Telling Secrets

October 11, 2008
NY Times Op-Ed Columnist
Dear Old Golden Dog Days
By GAIL COLLINS

I miss the good old days. Remember when the presidential campaign was all about oil drilling? That sure was fun.

I miss August. August was neat. The Dow was over 10,000 and nobody had ever heard of Sarah Palin.

Remember how we used to joke about John McCain looking like an old guy yelling at kids to get off his lawn? It’s only in retrospect that we can see that the keep-off-the-grass period was the McCain campaign’s golden era. Now, he’s beginning to act like one of those movie characters who steals the wrong ring and turns into a troll.

During that last debate, while he was wandering around the stage, you almost expected to hear him start muttering: “We wants it. We needs it. Must have the precious.”

Remember when McCain’s campaign ads were all about his being a prisoner of war? I really miss them.

Now they’re all about the Evil That Is Obama. The newest one, “Ambition,” has a woman, speaking in one of those sinister semiwhispers, saying: “When convenient, he worked with terrorist Bill Ayers. When discovered, he lied.” Then suddenly, with no warning whatsoever, she starts ranting about Congressional liberals and risky subprime loans. Then John McCain pops up to say he approved it. All in 30 seconds! And, of course, McCain would think it’s great. For the first time, the Republicans appear to have captured his thought process on tape.

The Republican campaign strategy now involves sending their candidates to areas where everybody is a die-hard McCain supporter already. Then they yell about Obama until the crowd is so frenzied people start making threats. The rest of the country is supposed to watch and conclude that this would be an enjoyable way to spend the next four years.

Maybe the Republicans should have picked somebody else. I miss Mitt Romney. Sure, he was sort of smarmy. But when Mitt was around, the banks had money and Iceland was solvent. And, of course, when we got bored, we could always talk about how he drove to Canada with his Irish setter strapped to the car roof.

I miss the old George W. Bush. When he came out of the White House and made an announcement, you would usually think that whatever he wanted to do was a terrible idea. But at least you thought he could actually make the terrible idea happen.

I miss the old American public that was too busy shopping to worry about the state of the world. Now everybody is getting scared and weird. They’ve been racing off in great numbers to see “Beverly Hills Chihuahua.” And nagging Target to take the Little Mommy Cuddle ‘n Coo dolls off the shelves because people think that when it gurgles you can hear the baby say “Islam is the light.”

I miss the old Cindy McCain. The one who used to go to rallies and sit huddled in the corner looking as if she thought the audience had a communicable disease. Now, she’s right up there on stage, standing behind her husband and making disgusted faces when he rails on about the opposition. And she’s started railing herself. (The family that rants together ...) Obama is waging “the dirtiest campaign in American history.” His votes on Iraq were votes “not to fund my son when he was serving.”

Remember when the McCains wouldn’t talk about the fact that their son was in Iraq? Oh well.

Maybe Cindy is trying to hold her own against Sarah, who is with John almost as much as she is. I miss the old guy-guy McCain who had so many male pals around he looked like a walking fraternity reunion. Now, he’s starting to resemble an ambulatory patient accompanied by female attendants on an outing.

Palin has been pressing the line that people don’t really know “the real Barack Obama,” and who could make the argument better than a woman who we’ve already known for almost six weeks? Really, she’s like one of the family.

We’ve gotten so close we’ve already learned that she didn’t actually sell the plane on eBay, didn’t actually visit the troops in Iraq and didn’t really have a talk with the British ambassador. As soon as we get the Trooper thing and Alaska Independence Party thing and the tax thing figured out, she’ll be an open book.

And she’s got a point about Obama. True, he’s been campaigning for 19 months and has been interviewed by everybody from “Meet the Press” to “Men’s Health.” Which would be O.K. if we were talking about somebody from a small town rather than, as a McCain campaign co-chairman noted delicately, a “guy of the street.”

Back in August, women politicians were afraid of going negative because it might have made them look too strident. Amazing, the things you wind up being nostalgic for.

For most of my ordained life, the entrance to the Convent of Order of St. Helena at Vails Gate has stood for me as a portal into a deeper understanding of hospitality and solitude, of deeper spirituality and prayer, and of understanding what it means to live in religious community.

The bench outside the entrance is the place of quiet expectation - either as one makes an entrance or one is returning back into the world.

The sisters and their guests often gather on the patio outside, to share meals or to catch up on stories, or to find a quiet place to sit and enjoy "God's Chapel".

This was also the site of the Annual July 4th Celebration - Sr. June Thomas on grill, Sr. Ann Prentice on desserts (except for Sr. ES who makes a mean pecan pie), and yours truly on the Bombay Sapphire Gin and Schwepps Tonic - with fresh slices of lime.

The two guest houses on the property were often used for church groups to gather. A few of the CTB (Claiming The Blessing) working retreats were held there, in our earlier days. Ms. Conroy and I would often stay here - with our beloved boxer, Bogart. Dogs were "not exactly allowed" said Sr. June Thomas, but she always made an exception for Bogart. After Bogart died, one of the first people we called was June Thomas. She must have cried for five minutes with us on the phone.

The hermitage has served as a place used by sisters as well as guests, including poets and authors. I have done some of my best writing there.

Come with me into the chapel - one of my favorite places in the Convent.

Not to worry. One of the sisters will call you when it's time for community prayer
by pulling the rope which will ring the bell.

The chapel has no organ. The sisters believe that the human voice is really the only instrument one needs to glorify God.

As good Anglicans, they have an equally high doctrine of Word and Sacrament.

I have always loved the way the light comes into the chapel and dances on the altar, the walls, the pews and the people. Even on rainy or snowy days, the light has always taught me more about prayer than anything I ever learned in seminary. It's amazing what you can learn if you stop talking.

The statue of a woman in prayer never ceases to draw me closer to the heart of prayer.

I will always treasure the days when I would come up on Friday afternoons for spiritual direction and retreat and then rejoice in the privilege it is to preside at the altar and preach.

For a season, I was able to stay through Sunday and
preside at the principal celebration of the Eucharist.

My favorite memory of this altar is the first time Sr. Ellen presided at Eucharist. It was Easter Day. She was so serious, it almost broke your heart. Ms. Conroy would have nothing to do with that. She hid an Easter Egg in the chalice.

I can still see the look on Sr. Ellen's face when she found it. As Ms. Conroy said to her, "If Jesus can trick the Devil out of death, we can trick you into joy!"

These are the views from the sacristy where I would peak out to see who was in the congregation. I don't know why I did that. The sisters always sat in the same pew. Still, it was a treat to peak out expectantly and watch my sisters gather in expectant prayer. I think some of my best sermons were given there.

This stands just outside the Chapel which faces the Monastic Enclosure.
One sister said to me about her new home in Augusta, GA,
"I just can't imagine it! Twenty-three sisters in the same Monastic Enclosure!"
She rolled her eyes and added, "Quiet is one thing. Solitude is quite another."

Whether meals were taken during The Great Silence or in boistrous celebration, the Refectory was always a place where the ministry of Hospitality continued.

The Great Vigil of Easter began well before sunrise and in the Refectory. I will never forget the Easter morning shortly after Sr. Ruth had gotten her hearing aids. In the midst of the last of the readings, Ruth gasped out loud, "I can hear the birds singing!" And, so they were. It was evidence enough that Christ had risen. He had risen, indeed!

The enclosed porch was a wonderful place where silence didn't have to be maintained. Telling jokes and laughing quietly sometimes proved to be harmful to one's rib cage!

Sr. Ellen created this icon of St. Helena, who was, of course, Emperor Constantine's mother (c. 255-c - 350). A Christian, she made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land where she identified many of the sites associated with Jesus; she also believed she had found the true cross.

In the early 1980's, the sisters began to feel the frustration of the masculine language in the psalms and began to change the language of the psalms. They understood that whatever changes they made could not be purely academic or intellectual, but must grow out of their shared prayer in community.

The result was a the Saint Helena's Psalter, published by Church Publishing in 20004. By Eastertide, 2006, they published the first inclusive/expansive Monastic Breviary which is one of my very favorite ways to pray the Divine Office. Not only have they kept the integrity of the architecture of monastic prayer, they have also expanded images of God.

As Sr. Pemberton writes, "seeing God as a mother was not a new idea; from Augustine of Hippo, through Sts. Bernard and Anselm, the maternal side of both the first and second persons of the Trinity has been invoked."

What was specifically new to the Sisters, however, was using the material from Dame Julian's writing in the form of canticles which they assigned to the season of Advent - a celebration of motherhood as we await the celebration of the birth of Jesus.

You can order your own St. Helena's Breviary or Psalter here.

I will close this tribute to them in grateful thanksgiving for all they have contributed to my priestly formation with their trinitarian antiphon:

Glory to God,
Source of all being,
Incarnate Word and
Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now and will be forever.
Amen.

"Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same sex partner of their choice."


JUSTICE RICHARD N. PALMER, of the Connecticut Supreme Court, writing for the majority in a 5-4 ruling.

Palin abused power, probe finds

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is guilty of abuse of power, according to a probe by the state legislature.

The Republican vice-presidential candidate was accused of sacking a senior state official, Walter Monegan, in connection with a family feud.

But the McCain-Palin campaign team said that the report showed Mrs Palin acted within "proper and lawful authority".

The report could have a significant effect on Republican hopes of winning next month's US presidential election.

Mrs Palin has always denied any wrongdoing, and her supporters say the charges are motivated by her political opponents.

She stood accused of dismissing Mr Monegan for refusing to sack a state trooper who was in a bitter custody battle with her sister.

The report concluded a family grudge was not the sole reason for the dismissal, but was a likely contributing factor.

Speaking after a bipartisan investigating panel reached its decision on what has become known as Troopergate, Mr Monegan said he felt "vindicated".

"It sounds like they've validated my belief and opinions," he said. "And that tells me I'm not totally out in left field."

Ethical violation

The panel found Mrs Palin in violation of a state ethics law prohibiting public officials from using their office for personal gain.

"I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110 (a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act," investigator Steve Branchflower concluded in the panel's 263-page report.

But Mrs Palin's lawyer said that the report had not been conclusive.

"In order to violate the ethics law, there has to be some personal gain," said Thomas Van Flein.

"Mr Branchflower has failed to identify any financial gain."

And Alaskan state Senator Gary Stevens, a Republican, said there were "some problems" with the finding.

"I would encourage people to be very cautious, to look at this with a jaundiced eye," said Senator Stevens, after the report's release was announced.

Several Republican politicians had earlier attempted to have the investigation stopped on the grounds that it was politically motivated.

The investigation into the affair began before Mr McCain selected Mrs Palin as his running mate in August.

The US presidential race has now become so polarised both Republicans and Democrats will likely see the report's findings as vindication for their own trenchant views about Mrs Palin, says the BBC's Richard Lister in Washington.

Alaska's governor will either be seen as the victim of a Democratic party hatchet job, or a hypocrite.

Most voters, for now at least, seem more concerned about who will extract them from the current economic crisis, than any questions about political infighting in far-off Alaska, our correspondent adds.

Violent trooper?

Mrs Palin maintains she fired Mr Monegan in July over a budgetary dispute.

But Mr Monegan said he was dismissed for resisting pressure from Mrs Palin and her husband, Todd, to fire State Trooper Mike Wooten, Mrs Palin's former brother-in-law.

Mr Monegan said he simply wanted the truth to be made known.

"The governor did want me to fire [Mr Wooten], and I chose to not," he told the Associated Press news agency.

"He didn't do anything under my watch to result in termination."

Todd Palin has admitted he did publicise what he called the "injustice of a violent trooper keeping his badge".

But he said his wife, who did not give evidence to the enquiry, then told him to drop the matter.

The McCain campaign on Thursday issued its own report, written by its staff, stating that the Alaska governor was not guilty of any wrongdoing.

"The following document will prove Walt Monegan's dismissal was a result of his insubordination and budgetary clashes with Governor Palin and her administrators," campaign officials wrote. "Trooper Wooten is a separate issue."

The 21-page report suggests that the allegations against Mrs Palin stem from a conspiracy planned by a former campaign opponent of hers, Andrew Halcro, and Mr Wooten.

"It is tragic that a false story hatched by a blogger over drinks with Trooper Wooten led the legislature to allocate over $100,000 of public money to be spent in what has become a politically-driven investigation," it concludes.

The McCain campaign says the inquiry has been muddied by innuendo, rumour and partisan politics.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7662820.stm

Published: 2008/10/11 02:00:12 GMT

This past Tuesday, I was at our Annual Fall Clergy Women's Brunch, sitting next to a colleague who has been in this diocese almost as long as I have. She was chatting with me about the new home she and her husband just purchased "south" of NJ in anticipation of retirement, and telling me in very excited terms about how much less the cost of living is there and how we can get some "really good deals."

I looked at her and smiled and said, "Thanks for that information. It does sound great. You and your husband must be thrilled."

"BBBUUUUTTT?????" she said, "What's not to love about this?"

I smiled again and said, "Well, you see, Ms. Conroy and I couldn't retire there."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Well, because there's probably less than an ice cube's chance in hell that she and I would have our MA, CA, or soon, please God, CT or NJ marriage seen as valid there, much less have our present domestic partnership validated. And, well, the older we get . . . . . well, we just can't take the chance that one of us might get sick and hospitalized and . . . well . .. .."

Our conversation ended as the meeting was called to order but a few minutes into it, I felt my sister's arm on mine. When I looked at her, she was crying and saying, "I'm so very sorry. That's just so not right. I'm so sorry."

On October 13 we will celebrate the 32nd anniversary of the covenant we made with each other to live in faithful, loving, monogamous relationship. God has richly blessed us with a wonderful family - six children and five grandchildren, some heartbreaks and challenges that have helped us to grow, and great, deep joy that warms our hearts and souls at the memory of them.

God is good. All the time.

We live in sure and certain hope - which is now even more sure and certain in CT.

But elsewhere? Hmmmmmm . . . .Not so much.

And so, the struggle continues.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

October 10, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Integrity Applauds Connecticut Supreme Court Decision

Integrity applauds today’s Connecticut Supreme Court ruling in favor of marriage equality. "Today's decision is a decision in favor of marriage and against bigotry," said Integrity President Susan Russell.

"It is another step forward toward making this a nation of liberty and justice for all -- not just some -- and it is a cause for celebration for all Americans.

It is also a source of great encouragement for those of us working to preserve marriage for all in California."

"Integrity is committed to continue to work toward full inclusion for the LGBT faithful in the Episcopal Church and to advocate for equal protection for LGBT Americans -- and we give thanks for those who made today's Connecticut Supreme Court decision possible."

(The Reverend) Susan Russell, President
president@integrityusa.org
714-356-5718 (mobile)
626-583-2741 (office)


John Clinton Bradley, Executive Director
johnclint@integrityusa.org
800-462-9498

I've been at the VW Dealership since 7:30 this morning. I've probably got another hour or so (And another $500 to replace the electrical whatsits on the driver side door which has some kind of short that sends a message every so often that the car door is open, when it isn't. Grrrr . . .) before I can leave.

As soon as I do, I'm on the road to the NY Thruway to say goodbye to my sisters at Order of St. Helena, Vails Gate.

I still can't believe the day has actually come. As you'll read in the story below, they are selling off the convent at Vails Gait as well as the one in Manhattan and consolidating their ministry at the convent in Georgia.

I have so taken advantage of their easy access across the Passaic or 90 minutes up the Pike that it's hard for me to imagine life without them nearby.

I'll be helping them pack up and set up for their "Yard Sale" this week end. I'm bringing my camera so there will be lots of pictures.

Please join me in prayers of thanksgiving for these amazing, brave, intelligent women as they embark on a new ministry.

Episcopal Sisters seek new ministries, new witness in new location


Augusta, Georgia--The Order of Saint Helena (OSH) is beginning the process of refounding itself for new ministry opportunities in a new location, but with the same mission of prayer and service to God's world. The order of Episcopal sisters is closing its two houses in New York City and Vails Gate, NY and consolidating temporarily to its convent here. At the same time they are seeking another location in the United States to begin anew.

"We feel that the Holy Spirit is moving us to relocate to a new area and to re-found our community and mission," said Sister Cintra Pemberton, OSH, a member of the Order's leadership council. "We have written to the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops that we are looking for a diocese that will welcome us and for a location that is close enough to a major metropolitan area for sisters who are called to urban ministry. We are also interested in finding a sufficiently natural setting to encourage a contemplative lifestyle."

The sisters also hope to build a purpose-designed, energy-efficient, "green" convent.

"We are in the process of receiving invitations from Episcopal bishops all over the U.S. -- literally from coast to coast, North, South, and Central," said Sister Cintra. "We do not as yet know where we might end up, but we have faith and confidence that God is leading us into new directions for new ministry. In the meantime, we ask your prayers and support as we begin this journey of faith."

The sisters of the Order of Saint Helena voted last August to close their two New York convents and to relocate most of the community (temporarily) to the OSH convent in Augusta GA.

"Our intention for the Vails Gate property is to explore ways in which we can realize appropriate income from the property but also attempt to preserve the beauty of the land," said Sister Cintra. "The Manhattan property will be put on the market for sale in the very near future."

For several years the Order has been facing an increasingly serious budget deficit, as well as a shortage of "sister power" that has been "draining us of the energy we need to do ministry, both to the church and to our own sisters, some of whom are aging and in need of special assistance," said Sister Cintra. "At the same time, we are growing in numbers, and want to provide new ministry and educational opportunities for the women who come to test their vocation with us." The community has had four life professions in recent years, and currently has two novices and several women in vocational discernment.

While the decision to leave New York, as well as Augusta, was made with much heartbreak and many tears, the sisters say they feel the Holy Spirit has led them to this point. "We have been in both the Diocese of New York and the Diocese of Georgia for many years, and the idea of leaving both brings us much pain," said Sister Cintra, "but we recognize that we can no longer afford to operate and staff three convents."

The Order expects nearly all of its sisters will be moved in to the convent here by November. Some sisters are engaged in parish or other ministry and will continue to live outside the convent.

The Order of St. Helena was founded in 1945 in Kentucky, originally as a teaching order, with dedication to prayer, community, and service. From the beginning, the Order has maintained a strong commitment to the integrity and development of individual sisters. Today the sisters engage in various ministries such as spiritual direction, psychotherapy, urban ministry, parish ministry, writing, retreat and pilgrimage leading, icon writing, peacemaking, community organizing, and of course -- prayer. Their rule of life is centered on daily worship in community and following the ancient praying of the hours sometimes called the Divine Office. Several of the sisters are also priests, and one was the first nun to be ordained to the priesthood.

Two years ago, the Order published "The Saint Helena Breviary" using expansive language and eliminating masculine language for God. The monastic edition is designed for use in community settings for singing and praying the hours such as Matins, Midday Office, Vespers and Compline. A personal edition can be used by anyone to follow the calendar of prayer of the Episcopal Church as well as the daily hours of prayer as do the sister in the convent chapel. Many Episcopal churches currently use the "Saint Helena Psalter".

Contact information:
Sr. Cintra Pemberton, OSH
Office phone: 706-798-5201 ext. 205
Email: cintra@comcast.net
Website: http://www.osh.org

ACNS: Thousands turn to online prayer and advice
as financial situation worsens

Posted On : October 9, 2008 1:10 PM

Web users looking for support during the current financial situation have boosted traffic to a Church of England website section focusing on debt advice by over 70 per cent, and increased visitor numbers to the Church's online prayer page by more than a quarter.

The Matter of Life and Debt website section - containing a new 'debt spiral' feature so visitors can work out if they are one of the many families who will be seriously affected by the credit crunch, and useful advice for those worried about debt - has seen a 71 per cent increase in traffic in recent weeks.

It can be viewed by visiting www.cofe.anglican.org/debt.

A new Prayer for the Current Financial Situation has been viewed nearly
8,000 times since it was published online in September - increasing
traffic to the popular Prayers for Today section by 28 per cent.

It can be found online at www.cofe.anglican.org/prayers.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, recently said: "At this
time of international financial turbulence, it is important that the
Church should be offering the opportunity for prayer and reflection."

Prayers for Today also contains many other useful contemporary prayers -
covering issues such as exam stress, and world peace.

Prayer for the current financial situation

Lord God, we live in disturbing days:
across the world,
prices rise,
debts increase,
banks collapse,
jobs are taken away,
and fragile security is under threat.
Loving God, meet us in our fear and hear our prayer:
be a tower of strength amidst the shifting sands,
and a light in the darkness;
help us receive your gift of peace,
and fix our hearts where true joys are to be found,
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Note: About three years ago, this time, I wrote this piece for my fellow Verbosians on HOB/D (House of Bishops/Deputies listserv).

The Verbosians are so named because, well, we tend to go on a bit in our posts and never want for an opinion about much of anything. We had been meeting offline for several months to continue our discussion and it occurred to us, suddenly, that perhaps we ought to meet face to face and privately while at General Convention 2006.

One day, some one of us used the term, "The Verbosians" on HOB/D, which naturally piqued the curiosity of everyone on the list. We reconnoitered in cyberspace to figure out how to answer the question, "Who are the Verbosians?"

I wrote this little piece as a farce, we all had a hardy laugh, and it has languished somewhere in cyberspace since then. The question re-surfaced the other day and some one found it. It has finally been posted on HOB/D.

Some of us are hopeful to establish an "Open Space: A Politics-Free Zone" when General Convention meets in Anaheim in July of 2009. In service of that happy occasion (and, so it won't get lost again), here's the answer to the question:

The History of the Verbosians: the Hobdees, the Kibitzers, and the Wackadoos

The history of the Verbosians must be understood within the context of their membership of the Tribes of Cyberspace (see link), which include the Hobdees, the Kibitzers and the Lost and Banished Tribe of The Wackadoos (see links)

The Hobdees are a contentious tribe of The Episcopal Church (see link) who are also members of the World Wide Anglican Communion (see link) who spend most of their waking hours (and long into the dark nights) on an Anglican Reservation known as "The Hobdee ("HOB/D") Reservation" (see link).

Created in cyberspace, circa 1997 by Episcopalian Louie Crew (see link), the indefatigable and irrepressibly joyful gay man who has dedicated his life to the Christian notions of radical hospitality and radical transformation through conversation, this tribe now boasts a membership of approximately 1,800, with another group of approximately 1,000 people known as "The Kibitzers" (see link) who have a place on The Hobdee Reservation, but no voice and vote in the conversations (unless one of the Hobdees posts their words for them, giving up one of the three allowable posts per day).

In 2003, "The Thirty Long Year Theological War" (see link) in The Episcopal Church over the ordination of women and the study of human sexuality, led to the election, ordination and consecration of an honestly gay man named V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, USA (see link). Approved by both houses of General Convention (see link), this action, to the complete surprise, utter amazement and profound confusion of those who supported him, erupted into global theological warfare in the World-Wide Anglican Communion.

This led to the creation of warring factions in The Episcopal Church in general and on The Hobdee Reservation in particular. Some aligned themselves with the Sect of the Revisionist and others with the Sect of the Reasserts.

All around the World Wide Anglican Communion, members began to align themselves along the spectrum of these two theological ends, with most of the Episcopalians and Anglicans huddled together in a confused mass at the middle fulcrum, also known as "The Historic Place of Anglican Accommodation." (see link)

The "troubles" in the communion caused a severe "disturbance in the force" (see Star Wars link). The temperature on that end of cyberspace began to rise and the light began to dim, leading to an uncomfortably humid and dark climate in which in was difficult to see past each other's steamy rhetoric, much less acknowledge each other's pain. The end result was that perceptions became distorted, different realities began to be created and enshrined, and truth became a highly contentious topic of debate.

Quite suddenly, the guiding light of the foundational ideas of radical hospitality and radical transformation which established the Hobdee Reservation were reduced to quaint notions and distant hopes.

In the spring of 2006, as The Great Gathering of the Clan (AKA "Our Big Fat Anglican Convention," AKA "The Anglican Briggadoon" AKA "General Convention" (see link), prepared to assemble in Columbus, OH, a small group of The Hobdees - some from the Sect of Reasserts and some from the Sect of Reappraisers - began taking council, huddling together in a secret part of cyberspace.

These were a particularly articulate lot, neither shy nor unashamed to write long, passionate essays explaining their theological positions and beliefs. After a few email sessions, they came to understand that if they were going to survive General Convention with any sense of sanity, much less with their Christian faith intact, they must gather together to try and reclaim the foundational ideas of radical hospitality and radical transformation.

They recalled their common heritage of The Wackadoos (see link), those folks on The Hobdee Reservation who shared their wildly different theological perceptions and somehow survived the sometimes cruel responses from other Hobdees but were, in effect, banished and eventually lost.

This small but snarky band of Hobdees, some of them members of The Lost Tribe of the Wackadoos (see link), determined to meet together as a group in Columbus, to share the full and true presence of Jesus Christ, to greet, welcome and embrace each other with the sign of God's love and peace (no A-Frame hugs), and to enter into intentional conversation with each other about their differences.

They call themselves, "The Verbosians."

They prefer to work anonymously and in private, but there are a few distinguishing factors which make them easy to identify.

True to their cherished Episcopal tradition of "the imbibing of the spirits" ("Where ever three or four Episcopalians gather, there's always a fifth" - see link), they have created their own beverage (see link) - "The Verbosian Old Fashioned" (a dash - just a dash - of club soda, simple syrup and Pechaud - not Agostora - bitters).

They assure each other that, even though the drink is known as "Old Fashion" it will, nonetheless, delight the palate of even the most ardent Progressive.

They are also known to drink bourbon (Maker's Mark), single malt scotch, Banrock Station Shiraz (from the Hokus Pokus Liquor Store in LA), and one is reported to have great affection for the unlikely mixture of Vodka and Mike's Hard Lemonade (but also drinks, appropriately, Henry Weinhard's beer).

Their motto is: "In vino, caritas, broccoli, et crudite, et crustacaeae" so one is assured to find Verbosians lovingly lurking about the table at Happy Hour, drinking wine, eating broccoli and other assorted veggies, as well as shrimp.

While there is no T-shirt, button or uniform by which they will be easily known, whenever a Verbosian sees another in Convention hall, you will know them by their greeting: "Less heat, more light." (said loudly and with great passion).

Rumor has it that The Verbosians will create a place on Convention Floor where all may join them in prayer. Known as The Shrine of St. Verbosian (Verbosa Maxima Plenipuctualia, d 257? February 29), a Roman matron and martyr, who is patron saint of Blogging, Soft Sculpture and Espresso, there will be a pad of paper and a pencil and small basket near a Votive Candle where prayer petitions may be written and left.

You will recognize the Shrine Of St. Verbosian by her emblem - the open faced smiley;~0 -an icon of which will be placed in front of the Votive Candle.

At certain times, you will also hear the Verbosians chant their prayer of regret (not repentance): "Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima nissan stanza."

They have already made a few decisions, agreeing to begin their meeting on the evening of June 11 with Holy Eucharist (although not yet having come to a decision about the celebrant or if the celebrant is a presider), the use of a talking stick to insure full participation without interruption, and the list of alcoholic beverages to have on hand.

However, they have called for a moratorium - at least for a season - on revealing either their identity or the nature of their gathering in any public forum. This is seen as a hopeful sign to those who want The Episcopal Church to vote for two resolutions calling for other moratoria, as well as for those who will vote against said moratoria, holding onto the faint hope that the moratorium on revealing their identity will satisfy this desire.

It is reported that The Verbosians live in sure and certain hope that they - an unlikely mixture of the Sect of the Reappraisers and the Sect of the Reasserts; they of the Lost and Banished Tribe of the Wackadoos - will eventually come to supplant both The Episcopal Church as well as the Anglican Network and establish the One, True, Progressive, Conservative, Evangelical, Anglo-Catholic, Orthodox Church of Radical Anglican Accommodation on the cyberspace Hobdee Reservation.

From my friend, Lane Denson III, in his column "Out of Nowhere."

Ranchers usually brand their range animals. For whatever other reasons, the brands prove a useful way to avoid livestock identity theft. (Aside: Books about brands also make popular collector’s items.)

John Ciardi’s “A Browser’s Dictionary” confirms that Samuel Maverick was a 19th-century Texas cattleman who refused to brand his cows, said it was too cruel. As it was, unbranded animals on an open range belonged to first come, first served. Intended so or not, any unbranded cows came to be thought of as Maverick’s, and subsequently just mavericks.

It didn’t take long for the word to enter everyday parlance as applied to an unorthodox person who for whatever reason leaves his metaphoric herd to go his own way. Any originality claimed for the word today is, of course, way out of date. The range story was well into the lore when I was growing up in Texas a while back.

Coupled with it, there has always been an air of malfeasance and arrogance if not an ambiance of sheer illegality. Mavericks, the people type, were hardly the kind of folk anyone would choose as leaders, especially of the very herd whose welfare they’d once enjoyed and now spent for their own exclusive benefit.

I didn't believe it until I heard it myself.

Watch Palin's face when he says it.

Unbelievable!

I guess this is why James Carville said this after the Second Debate:

"You can call the dogs in, wet the fire,
and leave the house. The hunt's over."

This is Tim and my fifth confirmation class at St. Paul's and it just keeps getting better every year.

We have 11 kids - great, bright, articulate kids - who are inquisitive and committed to being Confirmed. That commitment comes from the fact that Tim and I figured out after our first class together some things that bring about that commitment.

Like - we ask the kids and their parents to sign a "learning contract" which includes such things as allowing only two excused absences, keeping a homework journal which they must bring to class each week, a commitment to attending all services during Holy Week, an agreement to do 12 hours of community service (two hours as a group project), selecting "Godparents" from their family / adult friends, and a "Church Sponsor" - someone from the church who will sponsor them, etc.

It has really made a difference. We also spend the first hour with snacks and community building exercises and "new games." We tell them that building community is one of the most important things they will learn how to do in Confirmation Class, and we mean it.

We are also deeply committed to finding creative, fun ways to teach. For example, last week was our first week of class, and after we gave them the "low down" we had an exercise wherein we gave them a picture of kids playing on the playground and asked them which one with whom they most identified. It was fascinating to hear what they revealed about themselves without even knowing it.

Their "homework" for this week was that they had to pretend to be either Tim Russett or Katie Couric or some TV interviewer and their task was to ask God or Jesus three questions they've always wanted answered.

What happened next was amazing. Their questions were remarkable.

Like, "Why does God place obstacles in our path?"

Like, "Why is it that some people live in luxury and others are so desperately poor?"

Like, "What REALLY happens after you die?"

Like, "Why did you create the earth? Why did you create me? Why am I here?"

The discussions were full and rich and deeply respectful.

One kid who is autistic but highly functioning began musing about how the world was getting bigger every year and then began talking about quasars, which very few of us in the room really knew about or understood.

Which got another kid talking about the "Big Bang Theory" vs. "Evolution" which prompted yet another kid to lean back in his chair and say, "Oh, man! When I start thinking about that, I can feel the quasars in my brain stretching and it makes my stomach hurt."

We began talking about mystery and the things we can't understand, and I gotta tell you, I haven't had intelligent, stimulating conversations with adults as we had with those kids.

To end the class, I fired up my computer and played The Galaxy Song from Monty Python, which, as many of you know, is simply brilliant. It was a great way to end the class.

Tim and I were reflecting after class that while all our classes have been fun, these kids started trusting us from the very first class. Then it occurred to us: these kids have known us since they were six years old. I think that makes a huge difference. The continuity and relationship really make a difference.

Next class, we look at how the church architecture helps to tell the church's story. It's one of my favorite classes.

Their home work assignment this week is to consider what they know about the community that calls itself "The Episcopal Church of St. Paul" and how the front of the church does or doesn't reflect that identity. They are then to draw or explain what they would do to change it. Fun, right?

See what I mean? I LOVE Confirmation Class.

So, I'll leave you with Monte Python. Enjoy!

(Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown
And things seem hard or tough
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft
And you feel that you've had quite eno-o-o-o-o-ough)

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned
A sun that is the source of all our power
The sun, and you and me, and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour
Of the galaxy we call the Milky Way

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars
It's a hundred thousand light-years side to side
It bulges in the middle sixteen thousand light-years thick
But out by us it's just three thousand light-years wide
We're thirty thousand light-years from Galactic Central Point
We go 'round every two hundred million years
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whiz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know
Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is
So remember when you're feeling very small and insecure
How amazingly unlikely is your birth
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth

Well, the polls have been tabulated and the pundits are having their say, and they say that Obama won.

Okay. I'll take that. But, you know, I really, really want the next one to be a more formal debate. You know? Like Presidential candidates.

Here's a good perspective (well, if you're a Democrat, I suppose) from Huffington Post.

While you're over there, check out Gwen Ifill's interview on Meet The Press where she talks about her frustration with Sarah Palin at last Tuesday's VEEP debate.

"She didn't ignore me," says Ifill, "she blew me off."

Arianna Huffington
Posted October 8, 2008 01:19 AM (EST)


The Winner of Debate II? "That One"
In Debate II, John McCain twice laid out the criteria for how the American people should judge the candidates: In tough times, we need someone with a steady hand on the tiller.

By that measure, Obama was the clear winner. He was centered where McCain was scattered. Forceful where McCain was forced. Presidential where McCain was petulant.

In the first debate, McCain wouldn't look at Obama. In this one, he referred to him as "that one." The contempt was palpable, and unpalatable.

In the run-up to the debate, McCain lowered himself into the sewer in a desperate attempt to portray Obama as dangerous, untrustworthy, a risk too big to take.

But Obama's measured reasonableness totally countered that caricature. You could fault Obama for not being particularly inspiring, but you could not miss the rock steady competence he exuded -- authoritatively delivering substantive answers to questions on the economy, health care, taxes, and foreign policy.

He scored with his history lesson, reminding voters of the economy the Republicans inherited, and how they squandered that inheritance.

He scored with his reminder of how much the war in Iraq is costing America and the enormous strain that puts on our economy -- as well as our national security.

He scored when he declared that affordable health care is a "right" of every American and not, as McCain put it, a "responsibility" of... he actually didn't specify who.

And Obama scored big when he gave voice to the vast gulf between the two candidates' -- and the two parties' -- position on the role of government in our lives, invoking JFK's commitment to put a man on the moon in 10 years as an example of what can be done in fueling a new alternative energy-based economy, and pointing out how government investment played a key role in developing the tech advances that have driven our economy for the last two decades.

McCain, like Palin last week, couldn't decide if government is the enemy or the deep-pocketed benefactor that is going to buy up all the bad mortgages in America.

Is "a government-bought house on every lot" the 21st century equivalent of "a chicken in every pot"?

McCain also provided the debate's strangest moments, twice chiding Obama for backing an "overhead projector" in a planetarium, and raising the idea of "gold-plated Cadillac" insurance policies that pay for hair transplants. Huh?

McCain also told us he knows how to fix the economy, knows how to win wars, and knows how to capture bin Laden. Is there a reason he's keeping all these a secret?

The debate ended on a question Tom Brokaw described as having "a certain Zen-like quality": "What don't you know and how will you learn it?"

Both men used the opportunity to pivot from the Moment of Zen into impassioned but familiar stump speech stories about single moms (Obama) and absent fathers (McCain), about the American Dream (Obama) and the country put first (McCain), about the need for fundamental change (Obama) and the desire for another opportunity to serve (McCain).

At the end of the debate, Brokaw asked McCain to get out of the way of his Teleprompter, so he could sign off.

Brokaw might as well have been speaking on behalf of the future: Senator McCain can you please get out of the way so we can get on with it?

I was really looking forward to tonight's debate.

By the end of it, I was remembering a coffee mug my then-adolescent children once gave me which said on the side, "If you want me to live up to your expectations . . ." and on the bottom, said, ". . .lower your expectations."

Why did we have to endure the town-meeting format? And, why did they get the questions before hand? That's not a debate. That's a performance!

So, it's come to TV ratings and what will get people to tune in and boost ratings, verses a format by which the candidates can put flesh on their political platforms?

We're choosing the next POTUS on personality, style and performance? Have we really become so dummied-down as a nation that a Presidential debate that occurs 30 days before the election and as our nation teeters on the brink of the next Great Depression is reduced to being just another 90 minutes of television entertainment????

How pathetic is that? Or, should I say, "that one"?

Who won the debate?

There was a debate?

Thanks to FranIAm, I remembered that today is Desmond Tutu's birthday.

He turned 77 years old today.

So, here's my favorite Desmond Tutu story.

One of our daughters was working at NYU Law and got me an invitation - as part of a birthday present - to a private reception for Desmond Tutu prior to his being given an award for his work chairing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Before the award ceremony, I got to meet Bishop Tutu and asked him about the progress of his recovery from prostate cancer. He seemed very pleased with the pastoral inquiry.

I asked him about the confluence of his work on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the onset of his diagnosis and treatment fro prostate cancer.

"Excuse me," I asked impertinently, "but what were you thinking? Are you crazy? Taking on cancer along with truth and reconciliation?"

We laughed and he said, "I'm not crazy, but I am obedient."

He told me that "his" president, "You know him? Nelson Mandela?"

I giggled. So did he.

He continued, "I had been diagnosed just a few weeks when my president, Nelson Mandela, asked me to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission."

"I said to him, "'No, no. I am the wrong person. You need someone else.'"

Tutu reported that Mandela pressed him even harder.

"But, my president," I am not fit to do this job."

"Why?" asked Mandela.

"Because," said Tutu, "I laugh too easily. I cry too easily. I am weak."

Tutu reports that Mandela looked at him and said, "My dear Desmond. This is why you are perfect for the task. If you can laugh too easily, you know about the absurdity of life. If you cry too easily, you understand about the fragility of life. And, if you understand your own weakness, you understand the power of God."

Tutu looked at me, smiled that incredible smile of me and said, "Now do you understand why I love my President?"

"Yes," I said. "Now do you understand why I love you?"

I came to understand servant leadership in a whole new way that day.

Happy Birthday, Desmond. The world is a better place for your nativity.

A very important message.

Very.

Important.

There's an interesting if not scary article in the NY Times this morning, "A Day (Gasp) Like Any Other" by Joe Nocera, who says, "This crisis doesn’t wear you down over time. It hits you over the head with a two-by-four on a daily basis."

And then there's this one "Global Fears of a Recession Grow Stronger," by Mark Landler, who writes, "Three days after the approval of the White House’s $700 billion rescue plan, it looks like a pebble tossed into a churning sea."

But, it was this one, published in Common Dreams, that hit me like Nocera's daily financial two-by-four.

The connection between the budget for the War in Iraq and Afghanistan and this financial bail out are simply breathtaking.

I don't know about you, but tonight's debate between McCain and Obama better be more than political theater. I want more than political slogans or attack, counter-attack. I want to hear some real substance - not clever soundbites.

In fact, I'm writing the Obama Campaign right now to tell them that. They have no trouble asking me for "even $5". Even if I never gave them a cent, I think I have the right to hear more than what has amounted to verbal foreplay and posturing.

I hope you will write your candidate's office, too. We need 'straight' answers to difficult questions.

The old saying from the '60's was never more apt: "If you aren't outraged, you are not paying attention."

Making Some Sense of $700 Billion

by James Carroll
Published on Monday, October 6, 2008 by The Boston Globe

How much is 700 billion? The mind registers the number with such imprecision as to make it meaningless. One blogger proposed this way of grasping the figure: As a stack of $100 bills, it would reach 54 miles high. But who can imagine that? On the other hand, someone at the Smithsonian once calculated that counting to one billion, at the rate of one digit per second, would take 30 years. By that scale, counting to 700 billion would take 21,000 years.

Come again? That stretch of time takes us back to the cave painters of Lascaux, the glacial age, the last Neanderthals. The mind is not helped.

By a nice coincidence, though, the financial rescue package of $700 billion duplicates a number that was also in the news last week - the Pentagon budget. In the fiscal year just beginning, the Defense Department will spend $607 billion on normal military costs, and an additional $100 billion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (As of June 30, 2008, Congress had appropriated $859 billion for the wars; Congressional Budget Office projections assume further costs of $400 billion to $500 billion as the wars wind down). But for the coming year, $700 billion is the Pentagon's nice round number (this includes neither Homeland Security nor intelligence costs).

Step back. All of last week's hand-wringing hoopla over the emergency bailout stands in stark contrast to the utter indifference with which politicians approved an equivalent layout for the military - an approval so routine that it was ignored in the press and by the public.

Barack Obama has no issue with current Defense expenditures. The annual American military budget is at least 10 times larger than the military budgets of Russia and China; it is 20 times larger than the entire budget of the US State Department. But last week's demonstration of anguish over the historic financial rescue figure throws an entirely new light on the nearly identical number that will fund the Pentagon for one measly year.

This is not a matter merely of comparison. Here is the question that no one is asking about America's grave financial crisis: By fueling corporate profits, jobs, and private-sector growth for two generations with massive over-investment in the military, has the United States gutted the real worth of its economy?

One needn't be an economist to know that spending money on war planes, missiles, and exotic weapons systems, not to mention combat operations, creates far less social capital than spending on education, bridges, mass transit, new forms of energy - even the arts.

The genius of this nation's most brilliant minds has been yoked for more than half a century to the invention of ways to kill and destroy. ("I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness." - Allen Ginsberg's "Howl," 1956) What if those minds had been put to work imagining alternative futures - the rescue of the environment, the ending of disease and poverty, the artistic fulfillment of new media, the teaching of children? It's a question as old as Eisenhower ("The cost of one modern heavy bomber," he said in 1953, "is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities." Leaving office, he said, "We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage." That's us.)

The $700 billion bailout aims to rescue the world's economy, but that, too, raises questions about the Pentagon's prior effect there. Because America has put military invention at the heart of its enterprise, the exporting of weapons to countries that do not need them and cannot afford them has become a main mode of this nation's being in the world. (The Arms Control Association reports that in 2007 the Pentagon sent $40 billion worth of arms to two dozen nations; that is double the 2007 appropriation for US foreign aid.) Unneeded weapons spark unnecessary wars.

That the majority of humans are in dire straits and that the planet itself is groaning are issues treated like givens of nature, yet they are results of the ways creativity is channeled and resources are shared. $700 billion for rescue. $700 billion for war. Something is wrong with this picture, and last week that coincidence of numbers told us what.

© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company
James Carroll's column appears regularly in the Globe.

Article printed from www.CommonDreams.org
URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/10/06-5

Published on Sunday, October 5, 2008
by The Progressive
Ten Years After Matthew Shepard’s Murder, We Need to Act

by Steve Ralls

It has been 10 years since openly gay college student Matthew Shepard was brutally killed in Wyoming. On Oct. 6, 1998, he was beaten and strung up on a fence. He died six days later.

Unfortunately, little has been done to curb such attacks, and elected leaders at the state and federal level are largely missing-in-action when it comes to protecting our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) loved ones.

In the days and weeks immediately following Shepard's death, numerous elected leaders promised swift action to pass federal hate crimes legislation that would protect LGBT Americans.

Ten years later, the bill, which bears Shepard's name, has never become law.

The need for the law is as urgent now as it was in 1998. Hate crimes against the LGBT community increased 24 percent nationwide last year, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. Especially startling increases occurred in Michigan (up 207 percent), Minnesota (up 135 percent) and even in Los Angeles, which saw a 100 percent increase in anti-gay violence in 2007.

Anti-gay murders doubled, the coalition reported.

In California, student Lawrence King was gunned down in his school by a classmate who believed King was gay.

In Colorado, Angie Zapata, a young transgender woman, was attacked and killed while on a date.

In South Carolina, Sean Kennedy was viciously beaten outside a local gay bar, and later died from his injuries.

And right now, in the nation's capital, the gay community is on heightened alert following at least three anti-gay attacks in neighborhoods generally considered safe for LGBT Washingtonians.

Those numbers, and those stories, should shock Americans and spur them to take action.

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) recently partnered with Sean Kennedy's mother to launch a petition calling on lawmakers to pass, and President Bush to sign, the Matthew Shepard Act.

The bill would provide much-needed assistance to state and local law enforcement agencies in investigating and prosecuting violent, bias-motivated crimes. Virtually every major law enforcement organization in the country has endorsed the bill, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National District Attorneys Association, the National Sheriffs Association, the Police Executive Research Forum, and 31 state attorneys general.

Our country cannot wait another decade, and endure countless more attacks on our families, before Congress takes action.

In Matthew Shepard's name, let's get it done.

Copyright 2008 The Progressive Magazine
Steve Ralls is communications director for PFLAG. He can be reached at pmproj@progressive.org.

Article printed from www.CommonDreams.org
URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/10/05-1

Ennio Marchetto is a world renowned and awarded Italian performer who has created his own theatrical language mixing mime, dance, music and quick costume changes made of cardboard and paper.

He does impressions of stars and singers using paper costumes that transform from one person into another.

I think he's incredible! But don't take my word for it - see for yourself!

Just a little something that has nothing to do with politics, the economy or anything having to do with the next episode of "As the Anglican World Turns."

Then again, that's the whole point of "entertainment," right? Ennio Marchetto is a masterful entertainer.

In addition to being Domestic Violence Awareness Month, October is also LGBT History Month. If you got to this website, you can check out the lives of 31 LGBT people who have made significant contributions to our world - from artists, to Olympians, to government leaders.

It's a wonderful counterpoint to the tragic murder of Matthew Shepherd. We will commemorate the 10th (!!) anniversary of his death on October 12 - just one day after National Coming Out Day on October 11th (Happy Birthday, Jon! ;~>).

One teeny-tiny complaint about the site: It's called "GLBT History Month" and I really, really wish they had organized the letters so the "L" was first. It would be, for me, a recognition of the double prejudice women endure - an acknowledgment that male privilege is still operative in our culture and an understanding that the root cause of homophobia and heterosexism is sexism and misogyny.

As my friend, Kathy Ragsdale, says, we'll never successfully undo the oppressive system of heterosexism without dismantling sexism and patriarchy first.

End of small rant.

Today, I am highlighting one of my s/heroes in Our Tribe, but I know you'll enjoy reading the biographies of all the brave LGBT people who make us all proud.

ALICE WALKER

Author and Feminist

b. February 9, 1944

“The truest and most enduring impulse I have is simply to write.”

Alice Walker is an award-winning writer, activist and self-proclaimed “Womanist”—a term she coined in her book “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens” (1974) to describe black feminists. The voices she brings to life in her novels, short stories and poems helped educate and inspire readers.

Walker was raised in Eatonton, Georgia, during segregation. She was the youngest of eight children born to poor sharecroppers.

Walker received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College in 1965. She moved back to the South to pursue civil rights work and met Mel Leventhal. Walker and Leventhal, a Jewish civil rights lawyer, were the first interracial couple to be legally married in Mississippi. Walker had her only child during the marriage. The couple divorced in 1976.

Walker began teaching at Wellesley College in 1972. Her course, dedicated to the study of African-American women writers, was the first of its kind.

Her most famous novel, “The Color Purple” (1983), won a National Book Award and made Walker the first African-American woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In 1985, the novel was made into a movie directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover. The film earned 11 Oscar nominations. In 2005, “The Color Purple” was adapted as a Broadway musical, with Winfrey as the lead financial backer.

Walker’s awards include a Guggenheim Foundation Grant, an American Book Award, a Lillian Smith Award and an O’Henry Award. She was inducted into the Georgia Writer’s Hall of Fame and the California Hall of Fame. In 1997, Walker was named Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association.

I continue to be amazed at the highly creative responses inspired by Obama's leadership.

Let's get those "swing voters."