newSpin 100524
May 24, 2010
Churches and the Arizona Immigration Law ... [Bishop Kirk Smith of the Diocese of Arizona] Along with many other religious leaders I think it’s a terrible law. Legal things are important, political things are important, but people’s basic human rights are the most important thing, and that’s where the churches have an obligation, in my way of thinking, to stand up. ... The wife of one of our priests who is of Mexican [descent], she was just driving through the neighborhood and was pulled over by a sheriff’s officer, asked to see her identification—which she had, she is an American citizen and has been an American citizen for 20 years—and the sheriff said to her, “If you didn’t have these paper you’d be taking a quick trip back to Mexico.” View or read at PBS. [H/T to Neva Rae Fox, Daily Scan]
June Diocesan Life
... Download it here.
Summer Diocesan Events
... Something for everyone. Share Save Spend on June 12 in Whitehall, Communication Workshop, June 26 in Bethlehem, The Gospel according to Dr. Seuss (Bishops Day for Kids) July 10 in Scranton, and Middle School Mission Trip, August 5-8 in Bethlehem. More info here and on page 8 of the June Diocesan Life.
End of Life Issues
... Also called: Death and Dying, Terminal Care. [From Diana Marshall]
Sometimes, in spite of treatment, a condition or illness will cause
death. In those cases, patients can decide what they do and do not want
done. They can decide whether they want aggressive treatment that might
prolong life or whether they prefer to stop treatment, which could mean
dying sooner but more comfortably. They may want to plan their own
funeral. Advance
directives can help make the patient's wishes clear to families and
health care providers. Care at the end of life focuses on making
patients comfortable. They still receive medicines and treatments to
control pain and other symptoms. Some patients choose to die at home.
Others enter a hospital or a hospice.
Either way, services are available to help patients and their families
deal with issues surrounding death. There is a wealth of
information here.
News and
Action Summary for May 21 from the PA Council of Church.
Find it here.
[H/T to Diana Marshall]
Bishop Catherine Roskam, suffragan of the Diocese of New York, preached at the Pentecost Eucharist at Trinity Wall Street. The webcast is available on demand where you may view the full service or the sermon only. Bishop Roskam, many will remember, preached at the 1996 in Wilkes-Barre at the 1996 consecration of Bishop Paul.
A cover-up
by a member of the
CofE House of Bishops. [H/T to Andrew
Gerns, reporting at Episcopal Cafe]
The starving can't wait ... [LATimes Editorial, May 19] The Obama administration is expanding pilot programs to get food aid to the needy faster ... A close observer of current events could be forgiven for thinking that world hunger is waning, given that the issue has largely disappeared from headlines since the global food crisis that led to riots in 2008. Sadly, the opposite is true. Continued high food prices, drought and a worldwide recession that has reduced remittances from immigrant workers in developing countries have all contributed to swelling the ranks of chronically hungry people. Read more here.
Want to experience God? You already have ... [By James Martin, S.J.] "If only I could experience God, then perhaps I could believe." That's a refrain of quite a few seekers and agnostics. But they may already have experienced God: the desire for God is very often a sign of God's call to us. In the echo of our longing for the transcendent, we can begin to hear God's voice. Read more here.Canon Jane Teter's twin brother Robert Ballantine died May 18 in California. Jane is at home here, and at the moment there are no funeral plans known. Please uphold Jane in your prayers and pray for the repose of Robert's soul. May his soul and the souls of all the departed, through the mercies of Christ, rest in peace. [From Bishop Paul]
Dad Genthner died May 21. He was a
longtime member of Trinity Easton and most recently, after a move he
and his wife made to Bethlehem, became a member of Trinity Bethlehem. May his soul and the
souls of all the departed, through
the mercies of
Christ, rest in peace. Find
his obituary here.
Will Sisters save the Catholic Church? ... [By Mary E. Hunt] Though Catholic sisters continue their ministries with the sick and the poor, their simple living, and penchant for green, the media is beginning to pay a lot of attention. The Vatican’s Apostolic Visitation, an investigation of women's religious orders in the U.S., is in full swing, with few optimistic about its outcome. The letter the women religious wrote in support of the health care bill which was opposed by the U.S. Catholic Bishops has made them heroines or heretics, depending on one’s politics. One sister was recently removed from her hospital administration position and allegedly excommunicated for her role in deciding to save the life of a woman who was 11 weeks pregnant by permitting an abortion in a Catholic hospital in Phoenix. I want to clarify a few basic issues lest the move to focus finally on Catholic women backfire inadvertently. While Maureen Dowd wants a nun for pope, and Nicholas Kristof extols the virtues of “lowly nuns” and all who work for justice, I worry that a lack of nuance can replicate the dynamics of patriarchy only with a few women religious in charge—or held responsible—this time. Catholicism is simply more complex than that. And the sisters, for the most part, are not interested. Read more here.
Complicity is too mild a word ... [By Jim Naughton at Episcopal Cafe] On Sunday, the Observer carried an editorial headlined: The church must not be complicit in gay persecution in Africa. It began: "Homosexuality is not a sin or a crime. There is no caveat or quibble that should be added. The repression of gay men and women by legal means and public intimidation is an offence against the basic principles of a free and just society. Where it exists, which it does to varying degrees in many countries around the world, it must be confronted and defeated." The editorial was occasioned by a prison term of 14 years with hard labor given to a gay man and his transgendered partner in Malawi, but it could have been written at any time since the Christian right began its attempts to globalize the North American culture wars by pouring gasoline of the fire of African homophobia. For much of that time, the leaders of the Anglican Communion in the United Kingdom have been all but silent about the persecution of homosexuals in Africa, while lamenting the fact that the Episcopal Church permitted gays and lesbians to become priests and bishops. The Observer finds this approach morally wanting. Read more here.The Liturgy of the Announcements ... Thanks to The Naked
Liturgist.
Lest we forget ... Two collections of photographs of and information about each U.S. service person who has died in Iraq and Afghanistan during Operation Iraqi
Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. See Faces of the Dead on the website of the NYTimes and Faces of the Fallen on the website of the Washington Post. [H/T to The Moderate Voice]
Diocesan Events ... May 22 to Nov. 12. For corrections or additions: Kat Lehman.
The Astor Cross ... “On a bright sunny day in July,” the Trinity (Wall Street) Parish Newsletter of September-October 1973 explains, “Trinity Churchyard became ‘location’ for a motion picture company, which filmed sequences of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby. Here a scene is being filmed near the Churchyard Cross.” The “Churchyard Cross” in the photograph is better known as the Astor Cross, and was erected in 1914 by Mrs. M. Orme Wilson in memory of her mother, Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor, wife of William Astor. Both women were members of Trinity Church.
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About the newSpin newsletter ... Composed at least weekly (usually twice a week) by Bill Lewellis, the newSpin newsletter appears as a post within the newSpin blog, but newsletter and blog are not identical. The newsletter currently goes to some 1,000 email addresses on a separate list. The views expressed, seemingly 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. Comments may be addressed to Bill.
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