Our Foreign Service is changing the rules: The Foreign Service – the US Department of State’s on-ramp for career diplomats – is watering down its application process with a change that critics say could have troubling implications for national security.“I worry that we’ll be sending good community activists over to Baghdad and Beirut who don’t …
Penitential Rite, from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer
It's needed now: One thing that always struck me about this and so many other penitential rites in the Anglican liturgy (like this one) is that God always is ready to forgive and have us back. That's missing in many of the moral systems that are being imposed on us these days.
Those Needy Pentecostals
One of the things I heard frequently as a NOM (Novus Ordo Missae, as opposed to a Trad or Rad Trad) Catholic was the phrase "your needy people." This was generally rolled out when same needy people were about to "come to the table" (which they really didn't.) And yet...somehow, the whole concept of "needy …
George Conger for Bishop?
That's what's on the street: Enter George Conger, the ambitious evangelical cleric from Central Florida. Is he qualified? Eminently so. He is by far away the most credentialed of all the candidates with a good track record in his own diocese. However, there is no love lost between Conger and his bishop, Greg Brewer, who …
Two Defeats, Two National Nervous Breakdowns
A few years back I did a review of Andreas Killen's 1973 Nervous Breakdown. It's hard to argue against the fact that what we went through in the late 1960's and early 1970's was in fact a national nervous breakdown. Two years later, of course, came the fall of Saigon and the real end of …
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Some Reflections on “The Ten Weeks” and Our Current Situation
Well, it's done: my novel The Ten Weeks is now blogged. I trust that those who have followed it have been blessed and entertained. For those who have not kept up, it's not a problem; this site's traffic has traditionally come from its long-term content. The novel was an ordeal for its participants; while blogging …
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The Ten Weeks, 20 February, Like a Twitter Thread, At The End It’s “Fin”
The weekend that came was decidedly strange. Lucian Gerland’s death and the fiasco of his funeral had made for a long week. There weren’t many on the Island alive and active who could remember a Verecunda not dominated by Lucian Gerland, and the anticipation of what life would be like without him depended upon what …
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The Ten Weeks, 18 February, The Rioters Even Show Up to Funerals
Terry stood nervously and alone outside of St. Sebastian’s, facing Aumonier Street. Behind her the stained glass windows of the church showed their images muted and in reverse. Her full length black dress and veil became her; her long hair was swallowed up in her dress. She stared blankly out into the street, so intently …
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The Ten Weeks, 16 February, Death Brings the Worst Out in Families
The next day, Terry was leaving her last class and heading to the locker room to get ready for tennis practice when Shu-Yi intercepted her in the hall. “You must come quickly,” she told her granddaughter. “Your grandfather’s condition is very grave.” “But I’ve got tennis practice,” Terry protested. “I’m in enough trouble already.” “I …
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The Ten Weeks, 15 February, When God Touches Your Life, You Are Never the Same
Amongst the collection of societies and clubs at Point Collina Comprehensive, its French Club was in a league of its own. Although the Republic had lowered the majority (and thus the drinking) age to eighteen, a milestone honoured in the breach, the Club had the distinction of being the school’s only student organisation where open …
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Positive Infinity 