The newSpin Newsletter, June 11, 2012
By Bill Lewellis
Published Monday, occasionally also on Thursday
TopSpin
• Nanticoke church reborn as regional recovery and outreach center: Repairs underway, roofer needed ... [John Major and Janine Ungvarsky] Last week, the Diocese of Bethlehem announced the partnership with Episcopal Relief & Development that will enable the diocese to make giant strides forward in disaster relief and preparedness efforts. Read the diocesan release below. The centerpiece of this effort is a new regional disaster recovery and outreach center that will be housed in St. George's Church in Nanticoke. Returning this church to service and sustaining it in mission and ministry will be a cooperative effort of the parishes in the Luzerne County region of the diocese and there will be many opportunities for Episcopal parishes as well as ecumenical partners to join forces in these efforts -- watch for upcoming announcements seeking volunteers for a yard sale, clean up, landscaping and other projects to prepare the center to serve our neighbors in need. More here.
• Renewed Good Shepherd Church welcomes new priest ... [Scranton Times-Tribune, Laura Legere] The first full-time priest in seven years at the Church of the Good Shepherd announced a vision for the congregation on a portable sign at North Washington Avenue and Electric Street: "All are welcome and we really mean it." The installation of the Rev. Peter Pearson as rector offers stability and leadership to the Green Ridge Episcopal church that has redefined itself through community outreach and service in recent years. Since its last full-time priest and many members of the congregation left to join the Roman Catholic Church in 2005, the church has largely been led by its lay members with the help of interim priests on Sundays. It survived and began rebuilding by committing itself to community service, especially through programs to offer meals, clothing, haircuts and health screenings to the homeless, working poor and struggling senior citizens. In 2008, the church received a $200,000, five-year New Hope grant from the Diocese of Bethlehem to expand those programs. More here.
• Flooded neighbors not forgotten: National church and Diocese of Bethlehem build on initiative of parish ... [Diobeth.org] The Diocese of Bethlehem has received a grant $72,796 from Episcopal Relief and Development to implement a plan intended to help residents of West Pittston still recovering from last September’s flooding while also preparing Episcopal churches in the region to respond to future disasters. The grant comes in addition to other assistance and resources. This partnership with ER&D, combined with funds provided by the Diocese will assist the recovery of the West Pittston area and the establishment of a regional disaster recovery and outreach center owned by the Diocese and run through a coordinated effort among the Luzerne County regional parishes. The center will be located in St. George’s Episcopal Church in Nanticoke and is planned to include storage and gathering space in addition to the worship area. See above. The diocesan community is also adopting a parish preparedness initiative. Using resources and training provided by ER&D, each parish in the diocese will establish individualized plans to protect their resources and resume services as quickly as possible during a disaster, while also responding to the needs of their parishioners and the community at large. More here.
• The summer – and our lives – begin and end with Our Lady ... [Archdeacon Stringfellow] The summer in very truth begins with The Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (May 31) and has well entered its decline with the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 15). When this discovery dawned on me, I began to see the season as a figure for life, for living well, and for letting life take its Providential course. Summer is much more than baseball. Here.
• $20,000 paid to pedophile priests to leave priesthood ... [ABC-TV News] Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the archdiocese of New York is keeping quiet today after his old diocese, the archdiocese of Milwaukee, confirmed that under his leadership in 2003 the church paid individual sums of $20,000 to priests accused of molesting children. The archdiocese of Milwaukee confirmed to the Associated Press Wednesday that the church paid the priests money to voluntarily sign papers to leave the priesthood because it was cheaper and faster than removing them by other administrative routes, which would have included going through the Vatican. "In 2002, the Church affirmed that priest offenders should no longer be functioning as priests in any capacity and having someone seek laicization voluntarily is faster and less expensive and it made sense to try and move these men out of the priesthood as quickly as possible," Archdiocese spokeswoman Julie Wolf told local news station WTMJ-TV. More here.
• A new grants page ... on the DioBeth website.
• Requests for New Hope Grants will be accepted until July 2 ... [Daniel Gunn] The New Hope Grants Committee is ready to receive and consider requests for disbursements from the New Hope Campaign. The total amount we are able to grant for the 2012-13 calendar year is $70,000. This is the last year of major grants. We are inviting Letters of Intent from parishes and Episcopal-related organizations within the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem. The Deadline for Letters of Intent is 2 July 2012. More here.
• Calling all families with kids in grades 1-5 ... [Anne Kitch] Bishop's Day with Kids. June 30 in Scranton; July 28 in Bethlehem. More.
• High School Mission Trip ... Here.
• Diocesan Events for 2012 ... Here.
• Diocesan Life, May/June ... Stories on St. Alban's, Sinking Springs, Family Promise at All Saints, birthday bags for the Nazareth Food Bank, our New Hope campaign update from Charlie Barebo, Vocare, Bishop's Day for Kids, the Whitehall Food Pantry, What is a deputy? (for General Convention) and more. Here.
• DioBeth Website ... newSpin Blog ... Re:Create blog for youth and young adults ... Twitter.DioBeth ... Twitter.Kat Lehman ... Facebook.DioBeth ... Flickr, search under dio_beth
• Public news and info lists ... At the Diobeth website, enter your name and email in the "Get Connected" box. You are welcome to subscribe to any or all of these. "Bakery" is our diocesan interactive list.
ParishSpin
• Allentown ... Mediator seeks director of children and youth ministry. Here.
• Dallas ... Prince of Peace seeks organist/choir master. Here.
• Scranton ... Good Shepherd, above, under TopSpin.
• West Pittston ... Trinity's FLOODCare efforts continue. “Look, those nice people from Trinity Episcopal are back again!” Here.
• Note to parishes ... Send news summaries and links to Bill.
• Diocesan Life, May/June ... Stories on St. Alban's, Sinking Springs, Family Promise at All Saints, birthday bags for the Nazareth Food Bank, our New Hope campaign update from Charlie Barebo, Vocare, Bishop's Day for Kids, the Whitehall Food Pantry, What is a deputy? (for General Convention) and more. Here.
• Weekly eNewsletters from parishes
Allentown, Grace Church, June 7.
Bethlehem, Cathedral Church of the Nativity, June 8.
Bethlehem, Trinity Church, June 7.
Easton, Trinity Church, June 1.
Trexlertown, St. Anne's Church here, click on "Weekly Calendar."
There may be others. If so, please send me a link.
• Monthly Newsletters from parishes ... Most parishes publish a monthly newsletter that is mailed to parishioners. Many, if not most, of those are available at the parish websites.
• Calendar of Events ... Here.
General Convention 2012: July 5-12 in Indianapolis
• Understanding the Denominational Health Plan and its implementation ... [Canon Andrew Gerns, Episcopal Café] The Rev. Susan Snook, Vicar of Church of the Nativity, Phoenix, Arizona, writes a detailed analysis of the current state of the Denominational Health Plan passed by General Convention in 2009 and the proposals coming before Convention this summer. This is one of the things that General Convention will do that will have a practical effect on every Episcopalian in every congregation. So while this is an issue that doesn't elicit high-minded theology or generate tons of blog and twitter traffic taking sides, there is incredible anxiety out there about the DHP because it is such a bread and butter issue. There are a number of proposals coming before this summer's Convention including proposals to dlay implementation or suspend it altogether; proposals to allow insurance to be purchased from providers other than the DHP; and, proposals to equalize premiums across all the dioceses. More here.
• Public price to be paid for opposing PB, COO and treasurer of TEC ... [Episcopal Café, Jim Naughton] Late Friday afternoon (June 1) the Episcopal Church’s Office of Public Affairs released a commentary on the church's draft budget including a foreword by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, commentary by Bishop Stacy Sauls, the church’s chief operating officer, and a line-by-line explanation of the budget produced by Kurt Barnes, the church’s treasurer, in consultation with Bishop Sauls. The budget, and the process that produced it have been the source of much anguished commentary across the church ... I am concerned about how news about the budget is communicated to the church. The core of the documents released on Friday (Pages 4-20) sometimes read less like a comprehensive, evenhanded overview of the budgeting process than an attempt by one side in what I think was a principled dispute to assign blame for the woe that has befallen us in this process to the other. The Executive Council emerges from the report as incompetent and incapable of conducting the church’s business. Individuals who advocated cutting the diocesan asking from 19% to 15% are singled out by name, and cast in an especially poor light ... It appears to me that the Presiding Bishop, the chief operating officer and the treasurer (the three highest paid officers of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society) have crossed a line here. They have used one of the church’s most effective channels of communication to subtly damage the reputations of volunteers who disagreed with them. Intentionally or otherwise, they have sent a message that there is a public price to be paid for opposing them. If this practice continues it will harm the church more than any budget crisis ever could. More here.
• Understanding General Convention ... [Diocese of Texas] Watch or download a video about General Convention online here or download a comic-book-style booklet here.
• Communication, Structure, How resolutions move through General Convention, What's a deputy, General Convention 101 ... All at the Diobeth GC Deputies blog.
• The Blue Book ... information and resolutions for GC2012 is available for downloading. Here.
• Cliff notes on The Blue Book ... [Episcopal Café] Two deputies have offered "cliffs notes" style commentaries and reflections on the content and resolutions. Liza Anderson, Lay Deputy to General Convention for Connecticut and Scott Gunn, clergy deputy for Rhode Island. Here.
Episcopal/Anglican
• Scotland says no to Anglican Covenant ... [Episcopal Café] Here.
• Philly cathedral gets ok to raze historic buildings, erect apartment high-rise ... [Phila Inquirer] The Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral received approval Friday to demolish two historic buildings in the 3700 block of Chestnut Street, clearing the way for construction of a 25-story apartment tower. At a lengthy hearing of the city Historical Commission, the cathedral and its private development partner agreed to conditions imposed by the commission that seek to insure that a portion of development profits flow into repair and renovation of the historic cathedral's bell tower. More here.
• Diocese of Central PA would approve blessing of same-gender couples ... [The Patriot-News] Clergy in the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania soon might have the option of blessing same-gender couples, the diocesan bishop said Sunday. The Episcopal Church has decided “to take another step forward toward full inclusion of all its members,” the Right Rev. Nathan D. Baxter, bishop of the diocese, said Sunday after the 142nd annual Diocesan Convention that was held during the weekend in State College. Baxter said if trial liturgy of a same-sex blessing is approved at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, his diocese will use it, too. The General Convention will be held next month in Indianapolis ... Episcopal priests cannot perform same-sex marriage ceremonies unless gay marriage is legal in the state. If the General Convention does not approve the trial liturgy, it could not be used. More here.
• Rhode Island elects Nicholas Knisely ... [ENS] The Very Rev. Nicholas Knisely was elected on June 2 to be the 13th bishop of the Diocesse of Rhode Island. Knisely, 51, dean, Trinity Cathedral in Phoenix AZ and onetime rector of Trinity Church Bethlehem, was elected on the first ballot out of a field of five nominees. Here.
• Episcopal News Weekly bulletin inserts ... Download inserts here.
• Episcopal Church new Website ... ENS blog ... Episcopal Church on Facebook ... Episcopal Church on YouTube ... Anglican Communion website ... Anglican Communion News Service. ... Anglican Communion News Service on Facebook.
TaleSpin
• Cleveland RC priest writes: What the Nuns' story is really about ... [Huff Post] Father Doug Koesel, pastor of RC Blessed Trinity Church in Cleveland, wrote a strong statement of support for Catholic Sisters in his parish bulletin a couple of weeks ago. Made to the local congregation, it has received world-wide attention. Part 1 ... Part 2 ... [h/t Father Bruce Baker]
• A government-designed famine: in Sudan, 'to starve' is a transitive verb ... [NYTimes, Nicholas Kristof] I’d like to introduce a valiant woman here, Mariam Tia, to President Obama and other world leaders, so she could explain how they’re allowing Sudan’s leaders to get away with mass atrocities that echo Darfur. Once again, in Sudan there are starving children, tens of thousands of refugees, rapes and racial epithets, a spiraling death toll and passivity in the White House. More here. [h/t Charlie Barebo]
• The religious right turns 33: What have we learned? ... [The Atlantic] As American Evangelicals have become more partisan, American Christianity has suffered as more shy away from the faith. More here. And [WaPo] Whatever happened to the religious right? Here. [h/t Leadership Education at Duke Divinity]
TailSpin
• Sister Farley's revenge... [Episcopal Café] Here.
• U.S. Troop suicides surging ... [Slate.com] American troops are committing suicide at the rate of nearly one a day, according to a new report by the Associated Press. That's the highest rate since the nation launched it's "war on terror" more than a decade ago. Here.
• Looking back at you ... [LATimes] A company called Novo Ad has developed technology that can turn a public bathroom mirror into an electronic display for video advertisements. So, sometime in the not-too-distant future, advertisers may be able to show you ads for toothpaste, restaurants or blue jeans while you check your lipstick, fix your hair or simply wash up. Talk about about a captive audience. More here.
Resources
• Holy Women, Holy Men ... Download Holy Women, Holy Men as a .pdf file.
• Congregational Resource Guide ... Here.
• Vital Practices ... Here.
• Faith in Public Life ... here.
• Daily Office ... Lectionary Page ... Lectionary ... Oremus Bible Browser ... Revised Common Lectionary
Opinion/Commentary/Reflection
• How Morning-After Pills Really Work ... [NYTimes editorial] Religious conservatives are losing one of their primary arguments for trying to ban the morning-after birth control pill that can prevent pregnancy if taken within days after sexual intercourse. They and their political allies have long contended that the pills work by aborting an embryo at the earliest stages of development. But, as Pam Belluck reported in The Times on éWednesday, the latest scientific findings and expert opinion indicate that the pills work by delaying ovulation so that sperm can’t fertilize an egg to create an embryo. More here.
• A question on my mind ... [Episcopal Café, Jim Naughton] "Is it important that we speak compellingly about Jesus?" Jim asks. He says the answer might seem obvious; still he doesn't hear that many preachers--even good ones--speaking compellingly about Jesus. Read it here; don't miss the comments below Jim's post.
Evangelical Lutheran
• NEPA Synod website ... Here. ELCA website ... Here. ELCA News Service ... Here. ELCA's blogs may be found here. See especially "Web and Multimedia Development."
Moravian
• Moravian Church in North America website. Moravian Church Northern Province website. Moravian Theological Seminary website.
United Methodist
• UMC website Here. News Service Here. Communication Resources Start here. Communication newsletter (tips and tools) Here. Eastern PA Conference website Here. Facebook Here. Bishop Peggy Johnson's blog Here.
Roman Catholic
• Bishops' accountability still missing from abuse scandal ... [RNS, David Gibson] As the nation’s Catholic bishops mark 10 years since they adopted sweeping reforms to address the sexual abuse of children by clergy, the 800-pound gorilla in the chancery remains a lack of accountability for the bishops themselves. That gap also remains the single greatest obstacle to ensuring the safety of children in Catholic parishes and schools and to restoring some measure of credibility for the bishops -- and, by extension, the entire Catholic Church in the U.S. “Bishops should be accountable to their people, to their priests,” Nicholas Cafardi, a canon and civil lawyer who teaches at the Duquesne Law School in Pittsburgh, writes in the current issue of U.S. Catholic magazine. “But authority without accountability is tyranny,” writes Cafardi, who once headed the bishops' National Review Board that was established to ensure compliance with their own reforms ... “The Vatican also needs to do its job. It appears to have no problem investigating nuns and theologians, but investigating mismanagement by a bishop is not a priority,” the Rev. Thomas Reese, a well-known Jesuit commentator. “Even when a bishop is indicted, no one has the sense to tell him to take a leave of absence until the case is over,” Reese said ... When the bishops gather (June 13-15) in Atlanta on the 10th anniversary of the Dallas charter, they will hear a progress report from the National Review Board and recommendations for further action. Some are hopeful that those suggestions might include measures for policing the bishops. But it would still be up to the bishops themselves to give those policies some teeth. More here.
• The landmark Philadelphia abuse trial ... Closing arguments on Thursday (May 31) capped an eleven-week trial. After five days of jury deliberations, there were fresh signs that they may be far from a verdict. Find daily reports and complete Phila Inquirer coverage. The Morning Call has also published extensive daily coverage. According to a recent article in the NYTimes, Monsignor William Lynn is the first Catholic Church official in the country to face criminal charges not for committing abuses himself, but for enabling abuses by playing down credible accusations and reassigning suspect priests to new parishes. For Catholics, the Philadelphia trial is like a bad flashback. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia's financial report issued this month disclosed that the church has spent $11.6 million in response to the 2011 grand jury investigation of the archdiocese. In a letter to parishioners that accompanied the new financial report, Archbishop Charles Chaput said the church spent $1.6 million in the 2011 fiscal year, and another $10 million over nine months of the 2012 fiscal year that ended March 31. That does not include costs for the current trial, including approximately $75,000 a week for four defense lawyers.
• Vatican criticizes U.S. theologian's book on sexual ethics ... [NCR] The Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has sharply criticized Just Love, an award-winning book on sexual ethics by Mercy Sr. Margaret Farley, a prominent Catholic theologian at Yale University. "Among the many errors and ambiguities in this book are its positions on masturbation, homosexual acts, homosexual unions, the indissolubility of marriage and the problem of divorce and remarriage," the congregation's five-page "Notification" said. More here.
• Theological Society backs Vatican-criticized Nun ... [LCWR website] The board of the largest membership organization of U.S. theologians issued a statement of support Thursday afternoon (June 7) for Mercy Sr. Margaret Farley, a member in their ranks who was the subject of harsh criticism from the Vatican just days ago. Writing that it considers Farley’s work “reflective, measured, and wise,” the leadership of the some 1,500 member Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA) says in the statement it is “especially concerned” that the Vatican’s criticism presents a limiting understanding of the role of Catholic theology. In a formal notification released June 4, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith criticized Farley’s 2006 book on sexual ethics, titled Just Love. More here.
• Vatican-criticized nun addresses fellow theologians ... [NCR, Joshua J. McElwee] Mercy Sr. Margaret Farley addressed for the first time publicly Friday evening the Vatican's harsh criticism of one of her books, saying it points to "profoundly important" questions facing the Catholic community regarding the roles of truth and power. More here.
• Vatican's use of term 'radical feminist' says more about cardinals than nuns they rebuke ... [WaPo, Lisa Miller] Here.
• Diocese of Allentown ... Here. Diocese of Scranton ... Here. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops ... Here. Catholic News Service ... Here. Vatican website ... Here. Vatican Information Service blog ... Here. Vatican News/Info Portal ... Here.
Health
• Parish Nurse Training ... [Diana Marshall] In Hamburg, Berks County. June 15-17 and June 22-24. Here. Scholarship funds are available for members of DioBeth parishes.
• Gross grocery bags ... [Real Age] You're trying to do your bit to save the planet by using eco-friendly grocery bags, but if you don't clean those reusable totes frequently and properly, you may be putting your family's health at risk for contracting nasty food-borne illnesses, such as salmonella, listeria, and E.coli O157:H7. A new survey shows that only 15% of Americans regularly wash their reusable grocery bags. Here.
• Managing stress ... [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] Here. [h/t Diana Marshall]
• Medline Plus ... Here.
• WebMD ... Here.
Media/Films/DVD/TV/Books/Music/Tech
• Christmas Eve special about poverty in Reading PA will be on CBS ... [The Reading Eagle] Reading and its struggles with poverty will be the Christmas story this year on CBS. The network has asked Odyssey Networks, a multifaith media coalition, to produce an hour long special to be broadcast on Christmas Eve, said the Rev. Eric Shafer, Odyssey senior vice president and a Berks native. "We've decided to come to Reading to tell 'One Christmas Story: People Rich in Spirit,' " said the Rev. Eric Shafer, Odyssey senior vice president and a Berks native. "The special will rejoice in the true spirit of Christmas through the words of the Gospel, glorious choral music and the unique character of the community in Reading." Shafer said the Collegiate Churches of New York City have already given a $50,000 grant toward the television production and plan to award an additional $50,000 to help fight poverty in the city. With 41.3 percent of its residents living in poverty, Reading has a larger percentage of residents in poverty than any other U.S. city with 65,000 or more people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. More here.
Calendar of Events/DioBeth ... Here.
Additional sources of news/info/commentary
• Religion News Service Daily Roundup ... here.
• National Catholic Reporter ... here.
• Episcopal/Anglican
(1) The Episcopal Church
(2) Episcopal News Service
(3) Episcopal Café
(4) AngicansOnline.
(5) AnglicansOnline News Centre.
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You are reading the newSpin newsletter. The newSpin blog, which includes the newsletter and other items, is available here, where you may comment on anything posted here. When the newsletter is completed on Mondays and occasionally on Thursdays as well, it is published immediately to the blog and on Bakery and on a ChurchPost list of some 1,000 addresses. Many recipients forward it to many more. Bakery and the blog are interactive. The ChurchPost list is not. The newsletter comes, of course, with some spin from the editor. The views expressed, implied or inferred in items or links contained in the newsletter or the blog do not represent the official view of the Diocese of Bethlehem unless expressed by or forwarded from the Bishop or the Archdeacon as an official communication. If you're wondering why you haven't seen something related to your parish or agency here, it's probably because no one has sent relevant info. If you think something about your parish or agency merits inclusion here, send email to Bill.
Bill Lewellis, Diocese of Bethlehem, retired
Communication Minister/Editor (1986-2010), Canon Theologian (1998)
Blog , Email (c)610-393-1833
Be attentive. Be intelligent. Be reasonable. Be responsible.
Be in Love. And, if necessary, change. [Bernard Lonergan]
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