Although I find much about our government's MO to be objectionable, I also find Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' characterisation of the US as the ‘worst’ imperialist amusing and not a little disingenuous. His idea that the US "wields its power in a way that is worse than Britain during its imperial heyday" shows a …
The Backlash Against Tithing
As my church's Finance Committee chairman, the article about The Backlash Against Tithing (also here) certainly hits home. It's something I deal with all the time, especially at budget season. At one time in evangelical churches, people tithed first and then gave offerings on top of that. Today people are more likely to mentally allocate …
Falling off the fence
One of my father's consistent gripes about the Episcopal Church--a gripe usually made specifically about our Rector at Bethesda--is that its ministers rode the fence too hard, never took a stand on anything, etc. That "strategy" (if it can be dignified by that name) lost TEC many members, but it also won it a few …
Yet Another Baptismal Certificate, and Why I Blog About the Anglican/Episcopal World
I've been presenting a series of baptismal certificate forms (the back of them) on this site; this is another, from the mid-1960's. It is very similar to the one from the 1920's except for the formatting. All three baptismal certificates can be downloaded in one pdf file by clicking here. Now that orthodox Anglicans can …
On the Value of American Missions, Dollar and Otherwise
Abu Daoud is absolutely correct in his response concerning the impact of the falling US Dollar on American missions: The weakening dollar will have a bad effect on world missions, by the way. It will become more difficult for the US to send out as many missionaries as it does today. Working as I do …
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Glad We Didn’t Have to Put Our Siamese Cat Through This
One of the newer blessings (other than same-sex blessings for people) that Episcopalians can avail themselves of is the "blessing of the animals." Needless to say dear old Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach not only did this, but got a video of this in the online Shiny Sheet. (Who needs YouTube when you have the Palm …
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St. Jerome’s Idea of Bishops and Presbyters
One of the reasons why people join churches like Anglican, Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches (especially the last one) is to have a church which can have continuity with the "Fathers of the Church." For Roman Catholics, one of the four "Doctors of the Church" (the most important of the Fathers) is St. Jerome, the …
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Another Baptismal Certificate
Last December, I posted the reverse of an Episcopal baptismal certificate from the time of the Civil War. I got some interest in this on Kendall Harmon's website, and so I'm doing it again, this time with the reverse of a certificate printed in 1924, and used in the Washington, DC area. It starts with …
Making Up Our Minds on What We Believe
In his piece Why Does Turkey Hate America? (an interesting subject in itself,) "Spengler" puts the central issue of Christianity (and Islam, for that matter) as succinctly as one could want: I have never believed that such a thing as "moderate Islam" exists, any more than I believe that "moderate Christianity" exists. Either Jesus Christ …
Reply to Susan Russell on Inclusivity and Grace
Kendall Harmon had a recent post on the Presiding Bishop’s webcast that included the statement, “There will be no outcasts in this Church.” I could not resist responding as follows: You cannot continue to give preference to one without slighting another, for selection implies rejection. You despise, therefore, those whom you thus reject; for in …
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Positive Infinity 