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Episcopal Seminaries Struggle With Costs Long-Held Training Model Faces an Uncertain Future By G. Jeffrey MacDonald Religion News Service Saturday, May 17, 2008; B09 In the cloistered world of Episcopal seminaries, time sometimes seems to stand still as clergy-in-training gather in stone chapels to pray in ways familiar to their forebears centuries earlier. But the semblance of timelessness can be deceiving. Some of the 11 seminaries affiliated with the Episcopal Church are slashing core programs, while others report rapid growth in enrollment. Still others are reexamining conventional wisdom about what it takes -- and how much it costs -- to...

Click the link to listen to the following songs, each will make you laugh because they are so absurd, and cry because they do indeed fit so many who proclaim to be Christian. Blest Be The Tie That Doesn't Cramp My Style Pillow of Ages, Fluffed for Me I Surrender Some I'm Fairly Certain That My Redeemer Live Sit Up, Sit Up For Jesus Take My Life and Let Me Be What An Acquaintance We Have In Jesus Where He Leads Me, I Will Consider Following He's Quite a Bit To Me Oh, How I Like Jesus Fill My Spoon,...

The world has endured an almost mind-numbing series of shocks in recent weeks, from the unprecedented swarm of tornadoes across the American Midwest to the death and destruction wrought by Cyclone Nargis as it tore a path through Myanmar, better known as Burma.There were 368 documented tornadoes in the U.S. in January and February of this year, shattering the previous record of 243 over that two-month period, set in 1999. February's total of 232 tornadoes also shattered previous records.Cyclone Nargis ripped Burma apart, killing at least 128,000, according to Red Cross estimates, and creating some 2.5 million refugees.Al Gore was...

Why a Human Utopia Won't Happen by Bill Bradford My children started watching it first. I happened to see it on television occasionally. Then I found myself drawn into this social drama by the endless manifestations of ever-evolving technology. Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry, is the popular space-odyssey television adventure in which man in the 25th century is expanding his philosophy and near-utopian coexistence among other, less-sophisticated, inhabitants of the galaxies.It's an idea older than Plato that man can somehow engineer a civilization that brings peace, happiness and prosperity to all who can be persuaded to embrace its philosophy.In...

Following the California Supreme Court's decision Thursday to overturn a ban on gay marriage there, both the LDS Church and the Catholic Archdiocese in San Francisco released statements about the decision, reiterating their views of marriage and commenting on the court's action. Both churches worked to help outlaw gay marriage in California several years ago. The LDS Church released the following statement: "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recognizes that same sex marriage can be an emotional and divisive issue. However, the church teaches that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that...

Thesis: Remember when gay rights movement started? The gays stated their goal was just to be accepted. Since that time "accepted" has morphed into what we saw transpire in the California Supreme Court: full marriage rights to the gays. Very few saw this coming at the beginning of the Gay rights movement. The entire process was akin to putting a frog in a pot of cold water and gradually turning up the heat. THAT being said, is it outlandish to think that the restorationist LDS sectlets, such as the fLDS, will start bringing cases to court claiming their right to...

A Plano megachurch minister was taken into custody Thursday after authorities say he drove to Bryan, Texas, to have sex with a person he thought to be a 13-year-old. Joe Barron, a minister at Prestonwood Baptist Church, is accused of online solicitation of a minor.

On the eve of his first Stateside appearance, the hammers have begun to fall on Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, the retired Sydney auxiliary whose controversial tome on power, sex and abuse in the church has seen the reserved, strait-laced canonist publicly taken to task for "casting doubt" on the teaching of Christ and the authority of the Magisterium. In recent weeks, after Robinson wrote courtesy notes to the bishops of the American dioceses where he'd be appearing simply to inform them of his presence, several of the ordinaries reportedly responded by requesting that he cancel his plans. From Rome, the...

All, Mission To The World, the PCA's international ministry, has issued an appeal for funds to aid in the relief of Myanmar cyclone victims. I know that most of us have heard stories about countries and large relief agencies having their hands tied, but God will provide a way for His church to break through manmade barriers. _________________________________________________________________ Horrifying and harrowing stories are emerging in the aftermath of the catastrophic tropical cyclone that devastated much of already poverty-striken Myanmar. Reuters News is reporting as many as one million people left homeless. No one really knows how high the death toll...

Up Next: watch the promo May 18, 2008 on WGVU-TV West Michigan:#820 Christians in the Courtroom Witnesses place their hand on the Bible before they testify: how would principles from that Bible play out if it were actually opened up and applied? Would prosecutors be arguing for forgiveness? Stephen Bloom, attorney with Irwin & McKnight law firm in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and author of The Believer's Guide to Legal Issues, wonders with host Karen Saupe how empty courtrooms might become. Inner Compass is a television interview show that explores how people make their decisions about ethical, religious, and social justice issues....

The regional governing body of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and representatives of the Stow Presbyterian Church have reached an agreement that allows the local congregation to keep the church property. The pact comes after 18 months of discussions between the Stow church and the Eastminster Presbytery, according to the Rev. Dan Schomer, who leads the Mineral Ridge-based presbytery, which includes 55 churches in Summit, Portage, Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties. ''The action to dissolve the congregation effectively severs the ties of the church to the denomination and permits it to continue its ministry as an independent congregation,'' Schomer said in...

COLORADO SPRINGS — An El Paso County District judge ruled Tuesday that the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado and officials of Grace Church and St. Stephen's Parish in Colorado Springs must resolve their $17 million property dispute at trial. District Judge Larry E. Schwartz concluded that he cannot make a decision based solely on matters of law because "there is virtually no agreement as to the facts."

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori The Episcopal Church USA 815 Second Avenue New York, NY Dear Bishop Katharine, I received word of your letter through a colleague who had seen it on the internet. Without the internet, I may never have known that you had written such a personal, yet sadly ironic, letter to me. Unfortunately, you appear to have been misinformed about key matters, which I hope to clear up in this letter. 1. I am not visiting a church in the Diocese of Georgia. I am visiting a congregation that is part of the Church of Uganda....

NEW YORK — Six Bahá’í leaders in Iran were arrested and taken to the notorious Evin prison yesterday in a sweep that is ominously similar to episodes in the 1980s when scores of Iranian Bahá’í leaders were summarily rounded up and killed. The six men and women, all members of the national-level group that helped see to the minimum needs of Bahá’ís in Iran, were in their homes Wednesday morning when government intelligence agents entered and spent up to five hours searching each home, before taking them away.The seventh member of the national coordinating group was arrested in early March...

MIANYANG, China (CNS) -- Sister Zhang Yimei expressed gratitude to God for protecting her younger brother, a priest, during the recent earthquake, but is concerned for the well-being of the family of another nun serving in her parish. "My brother, Father Francis Zhang Yiqiang, was preparing for the centenary of the former seminary in Bailu town and just happened to be out buying things for the celebration when the church building collapsed," she told the Asian church news agency UCA News. The siblings serve in different parts of the Chengdu Diocese, near the epicenter of the magnitude 7.9 earthquake that...

Did Doug Kmiec Just Now Catch On That Obama and NARAL Are Politically Conjoined? [UPDATED] Erstwhile "Reaganite" and now Obamolochite Douglas Kmiec writes at Catholic Online: Having been drawn to Senator Obama’s remarkable “love thy neighbor” style of campaigning, his express aim to transcend partisan divide, and specifically, his appreciation for faith ("secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square"), I did not expect to be clobbered by co-religionists. On the blogs, I have been declared “self-excommunicated,” and recently at a Mass before a dinner speech to...

Motorcyclists in town for the Harley-Davidson spring bike rally are being pinched at the pump like all drivers. The economy is down, gas costs are up and the bike rallies are traditionally the start of the tourist season, when prices at hotels begin to rise. An organized campaign One group has specific goals this week - to save as many bikers' souls as possible. And the Baptist missionaries are playing to people's pocketbooks to do it. At the Citgo gas station on U.S. 17 Business South and Farrow Parkway, bikers can get $10 worth of gas, a "Biker Bible" and...

INDIANAPOLIS (BP)—Prayer is news at this year’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Indianapolis. A chaplains’ luncheon and a Missional Network discussion also may yield a few lines of ink. This year’s prayer emphasis at the Southern Baptist Convention has been boosted by the efforts of Indianapolis-area pastors who have caught a vision of what can happen when people spend more time praying. At last year’s meeting of the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana, a first-of-its-kind prayer room featured videos, maps and other visual aids along with Bible verses, specific requests and journals to facilitate prayer. The room was...

UNDATED (AP) — Coordinators of this Thursday's National Day of Prayer are taking hits from both sides.Jews on First and the Council on American Islamic Relations accuse the National Day of Prayer Task Force of turning the day into an evangelical event that excludes others. The Jewish and Muslim groups are calling for alternative gatherings that are more inclusive.Meanwhile, conservative Christian hosts on the VCY America Radio Network are criticizing the honorary chairman of this year's National Day of Prayer, Doctor Ravi Zacharias, for posting an official prayer that concludes “in God's holy name” instead of “in Jesus' name." They...

Writing in the Vatican newspaper, the astronomer, Father Gabriel Funes, said intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space...........

Some prominent Christian leaders said this week that they will not sign the “An Evangelical Manifesto,� listing reasons such as vague wording and theological differences. The manifesto’s definition of evangelical itself was among the top concerns for some leaders who refused to sign the document. The document’s description for evangelicals is “Christians who define themselves, their faith, and their lives according to the Good News of Jesus of Nazareth.� Several evangelical leaders said that while the definition is true, it is too broad and therefore not a good definition to distinguish who evangelicals are. “Those are wonderful words filled with...

On Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite "He Has New Relevance as a Mediator in Dialogue With Theologies of Asia" VATICAN CITY, MAY 14, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today at the general audience in St. Peter's Square. * * * Dear brothers and sisters: In the course of the catechesis on the Fathers of the Church, I would like to speak today about a very mysterious figure: a theologian from the sixth century, whose name is not known, and who wrote under the pseudonym of Dionysius the Areopagite. With this pseudonym, he alluded to the...

The smell won't be incense Sunday, but burnt rubber. Leave that coat and tie in the closet. Grab your Dale Jr. T-shirt, and practice your "whoooeeeee!" NASCAR is coming to church. First Baptist Church in Rock Hill, most of the time a traditional Southern Baptist flock, will try something Sunday so outlandish, so unorthodox and cool, that it just might work: NASCAR All-Star Sunday. If you are one of the "unchurched" or "dechurched" who might have fallen off the church wagon somewhere in life's Turn 4 so many years ago, this is your kind of worship. In the foyer, next...

Aberdeen, SD, May 14, 2008 / 01:08 am (CNA).- Presentation College in Aberdeen, South Dakota has withdrawn an invitation to a commencement speaker because of her views on legalized abortion.State Senator Nancy Turbak-Berry was scheduled to deliver the commencement address at the college on Saturday.  According to the Associated Press, she said she was told on Friday that she could not speak there because of her views on abortion.  She had accepted the invitation to speak in January.College officials reportedly said they had made an “administrative decision” to withdraw the invitation because her pro-abortion views were incompatible with Catholic...

MCKINNEY, TX, May 13, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Texas residents are alarmed that Bishop Kevin Farrell has appointed Fr. Arthur Mallinson, a priest associated with a prominent website for actively homosexual priests and religious, pastor of the newly renovated St. Michael's parish in McKinney, Texas. Fr. Arthur Mallinson's picture has appeared on the St. Sebastian's Angels (SSA) website, a now defunct online network for actively homosexual priests and religious that featured pornographic images, sexually explicit comments, and derogatory remarks about Vatican churchmen, particularly against then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. In 1999, the reform organization Roman Catholic Faithful (RCF) exposed SSA and the fifty-three...

LUBBOCK, Texas — A former Lubbock pastor convicted of pocketing more than $500,000 in federal funds meant for needy children over summer breaks was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison Monday. James Cornell Clark, former pastor of Mount Vernon United Methodist Church, was convicted in January on 41 counts of fraud, laundering and other charges. Five business entities created by Clark were also convicted of money laundering charges. Prosecutors say Clark created the businesses to receive funds for the Summer Food Program, created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide nutritious meals for children when school is closed....

Pilgrims sing the praises of Latin The Tridentine Mass is being revived by young Catholics while walking to Chartres Cathedral Greg Watts Religion may well be in decline among European youth but it is by no means dead. This weekend about 6,000 young Catholics will set off on a 75-mile walk from Paris to Chartres Cathedral — and as they walk they will all be praying and singing in Latin. Pope Benedict XVI’s decision last year in his apostolic letter, Summorum pontificum, to revive the Tridentine Latin Mass, was seen as a turning back of the clock by some liberal...

Pastor John Hagee of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, wrote a letter of apology to the Catholic community. ...In so far as some of my past statements regarding the Roman Catholic Church have raised concerns in your community, I am writing in a spirit of respect and reconciliation to clarify my views. Out of a desire to advance greater unity among Catholics and Evangelicals in promoting the common good, I want to express my deep regret for any comments that Catholics have found hurtful. After engaging in constructive dialogue with Catholic friends and leaders, I now have an improved...

It has been a busy week for candidates announcing to run for Southern Baptist Convention president. We have three new candidates, but I know little about them except for what the linked articles tell us. If anyone knows more about these three your comments would be welcome. Johnny Hunt to be SBC president nominee Avery Willis to be SBC president nominee Les Puryear to be SBC president nominee

ROME, MAY 13, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.Q: I noticed that the Holy Father is carrying a new processional cross. Can you tell us about that new cross and perhaps why the Holy Father made the decision to carry this new cross rather than the one that he has carried for the past several years -- the same one that Pope John Paul II carried? Are there norms and guidelines for what type of shepherd's staff the Holy Father can carry? -- B.D., Columbia City, IndianaA: I...

As my regular readers know, I have blogged in the past two weeks about my visit to Lakewood Church. I issued an open letter to Joel Osteen asking him to embrace the gay community by responding to Soulforce's request for Lakewood Church to participate in the American Family Outing. I also blogged about the press conference that Soulforce held last week. You can read these previous entries on this blog. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the picnic on Saturday because of other family and church obligations, but Soulforce issued the following press release just moments ago. Jay Bakker and...

ROME, MAY 13, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Most journalists covering the Church have a hard time grasping its scope, and its real nature "slips through their fingers," said an organizer of a seminar that aims to give the press tools for reporting on Catholicism.John Wauck explained to ZENIT the difficulties journalists have when they are assigned to report on the Church and he spoke about the seminar he is helping to organize. Wauck is the president of the organizing committee for "The Church Up Close: Covering Catholicism in the Age of Benedict XVI," offered by Rome's Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.The...

So you are the bishops of England and you've got a moral problem. Scientists of the "Hey! We've got Funding! We *Have* To Do it!" school of post-Christian ethic in the UK are champing at the bit to commit brand new sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance by creating human-animal hybrid embryos. A bill legalizing this monstrous evil is submitted. What do you do? Well, the first thing you do is say "most of the procedures covered by the bill should not be licensed under any circumstances. They argue that this is because they violate human rights." So:...

Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons, groups that consider themselves Christians but are labeled by many as cults, differ vastly from the born-again population when it comes to core Christian doctrines, according to a new survey released Monday. The only belief that Witnesses share in the same degree with born-again Christians is that their religious faith is very important in their life, reported The Barna Group. Nine out of 10 people from both groups held this view. But beyond this commonality, the two groups parted ways and differed on all the other criteria for being born-again. Only seven percent of Jehovah’s Witnesses...

Weak preaching and cultural adaptability are just two of many reasons Southern Baptists give to explain the decline of membership and baptisms. "[T]he shallow state of preaching has exacerbated the lethargy of the church and left the lost with no real Word from God," said Paige Patterson, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, in a column in Baptist Press. "The pastor ought to be the major source of theological understanding and the most able teacher of the Bible,� he added. "Anemic pulpits create anemic churches and denominations." Since the release last month of the latest data...

BERLIN — It is only a breathless Hollywood script: treasure-hunter Indiana Jones races with German archaeologists to track down the fabled Ark of the Covenant, the chest that held the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were etched. Now German researchers claim to have found the remains of the palace of the Queen of Sheba — and an altar that may have held the Ark. The discovery, announced by the University of Hamburg last week, has stirred skeptical rumblings from the archaeological community. The location of the Ark, indeed its existence, has been a source of controversy for centuries....

Hundreds of gallons of water which rose from the cellar of a Cambridgeshire church are believed to have come from an old drain. Water was coming up from underneath the Trinity Church in March at a rate of about 10 gallons (45 litres) an hour. Reg Kemp, property steward of Trinity Church, had drunk the "holy" water and said he hoped it could be bottled and become an attraction. But Anglian Water said tests proved it was "environmentally contaminated". The spokesman said: "It could cause an upset stomach, whatever the source. Even if it's a natural spring or rainwater it...

This is great. AP is carrying this story about a group of Religious Sisters who couldn't vote yesterday in Indiana because they lacked proper I.D. The best part is that the one who turned them away was another Sister! (emphases added) About 12 Indiana nuns were turned away Tuesday from a polling place by a fellow sister because they didn't have state or federal identification bearing a photograph. Sister Julie McGuire said she was forced to turn away her fellow members of Saint Mary's Convent in South Bend, across the street from the University of Notre Dame, because they had been...

At Fatima, Our Lady gave a basic message: conversion or chastisement. Conversion is not happening, and we are living in a moral crisis that is a real chastisement. But we are also experiencing a chastisement in the form of natural disasters. The disasters are also invitations to conversions. St. Alphonsus Liguori, tells us how God uses natural calamities such as floods, tornadoes, and earthquakes, to warn people to change their ways, rather than as punishments. He show proves that God uses these disasters to warn us to change our ways. Here are the facts: -- Mother's Day brought a devastating...

Lightning bolts appear above and around the Chaiten volcano as seen from Chana, some 30 kms (19 miles) north of the volcano, as it began its first eruption in thousands of years, in southern Chile May 2, 2008. Cases of electrical storms breaking out directly above erupting volcanos are well documented, although scientists differ on what causes them. Picture taken May 2, 2008. REUTERS/Carlos Gutierrez (CHILE) The Etna volcano in Sicily rumbled back to life on Tuesday with a "seismic event" followed by a burst of ash, volcanologists said three days after minor eruptions shook the cone. A "seismic...

[The following joyful announcement is lifted from the Rorate Ceali blog. --PP] The Chaldean Catholic Diocese of St. Peter and Paul has formally received into its fold, those members of the Assyrian Catholic Apostolic Diocese who, under the leadership of Mar Bawai Soro (pictured above), had asked to be reconciled with the Catholic Church last January 17, 2008. One bishop (Mar Bawai himself), six priests, 30+ deacons and subdeacons and an estimated 3,000 faithful were received into full communion during liturgical celebrations for the Feast of Pentecost. Mar Bawai Soro has long advocated the Primacy of the See of Rome....

Beijing - The son of American evangelist Billy Graham said Friday he is opposed to missionary work at this summer's Beijing Olympic Games. Franklin Graham, also an evangelist, was speaking to reporters Friday during a visit to Beijing for meetings with the Communist Party-controlled Protestant church movement. He said he wanted to encourage authorities to resolve conflicts with the church, but would not criticize policies that critics say limit the church's independence and religious rights. While some Christian groups have said they plan to proselytize during the August games, Graham said he was against that because Chinese law does not...

A coalition of faith-based groups has joined forces, calling on Congress to pass resolutions in both houses to focus on the Ten Commandments. Bill Murray, son of deceased atheist leader Madelyn Murray O'Hair and chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition, is part of the pro-Ten Commandments coalition. "Both of these [resolutions] would authorize a Ten Commandments weekend in order to recognize the Ten Commandments as the foundation of law in this country," Murray explains. "But with Nancy Pelosi in charge of the House and Harry Reid in charge of the Senate, we can't have a voice. We can't get these...

The Chaldean Catholic Diocese of St. Peter and Paul has formally received into its fold, those members of the Assyrian Catholic Apostolic Diocese who, under the leadership of Mar Bawai Soro (pictured above), had asked to be reconciled with the Catholic Church last January 17, 2008. One bishop (Mar Bawai himself), six priests, 30+ deacons and subdeacons and an estimated 3,000 faithful were received into full communion during liturgical celebrations for the Feast of Pentecost. The announcement by the Chaldean Catholic Church can be found here. The Black Cordelias blog has an earlier article here. Mar Bawai Soro has...

Posted as a discussion thread for the topic of caucus thread at: This FR location Many readers have read about the finding of ancient votive altars in Yemen that appear to bear the Book of Mormon place-name Nahom. This significant find has been noted in the Ensign magazine,[1] in the April 2001 general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,[2] and in a recently published volume by Terryl Givens in which he refers to these altars as "the first actual archaeological evidence for the historicity of the Book of Mormon" and "the most impressive find to date...

Monday and Thrsday mornings, 5/12 and 5/15Kohen--Leviticus 25:1-3Levi--vs. 4-7Yisra'el--vs. 8-13 Strday 5/17--Shabbat Parashat BeHarMORNING Kohen--Leviticus 25:1-13Levi--25:14-18Shelishi--25:19-24Revi`i--25:25-28Chamishi--25:29-38Shishi--25:39-46Shevi`i--25:47-26:2Maftir--25:55-26:2Haftarah--Jeremiah 32:6-27 EVENING Kohen--Leviticus 26:3-5Levi--vs. 6-9Yisra'el--vs. 10-13

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A US watchdog on religious freedom on Friday expressed serious concern over violations in strife-torn Iraq and was considering whether to place the ally of Washington on a blacklist with countries such as North Korea and Iran. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom said in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that it was “seriously concerned” about religious freedom conditions in Iraq, where widespread persecution of Christians has been reported. The 10-member commission last year placed Iraq on its “watchlist” but its members were now divided on whether it should be maintained in...

But why am I opposed to this 'Healing Revival' so soon after it has been announced? -It is because I already know Todd Bentley's ministry all too well, and this whole thing centers around him.

Memo to Arch-Tame Wuerl: Yes, sir, it can be done! Kansas, May. 9, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City has announced that Governor Kathleen Sebelius should not receive Communion because of her support for legal abortion. In a column appearing on May 9 in the archdiocesan newspaper, The Leaven, the archbishop said that Governor Sebelius has sent a "spiritually lethal message" by implying that she could remain a Catholic in good standing while supporting abortion on demand. The archbishop's column cited in particular the governor's veto of the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act, which would have required abortionists...

I have been to the outpouring in Lakeland twice with my family. I was wondering if any other Freepers have been as well. We went when it was still in Ignited Church which holds 700. It has moved to a church in Auburndale that holds 3,000, they then moved it to the Lakeland Convention Center that holds 9,000 and then to Lakeland Tigers Baseball stadium that holds nearly 12,000. Tonight it will be at Lakeland/Linder Airport, Sun and Fun Grounds. We have seen lots of healings and miracles. It has been going on for over 35 days and will be...