titusonenine

Given the successful switch to a new site for Titusonenine, we’ve turned off comments on this blog for all posts. Should anyone need to contact the site administrators regarding one of the archived posts here, you can reach us at T19elves@yahoo.com

Come on over to the new Titusonenine site and enjoy the great new blog!

We expect to keep this site online for awhile yet given the wealth of resources and documentation here. Once we know what the plans are for archiving or transferring the material here to a new site, we’ll make sure to let readers know with posts here and on the new site.

(this post is from Jan 2005. Somehow while we were trying to add it to the Eucharist category of the blog, it disappeared. We’ve reposted it from the Google Cache.
Original link = http://titusonenine.classicalanglican.net/?p=4284 )

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Matthew Lawrence: “My bishop and I practice a quiet disobedience of this canon” [and practice open communion]

From the rector of the Church of the Incarnation in Santa Rosa, California:

“There is a movement in the Episcopal Church to ignore one of our canons, which restricts communion to only baptized persons. My bishop and I practice a quiet disobedience of this canon, along with many others in the Episcopal Church (at least half do it more or less explicitly; most others have a don’t ask don’t tell policy). The idea that we would offer communion to anyone who seeks to be with God in Jesus strikes many church people as absolutely wrong, the contravention of 2,000 years of teaching and practice which insists that communion is a ritual practice that one is initiated into through baptism. By taking away baptism as the first step to communion you are undermining the signficance of baptism and the significance of communion too.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here is the link for today’s posts on the new blog.

As of May 22, 2007, Titusonenine has a new home on the web.

Here’s the new site.
Easy to remember. KendallHarmon.net

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Note to AOL users:

Greg G. has noted that there may be a problem for AOL users in registering to comment. Read his suggested solution here. Alternately, we elves can help register AOL users. We just did that for one commenter. Send us your preferred username & password and we will register you.

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UPDATE2:

ALL New posts from here on out are being posted on the new blog. There are new articles and statements about Lambeth 2008, and other stories over on the new blog. Go check it out. We are keeping comments open here on old stories for a few more days.

Bishop Robinson was not expected to comment further until he has spoken with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

The bishops of the AMiA would not be invited to Lambeth because of the decision taken by Archbishop George Carey in 2000. Archbishop Carey “wrote to them saying he could not recognize their ministry” and that their “consecrations were irregular,” Canon Kearon explained. This decision was “confirmed at Oporto” by the primates in 2000, and the “decision was already fixed” by Archbishop Williams’ predecessor.

The case of CANA Bishop Martyn Minns exhibits “no difference” from the AMiA and he falls into the same category, Canon Kearon said.
On Bishop Kunonga, Archbishop Williams is “seeking further advice,” Canon Kearon said, but noted his case and that of one or two others had “nothing to do with the Windsor process.”

In 2002, the United States and the European Union banned Bishop Kunonga from travel to Europe and America in response to his complicity with the crimes of the regime of Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe.

Read it all.

It is posted on the new blog.

The archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual head of 77 million Anglicans worldwide, has not invited two wayward bishops to a major conference next year, a move likely to stir controversy in the deeply divided communion.

Archbishop Rowan Williams has sent invitations to more than 800 Anglican bishops asking them to attend the Lambeth Conference in London in July and August 2008, but has not invited two American bishops — Gene Robinson and Martyn Minns.

Robinson has caused division since he was consecrated as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003, becoming the Anglican Church’s first openly gay bishop.

Minns, a deeply conservative Episcopalian, was installed last year as the head of a new Nigerian-based church branch in the United States designed as a refuge for orthodox believers. The Anglican Communion does not recognize his position.

“I have to reserve the right to withhold or withdraw invitations from bishops whose appointment, actions or manner of life have caused exceptionally serious division or scandal within the Communion,” Williams wrote in his invitations, which were sent out on Tuesday.

It is inaccurate to describe Martyn Minns as “deeply” conservative for the record, and note that there is no similar adjective for Gene Robinson. Read it all.

Please move to this new url. Thanks.

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We elves are on a steep learning curve with the new blog and totally new software. Please be patient with us as we learn the system. Should you have questions, comments or problems logging in to the new blog, feel free to e-mail us: T19elves@yahoo.com

We expect that we will keep comments open on this blog all week and then close them on ALL posts to prevent spam. As far as we know, this blog will stay available indefinitely, either here on Classical Anglican Net, or archived elsewhere. We’ll keep you posted as things are decided.

–elfgirl

(ACNS)

The first invitations for the 2008 Lambeth Conference, to be held in Canterbury next summer, are being sent out today by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. The gathering, which is set to be the largest Lambeth Conference in the history of the Anglican Communion, brings together bishops from the Churches in the 38 Provinces of the Anglican Communion together with ecumenical and other invited guests.

The 2008 Conference is intended to comprise nearly three weeks of shared retreat, common worship, study and discussion. It differs from previous gatherings in that the bishops will begin the conference with a period of retreat and reflection. It is planned that much of this retreat time will be held in and around Canterbury Cathedral.

The first set of invitations are being sent today to over 800 bishops of the provinces of the Anglican Communion. In his letter of invitation the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, pays tribute to the Conference Design Group whose members, led by the Archbishop of Melanesia, have, with his full support, proposed a programme with an emphasis on fellowship, study, prayer, the sharing of experience and discussion, all aimed at equipping bishops for their distinctive apostolic ministry:

“Their vision and their advice has been an inspiration at every stage so far. I am hugely excited by the possibilities the programme offers for a new and more effective style of meeting and learning, and for greater participation, which will help us grow together locally and internationally. … it will also be an opportunity for all of us to strengthen our commitment to God’s mission and to our common life as a Communion. In connection with this latter point, we shall be devoting some time to thinking about the proposals for an Anglican Covenant, and about other ways in which we can deepen our sense of a common calling for us as a coherent and effective global Church family.”

“The Conference is a place where experience of our living out of God’s mission can be shared. It is a place where we may be renewed for effective ministry. And it is a place where we can try and get more clarity about the limits of our diversity and the means of deepening our Communion, so we can speak together with conviction and clarity to the world. It is an occasion in which the Archbishop of Canterbury exercises his privilege of calling his colleagues together, not to legislate but to discover and define something more about our common identity through prayer, listening to God’s Word and shared reflection. It is an occasion to rediscover the reality of the Church itself as a worldwide community united by the call and grace of Christ.”

Mindful of the speculation that has surrounded the issuing of invitations to the Conference Dr Williams recalls that invitations are issued on a personal basis by the Archbishop of Canterbury and that “the Lambeth Conference has no ‘constitution’ or formal powers; it is not a formal Synod or Council of the Communion”, and that invitation to the Conference has never been seen as “a certificate of doctrinal orthodoxy”. Nevertheless Dr Williams recognises in his letter that under very exceptional circumstances an invitation may be withheld or withdrawn. Under this provision, there are a small number of bishops to whom invitations are not at this stage being extended whilst Dr Williams takes further advice.

Other invitations – to ecumenical representatives and other invited guests – will be sent out in due course. Bishops’ spouses are being invited to a parallel conference; invitations for this will be sent later in the year by Mrs Jane Williams, who is the host.

The text of the Archbishop’s invitation is below:

‘Dear Bishop,

I am delighted to invite you to the Lambeth Conference of 2008 and I very much look forward to our gathering together as bishops of the Anglican Communion.
The dates of the Conference are 16 July-4 August 2008 and I trust you will already have heard something of the vision for the Conference as it has been unfolding. It will focus on our equipping as bishops for leadership in mission and teaching, and it will also be an opportunity for all of us to strengthen our commitment to God’s mission and to our common life as a Communion. In connection with this latter point, we shall be devoting some time to thinking about the proposals for an Anglican Covenant, and about other ways in which we can deepen our sense of a common calling for us as interdependent members of the body of Christ.

This will be my third Lambeth Conference and I am very confident of the quality of the programme being developed for it. I want to offer my warm public thanks to all those from across the world who have worked so hard at planning this – especially the devoted Design Group under the Archbishop of Melanesia, those who attended the St Augustine’s Seminar last year, and our Conference Manager, Sue Parks. Their vision and their advice has been an inspiration at every stage so far. I am hugely excited by the possibilities the programme offers for a new and more effective style of meeting and learning, and for greater participation, which will help us grow together locally and internationally.

Because there has been quite a bit of speculation about invitations and the conditions that might be attached to them, I want to set out briefly what I think the Conference is and is not.

The Conference is a place where our experience of living out God’s mission can be shared. It is a place where we may be renewed for effective ministry. And it is a place where we can try and get more clarity about the limits of our diversity and the means of deepening our Communion, so we can speak together with conviction and clarity to the world. It is an occasion when the Archbishop of Canterbury exercises his privilege of calling his colleagues together, not to legislate but to discover and define something more about our common identity through prayer, listening to God’s Word and shared reflection. It is an occasion to rediscover the reality of the Church itself as a worldwide community united by the call and grace of Christ.

But the Lambeth Conference has no ‘constitution’ or formal powers; it is not a formal Synod or Council of the bishops of the Communion, which would require us to be absolutely clear about the standing of all the participants. An invitation to participate in the Conference has not in the past been a certificate of doctrinal orthodoxy. Coming to the Lambeth Conference does not commit you to accepting the position of others as necessarily a legitimate expression of Anglican doctrine and discipline, or to any action that would compromise your conscience or the integrity of your local church.
At a time when our common identity seems less clear that it once did, the temptation is to move further away from each other into those circles where we only related to those who completely agree with us. But the depth and seriousness of the issues that face us require us to discuss as fully and freely as we can, and no other forum offers the same opportunities for all to hear and consider, in the context of a common waiting on the Holy Spirit.

I have said, and repeat here, that coming to the Conference does not commit you to accepting every position held by other bishops as equally legitimate or true. But I hope it does commit us all to striving together for a more effective and coherent worldwide body, working for God’s glory and Christ’s Kingdom. The Instruments of Communion have offered for this purpose a set of resources and processes, focused on the Windsor Report and the Covenant proposals. My hope is that as we gather we can trust that your acceptance of the invitation carries a willingness to work with these tools to shape our future. I urge you all most strongly to strive during the intervening period to strengthen confidence and understanding between our provinces and not to undermine it.
At this point, and with the recommendations of the Windsor Report particularly in mind, I have to reserve the right to withhold or withdraw invitations from bishops whose appointment, actions or manner of life have caused exceptionally serious division or scandal within the Communion. Indeed there are currently one or two cases on which I am seeking further advice. I do not say this lightly, but I believe that we need to know as we meet that each participant recognises and honours the task set before us and that there is an adequate level of mutual trust between us about this. Such trust is a great deal harder to sustain if there are some involved who are generally seen as fundamentally compromising the efforts towards a credible and cohesive resolution.

I look forward with enthusiasm to the Conference and hope you will be able to attend, or your successor in the event that you retire in the meantime. My wife Jane will be writing with an invitation to the Spouses Conference which will run in parallel to the Lambeth Conference. Further communication to bishops will follow soon from the Lambeth Conference Office, including details of the costs and a reply slip on which you can respond formally to this invitation. It would be a great help if these replies were received by 31 July 2007. In the meantime, should you have any queries about the Lambeth Conference itself, or if you will be retiring before the Conference, please contact the Lambeth Conference Manager at invitations@lambethconference.org or consult the Lambeth Conference website www.lambethconference.org.

I trust you and your diocese will join with me in praying for God’s gracious blessing of our time together.

Yours in Christ,

Rowan CANTUAR:

Over 120 comments on this post over the weekend for your perusal.

Take the time to watch it. The focus of his talk may be found here. Dr Baranuik, who is Victor E. Cameron Professor of Electrical and Computer engineering at Rice University, has a homepage there.

The Wall Street Journal recently ran a story addressing the “culture of praise” that is becoming characteristic of the next generation of American workers.

The article reports that “corporations including Land’s End and Bank of America are hiring consultants to teach managers how to compliment employees… The 1,000 employee Scooter Store, Inc… has a staff ‘celebrations’ assistant whose job it is throw confetti – 25 pounds a week – at employees… The Container Store Inc. estimates that one of its 4,000 employees receives praise every 20 seconds through such efforts as its ‘Celebration Voice Mailboxes.’” Bob Nelson, a consultant specializing in “praise issues” counsels up to 100 companies each year. Nelson says “workers under 40 require far more stroking…they want near-constant feedback.” Nelson advises bosses: “If a young worker has been chronically late for work and then starts arriving on time, commend him.” Commend him?! How about reminding him of his obligations and responsibilities for which he receives a paycheck!

Steve Smolinsky, a marketing consultant who teaches MBA students at the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, says that he and his colleagues feel hand-cuffed by the language of self-esteem. “You have to tell students, ‘Its not as good as you can do. You’re really smart, and can do better.’” Smolinsky says he enjoys giving praise when it’s warranted “but there needs to be a flip-side. When people are lousy, they need to be told that.”

The article’s author points out, “Childhood in recent decades has been defined by such stroking – by parents who see their job as building self-esteem, by soccer coaches who give every player a trophy, by schools who used to name one ‘student of the month’ and these days name 40.” What the article fails to identify is what produced this culture of superficial self-esteem building.

Christopher Lasch points out in his important book, The Culture of Narcissism, “The contemporary climate is therapeutic not religious. People today hunger not for personal salvation, but for the feeling, the momentary illusion, of personal well-being, health, and psychic security.” Following the eclipse of the Christian worldview that once shaped American life and culture, the “therapeutic” revolution of the sixties emerged to convince us that “personal happiness” was the ultimate goal of human life. This idea has only further encouraged the individual self to elevate his or her needs and interests above everyone else’s.

By replacing the former religious culture with today’s therapeutic culture we have unwittingly created the most narcissistic generation in American history. “For a multi-university study released this year, 16,475 college students took the standardized narcissistic personality inventory… Students’ scores have risen steadily since the test was first offered, in 1982. The average college student in 2006 was 30 percent more narcissistic than the average student in 1982.”

Read it all as well as the original WSJ article on which it is based.

What is the most common complaint of someone listening to Christopher West impart John Paul II’s theology of the body? “If only I had known this years ago!” Through his dynamic and clear presentation of John Paul’s compelling teachings on human love and sexuality, Christopher West has been the instrument for changing countless lives.

Yet even West has limits: He speaks only to adults, college age and up.

Given the depths of John Paul II’s teachings, that is quite understandable. Perhaps unavoidable. But what about all those teenagers out there who are beginning to discover their own sexuality and make decisions which will stamp their future? What if someone were to emerge who not only identified with them, but was also audacious enough to bring the theology of the body directly to them?

Someone has. His name is David Hajduk.

In late 2006, the Daughters of St. Paul released his new book on the theology of the body for young people, God’s Plan for You: Life, Love, Marriage and Sex. The book was born from a family life class for ninth graders in New Jersey, where Hajduk began sharing John Paul’s insights into the true nature of human love.

Hajduk delivered his classes with the unabashed enthusiasm of a teen. How did the ninth graders respond? The truth of the Pope’s teachings struck a chord with that noble idealism and natural optimism they had that is typical of youth.

As Hajduk himself puts it, “Young people know the truth deep within their hearts — there is an echo of God’s plan for life, love, marriage and sex within them. When they hear something that synchronizes with that truth, it resounds in them like a gong! They can taste it, touch it. They know it’s the real deal.”

Read it all.

The end-of the-year mood in a classroom at UC Berkeley’s Warren Hall was giddy as a crowd of mostly Asian American students watched a slide show of good times and candid shots and shared stories of intense pressure from their parents.

They weren’t celebrating their culture, though. They were celebrating Christ.

“So here I am, all of me,” the students sang. “Finally, everything. Wholly, wholly, wholly, I am wholly, wholly, wholly yours.”

For three hours, they shared impassioned testimonies of faith and prayed for one another, laying hands in turn on each person receiving support. The graduating seniors passed down a 6-foot wooden cross for next year’s senior leaders to keep in their apartment.

Asian Americans dominate evangelical Christian groups at UC Berkeley, far outstripping their share of enrollment, even as the number of Asian Americans on campus has grown markedly. The trend is visible to varying degrees at several of the nation’s elite universities.

With this shift has come the realization by college ministries that faith is not always colorblind — no matter the Christian ideal — and that they should tailor their outreach to different communities instead of a one-size-fits-all approach.

“Our mission is to reach the whole campus, but you can’t reach the whole campus in one particular way,” said Paul Tokunaga, the national Asian American ministries coordinator for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, which has been a leader in ethnic outreach. Founded in 1941, InterVarsity serves more than 35,000 students and faculty nationwide.

Read it all.