The Archive

Category: The Lead

Church leaders meet with President on eve of election

November 2, 2010 No Comments

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and other church leaders met with President Obama on the eve of the election.

Wither traditions?

November 1, 2010 12 Comments

But if we continually transform worship so that it will open people to the Holy, what are we supposed to do with our traditions? Don’t traditions anchor our worship? How can we discard them so readily? Isn’t one of the mainline church’s strengths its ability to adhere to tradition in the face of a world that blindly chases trends?

New tools for evangelism

November 1, 2010 No Comments

The November issue of Vestry Papers, from the Episcopal Church Foundation is online. It focuses on technology and evangelism and includes the article “Tweet if you love Jesus” by Bishop Kirk Smith.

Anti-gay outrages in Uganda continue

November 1, 2010 3 Comments

The latest edition reportedly carries the headline, “More homos’ faces exposed.” Giles defended the tabloid’s outing campaign last week, saying, that homosexuality was “bigger than terrorism. He also said, “we thought that by publishing that story, the police would investigate them and prosecute them and hang them.”

Open meetings

November 1, 2010 2 Comments

A tip of the hat to Mary Frances Schjonberg of Episcopal News Service for covering the meetings like a reporter rather a reputation manager, to the Executive Council for resisting the secrecy of executive session and to Del Glover for reminding us that vigorous disagreement can be a sign of maturity and health, and not an indication that the apocalypse is nigh.

The subtle handiwork of Dan Martins

November 1, 2010 12 Comments

I was engaged in subtle ways to try to subvert and retard what (breakaway Bishop John) Schofield was doing, because I realized that with the prevailing attitude in the diocese it was simply ineffective to just directly oppose it.

Life, all over

November 1, 2010 3 Comments

Perhaps it’s time to retire this quaint gesture — the writer’s shock that an artist has found matter other than in the agreed-upon precincts. Life is interesting all over. Every life, properly understood, is compelling. Anyone aspiring to be an artist knows there’s no such thing as why-bother or nothing-to-see.

Are Quebeckers largely non-practicing Catholics?

October 31, 2010 1 Comment

“Since church attendance collapsed in the province in the 1960s, at least two secular generations have marched through life hardly tasting a Eucharist wafer or hearing an angelus bell, while the Council for Quebec’s Religious Heritage estimates that 20 churches a year are sold or torn down.”

On being nimble

October 31, 2010 1 Comment

Over the past several days we’ve heard a lot about how the church’s leadership structures need to be more nimble: structurally, maybe, as well as intellectually and spiritually. So we offer the following meditation on what it means to be agile.

Halloween and evangelicalism: old nightmare or new institution?

October 31, 2010 3 Comments

“Based on the Antichrist’s orders, our tour group was being initiated into something called ‘Citizen Change Camp.’ A main part of our ‘initiation’ was witnessing the execution and torture of people who refused to denounce their Christian faith.”