Gary Wills writes: Pope Benedict XVI is the best-dressed liar in the world. And in England he presided over the best set-designed lie imaginable. He beatified the nineteenth-century Oxford theologian John Henry Newman, presenting him as a docile believer in papal authority, an enemy of dissent, and a rebuke to anyone who questions church authority.
Australian Anglicans have committed themselves to three years of debate before a decision is taken on whether to embrace an international covenant designed to preserve the unity of their church.
In the debate over this resolution, the Rev. Dan Martins, who was elected yesterday as Bishop of Springfield, said that if the convention voted in favor of blessing LGBT relationships, members would be “covering ourselves in shame.” This is a word that has been thrown in the faces of LGBT people for most of their lives, and it goes well beyond stating a theological disagreement.
It is indeed a great and extraordinary grace of God to have an unwavering faith in the constant presence of his Almighty Spirit; yet the Spirit is present, though our faith may be weak; and his grace is given, though we are most unworthy of it; and the more feeble the instrument, the more evidently is the work, if work there be, seen to proceed from God, who will not suffer our unworthiness to hinder this operation of his Spirit in the hearts of his people.
Why did the Lord Jesus Christ present this parable to us? He surely did not approve of that cheat of a servant who cheated his master, stole from him and did not make it up from his own pocket. On top of that, he also did some extra pilfering. He caused his mater further loss, in order to prepare a little nest of quiet and security for himself after he lost his job.
If you were baptized in an Episcopal Church after 1979, either you or your parents and godparents answered a series of six questions. The last of which reads, “Do you promise to follow and obey [Jesus Christ] as your Lord?” Whether or not you were baptized under this particular liturgy, this is the fundamental question at the heart of the Christian faith.
Updated with the official reaction of St. George’s CANA added below. ____ A charismatic founder of the Anglican Communion Institute and current priest in good
Let nothing disturb my soul, fixed on Thee;
nothing weary it, stayed on Thee;
nothing draw it down, upheld by Thee, in Thee;
nothing turn it aside, directed by Thee, unto Thee.
When I hear mission, I hear, periphery. I hear hierarchy. I hear separation. I hear paternalism. All of that makes me tired indeed. I wonder what might happen if mission was recognized as the organizing principle of the baptismal life and of the beloved community?
At Rupertsberg Convent you can observe all the virtues marvelously competing to outdo one another. The mother [Hildegard] receives her daughters with such great love, and the daughters submit to their mother with such immense respect, that it is scarcely possible to decide whether the mother exceeds the daughters, or the daughters the mother in enthusiasm. These holy servants care for one another and in this way honour and respect one another,