MRS WILKE'S LOLDOG OF THE WEEK

ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESESEXUALISES PROM NIGHT

As an englishman I have no knowledge about "prom nights" except what I have picked up off films like "Carrie." It seems to me to be a very expensive excuse to make unpopular children feel bad about themselves and wish that, they too, had Sissy Spacek's knife throwing abilities. This story, sent in to me yesterday by Whiteycat, just reinforces my disdain for both prom nights and the Roman Catholic hierarchy.

From CBS PHILLY:

For many students, prom is the most anticipated night of their high school career.

Amanda Dougherty was all set to go to the prom, she was excited. When she bought her prom dress, that was it, she says she knew it was the one for her. Amanda paid $95 for the prom tickets, add that to the cost of the dress, the shoes, flowers and she says it’s close to $1,000. But when Amanda’s date cancelled on her earlier this week, she slammed right into a wall. She says she was told by school officials at Archbishop John Carroll High School she could not go to the junior prom next Friday without a date.

“For them to say that we’re not good enough to go unless we have a guy standing next to us, it’s just kind of sickening,” said Amanda.

The office of Catholic Education has released a statement which reads in part:

"The prom is an exciting event for students in all of our Archdiocesan high schools. We do have policies in place to regulate both the junior and senior prom. Unfortunately, not all students are able to attend. We can’t address specific issues with specific students but there are various reasons that a student would not be able to attend. Not having a date is one example. Our high schools offer numerous dances and events throughout the year where dates are not required, but we view the prom as a special social event where a date is required to attend."

The girl from Glenolden says she is willing to fight to change the policy for all students and her efforts to do so are making her dad proud.

“She’s standing up for what she believes is right."

Everything is about sex with the Roman Catholics. You can't even go to a dance unless there is the chance that you will end up procreating.

THINKING ANGLICANS IN GAY COVER-UP

My comment, posted to THINKING ANGLICANS, following their refusal to post comments by JCF and me, yesterday.

I think sexuality is an important part of this debate and Thinking Anglican's censorship of any comment that hints at the fact that Martin is gay is an indication of just how establishment this site has become.

BROKEN HOMES LEAD TO MORE BARRISTERS

From CHRISTIAN TODAY:

A new institution was launched this week by High Court Sir Paul Coleridge to restore marriage to its central place in British society. It will champion marriage as the most stable environment to raise children in.

Sir Paul described marriage and family breakdown as "one of the most destructive scourges of our time".

“The most stable family structure to raise children is within marriage. Just one in eleven married couples split by a child’s fifth birthday, compared with one in three cohabiting couples," he said.

He said that the children growing up in single parent homes were more likely to become involved in the criminal justice system.

What? Like himself? He must be raking in the cash so it obviously can't be all that bad.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND SAYS,"YES, JESUS WAS GAY"

Every time the Church of England allows a gay man, who believes that women cannot be priests because Jesus and/or his disciples were not women, to be ordained to the episcopacy, they are stating, by the same logic, that Jesus and/or the disciples were gay. If they are going to use the logic of a five year old then they should, at least, have the integrity to apply that logic consistently.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND BETRAYS WOMEN (AGAIN)

Back when the Church of England agreed to ordain women to the priesthood, General Synod agreed a plan that insisted that bishops, who thought women were not made in the image of God, would be ordained to provide separate (from the diocesan bishop) oversight to those members of the clergy (and their congregations) who also believed that women were not saved by the incarnational actions of Jesus Christ. Of course, this was a foul, uncatholic provision that made the Church of England look like an anochronistic bastion of chauvinism and bigotry to the citizens of England who had long ago accepted that women were human too. But it did have a sort of logic to it.

This logic has been completed confounded by the appointment of Bishop Martin Warner to the see of Chichester. Warner is a staunch reactionary from that part of the Anglo-Catholic party in England that is dominated by old school gay priests with an almost misogynist fear and jealousy of women. He is now to take on the headship of a whole diocese in which there are both women and men in the priesthood. But he doesn't believe women can be priests and he certainly won't ordain women to the priesthood. This is like the prime minister of England not accepting that the female members of parliament have the right to vote in Parliament. How can somebody help you realise your priestly vocation if they don't believe you are a priest in the first place?

There are no flying bishops available to provide pastoral oversight to the female priests and non-misogynist church members of Chichester Diocese. Therefore, the Church of England is rejecting a whole section of its membership in Chichester from the episcopal care that is a central mark of the catholic identity of the English church. If we are still reneging on the promises we made to women back in the 1990s I fear there is little hope of women becoming "real" bishops in the Church of England anytime soon. If General Synod does vote to allow women to join the house of bishops it will be an act of straw. The continued promotion of men to positions of authority over women (whether women like it or not) without also the promotion of women to positions of authority over men (whether men like it or not) is just another embarrassing example over the entrenched patriarchalism, hypocrisy and self-interested selectiveness that has led to the Anglican church in England becoming less relevant to the English than the Flat Earth Society.

NEWCASTLE DIOCESE REWRITES ORDINAL

From THE CHURCH TIMES:

I collect prayer books. I've got copies of the Book of Common Prayer dating back to the middle of the Eighteenth Century and all the modern service books that have been approved by the Church of England in recent years. I've checked them all and I cannot find any reference to the new clerical order of "senior priest." This is annoying because it means that I have no definition of what a senior priest is. I know I'm not a senior priest because I've never been ordained as one. I was ordained deacon and then, a year later, ordained a priest. But that's it. I had always assumed that the only other order of priesthood was that of bishop. What is more, these senior priests are very secretive about their ordinations. I know someone who is a canon at Newcastle Cathedral, and I thought we were friends. Obviously not because he never invited me to his ordination to the senior priesthood.

This petty insistence on hierarchy, even within the orthodox orders of the Church, pretty much sums up the attitude of those with the power in the Church of England today. It really used to piss me off the way the Bishop of Newcastle referred to his little caucus of yes men (and one woman who was there to take the minutes) as his "senior staff." It makes a mockery of both tradition and scripture.

"There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus except for the canons of Newcastle Cathedral who are so much better than the rest of you." (Galatians 3:28 "Revised Old School Tie Version")

BILLY GRAHAM RALLIES FOR INJUSTICE

The Rev. Billy Graham urged North Carolina voters Wednesday to support an amendment to the state constitution banning gay marriage, a move that an observer said was highly unusual but another said was in keeping with the minister's moral beliefs.

"Watching the moral decline of our country causes me great concern," said Graham. "I believe the home and marriage is the foundation of our society and must be protected."

His complete statement about Amendment One will be part of full-page ads slated to appear in 14 North Carolina newspapers throughout the weekend.

Full story at THE HUFFINGTON POST.

THE MIDNIGHT JUKEBOX

If William Shakespeare had written countries then the United States of America would have been his greatest tragedy.



JASON'S WEBSITE
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PURCHASE FROM AMAZON USA

PURCHASE FROM AMAZON UK

CHICHESTER CARRIES ON THEGAY, MISOGYNIST TRADITION

From THE RUTLAND AND STAMFORD MERCURY:

The new Bishop of Chichester has been named as Dr Martin Warner.

Dr Warner, 53, who has been the Bishop of Whitby in the diocese of York since 2010, succeeds the Rt Rev John Hind who retired last month.

This bloke makes Bishop Gene look like Arnold Schwarzenegger with Charlie Sheen's libido. Yet still the Church of England refuses to let honest gay men like Jeffrey John become bishops.

I sent quite a few applications for parishes in his Whitby jurisdiction. He did not acknowledge one of them. He wouldn't even send me the forms to fill in (which is seriously dodgy, procedurewise, and highlights his arrogance and need to control). Mind you, he is a good friend of a former bishop of Horsham (in Chichester Diocese) who we outed as having a gay relationship in the past when he signed a letter supporting a bunch of homophobic, misogynists in the States. The Gay, Anglo-Catholic Mafia in England is like the Masons - except you are expected to show more leg at your initiation.

DON'T BALME MADPRIEST;BLAME THE NAUGHTY NUN!

THE NUDE MEN CLOCK

NOT X-rated.

This is extremely clever.

Click anywhere in the clock and it becomes digital;
another click and it returns to normal.

THE WEIRDEST SPAM I HAVE EVER RECEIVEDCONFUSED? YOU WILL BE

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WHOLE OF EDINBURGH CONFUSED- BESTIALITY IN STREETS

From PINK NEWS:

A Scottish Episcopal church in Edinburgh has unveiled a mural of two men marrying in a religious ceremony. St John’s Church on Princes Street, one of Edinburgh’s main streets, has a history of topical murals going back thirty years, displayed in full view to passers-by on the busy road.

Donald Reid, Associate Rector at the church, said many photographs have been taken but there had been no negative feedback to the mural whatsoever since it was erected on Saturday. The image of two men, one about to place a ring on the other’s finger while a priest looks on under the words ‘God is love’ should stay up on the side of the church for two weeks.

ANOTHER GOOD MAN DONE GONE

Canon Eric James

born April 14 1925

died May 1 2012

From THE TELEGRAPH:

In many ways it was surprising that he never held high office in the Church, and many believed that he should have done; but although he was for two spells a cathedral residentiary canon, he was not an institution man, preferring instead to be a ecclesiastical gadfly. This he certainly was, and on many occasions it landed him in controversy. The first sign of his lack of reverence for authority came early. While a student at King’s College, London, he purloined the Bishop of London’s hat — a gift from America in the 10-gallon style — and requested a gift to charity for its return. The Bishop was not amused; neither were the college authorities, and the episcopal hat was returned with an abject apology. Many years later there was trouble with another Bishop of London. Dr Gerald Ellison’s translation from Chester to London led James to criticise the move publicly on the grounds that the bishop was ill-equipped for the post. Twenty years later he was in even deeper trouble when, in the course of a sturdy defence of homosexual priests, he declared on television his own homosexuality.

It would be a mistake, however, to conclude from these and other colourful incidents that James was no more than a superficial controversialist. From 1978 to 1996 he held the office of Preacher of Gray’s Inn, and Sunday by Sunday he attracted the attention and won the gratitude of a congregation of judges and barristers with sermons of profound depth and striking contemporary relevance. Four collections of these sermons were published and widely read. His work as Director of Christian Action, in which he inherited the mantle of Canon John Collins, was of considerable significance, not least in suggesting, then servicing, an Archbishops’ commission which produced the influential report Faith in the City (1985).

The rejection by the General Synod in 1972 of proposals for Anglican-Methodist unity led, however, to his resignation from the Synod. He told the Archbishop of Canterbury that a 45,000-mile journey through developing countries had convinced him that he should “not waste further time in such a body”.

By the authority invested in me as a low profile, Church of England dissident, I hereby declare Eric James to be the patron saint of gadflies. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.

SENTAMU'S SUPPORTERS PLAY RACE CARD

From REUTERS:

Since Rowan Williams announced in March that he was to step down as Archbishop of Canterbury, the bookies' favourite has been John Sentamu.But race has reared its head, embroiling the Church in a row that some insiders say shows the insular snobbery and racism that has been accepted quietly for centuries. Arun Arora, his former aide, suggested Sentamu's chances were being blighted by "naked racism" in an anonymous whispering campaign by those who can't bear a black man to "break the chains of history".

My good friend, CHELLIAH LAITY, a Church of England member from a Tamil Christian background, suggested on her blog recently that the "Anyone But York" campaign was about ageism. I disagreed with her. I think it is about race. But it's a complicated racism. In fact, I wouldn't call it racism (although I have friends and former friends who will regard it is as racism and probably unfriend me from Facebook after reading this post); I would call it culturalism. I know it is playing apart in the debate about the next ABC because I am guilty of it myself. It's not old fashioned racism because many of the people who don't want Sentamu anywhere near the top job are people who were advocating that Tutu should be given the post before Boring George was appointed.

I am going to be 100% truthful here. I do not want Sentamu to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury because he thinks, talks and behaves like a Ugandan.

I would also not someone to lead the English church who thinks, talks and behaves like a Pakistani Christian, or like a Northern Irish old school protestant, or like an old school Afrikaan Christian, or like a Papua New Guinea Christian (a province where women are still not allowed to be ordained as priests). I most certainly wouldn't want the Head of the Family Firm in charge of us and he's as white as the head of the Ku Klux Klan.

I would only be comfortable with an archbishop who is, at least attuned, to modern, English culture. I don't care what nationality that person is (it could be a Ugandan and the Scottish Primus, who I would give the job to tomorrow, is a Northern Irish protestant). I just don't want to be embarrassed too much.

SHAMROCK / SHAM CHURCH

CARDINAL COVER-UP

New revelations about the failure of the Catholic primate of all-Ireland to protect children from abuse have been uncovered by the BBC's "This World" show. It found Cardinal Sean Brady had the names and addresses of those being abused by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth, but did not ensure their safety. In 1975, Cardinal Brady was a priest and teacher in County Cavan in the Republic of Ireland, when he was sent by his bishop to investigate a claim of child sexual abuse by a fellow priest.

Sean Brady's role in the affair became clear in 2010, when it became known that he had been present when the abused boy was questioned. He claimed, however, that the boy's father had accompanied him, and described his own role as that of a note-taker. However, the BBC This World investigation has uncovered the notes Cardinal Brady took while the boy was questioned. The child's father was not allowed in the room, and the child was immediately sworn to secrecy.

What Cardinal Brady failed to tell anyone in 2010 was that Brendan Boland had also given him and his colleagues the precise details of a group of children, some of whom, were being abused by Smyth. Cardinal Brady did interview one of them and swore him to secrecy. This World spoke to all of the children who Brendan Boland had identified; they all told the programme that to the best of their knowledge none of their parents or families were warned in any way about the paedophile.

Abuse victims' campaigner Marie Collins, who was raped at the age of 13 by a hospital chaplain in Dublin, said Cardinal Brady should resign.

"I'm amazed no bishops have come out and said he should go," she said.

"We have priests and theologians being silenced by the Vatican - they can act against people whose views they feel are liberal, but they will not act against someone who not only endangered children but let them be abused. If Cardinal Brady came out and espoused the view that women should be ordained, he'd be gone within hours."

ANGLICAN BISHOP SUSPENDS DEACONFOR PROTECTING CHILDREN

Having lost my career and vocation after reporting a priest to an archdeacon for taking a teenage boy to a sauna and photographing him in the nude, I have every sympathy for the deacon in this story. The bishop is a pillock. If he is going to suspend anybody who tries to protect children from abuse when they are wrong then nobody is going to protect children or report possible child abusers because they won't dare risk it.

From THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE (New Zealand):

A Northland bishop has suspended an Anglican Church deacon after what the bishop says are false claims about a child sex abuser. Deacon Tapu Laulu pulled 18 children out of a church camp after spotting a man that he had been told was a child sex abuser. However, the man has never been charged or convicted of the alleged offence. Bishop Pikaahu has claimed the alleged sexual offending was based on a 16-year-old rumour concerning two people who were teenagers at the time. The "false allegations" had been investigated and dismissed by the girl's family, the bishop said.    

However, the mother of one of the children removed from the camp is supporting Mr Laulu. The woman, Patricia Tipene, a social worker, of Pakuranga, said she believed there was substance to the allegations and she was grateful her daughter was removed from the camp.

"Don't fire the man who protected the children," Ms Tipene said.

The 26-year-old deacon said, "When I saw this man in the midst of children at the camp I became very concerned."

After consulting his mother and two parents he took the 18 children in his care to a CYF home.

"After Easter, my lawyer advised me I had a duty to report the matter to the police," Mr Laulu said.

GREAT HAIR - SHAME ABOUT THE NAME

... which he really ought to have changed by deed poll to fit in with his image. I mean, a rasta called "Justin Duckworth?!" It ain't right, man.

From THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY:

A dreadlocked priest who is usually seen in shorts and bare feet is to be the new Anglican bishop in New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington. Justin Duckworth replaces Bishop Tom Brown who recently retired after 14 years. 

In announcing the appointment on April 29, Archbishop David Moxon pointed to Duckworth's lifestyle, Christian discipleship and mission, citing more than 20 years of mission to street people and those on the margins. "I am confident that his election will challenge, invigorate and grace the church with a deep sense of the breadth and height and depth of the love of God," Moxon said. 

While Duckworth said he feels "humbled, privileged - and terrified," he believes the Anglican Church has huge potential for change. "I think the Anglican Church is doing amazing stuff, and is a total treasure. But it's a treasure that needs to be dusted off. God wants his people to go on a journey – and if we have the courage, he’ll be faithful to equip and sustain us," he said. 

ANOTHER PHOTO OF BENNY'S SHIT-STIRRER

Full story at EDGE ON THE NET.

FROM MY FRIEND, TIM

Oh, this is a good one.

AN APOLOGY

Having to take last week off to help Mrs MP sort out her parents' affairs has completely disrupted my (almost) obsessive routine on my blog and website. I'm not very good at multi-tasking and fire fighting. The only way I can cope with this interruption is by methodically working through what needs to be done to get back to normal. I only had a few days notice that we would be travelling south so I wasn't able to produce "New Words for Holy Communion" by my self-imposed deadline. In reality this is no big deal but it is making me very panicky. So, to stop myself going into meltdown, I have to concentrate on my liturgical project for the next couple of days. Therefore, my other stuff will be sporadic at best. Sorry.

A BIT OF A DISTRACTION?

From CHRISTIAN TODAY:

The Bible society has given Bibles to railway and signal box workers in Wales. The 12 Bibles were presented to staff at stations in Cardiff, Barry and Radyr by the Rev Ron Keen, Railway Mission Chaplain.

"It’s a terrific thing to do because it means that the Word of God is there where people work," he said.

"I always believe that people will read it, no matter who they are, just out of curiosity."

Personally, I'm not so sure it's a good idea to give signalmen something to read while they are at work.

JOKE OF THE DAY

WORSHIP AT SAINT LAIKA'S

A SERVICE OF 
HOLY COMMUNION

THE FOURTH 

SUNDAY 

OF EASTER

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