HAPPY NEW YEAR! SAY GOODBYE TO 2009!!

'Cause I'm draggin' it to the crossroads and burying it with a stake through its heart!!!

YAY!!!

Charity vs. Caritas

Part of the lousiness of this past year has been the utter failure of liberal leadership.

I do mean utter failure.

I'm not poor, in the truest sense of the word. I have much, compared to many, and I am grateful for what I have; it is just that I sometimes need more than I have.

These two points may not seem to provide a coherent thought, but they are related.

I am in a unique position of being "in need" but well-off enough to speak to those who aren't.

To put it delicately, and kindly as possible, the problem with "liberalism" - as opposed to the generous liberality of spirit and mind the word implies - is that it doesn't know the difference between caritas and charity. In church and state, the liberal wing has looked for systemic fixes, overthinking, machine-tooling what is nothing to do with machinery.

The "conservatives" - who are not; they conserve nothing - have nothing to offer, so they rely on fear and threats. In this, at least, they see the reality of the human equation.

We wouldn't have to worry about tea-baggers and right-wing pundits if people felt secure. If they felt that their material needs were taken care of, we would have their support. They wouldn't care a fig for gay marriage, or culture wars, or any of that. But, they are not secure, because liberals understand charity, but not caritas.

To put it bluntly, we don't care about those in our own back-yards. We'll send money overseas to people we'll never meet because of a celebrity or talking-head and a few pictures of people starving. We'll funnel cash and "time" into charities who tell us they are doing this, that and the other thing for some "sexy" cause.

This is charity. It is not, in fact, caritas because there is no self-less giving (more important than "selfless" giving) and no love. It's done as duty, it's done out of guilt, it's done to feel better or superior, and, most importantly, it's done for convenience. We give aid overseas, we support organizations - all for people we'll never know to have gotten any of that aid. If it were love, and we were that committed, we'd take the money and go personally to see it was used wisely. We bluster about being such a wealthy society that we must look outward to these other people - "other" being a key word in this - who are needy.

It is charity. Easily done, easily forgotten.

Why do it? That's a good question. We know, in our hearts, that most of the money we give is far too little to make an actual difference in a life for any length of time. We know most of it goes to paying drug companies, doctors, relief workers, publicists, organizers, accountants, lawyers.

We do it because it's easy and we don't get involved.

Don't believe it? How many people are there - right in your own community - who have real needs and are struggling? I'm sure you are aware of some, because you probably give to a food bank or a soup kitchen or . . . whatever. How many do you know? How many are a part of your life? How many in your life will you never know are struggling because they don't have an Episcopal Relief to speak for them, or a Bono, or . . . whatever? You won't know, because they aren't "popular" charities, the borderline cases. They can't give a damn about what's going on halfway around the world because they aren't secure, because no one on this side of the world gives a damn about them. If you get involved, it might take more, or different, than you thought of giving.

And that, friends, is why what's being handed out is not caritas, but mere charity - no matter how many orphans and unwed mothers you vaccinate or a buy a bowl of rice for today, you make the world no better, because you don't care on that individual level - you can't. You can't, then, make them secure, nor are you willing to work to make those around you secure - and there's nothing wrong with expecting them to give out of their security - because it will actually cost.

Charity. Caritas. The failure to recognize the difference is why we will continue to fail in improving the world.

Now That It's Over

I can officially say that this has been one of the worst Christmases ever.

I almost got there with the Midnight Mass - I really did, as you read below - then, my brother managed to completely destroy that at Christmas dinner with his usual boorish, bullying behavior, after he had been doing well.

Even that I managed to put aside and say, just get back into the swing of things and back to work, one of the few cheerful and supportive places I've found, and I'll be fine. Then, I find a new leak in the roof and a water heater that's apparently decided to go south on me, again. A whole 8 minutes of hot water in a freezing bathroom, because of another leak which has made a hole in the roof! Yay! I can't hire roofers, because they cost hella money, and can't get on a pitched roof myself because of acrophobia and vertigo caused by inner ear problems.

Fuck this. This is what life is? I know all God promised was a cross, but come on! You know, I really put out of sight and mind, this past year, how absolutely miserable and in need I've been, trying to pull others out to make things better, so I wouldn't be "that guy." I grinned and bore it this Christmas while everyone else acted like the most miserable assholes, trying to help them "jolly up!" And, not to put too fine a point on it, this past whole year has been filled with "Oh, poor so-and-so needs our help!" and off we go. Never has it been "Poor Mark needs our help!" I try to be grateful for the necessities that I do have, so what I get is, "Oh, that's too bad. I'm sure you'll tough it out." Yeah, I'm awful. Good people don't expect something from others . . . except every other good person I know seems to, and being squeaky, gets oiled.

I'm sorry. This isn't aimed at anyone particularly. But, I am fed up, tired and disgusted, and just too fucking overloaded to carry on - - alone. Always alone.

Merry Christmas!

Well, we got through another Midnight Mass.

I had ordered some special, rather expensive incense last month for Christmas Eve, only to be told a few weeks ago it was on back-order. I told Fr. Jay that it was extremely unlikely that it would arrive before the end of the month. As I got ready for the Midnight service and opened the front door to take out some garbage, there the package sat on the doorstep - the incense arrived, and filled the church with the wonderful smell of roses.

Still, I finally think the tension, late nights (days) up getting ready for Christmas has finally taken its toll and exhaustion has set in. I may have a cold, or it may just be sinuses from the relentlessly-changing weather. On top of this, there has been a definite brown funk about the holiday this year which has honestly baffled me. I guess that I've been poor for so long that the bad economy doesn't affect the spirit of Christmas for me, but even the usually over-decorated neighbors don't even have a tree visible. There are houses in the neighborhood lit and decorated, and, like me, they are the places where those with very little to spare live. I did worry about not getting all I wanted for those close to me, but the real drag and tension has just been the general misery and dysphoria all around.

Finally, we have not had a full-time choir director for months. One of our tenors has done his best, but we have not had any real practice. Our choir always presents a choral performance before the Midnight Mass. I thought it was a bad idea, this year. No director. No practice. But it was unthinkable we wouldn't do it. We threw some half-assed collection of hymns/carols together, and the women in the choir, travelling together were in a car accident (no one was hurt! I stress that, thank God!) and we had only tenors and basses until the actual service. The answer was to tell the congregation "Hey! Sing along!"

It was dreadful. I really wanted to apologize to everyone for inflicting that on them, and felt lower still.

But, at some point, the glow of the candles and the singing of the old, familiar songs about the old, fantastic story worked. A young, eager priest delivering his first Christmas sermon to us - and it was lovely - and all these people that I love, often without knowing why, and who love me, and I never know why about that! I'm exhausted, wheezy and sneezy, my nose and throat sting and itch, and I've got to decide whether or not to bow out of Christmas dinner with the family, because I've got to work tonight . . . but, somehow, I'm happy and content and warm. I don't know whether it's The Spirit, or angels, or magic, or just a sort of stillness induced by psychological tension released and expectations of the day, but, whatever it is, it doesn't matter. It works. It works. I'll trade that for certainties of faith, or certainties of science just about anytime.

Oh. Yay.

I'm officially 42.

GIFT IDEA

Another Inexplicable Favorite

Okay, you also have to go see THIS at Renzinthewoods! It is one of the cutest things ever, and Christmas is one of the few times of year I allow cute.

FOUND IT!!!!

I first heard this version of The Twelve Days of Christmas on a Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas album and fell in love with it, given my wide-spanning musical tastes. It is the musicological journey of the twelve days of christmas.

This version is live, and is by the Lewis and Clark college, which did a splendid job, but is somewhat marred by mere piano accompaniment and the jackass who didn't seem to think that, perhaps, they should've taken some lozenges or a cough suppressant.

Enjoy the Twelve Days as we progress from the Benedictine choir, to the Medieval Great Hall, through the basilicas of the Renaissance, on to Handel, Bach, Mozart, the Romantics, all the way to one of my favorite composers! (8th and 11th days are great hits every time!)

It's Not All About Us

Favorite Christmas Special Moments

12/11/09

"They told me to come . . . now what?"

Wouldn't It Be Loverly?

Courtesy of James.

Funny, Because It's Accurate

The young man playing R Wayne (Our Wayne) - "The Lark of Tyneside" - looked very familiar, so I looked up the actor. He was actually one of the show-stealers (with Miranda Richardson) in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, where he played "Young Masbath" over a decade ago!

Christianity on the Rise!

This photo illustrates a really heartening rise of Christianity in one of India's oldest subcultures.

I hope you're as touched, as delighted, as moved as I am!

Meet Orombi's New SpokesMAN

We can't have women speaking for men!

They're supposed to be Barfoot and pregnant.

Carol History

It's well-known that some of the greatest classic carols come from historical events.

It just is, trust me.

Few people know of the historical basis of one of the most enduring Christmas favorites.

The carol's history began in the 1400's during the Yuletide raisin famine of East Westchester. The peasants, desperate to make their puddings, marched on the Earl of Sweetenlough's castle. It was a shaky start, but the Earl explained, quite kindly under the circumstances, that it was, in fact, the Earl of East Wheedling, some thirty miles back in the direction they came, who was their liege-lord. He gave them some biscuits and mulled wine and pointed them in the right direction. The resolute, but woefully inaccurate, mob continued to stop to demand raisins at any suitably-large farmhouse or - frequently - tavern to demand their rights and their dried fruit.

At each house, they were re-oriented, given something to eat and drink, and sent - kindly, as with a confused elderly person - on their way. The result was that, by the time East Wheedling, with its towering raisin silos and groaning sultana-lofts, was reached, the starving peasants had gained several pounds and had to frequently stop to combat bouts of indigestion.

Still, it was resolutely that the mob faced the forebidding walls of the Earl's castle. Here, we are reminded of their cry, somewhat altered by poetic license:

Oh, bring us some figgy pudding!

Oh, bring us some figgy pudding!

Oh, bring us some figgy pudding!

And bring it out here!

The earl himself was, unfortunately, in London for the holiday, but, seeing how far they'd come and how game they were for a revolt, the captain of the guard (and chief gardener) offered them a cry in cheerful recognition of the crowd's bravery, though it is neglected in the official history:

"Oi! Bugger off you filthy, drunken lot!"

This was exactly the wrong thing to say to a group determined, incensed, emboldened, and, above all, filthy and drunk. The crowd pressed forward. The inexperienced men-at-arms panicked. It was the perfect storm of historicity, bringing together stupidity and ignorance.

At 10:21 pm, the captain ordered the pudding catapults loaded.

At 10:38 pm, the crowd surging once again, the captain ordered the puddings flamed.

At 10:39 pm, the catapults were fired, raining sugary, doughy, brandied hell onto the raisin revolters. Casualties were numerous, limbs and eyes accounted for by hard-sauce shrapnel as much as by the brandy-fueled fires colliding with the ale-fueled peasants. Still, the peasants stood their ground through the night. Once again, song commemorates, devoid of all swearwords and screams for buckets of water, the protesters' words:

We won't leave until we've had some!

We won't leave until we've had some!

We won't leave until we've had some!

So, bring it out here!

The revolting peasants - doused and soused as they were - stood their ground all night until morning, when they gave up and left, the guard having nipped out back down to the pub.

So, whenever you sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," remember the brave, and largely pointless, sacrifice of these few, these proud, these . . . people over here who called for raisins.

This is a photograph, obviously not from the 1400's, and has nothing to do with this story. It's Alaskan oil fires, or something.

The Archbastard of Canterbury

I was going to blog on his pompous bull (that's for sure) about the LA episcopal election, but, you know what? I feel pretty good right now, considering yesterday: you see, we don't have a choir director, but a young, overburdened tenor who is doing his best, but is not our official choir director, and only took on the interim because there was no one else willing to do it. As a result, we attempted parts on a last-minute change in the setting for the Canticle of Zechariah, with the result that, even in unison on harmony, we were embarrassingly awful. We have a musical presentation announced for Christmas Eve, and almost no practice time between now and then.

So, to hell with Rowan Williams.

If you don't know about his veiled threats, attempting to strong-arm TEC, then here you go.

The discussion at Thinking Anglicans has been pretty indicative of general reaction.

All I'll post is a picture from Susan Russell's blog, which best sums up the archbishop's archfailure.

Cultural Christian

I had run into the expression "Cultural Jew" and found it fascinating.

Basically put, and with the caveat of it being my understanding in this paraphrase, cultural Judaism operates from a default of Judaic law and commentary, but with the active application of ongoing intellectual and spiritual understanding on a personal level.

Now, if I'm presenting a concept that's already been presented, I put it down to a wanting education, but, I think the concept of a cultural Christian might apply to me. I start from the default of Scripture and Tradition, but those cannot be overarching concerns, they are not the final arbiter. The reason for this is simple: I believe what Jesus promised. Now, for most people, it seems all that is remembered is the promise of some Apocalyptic return, but the most important promise to me, is that each of us would be sent the Advocate, the Spirit, whatever you call it, to guide us. This clearly indicates that we were expected to exercise a discernment far more important than "check the book then check with grandpa." That, to me, is far more trivial and ridiculous than any serious engagement that questions the (pre)suppositions of archaic formularies. How, I would ask, can God live, if the living God in us isn't that God? I'm not avoiding the concept of egoic self-will and evil - I've written a lot on them on mine and others' blogs - but God lives into a changing and evolving universe and is part of that as well as transcending it, and we are a part of Him, and He a part of us. God is immanent, as well as transcendant, so He must express Himself within the changes of understanding and environment, as well. Without that, we can say, quite clearly, the Incarnation had no meaning! Without meaning to the Incarnation, without a participatory God, the Resurrection means nothing. Our faith had been in vain.

The exercise of this cultural Christianity does not happen in isolation. I reject or accept things for myself, it's true, but I also am conscious of the community. If it were simply my conviction that homosexuality is not inherently disordered (and the inherent is an important part), then I would limit that belief to me. But, I have found this belief to have far wider expression, and to have far greater objective backing than that which I had found. I've spoken on my problems with WO, but I found myself re-evaluating in community, and, finally, personally, as well. As a Christian, I must accept that a wrong-doing against me is a minor thing, and can act or not act as I see fit, but wrong-doing against a group, even a smallish group of which I am a part, calls for me, as a Christian, to exercise whatever abilities I have to establish justice. The trope is "there is no such thing as a Christian in isolation" but there is no such thing as Christianity in isolation, as well. We are not a tribe, or a chosen people but a force in the entirety of humanity, working for all humanity's salvation. We've constantly interfered, but rarely participated in that salvation. We seem to be willing to limit "help" to Christians. To me, this is bizarre, and I can no more accept that Christian charity, compassion and goodwill is limited to Christians than I can accept that those people arguing that limitation as valid are truly Christian! It's impossible. It's outside of possibility, or, again, Jesus came for absolutely nothing.

That is why I believe that there can be no final appeal to Scripture and Tradition - these are dead things, dead because they stand apart. In the absence of harm, and certainly in the evidence of their giving comfort and stability, they are to be embraced, but their suppositions and position must never be given sacrosanct quality, or we strip God of the humanity He endured so much to achieve.

Diary - 12/4/09

Day 4 of the relentless assault from the speakers in our lobby.

It's remarkable how few Christmas songs there really are, and how many recordings there are of those few, and, of all those recordings, how there are only one or two orchestrations in all the vast mathematical variety of musical notation. Astounding.

That, and how many of the Christmas songs are sung by Jewish singers. Maybe that's why I feel the call of Jewish traditions in Advent. Maybe I'll record a Hanukkah album.

By far, the most painful is the brick-minded insistence that the most famous recording of a song is the only recording anyone wants to hear.

Bing Crosby is now my nemesis.

I can't really blame him, of course. I'm certain he never meant for Christmas in Killarney to be played every five minutes, sometimes, seemingly, interrupting other songs just to assault my ears with the bullshit fantasy of an Irish jig being played by full orchestra. It makes me want to spend the next holiday season in Killarney. I bet they never play that crap there. I bet they get drunk and beat the hell out of anyone that mentions Bing Crosby. I want to come home, and scream at the top of my lungs, every time I hear that ghastly brass section wheezing it's cheerful little leprechaun-fart tune, "Actually, I've been, and what they do for Christmas in Killarney is get pissed, fight and fuck!!!!" That, I'm often assured, is a true Irish Christmas. It's a true American Christmas, too, for that matter. Burn in hell, Currier and Ives, on a fire of composted Claxton fruitcakes.

That's why, this weekend, I remember that special person, whose special day is - thought not the Reason for the Season (and I'll personally take an axe handle to whoever came up with that phrase, too) - embodies it's true spirit:

THE KRAMPUS

IT'S NOT CHRISTMAS, YET, DAMMIT!

Okay, so this is not a movie about Hanukkah, either, but it looks funny and has a bit of eye-candy for every taste (personally, I find all three sons, Max Greenfield - sans beard - Ben Feldman, and the adorable Adam Lamberg all scrumptious).




Strangely, Advent makes me think, not of all the Christian traditions and the Anglo-German accretions onto the Christmas season (except for Krampusnacht, Dec. 5th!) onto the Christmas season, but, rather, Jewish tradition and custom. Odd, I suppose, as at one time my referring to Greenfield, Feldman and Lamberg as "scrumptious" would've gotten me stoned to death - and still would, in some parts of the Jewish world.

For whatever reason - a childhood in Miami, a strangely-urbane mother, a natural tendency to go against the flow - it's the Jewish tradition I feel drawn to in Advent. One moment of subtle cosmic harmony came today as I watched a documentary - very short - on the pogroms and clearing of the shtetls, followed by a collection of photos found amongst the confiscated possessions from the inmates after the liberation of Auschwitz. I felt, with each photo, a "sword pierce my soul."

A Salute To Katharine Jefferts-Schori and Rowan Williams

I BELIEVE IT'S IMPORTANT THAT WE ACKNOWLEDGE ALL THAT THEY'VE DONE FOR GAYS AND HIV-SUFFERERS IN AFRICA!

Sunday's Advent(ure)

Fr. Jay isn't afraid to shake things up, I grant you.

His regular update emails (and that's a change in itself) had these two bits in it:

I have made one noticeable change at St. Patrick's for the season in order to emphasize this time of watching for Christ... wherever we may find him. We have moved the altar against the wall for the next four weeks. For some of you, this will remind you of the churches where you grew up. For others, you will notice the immediate difference that I won't face you while celebrating the Eucharist. This will seem strange and jarring to many... and that is exactly my hope!

But wait! There's more!

For Advent, I have also made two changes to our liturgy. First, we will use an authorized form of Rite I, translated into contemporary language. While it does not include the "thee's" and "thou's" of Rite I, it does preserve some of the beautiful imagery of the liturgy from that time right after the Reformation. Second, we will include what is called, "the Last Gospel." For centuries, the Tridentine Mass included the prologue to John's gospel (In the beginning was the Word...) as the final pronouncement of the Eucharist liturgy. As we emphasize our watching and waiting for the Word to become flesh, we will end each service with this pronouncement again.

So, we got the odd oriental thing going on, as well as a different liturgical cadence.

Two things I noticed: First, I wasn't particularly put off by the priest's facing east. It didn't make a jarringly different experience, except that his voice became a bit muffled at times. I did notice that those in the congregation facing forward - our choir is seated to the side - would have difficulty seeing the actions performed, and, at certain points, the prayers would be harder to hear. I think that it's part of the old "smoke and mirrors" approach to the mystery of the Eucharist promulgated by antiquated Catholicism; instead of having a laity educated enough to understood the theology and symbolism, you substitute fake "mystery" in the guise of "What's he doing up there making all those weird movements?" "What's that that he's mumbling? Is it some kind of sacred secret words?" Other than that, the idea of symbolism in "facing the same way" never occurred to me, because God doesn't live to the east of us - we were all always facing the same way, even when facing each other. So, neither a plus or a minus on the ad orientem, just a novelty, from my perspective.

Second, the constant repetition and self-reproach in the Rite I liturgy. Now, if this were to be our liturgy all the time, I would protest. The constant, almost masochistic repetition of "We're so awful, You can't possibly really love us, and we're lucky just to be ground under Your Divine Heel, but maybe, if it's not to much trouble, you could . . . " would be bad theological practice. God created us, so there is original goodness as well as what might be called original sin; the entire universe and all its components - which atheists can appreciate, as well - conspired to created exactly one you, so you're pretty important. Still, in a season of reflection, it's good to see the sparks of rebellion, even anger, in expecting me to humble myself as "unworthy." The fact is, though, we are unworthy, even in the face of that original goodness and cosmic importance; we constantly cling to our egoistic selves, cutting great swathes of destruction through other, equally good and cosmically-important lives. We misuse our will, our reason - and often misuse both in service to religion, rather than God and Truth (witness the RCC hierarchy and conservative protestantism) - and create havoc, quite willingly. So, change in liturgy, a seasonal A+. The liturgy should teach and provoke to thought, not "just be there."

This Blog Approved By

THE SPACE POPE

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

What I am thankful for, amongst others:

-The chance to have known, in a small way, Our Roseann.

-My friends, my family, my boys.

-Having enough, by the Grace of God - even when it's just enough.

-Having not only a job, but a job I enjoy.

-Jim Bullion, Jay Weldon, Henry Louttit, Scott Benhase, and Charlie Hough.

-Heaters in the winter, fans in the summer and hot water year-round.

-St. Patrick's.

Uh . . . Batman, that's . . . that's not how it happens . . .

Shamelessly takeded from Superdickery because, as we all know, Superman's a dick!

Another Dig at the Ubiquitous Clive Staples

SURPRISED BY JOY

Well, that Joy's a mighty big girl!

Flights of Angels Have Borne Her

Roseann Allen-Matthews departed this small life for the greater one at 8:45 pm on Saturday, Nov. 21.

For her, I have no fear or grief; she led a brave, decent life in this world, and can only continue that as she moves into greater life, transcending the limits here.

Pray for Gary, Roseann's husband. Those left behind - all of us - see through the glass darkly, still.

Pray, too, for Teri, Roseann's priest and guide in leaving this life. A good pastor cannot but give part of themselves in every parishioner, and lose a part with every death.

Pray for St. Peter's, the church that has lost Roseann and, just two day prior, another to ovarian cancer and are feeling the loss.

That's It, Folks.

I've had it.

Just had it.

I am a man of faith, and I find . . . well, found . . . that expression in Anglicanism. I was young and stupid.

The Church?

No such thing. Just another club. Another institution. Prophetic as a dead snail, compassionate as a falling girder, as just as a Board of Directors.

It's dead.

Now, I can't give up the people in my parish - well, I should get used to saying my Church - because they are family and, being human, I'm too close to throw them off (though TEC and the AC would have no such problem).

I had held out hope for Christianity, as long as there was one reasonably prophetic and Spirit-led denomination. I know there is not. It's mere realpolitik, self-promotion, good p. r., and greasing of wheels . . . and palms.

The last week or two, I've seen:

More attacks on those who thoughtfully opposed Thew-Forrester

The continued silence of Canterbury on barbaric laws in Uganda

The reply from the PB's office that politics made speaking out dangerous

A lickspittle little dance from Canterbury being praised as great theology, and those who disagree being dismissed as unthinking.

Run to Rome, run to Constantinople, run to the Baptists, Pentecostals, UCC, MCC, but there's no salvation.

I know there's a God, but He ain't here.

We'll talk about society, politics, whatever from now on, but not Church. . .

. . because there isn't one.



Jesus has left the building.

Can Someone Please Explain?

What is this great urgency, the oh-so-necessary purpose of finding some kind of "reunion" with the Roman church? For that matter, why all this nonsense about bring all Christians back into one sort of ecclesial structure, and why does that excuse morally repugnant leadership like that of Rowan Williams?

What has been more harmful to Christianity than all these damnable "one-churchers" fucking around for the last couple of centuries to fix what is not broken?

NOTE:

We will never speak on the subject of clown porn again.

Thoughts

The world itself, by sheer dint of its harshness, drives so many of us to lose hope and want to end it, then, along comes the church to take even the hope in that kind of death away.

Does that constitute a joke?

Allright. Humans are occasionally acceptable.

MadPriest's well-deserved Brick of the Day


"Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him.
"Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read,
" 'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise'[a]?"

- Matthew 21:16

Dammit, Dammit, Dammit!! This is why I don't like humans!

Last night, we were robbed here at work. They used half a cinderblock to break open a window in a room and stole a television, after stealing a television from the breakfast room.

When I got home in the morning, someone had broken in my sister-in-law's rear car window and taken her briefcase. Shortly after that, we found out a neighbor just down the street had had the same thing.

Sorry I didn't call you about it, James. Just sick, disgusted and dangerously angry all day (my solution was to suggest setting fire to the neighborhood the thief had run into and hidden. Apparently, this is not considered modern policing.)

Work Smart, Not Hard!

Kaleta Clarifies: the Catholic Church Says Gays Not Christian

MadPriest gives us this lovely bit on tourism in the Vatican.

Note this part, in particular:


". . Bishop [Kaleta] replied, “I consider if someone is homosexual, it is a provocation and an abuse of this place. Try to go to a mosque if you are not Muslim."

So, there you have it!

Directly from the "Holy" See - if you are gay, you are not a Christian. So much for the garbage about accepting you, as long as you are celibate. So much for claims of compassion.

To the Roman Catholic Church, according to Bishop Kaleta - who was fully empowered to speak in this context - gay means unable to be Christian. Let's take even the most charitable possible extension of this creature's words, that you can't be gay and Christian if you are okay with being gay. Now, since the "Holy" See teaches that homosexuality is a disorder, often comparing it to depression or diabetes (when not comparing it to thievery, pedophilia or rape), then, regardless of your attempts to control it, if you are okay with it and accept it as a normal "disorder" (which is a lie - sorry for all you RC gays pretending you're sick; you aren't - at least not because you're gay), then you still aren't Christian (sorry RC gays, but you aren't RC! They're just taking your money).

The context of the interview, however, makes it clear that Kaleta - once again, empowered to speak on behalf of the Vatican - regards simply being homosexual incompatible with being a Christian.

Sorry to disillusion all you good little Catholic girls and boys who think that, though you're gay being celibate makes you holy, clearly the Vatican still thinks you're an abomination. Rather stupid to stay, isn't it? But then, give the RCC a child til he's seven, and they'll fuck him up for life.

Veterans' Day

Jacques Earl "Gus" Brunson

My nephew

Pray for Roseann

Grandmere Mimi has more info and contact information, as well.

I celebrate a life well-lived with dignity and trust. Whatever God will's, let it be, for it will be Good.

Wondering

I've always believed, despite my fundamentally angry disposition and own violent imagination, that Peace and Compassion are the way forward. I know the blackness in me, and I turn away from it. I hold - held - on to the belief that almost all people, however evil-seeming, are fundamentally, well, human and capable of empathy. War, I've believed, is not the way.

Now, I'm wondering, has that just been cowardice speaking.

Maybe, if these "conservatives" are hurt enough, lose enough, scream and cry enough, find themselves pummeled into a black enough hell for long enough, when they come up they'll be ready to be grateful for all those around them.

I don't like these thoughts, but I don't run from them.

I Hope The Fuckers Rot In Hell . . . Before They Die

The Nazis Win in Maine.

Sorry, but I think these homophobes have no right to be considered as full human beings: they forfeited that when they treated others as less than full human beings.

I hope they get exactly what they and their families deserve.

Thought For The Day

Because I've heard several times in the last couple of days how great he is:

No.

C. S. LEWIS SUCKS!!!!

Yea, verily, Brethren he sucketh.

The Once and Future suck.

Has, have, had sucked.

He was a dreadful man, with a dreadful theology and a view that held Mankind in such utter contempt that it would've taken Augustine of Hippo aback. He had less understanding of God, Mercy, or Compassion than he did of humanity or psychology and he had zero understanding of those things. His writing is like being hit on the head with a Bible covered in cute, furry animals. He was, face it, a born-again Christian, and they are about as grounded and capable of rational thought as a street pigeon - people who profoundly screwed up their own lives and those around them, suddenly found themselves paying for it, and "got religion" using it as a talisman to ward off further mishap, and a weapon to force others to submit to their beliefs.

Yes, I can forgive his dismal, self-hating theology and his utterly preposterous and cancerous views on human nature, women, and homosexuals because people in that time were ignorant, profoundly ignorant, and a lot has changed since then. Forgiving that doesn't mean we should celebrate and elevate his ignorance and - frankly - piss-poor writing to the level of theology.

Well, It Hasn't Been a Quiet Week in Lake St. Patrick's

First, Fr. Jay and Alison had open house, both as a way to meet and be met by the parish and as a way to give out pledge cards in a less-impersonal fashion. I'm a hardcore skeptic about church money appeals, but I appreciated the effort. Needless to say, I didn't go. I'm a hermit. Literally. I've not taken vows or been officially recognized, but I'm a hermit. I'm a good hermit. I have the social grace of a concussed hyena. No need to inflict that on folks I love. (One of the choir, when asked to describe me, said, "Well, he's not the sort of person you'd expect to have throwing knives hidden about his person . . . " and left it at that.)

The church was involved in something which I had not heard of before: "Trunk or Treat." It involves having people park in the church's parking lot and form a sort of "neighborhood" of cars, to which the children go. It's safer and a more wholesome environment for the little trick-or-treaters. We apparently had about 50 visitors - not a lot by most folks' calculations, perhaps, but far more than any other folks I've heard from. In my case, of course, this is largely because of my traditional cheerful Halloween display of signs saying, "Get Lost!" "Scram!" and "Bugger Off!" followed by, for those truly persistent little goblins, an offering of a wide variety of caltrops and spring-loaded, groin-high japes and wheezes. They certainly wheeze. I would feel badly, but we don't get the cute little cowboys, skeletons and fairy-princesses anymore - around 9 pm or so, we get people who seem to have dressed as 18 year-old thugs carrying pillowcases.

Then came All-Saints Sunday.

Now, I'd suspected Fr. Jay had a wee touch of High-Churchness, a slight Anglo-Catholic caste about him. In this, I was proven wrong.

Benny da Bavarian has a wee touch of High-Churchness; Jay is full-out Ceremonial Man.

The processional went through the center aisle four times, with stops for three collects, and consisting of choir, two crosses, thurifer, four LEM's, rector, assisting priest (Fr. Bullion in a rare return guest appearance), and, if I recall correctly, a large part of the casts from The Ten Commandments and The Greatest Story Ever Told, though I may have simply been hallucinating from the incense fumes, by then. We sang the Nicene Creed - we never sing the Nicene Creed - chanted the Eucharistic Prayers, even prayed for "Benedict, the Bishop of Rome" (I choked a bit on that one, I admit, but it was a nice touch, considering - be kind to your enemies, hot coals, never let the nazi see you sweat, all that). Fr. Jay incensed, fumigated and generally hickory-cured everything, doing the cute little "bow to the acolytes, bow to the assisting priest, bow to the lady in the corner" thing. Seriously, there was more smoke than a NORML meeting. We sang a hymn-version of the Te Deum as our recessional.

I had the best. time. EVER!

ONE POINT OF CONCERN: Keep Fr. Jim Bullion in your prayers. He has something wrong with one leg, and it's one of those "We're still running tests to find out" ailments. He is a decent, generous man and has worked hard and deserves a retirement he can enjoy. He was the priest when we had 11 communicants on a good Sunday - and is the reason we now have close to a hundred on an average Sunday.

The Daily Harvest of Despair

The Devil keeps throwing stuff at us, so pray and fight the good fight.


That bastard, Mark Lawrence, who we all played fair and allowed to screw TEC, has overstepped himself in terrorizing and smacking around the people he was charged with caring for as a bishop. Of course, he lied to get to be bishop, lying about caring about people wouldn't be that hard. I doubt I'll write, because I do things like say "that bastard, Mark Lawrence" and, frankly, would be just as glad to see Mark Harris shoot him out of a pumpkin cannon with a suitable blessing, after a nice tarring-and-feathering. So . . . obviously, no career in diplomacy, here. Still, you are kinder, gentler people, so write the bastard bishop of SC and play nice. Seriously. You catch more flies with honey, and Lawrence is a fully-graduated maggot.

Also, the people in Maine go to the polls tomorrow to decide whether gays are human enough to warrant the term "marriage." It doesn't look good for people who are against Question 1 - because, of course, the Devil tries harder - even though the homophobes admitted they lied!


MY OPINIONS IN NO WAY REFLECT THOSE OF TEC, ANY MEMBERS OF TEC MENTIONED IN CONTEXT, OR OF MY PARISH, PRIEST, OR FELLOW PARISHIONERS.
(I'm right, of course, but I still feel the need to let them cower in the corner if they need to)

We really are superheroes, you know?

Whatever they do, whatever they throw at us, we survive. We continue. To endure is the real superpower.

Once Again, A Great Quote and A Nomination

When humanists and secularists are pro-gay and the leading voices against are all Christian - it should make you reconsider the values of those sets of ideas.

Posted by: Merseymike on Thursday, 29 October 2009 at 7:46pm GMT

This time on Thinking Anglicans.

It's concerning the madness going on in Uganda - which you can find out more about here at TA.

I've not commented on it, though it's been going on for a while now, because, frankly, it's so outrageous and insane that it couldn't, I thought, be true. Then, when I realized it was, I just shut down. As Theoden said, "What can men do against such reckless hate?"

So far, the only official episcopal comment has come from Pierre Whalon, for whom I have the greatest respect, and who has been the only bishop to contact me concerning the letter I sent out some time back.

The only one to rise up and say anything on behalf of the episcopacy.

That includes our own Presiding Bishop. That includes the coward Williams. That includes each and every one of our own diocesans.

If we are going to form a new communion - and I still think we should - I agree with our friends overseas that it shouldn't be TEC's communion, nor England's, nor Canada's. One of the provinces, though, is not for a country, and is smack-dab in the center of the world - depending on your viewpoint :) - the European Convocation.

We could do a lot worse than someone like Pierre Whalon to lead.

I acclaim him.

Churches In Discussion

St. Paul's, Savannah, altar

St. Paul's, Savannah (pro-cathedral), exterior

St. Philip's, Charleston, SC

Christ Church, Savannah, interior

St. Philip's Cathedral, interior

St. Philip's Cathedral, exterior

These two are something special. It's not a church, believe it or not.

This is Temple Mickve Israel in Savannah, the third-oldest synagogue in the U. S. founded by Sephardic Jews who left Spain to escape the Inquisition (remember, it went on into the 19th Century).

The story goes, and I don't know how true it is, that the builders, most French and Irish Catholics, didn't know how to make a synagogue, but they knew how to build churches, so they built one of the finest ones they could - and simply left the cross off. In any case, the building does have the cruciform layout with nave and transept, so, maybe . . .

I find something lovely in that.

Best Quote of the Week

In the comments responding to Hans Kung's (can't be having with umlauts; they roll off and cause unnecessary punctuation) article condemning Benny da Bavarian's intimate humdrummeries, I found this jewel:


stevehill
28 Oct 09, 12:46am (about 8 hours ago)

I don't mind admitting that I have in all seriousness suggested the Pope to the National Secular Society (of which I am a member) as a worthy contender for Secularist of the Year 2010.
Nobody can have done more to turn millions of people away from the superficial, and superstitious, attractions of mainstream religious faith.

He's a gift to us.

Now, while Mr. Hill may be wrong about the existence or non-existence of God, and while his broad swipe at faith speaks of a need to self-justify, his assessment of what Benny da Bavarian's real legacy will be is, I believe, entirely accurate.

That's sad.

I like the Roman Catholic Church. It's produced some wonderful people - even after they had a choice of whether to be RC or not! There's a lot of resentment, now, but it's misplaced - at least by non-RC. Benny da Bavarian is the problem. Yes, it goes right down to the core of the church, but only because of the parts he chooses to resurrect and hold up as incontrovertible. That happens with any autocracy - the head defines the body. Now, we know the uglier parts of RC ecclesiology and theology, but that is flexible - we have parts we ignore, too, we're just healthy enough to know we ignore it - and that flexibility is what allows Benny B. to use either the crook or the flail. He's chosen the flail, but he's old. Maybe next pope will be just as bad or worse, or, maybe, the College of Cardinals will look around at their rather shaky thrones and realize this isn't the good ol' days when RC's had to stay RC! Maybe, after a few years of orthodite Anglycannes, they'll begin to think, "What the hell were we thinking putting that guy in charge?!"

Remember, the RCC is a place for people that need it, too. Just like Anglicanism and Methodism and congregationalism and Orthodoxy. Just as it's dredged up Benny da Bavarian, it also gave us Francis, Therese, Thomas Merton, Mother Teresa, John XXIII. Pope Julius was a vicious warlord, but he commissioned one of the great spiritual masterpieces from Michaelangelo.

And, for some reason, the jubilation on both the RCC's and the orthodites' parts make me feel they need a slight warning, if they can see it:

Looky Here

It's a bittersweet victory.

We won, but we won one of the least attractive churches in Georgia.

What Terry Pratchett would describe as a box with architecture slapped on.

Still, the Wesleys were there once, so, there's hope for it.

I'm'a'Thinkin

If any of these ordinarily personal priests come back from Rome, after they've gotten tired of it, I do hope we'll have the good sense to require a public act of contrition and penance on their part.

Perhaps Benny da Bavarian holds his church and it's direction cheaply, we never should.

Free-Will and Faith

That old party trick.

But, you know I can't leave it like it traditionally looks.

You’ve got to look in and see how unmoored you are before you can find a harbor.

The problem isn’t self-will, but that self-will is always there and ignored by the excessively-orthodox. My faith is based in self-will. I say that proudly!

So is theirs, but they deny it. They don’t know it, don’t know their selves and so are paradoxically drawn along by self-will. Not knowing themselves, they don’t know their will – their darkness – and so can make no viable determination about what to embrace.

I am fully self-willed and stubborn and it’s a point of great religious satisfaction! I know my darkness – know it more fully than most – and have willed to choose what I see is best. I don’t float, buffeted by doctrine that nudges me conveniently to my biases, but power my own little boat.

We need more self-willed, stubborn Christians.

Show me a man or woman, meek and quiet, doing everything the “holy father” or the “good book” tells them and I’ll show you a monster of ego. Show me someone who pleads that – oh, against their own inclinations – they have to grind you in the dirt because tradition/scripture/the church says so, and I’ll show you the smuggest little sadistic dictator you’ll ever meet.

Today's "Complete Bag of Dicks" Winner Is . . .

Over at MadPriest's.


But, I do agree with him on one point: he could do so much more of use than attend those funerals, and could be so much more useful to everyone involved if he was somewhere else. In fact, I think that probably sums up the entirety of his ministry as alleged priest and real "bag of dicks."

I have never been so disgusted at so complete and public a dereliction of duty in my life. Really, physically ill. I had personally disliked the man before, having seen his self-righteous and completely self-absorbed rants at Thinking Anglicans, but I can now honestly say, such a person should never EVER have been allowed in the ordained ministry.

I Verrrry Dangerous Ninja!

Discworld Character Quiz

You Scored as Commander Samuel Vimes You are Samuel Vimes! Captain of Ankh-Morpork’s city Watch! You are a knight, married to the very wealthy, noble lady Sybil Ramkin. You often walk the streets at night, and are able to tell where you are by the feel of the cobbles under your boots. You always do what is right – that is, what needs to be done – to keep the city safe, even when it seems bad. Commander Samuel Vimes 88% Esmerelda (Granny) Weatherwax 56% Lord Havelock Vetinari 56% The Librarian 56% Gytha (Nanny) Ogg 50% Greebo 50% Death 44% Carrot Ironfounderson 44% Rincewind 38% Cohen The Barbarian 31%

I Don't Always Agree With His Theology . . .

But I agree with this:

A Manifesto! The Time Has Come!
John Shelby Spong

I have made a decision. I will no longer debate the issue of homosexuality in the church with anyone. I will no longer engage the biblical ignorance that emanates from so many right-wing Christians about how the Bible condemns homosexuality, as if that point of view still has any credibility. I will no longer discuss with them or listen to them tell me how homosexuality is "an abomination to God," about how homosexuality is a "chosen lifestyle," or about how through prayer and "spiritual counseling" homosexual persons can be "cured." Those arguments are no longer worthy of my time or energy. I will no longer dignify by listening to the thoughts of those who advocate "reparative therapy," as if homosexual persons are somehow broken and need to be repaired. I will no longer talk to those who believe that the unity of the church can or should be achieved by rejecting the presence of, or at least at the expense of, gay and lesbian people. I will no longer take the time to refute the unlearned and undocumentable claims of certain world religious leaders who call homosexuality "deviant." I will no longer listen to that pious sentimentality that certain Christian leaders continue to employ, which suggests some version of that strange and overtly dishonest phrase that "we love the sinner but hate the sin." That statement is, I have concluded, nothing more than a self-serving lie designed to cover the fact that these people hate homosexual persons and fear homosexuality itself, but somehow know that hatred is incompatible with the Christ they claim to profess, so they adopt this face-saving and absolutely false statement. I will no longer temper my understanding of truth in order to pretend that I have even a tiny smidgen of respect for the appalling negativity that continues to emanate from religious circles where the church has for centuries conveniently perfumed its ongoing prejudices against blacks, Jews, women and homosexual persons with what it assumes is "high-sounding, pious rhetoric." The day for that mentality has quite simply come to an end for me. I will personally neither tolerate it nor listen to it any longer. The world has moved on, leaving these elements of the Christian Church that cannot adjust to new knowledge or a new consciousness lost in a sea of their own irrelevance. They no longer talk to anyone but themselves. I will no longer seek to slow down the witness to inclusiveness by pretending that there is some middle ground between prejudice and oppression. There isn't. Justice postponed is justice denied. That can be a resting place no longer for anyone. An old civil rights song proclaimed that the only choice awaiting those who cannot adjust to a new understanding was to "Roll on over or we'll roll on over you!" Time waits for no one.

I will particularly ignore those members of my own Episcopal Church who seek to break away from this body to form a "new church," claiming that this new and bigoted instrument alone now represents the Anglican Communion. Such a new ecclesiastical body is designed to allow these pathetic human beings, who are so deeply locked into a world that no longer exists, to form a community in which they can continue to hate gay people, distort gay people with their hopeless rhetoric and to be part of a religious fellowship in which they can continue to feel justified in their homophobic prejudices for the rest of their tortured lives. Church unity can never be a virtue that is preserved by allowing injustice, oppression and psychological tyranny to go unchallenged.

In my personal life, I will no longer listen to televised debates conducted by "fair-minded" channels that seek to give "both sides" of this issue "equal time." I am aware that these stations no longer give equal time to the advocates of treating women as if they are the property of men or to the advocates of reinstating either segregation or slavery, despite the fact that when these evil institutions were coming to an end the Bible was still being quoted frequently on each of these subjects. It is time for the media to announce that there are no longer two sides to the issue of full humanity for gay and lesbian people. There is no way that justice for homosexual people can be compromised any longer.

I will no longer act as if the Papal office is to be respected if the present occupant of that office is either not willing or not able to inform and educate himself on public issues on which he dares to speak with embarrassing ineptitude. I will no longer be respectful of the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who seems to believe that rude behavior, intolerance and even killing prejudice is somehow acceptable, so long as it comes from third-world religious leaders, who more than anything else reveal in themselves the price that colonial oppression has required of the minds and hearts of so many of our world's population. I see no way that ignorance and truth can be placed side by side, nor do I believe that evil is somehow less evil if the Bible is quoted to justify it. I will dismiss as unworthy of any more of my attention the wild, false and uninformed opinions of such would-be religious leaders as Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart, Albert Mohler, and Robert Duncan. My country and my church have both already spent too much time, energy and money trying to accommodate these backward points of view when they are no longer even tolerable.

I make these statements because it is time to move on. The battle is over. The victory has been won. There is no reasonable doubt as to what the final outcome of this struggle will be. Homosexual people will be accepted as equal, full human beings, who have a legitimate claim on every right that both church and society have to offer any of us. Homosexual marriages will become legal, recognized by the state and pronounced holy by the church. "Don't ask, don't tell" will be dismantled as the policy of our armed forces. We will and we must learn that equality of citizenship is not something that should ever be submitted to a referendum. Equality under and before the law is a solemn promise conveyed to all our citizens in the Constitution itself. Can any of us imagine having a public referendum on whether slavery should continue, whether segregation should be dismantled, whether voting privileges should be offered to women? The time has come for politicians to stop hiding behind unjust laws that they themselves helped to enact, and to abandon that convenient shield of demanding a vote on the rights of full citizenship because they do not understand the difference between a constitutional democracy, which this nation has, and a "mobocracy," which this nation rejected when it adopted its constitution. We do not put the civil rights of a minority to the vote of a plebiscite.

I will also no longer act as if I need a majority vote of some ecclesiastical body in order to bless, ordain, recognize and celebrate the lives and gifts of gay and lesbian people in the life of the church. No one should ever again be forced to submit the privilege of citizenship in this nation or membership in the Christian Church to the will of a majority vote.

The battle in both our culture and our church to rid our souls of this dying prejudice is finished. A new consciousness has arisen. A decision has quite clearly been made. Inequality for gay and lesbian people is no longer a debatable issue in either church or state. Therefore, I will from this moment on refuse to dignify the continued public expression of ignorant prejudice by engaging it. I do not tolerate racism or sexism any longer. From this moment on, I will no longer tolerate our culture's various forms of homophobia. I do not care who it is who articulates these attitudes or who tries to make them sound holy with religious jargon.

I have been part of this debate for years, but things do get settled and this issue is now settled for me. I do not debate any longer with members of the "Flat Earth Society" either. I do not debate with people who think we should treat epilepsy by casting demons out of the epileptic person; I do not waste time engaging those medical opinions that suggest that bleeding the patient might release the infection. I do not converse with people who think that Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans as punishment for the sin of being the birthplace of Ellen DeGeneres or that the terrorists hit the United Sates on 9/11 because we tolerated homosexual people, abortions, feminism or the American Civil Liberties Union. I am tired of being embarrassed by so much of my church's participation in causes that are quite unworthy of the Christ I serve or the God whose mystery and wonder I appreciate more each day. Indeed I feel the Christian Church should not only apologize, but do public penance for the way we have treated people of color, women, adherents of other religions and those we designated heretics, as well as gay and lesbian people.

Life moves on. As the poet James Russell Lowell once put it more than a century ago: "New occasions teach new duties, Time makes ancient good uncouth." I am ready now to claim the victory. I will from now on assume it and live into it. I am unwilling to argue about it or to discuss it as if there are two equally valid, competing positions any longer. The day for that mentality has simply gone forever.

This is my manifesto and my creed. I proclaim it today. I invite others to join me in this public declaration. I believe that such a public outpouring will help cleanse both the church and this nation of its own distorting past. It will restore integrity and honor to both church and state. It will signal that a new day has dawned and we are ready not just to embrace it, but also to rejoice in it and to celebrate it.


Thank you - yet again - Bishop Spong, for your witness for us. The best allies are ones you can disagree with on certain points!

And, especially, thank you Lisa for posting this on her blog My Manner of Life where I could see it.

As for me, what he said.