbishopified.

The wrangling over the role of the state in the affairs of the church continued, culminating in 1097 with Anselm’s exile. When Will died, Henry I invited Anselm back, largely because he needed support in his claim for the throne. Anselm had hardly got his land legs back when Henry demanded he pay him homage, which the Pope had but lately banned. Things led to other things, and by 1103 Anselm was again in exile. In further negotiations, the king made some concessions, but Anselm held out until he agreed to give back all the lands, churches, and other wealth that the brothers had seized. Anselm returned to England and spent his final years (all two of them) setting things to rights, restoring order, praying, and further freeing the Church from the tyranny of the crown.

Theologically-wise speaking, Anselm is perhaps most famous for introducing the satisfaction theory of atonement, in which only Christ’s death could make restitution to God for man’s original sin. This was laid forth in his treatise Cur Deus Homo (“Dog, God, Homogenized Milk”), which became a great favorite of Martin Luther, who however replaced the milk with ale.

Fresh Oysters, finger lime caviar, fresh breakfast radish, chickweed, apple & verbena sorbet, kasu emulsion

Trying a brand new restaurant is just about our family’s favourite thing to do and when the chef/owner happens to be Andrea Carlson (Sooke Harbour House, Raincity Grill, Bishop’s, etc), who is not only an a fantastic cook but a long time friend, we get downright excited! So, we made sure the three of us were at the corner of Main and E 11th Ave for the very first public service of Burdock & Co.

2702 Main Street

After admiring the space (the former home of Cafeteria), we sat down and ordered some drinks. I had one of the two non-alcoholic cocktails, from a list designed by Lauren Mote of Kale and Nori Culinary Designs, the Cascadian Cooler.

Apple & Fenugreek, Lime, Mint, Denman Bitters, Gingerbeer

The menu featured dishes showcasing local and seasonal ingredients in imaginative combinations that made it difficult to narrow down our selections, so we ordered almost the whole menu to share family style!

Cherry Leaf Cured Scallops, shiso rice crackers, cracked cherry pit ice

We started with the scallops and oysters (both requested by our 10-year-old son, Young Fresh Chef) which were delicate and delicious like a cool spring morning on the West Coast. We even nibbled on the cherry blossoms as instructed by our charmer of a server.

Urban Digs Egg, wild cress, hazelnut & blue cheese granola, brown butter & potato vinaigrette

The flavour and textural combination of the poached egg and the savoury granola was my favourite of the night and I may have Mmmmmmmed out loud more than once! The peppery wild cress presented a nice contrast to the luxuriousness of the rest of the plate.

Fire Roasted Green Farro, spruce tips, black garlic, sorrel

The vegan farro dish was my meat-loving husband’s top pick of the meal and the plate was scraped down to the ceramic glaze. The depth of flavour from the black garlic was earthy and sweet adding a soulful umami element to the farro.

Fried Chicken & Pickles, crispy skin, charred chili vinegar

Our son most enjoyed the fried chicken and he said that he could taste the love that was put into the preparation. The crispy skin was like chicken bacon and the accompanying pickled vegetables helped cut the richness of this dish.

Harvest Pork Belly Ramen, Candied Bacon, nori, fried egg

My husband and I were slowing down at this point, but the boy went full boar (pun intended) into the bowl of ramen.

Wheat Berry Risotto, sunroot, mustard greens, castelvetrano olives, Farmhouse ‘Fermiere’, smoked crema

The risotto was delicious and since the smoked crema would be good with almost anything, it just made the dish that much better. While this was a vegetarian dish, the dairy components gave it a rich taste and mouth feel.

Halibut, braised spring radish and hop shoots, pine mushroom and burdock tea, fried burdock, hop salt

While we should have been getting full after so much deliciousness, my fellas had their forks into the halibut before I could take a single photo! Like everything we tried, the dish was a tantalizing combination of ingredients with an excellent balance of flavours and was seasoned to perfection.

Gluten Free Cookies

We still had a bit of room for dessert and we really enjoyed the gluten-free cookie selection by the soft glow of candlelight.

We left with full bellies and hearts already plotting our return.

Burdock & Co

Open 7 days a week

from 5pm for dinner

no reservations

2702 Main Street

Vancouver, BC V5T 3E8

604-879-0077

email: eat@burdockandco.com

twitter: @burdockandco

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Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois

The latest episode in this regard has been the Archbishop Of Paris’ warning that if marriage equality becomes law,  society may erupt with violent protests.  According to a Reuters news report:

“Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois told a meeting of French bishops the planned marriage reform, which the government has speeded up amid mounting pressure from opponents, was a sign that society had lost its capacity to integrate different views. . . .

” ‘This is the way a violent society develops,’ he told the spring meeting of the French bishops’ conference. ‘Society has lost its capacity of integration and especially its ability to blend differences in a common project.’ “

Unfortunately, the cardinal’s argument contains something of a paradox.  While he complains about marriage equality causing a loss of integration and the blending of differences, he fails to realize that by not providing marriage for gay and lesbian couples, the nation already severely hampers integration and blending of differences.

On the secular side, a leader of the anti-marriage equality movement also warned of violence this week.  LGBTQNation reports that Frigide Barjot, a French comic who is a leader in the movement against marriage equality commented on the French Senate’s passage of the bill and the decision to now move the debate to the National Assembly:

“This is a disgrace. The French people don’t want this law, and what do they do? They speed up its passage. (French President Francois) Hollande wants blood, and he will get it. We live in a dictatorship. The President of the Republic has guillotined us.”

Such rhetoric only incites the already violent motivations of some protesters.  PinkNews.co.uk reports:

“On Wednesday thousands of protesters swarmed in Paris to voice their opposition to the bill, with some attacking cars and public property, and lashing out at police and journalists, reports France24.

“11 people from the protest were detained for questioning, while 24 pro-equal marriage counter-protesters were arrested, according to police.

“During the night four men were detained after they attacked a gay bar in Lille, injuring the manager and causing property damage.“

Similarly, LGBTQNation.com reports:

“Earlier in the week, gay rights activists pointed to last weekend’s attack on a gay couple in Paris as evidence of their claim that homophobic acts have tripled nationwide over opposition to the marriage equality law.

“Wilfred De Bruijn was beaten unconscious near his home early Sunday in central Paris, sustaining five fractures in his head and face, abrasions and a lost tooth.”

Catholic leaders in France would do better to forthrightly condemn such acts of violence, instead of simply warning that violence may be an outcome.  Warning about violence seems designed to inspire fear about the marriage equality bill, which the French bishops oppose.  But warning about possible future violence is a weak response if there is no condemnation of the violence which is already occurring during this debate.  Catholic leaders should be peacemakers, not fear-mongers.

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry

Today’s NCRep editorial gives a good lead-in:

“A church that does not go out of itself, sooner or later, sickens from the stale air of closed rooms,” Pope Francis has written in a letter released Thursday to his fellow Argentine bishops. This is a similar message to the one he delivered to his fellow cardinals before the conclave, impressing them enough to elect him bishop of Rome

In his new note he went on to say in the process of “going out” the church always risks running into “accidents,” adding, “I prefer a thousand times over a church of accidents than a sick church.”

A church of accidents … a church willing to take risks on the edges … a church dedicated to service of the most needy … a church working on behalf of mercy, peace and justice…

This sounds a lot like the church U.S. Catholic sisters have been building in recent decades. Not only U.S. women religious, but also women religious around the world have been at this work. It is the women who have lived closest to the marginalized; it is the women who have worked on the “peripheries;” it is the women who have gone precisely where Francis is encouraging others to go.

I think this is right. Whatever Pope Francis intended with the encouragement of the CDF to move forward against the LCWR, it seems clear he’s describing the attitude and approach of American sisters. Does he know it? Doesn’t matter. And that’s suggesting that “accidents,” however we arrived at that interesting term, are something that needs correction. In the case of the LCWR, I’m not sure that’s always the case. Even giving the CDF the benefit of the doubt, it doesn’t look to me like the pope is on the same page as they. Pope Francis sounds willing to risk accidents if the main mission of the Gospel is accomplished.

Most every woman religious I know has her eyes on the target and heart deep into ministry. Are some of them ignorant, misinformed, blundering, flawed, sinful, or harboring heretical beliefs? Sure. But that point means nothing, because you can say the same thing about bishops, priests, lay people, this parish or that parish, this community or that, this committee or that, and it would still be right.

The investigation’s problem has come to a difficult spot for the institution.

The sisters could just walk away. And nobody could stop them.

Archbishop Sartain was either the willing volunteer or the sucker for this task. He would seem to have motivation for the project to arrive at a successful conclusion. If he pushes the sisters too hard, they will walk anbd he will have failed in his first big assignment as an archbishop.

As I understand it, the LCWR was established to facilitate communiation between sisters and with the institutional Church. Women religious don’t seem to think the church is listening. So they lose nothing by walking away. And there is nothing to prevent them from maintaining communication among whoever want to organize under a new umbrella.

I also think we’re seeing a new administration in Rome that is concerned about looking out, not looking in. Pope Francis can tell the parties, “Stop fighting. Settle this, and get on with your work.” And what do you think the parties would do?

One way or another, this standoff is history.

People need to perceive, through the liturgical celebrations, that the Church is aware of the lordship of God and of dignity of the human being. She has the right to be able to discern, over and above the limitations that will always mark her rites and ceremonies, that Christ “is present in the sacrifice of Mass and in the person of the minister” (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 7).”

- Pope Benedict XVI to a group of French bishops on their ad limina visit,
17 November 2012

In the coming weeks I will be writing about the Sacra Liturgia conference that will be held in Rome from 25 to 28 June. The conference ”on liturgical formation, celebration and mission” is the brainchild of Bishop Dominique Rey of the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon in France and draws its inspiration in part from the teaching and person of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who strongly encouraged Bishop Rey’s initiative.

Why a major conference on the liturgy, and why special attention to it in this blog? Pope Benedict has spoken about it many times, both during his pontificate and as priest, bishop and cardinal. The quote I chose to place at the top is only the most recent I could quickly find, but it does give an indication of the reason. Our faith comes from God; it is His gift to us. In the liturgy, centered around the sacrifice of the Eucharist, God comes very near to us, nearer than we can ever hope to come to Him if left to our own devices. Since God is near to us, we must take care to show that in how we celebrate and participate in the liturgy. And because this is the place where God is tangible for us, the liturgy takes up a central place in our faith and life as Catholics. That means that we can’t take it for granted, but should treat the liturgy as an opportunity to learn and grow, and that is what the conference wants to aid in.

During the conference, various speakers will address a proper selection of liturgy topics. Standing out for me, upon a reading of the list of speakers, are Cardinal Raymond Burke (Liturgical law in the Mission of the Church), Archbishop Alexander Sample (The Bishop: governor, promoter and guardian of liturgical life of the diocese), Monsignor Guido Marini (Ars celebrandi in the Sacred Liturgy), Monsignor Stefan Heid (The Early Christian Altar – Lessons for Today), Father Uwe Michael Lang (Sacred Art and Architecture at the service of the Mission of the Church), Father Paul Gunter (Academic Formation in the Sacred Liturgy), Father Nicola Bux (Liturgical catechesis and the New Evangelisation), Dom Alcuin Reid (Sacrosanctum Concilium and Liturgical Formation) and Mr. Jeffrey Tucker (The Liturgical Apostolate and the Internet), although any choice here is strictly based on the various topic titles. I will be profiling several of the speakers in the coming weeks, with, obviously, a special focus on their thoughts and actions regarding the liturgy.

All the relevant information regarding prices, accommodation and, certainly not least, the speakers and their topics can be found via the link I supplied above. Personally, I would have attended if it was within my means, but I’ll have to make do with a digital presence, via this blog and various social media.

Although the professors’ concerns are undoubtedly genuine, there are a number of problems with the manifesto, which I will outline below.

First there is the outline of the problem, which I have summarised above. The existence of such “flourishing communities” is considered ”a great good”: they offer a home to active Catholics, which has g”reat existential value”. But, the professors say, the bishops are intent on destroying that by creating enormous parishes with a single council. And the reason that the bishops are doing this? The shortage of priests.

This is a clear untruth. As many bishops, confronted with similar concerns in their own dioceses, have said time and again: parish mergers are chiefly dictated by financial and demographical concerns: small parishes will, in the future, no longer have the financial means to support themselves, and the number of faithful is expected to drop over the coming years. It has been doing so for years already. And yes, the number of priests is certainly relevant in that context. But it is not the sole reason for consolidating and merging parishes and communities.

What the professors completely miss or ignore in their manifesto is the bishops’ duty to communicate and protect the faith. They say that the mergers are smothering the specific identities and expressions of parishes and communities. Measures imposed from above destroy the unique expressions of faith in these small communities. But what if these expressions are at odds with the teachings of the Church, with the faith that the bishops are tasked to protect? I would dare say that that is the case in too many communities in the Netherlands and Europe as a whole. Imposed measures, of whatever nature, are not so one-dimensional as to merely want to limit identity and expression. They can, and often also do, serve to assure the continued existence of such expressions, but always in union with the Church that Christ established.

Another odd conclusion that the manifesto describes is that the macro level (the Church province) which, the professors say, is characterised by bureaucratic and financial structures and cultures, can’t intrude on the micro level, the local faith communities, which are characterised by communicative action, mutual understanding, agreement and meaningfulness. But neither level exists in isolation, so some level of “intrusion” must occur, since both levels are interdependent. A model by which a group of faith communities continues to exist under one parish council, as is foreseen in virtually all the plans for mergers, will allow the micro level to continue operating as it should, and will prevent the problems that are now looming on the horizon: lack of financial means and a dearth of volunteers as the number of faithful drops.

As I have said, the concerns of the professors are undoubtedly genuine, but their cause is not served by inaccurate projections of reality. All the bishops who are currently facing the prospect of parish mergers have been quite open about the reasons behind it, and in many cases they have emphasised the need for thriving communities on the local level. Placing them under a unified parish council within the larger framework of the diocese does not mean their end. Bishops can’t end that, but neither can they be solely responsible for the communites’ continued existence. That is in the hands of the communities themselves. In many placers, things can’t continue for very long as they are now, but they can if the structures that are needed are in place, and if faithful everywhere work towards it, keeping their communities alive in Christ. Only they, and He, can do that. A bishop can’t, and neither can he prevent it.

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton

Responding to statements by Detroit’s Archbishop Allen Vigneron suggesting pro-marriage equality Catholics  refrain from  Communion, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton instead told Catholics last week, “Don’t stop coming to Communion.” He expanded that message of inclusivity in his weekly National Catholic Reporter column, “The Peace Pulpit,” and in an extensive interview with Democracy Now.

Writing in the National Catholic Reporter, Bishop Gumbleton reflected on last Sunday’s Gospel reading (John 21:1-19) and the implications for how we form a church after Jesus appears post-Resurrection to the disciples. He concludes that the church is a place where all, without condition or exception, are welcomed:

“As we go on in what happens on this occasion, we discover a couple of things about that mission. One is how it has to be totally inclusive. You don’t push anybody out of the community. You draw everybody in, until you have — in John’s Gospel, he often uses large numbers to make a point by exaggeration. Back when he changed water into wine, when Jesus did that, John said, ‘There were six jugs of water with thirty gallons of each,’ he’s making a point. Thirty gallons in six jugs, that’s a lot of wine, but they certainly didn’t drink it all on that occasion. John is simply making a point: there’s no limit to what God can do. So this occasion, when they’re fishing, the net is bulging with fish, bulging, but it doesn’t break. See, everybody can come in…

“It’s something we need to remember, that we’re not to push people away from the church. We’re supposed to draw them in. We want everyone to be part of this community of the disciples of Jesus.”

Bishop Gumbleton also notes the Gospel teaches us about community leadership and inclusivity:

“Again, I want to emphasize that the disciples were just learning this, how to be the community of disciples, how to be the church. There wasn’t a predetermined plan with institutional guidelines and laws developed and so on. No, none of that. They had to struggle to understand how to be the community of disciples of Jesus…

“But here, right at the beginning, it’s altogether different. It’s to be a leadership of love…

“That’s the kind of church we have to be working toward becoming part of — following that leadership of love, not a leadership of power and authority and penances and penalties and exclusions and so on, but a leadership that says love.

“Love is the only thing that really counts in this community of disciples of Jesus; love and leadership of the church throughout all the members of the church. The whole community would be a community of disciples who love one another and who proclaim that love to the world around us and who carry out the mission of Jesus by drawing all into this community of disciples.

“We establish the church by doing this promulgation of love wherever we go, not just by our words, but by our actions. When we become that kind of a church, from the Pope right through the whole community, then that’s when we’ll be a sign to the world that will draw the world to enter into the reign of God and bring fullness of God’s reign into reality — a reign of love, a reign that will be peace and justice for all.”

Bishop Gumbleton is a long-standing advocate for welcoming the LGBT community within the Catholic Church, and he spoke for nearly an hour with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now last week about many issues of justice, church reform, and his personal journey. Within that, Bishop Gumbleton noted the importance of conscience in the Church’s relationship with gay and lesbian individuals:

“No one can judge the conscience of any other person. And homosexual people have to deal with who they are, how they express intimacy and love. And I am sure, based on the teaching of the church, also that, before anything else, a person’s own individual conscience gives guidance to how that person must act, and no one can interfere with that. And that’s teaching that goes right back to the beginning of the church…That’s their conscience decision, and it’s between each person and God. And that’s church teaching. And so, how individuals deal with their homosexuality is something that we have to respect.”

In Bishop Gumbleton’s wisdom, a clear plan for clergy in reaching out to the LGBT community is available in this model of radical inclusivity. Cardinal Dolan recently remarked about the need for improved relations between the church and LGBT people. He would do well to listen his fellow bishop who preaches Christ’s radical inclusivity, the primacy of conscience, and most of all, love.

–Bob Shine, New Ways Ministry

Our eastern saint today is Agathangelos of Esphigmenou (d. 1819). Born Athanasios and baptized poor (or vice versa), Agathangelos joined the Turkish merchant marines to make a living. The Turks were keen to convert him to Islam, and when all else failed he was lured by a judge and his master into a cemetery and held at knife-point. Reasoning that he could convert on the outside but not on the inside, he acquiesced, and suffered himself to be circumcised (key word here being “suffered”). Eventually he got away and headed for Athos, going from monastery to monastery until he found one (Esphigmenou) that would take him. He was very sincere in his repentence and devout in his actions, but he still felt guilty. He was beginning to consider martyrdom when he got a face full of smoke that caused him to sit down and weep. “Some martyr I’d make if I can’t even stand a face full of smoke!” he reasoned, and, feeling wretched, fell asleep. In a vision he saw the Theotokos, who promised him he could become a martyr if that’s what he really wanted. He related all this to his spiritual father, and was soon studying for martyrdom under Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory V, who was just down the rock at Iveron.

He then returned to Esphigmenou, was locked in a tower, and made 5,500 prostrations a day. After eight days he was tonsured a monk, wrapped a 25-pound chain around himself, and upped his prostrations to 11,000 a day. Not much later, the abbot in a vision saw St. Nicholas tell Agathangelos, “Get on with it.” His fellow monks, in tears, put him on a boat to Smyrna, where he sought out his old master, publicly proclaimed his Christianity, pulled out a cross and an icon of the Resurrection, and began to insult Islam. He was consequently reprimanded, threatened, abjured, flattered, enticed, threatened, and imprisoned, in roughly that order but with some repetition and retrograde motion. He was beheaded the next day and buried in Smyrna, although bits of him (skull, right (or left) hand, right leg (or left foot), and one rib) were later unearthed and sent to Esphigmenou.

Our western saint today is Alphege of Canterbury (ca. 954 – 1012), or of Winchester, also known as Elphege, Aelfeah, and Godwine. Noble by birth, Alphege defied his mother’s wishes and became a hermit in Bath (stop that snickering). Eventually they made him bishop of Winchester, albeit without securing his permission first. He served in that post for 22 years, and worked unceasingly to eradicate poverty in his diocese, while himself living in great austerity.

When Olaf, King of Norway, started harassing the southern coast, King Ethelred sent Alphege to sue for peace, and it worked. Olaf, already baptized, even agreed to be confirmed at Alphege’s hand before sailing back to Norway and leaving England alone. After a bit, Alphege was made Archbishop of Canterbury, and when the Danes picked up where the Norwegians left off, that city was destroyed and he was taken captive. When an inconvenient epidemic arose, he healed many of the enemy through prayer and blessed bread. Eventually the Danes offered to release him if the English could raise 3,000 gold crowns (the coins, not the hats), but Alphege refused to allow the money to be collected. He was therefore led to the scaffold, where the Danes, in a drunken stupor, hurled abuse and rocks. Thorkell the Tall, a Dane of some stature, tried to save him, but to no avail. When Alphege swooned and it became clear that he was suffering greatly, a Christian Dane named Thrum headed him with an axe to put him out of his suffering. His bones were interred in Greenwich, but moved to a shrine in Canterbury after the Danish king, Canute, got an earful from his pious wife about the way their countrymen had treated the archbishop.

The artist:

It was very upsetting because the rectors liked it, but when it got to the administration, people thought it might be too controversial or vague.

What do you think? Too radical a depiction of Matthew 25:31-46? Inappropriate, as the big city archbishops suggested?

Regis College dean Rev Gordon Rixon:

The mission of our college is to promote critical theology, with advocacy for justice and an appreciation of beauty.