A new priest-in-charge writes to the diaspora

H/T:  Diaspora Oysters

The new priest-in-charge of St. Francis Episcopal Church of Springboro Ohio (http://www.saintfran.org/) has written a letter to people who have left the parish recently.

Just a spoonful of survey helps the medicine go down

From the recent DSO e-newsletter

An Interesting (and not-slightly-off-topic this time) Article Regarding NALC (Lutheran breakaway denom)

From

AAC: The Writing is on the Wall

Canon Phil Ashey offers some valuable insights the recent chain of same-sex blessing moratoria within TEC, of which

Congratulations! It’s a.. it’s a… it’s a Frankenclone !!

The Diocese of Maryland scoops up some, ‘

The Enquirer: Episcopal priest quits over gay issues

From the Cincinatti Enquirer, where there

DSO Events: Believe OUT LOUD workshop at Procter

From the DSO e-newsletter

Fiat Lux: Diocese of Virginia Considering SSB’s

From Fiat Lux-  The Diocese of Virginia is looking for a way to genuinely pretend to care about what Christians think about

Who Needs Ice-Cream?? : Responses to Bp. Breidenthal’s Easter Sermon, (Part 4 of Many)

 
Continuing on my fisk of Bp. Breidenthal’s Easter sermon.  I may

DSO News: A new chaplain to postulants, candidates and residents

[H/T:  Pearls Before Swine]

From the DSO E-Newsletter:

Bishop Thomas E. Breidenthal has appointed the Rev. Lynn Carter-Edmands as chaplain to postulants, candidates and residents of the Diocese of Southern Ohio.

Carter-Edmands, rector of St. James, Columbus, will offer pastoral care and support throughout the process of discernment for ordained ministry.

I found this interesting blurb in

In Typical Patriarchy Fashion, the Women Are Made to Follow the Men

It appears that there was a SSB for a lesbian couple on April 11th, following the one for the gay couple, on the 10th. 

From

The First Same-Sex “Blessing” (sic) in the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio

From the Columbus Dispatch, where there is more. 

Warren MacPherson and Mike Harbin joined hands at the front of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church and vowed to love and care for each other always.

Video Transcript: “Walter Brueggemann on the Bible”

[Elder's note:  I'll probably be fisking this sometime this week or this month, but

(UPDATED) Breaking from various sources: Bp. Breidenthal’s latest round with of talks with Catholic Bishops re SSB’s

I don’t have time to analyze or even read this information now, but will when I get back from work tonight, and update this article.

Drawing the Battle Lines: Dean Breidenthal “Exegetes” Mark 1:21-28 [Part IV of IV]

The final installment of

Drawing the Battle Lines: Dean Breidenthal “Exegetes” Mark 1:21-28 [Part I of IV]

 (Sigh)..  From here: 

“Drawing the Battle Lines”
A sermon preached by Tom Breidenthal in the Princeton University Chapel on Sunday, January 29, 2006.

High praise indeed, for Bp. Breidenthal

…from a Universal Life “Church”  blogger:

What do the attitudes of institutions like the southern Ohio diocese say about

Fish ‘n Chips

There are a couple of things I really need to tackle in my spiritual life, and have been looking forward to Lent this year as a time to focus on those things.  Accordingly,

The Dispatch: Faiths have wide divide on sex

.. and Bp. Breidenthal offers his opinion on those old knuckle-draggers that built Pyramids, and those (old and new) who think that the Scriptures are God-breathed:

A message from the Bishop to the clergy of Southern Ohio

[Elder's Note:  Received via email today, from an anonymous reader.  ]

Elder’s Fisk of Bp. Briedenthal’s 2009 DSO Convention Address – (Part V of V) – Conclusions

And now we arrive at the same place where we started.  We knew it was going to happen.  There was “dialogue,” and “all voices were heard,” and the voices talked about what would inevitably happen, and then it happened. 

Fr. Bailey is right.  The differences that he and I have with this initiative

Elder’s Fisk of Bp. Briedenthal’s 2009 DSO Convention Address – (Part IV of V)

Finally, after much prayer and consultation, I have decided that the time has come for Southern Ohio to adjust its policy regarding the blessing of same-sex unions.

[Elder’s Note:  from an anonymous email correspondence, regarding this moment in the bishop’s address: 

“Whilst the good bishop was announcing his change of policy of SSBs, in fact the moment he did so

A STATEMENT ON THE BLESSING OF SAME SEX UNIONS, by Fr. David Bailey

[Elder's Note:  Fr. David Bailey is rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Cincinnati.]

 

I have great respect for my bishop and for all those whose prayerful discernment and study of Scripture – in the light of Tradition and Reason – has brought them to the point of supporting the church’s blessing of same sex unions.

 

Likewise, I have great respect for all those whose prayerful discernment and study of Scripture – in the light of Tradition and Reason – has brought them to the point of opposing the church’s blessings of same sex unions.

 

I count myself among those who oppose

Elder’s Fisk of Bp. Briedenthal’s 2009 DSO Convention Address – (Part III of V)

Clearly, common ministry speaks to our young people. They understand it, they embrace it, and they demand it. How does it speak to the other main problem facing most of our congregations, namely, the cost of a priest’s salary package – to say nothing of the high cost of seminary? Let me say, first of all, that our seminaries are in a period of tremendous flux,

They’re going bankrupt. 

 as the whole church

Elder’s Fisk of Bp. Briedenthal’s 2009 DSO Convention Address – (Part II of V)

[Elder's Note:  The bishop's address is here]. 

…This spirit of cooperation and dedication to our common life gives me hope as I consider problems that will face us long after the economy has turned around. I know none of these concerns will be a surprise to you, since you raise them regularly when I visit you. A missing generation of young adults; difficulty reaching out to college students;

Yeah, I noticed that.  Really, Bishop – What do we, as an institution, have to offer that is fundamentally

Elder’s Fisk of Bp. Briedenthal’s 2009 DSO Convention Address – (Part I of V) – Introduction

Bp. Briedenthal is an enigma to me. 

At his address to the 135th Convention of the Diocese of Southern Ohio, he announced that he will be approving as of Easter 2010, same-sex blessings within the diocese.  The announcement was met with a thunderous applause, followed by,  I am told, a sudden quiet. 

Breaking – SSB’s: They’re heEEeeeeereeee..

[Elder's Note:  Please also check out my other articles about this.]

[H/T, a very big H/T, to Fr. David Bailey]

Fr. Bailey summarizes bullet points from Bp. Briedenthal’s address yesterday at our diocesan convention:

Ode to SSB’s

My way of dealing