This liturgical requirement of the Church puts ordinands to the priesthood in the position of either saying something they know to be untrue – that they are truly called to be deacon – or of finding a way to make it true.
About 1142, Bernard of Clairvaux asked Aelred to write his Mirror of Charity. Bernard encouraged his son in the faith to write this treatise as an apologetic for the new monastic way of living in the Cistercian order. In this work, it would be made clear that human relations were not just “natural,”
The trial regarding the constitutionality of denying same-sex couples the ability to marry each other began with formal arguments today. The trial was to be broadcast, but in a last minute decision the court decided to bar video access for the first three days. However there are liveblogs of the proceedings to be found online.
The Roman Catholic Church may have the Red Mass for the legal profession, but now the Anglicans can consider doing Plow Monday with a new information worker twist. A vicar in “The City” has taken an old custom of blessing the tools of farmers in a new direction by blessing the tools of the modern worker, their laptops and their phones.
Today is the world-wide observance of Human Trafficking day, an attempt to draw attention to the increasing problem of slavery, sexual trafficking and child labor. The Lutherans have some very helpful resources posted that are appropriate for congregational use.
Congregations are leaving the Lutheran Church as a result of decisions made at General Synod this summer. But apparently the numbers represent a smallish portion of the total, and are roughly proportional to the Episcopal Chruch’s experience.
Later today in California oral arguments begin in the case challenging that state’s ability to deny same-sex marriage to its citizens. Ted Olson, a conservative republican, is the lead attorney in favor of restoring their right. Why? He explains his reasons in Newsweek.
William Laud conducted a famous controversy with a Jesuit theologian, John Fisher, subsequently published as A Relation of the Conference between William Laud and Mr. Fisher the Jesuit (1639). Against the proposition advanced by Fisher that all points defined in the Church are fundamental,
State officials contradict one another in setting scenarios for the fate of the anti-homosexuality bill.
The Hope Clinic in East Texas serves uninsured and under-insured 5000 patients in Shelby County, and is supported by the Episcopal churches in the Diocese of Texas.