August 2, 2010 – Episcopal Cafe

Anti-Muslim sentiment swelling on American right

August 2, 2010 7 Comments

“What we are also doing by the burning of the Quran, we’re saying stop, stop to Islam, stop to Islamic law, stop to brutality. We have nothing against Muslims, they are welcome in our country.” When Sanchez asked him how he would feel if Muslims burned the Bible, Jones admitted he wouldn’t like it but emphasized that it was his “right” to burn the Islamic text because “we live in America.”

Ian Markham on being a Christian

August 2, 2010 1 Comment

My experience of morality, of beauty, of love — all these things point to the divine, which makes theism more likely than atheism. And then if you ask how can I believe in a God that allows so much suffering? Part of the answer is that I can only believe in God provided I know God knows what it’s like to suffer — and that is the Christian claim, that God knows human suffering.

The problem of clergy burnout

August 2, 2010 12 Comments

“We had a pastor in our study group who hadn’t taken a vacation in 18 years,” said Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell, an assistant professor of health research at Duke University who directs one of the studies. “These people tend to be driven by a sense of a duty to God to answer every call for help from anybody, and they are virtually called upon all the time, 24/7.”

TEC’s handling of allegations of sexual abuse has improved over time

August 2, 2010 1 Comment

When former Episcopal Bishop Donald Davis of Erie was accused of child molestation in 1994, he resigned so quietly from ministry that most other bishops didn’t know why. It was the same year that an Episcopal bishop who had admitted molesting a minor was reinstated after a year’s leave. Since then, church laws have been changed to make it easier to remove offenders.

Call Me An Optimist

August 2, 2010 3 Comments

I believe that art can heal

William Stringfellow wants to make you uncomfortable

August 2, 2010 3 Comments

Vicki Black featured this quotation from the late William Stringfellow on the Speaking to the Soul blog yesterday. But it is a question that can’t be examined too often. Are some people poor because others are rich? And if so, what should Christians do abut that?

Pioneer bishops

August 2, 2010 2 Comments

The Episcopal Church consecrated two black bishops prior to the elevation of Demby and Delany in 1918. They were James Theodore Holly, consecrated in 1874 as missionary bishop of Haiti, and Samuel David Ferguson, consecrated in 1885 as missionary bishop of Liberia. Although both. . . suffered calumny at the hands of the mother church, and although both, victims of the racism and imperialism of the day, were succeeded by white bishops,

The Archive

Day: August 2, 2010