The last time our friend Christopher J. Doucot spoke at an Episcopal church was in 2004. He had just returned from Iraq, and gave what he describes as a “somewhat forceful sermon” critical of the U.S.-led invasion there.

A graduate of Yale Divinity School, a founding member of the Hartford Catholic Worker, and an instructor in sociology at Central Connecticut State University, Chris was told to keep it upbeat on Sunday -- All Saints' Day -- when he is scheduled to speak at St. James Episcopal Church in West Hartford, Conn.

When I was a kid, my understanding of the saints was that they were something like the cartoon superheroes I watched on Saturday mornings. They could fly, endure great suffering, go years without eating and heal people by praying over them. They were not real people.

As I got older, I began to see various athletes from Boston's professional sports teams as saintly – if not saints in the making. Carl Yaztremski of the Red Sox was the patron of the lost cause who never gave up. Terry O'Reilly of the Boston Bruins was the defender of the meek. He spent hours in the penalty box for busting the noses of any player from the opposing team who got in Wayne Cashman's way. Unfortunately, O'Reilly didn't confine his bellicosity to the ice. Once, in 1979, he climbed into the stands of Madison Square Garden to beat a New York Ragners fan with his own shoe.

Continue reading "Guest post: The vision of the saints" »

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We're trying something new this morning. We were invited to sit down this week with the Right Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton, the 14th bishop of the 228-year-old Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, to hear his thoughts on plans announced by the Vatican last week to make it easier for Anglicans (called Epsicopalians in the United States) to join the Roman Catholic Church.

The surprise announcement comes amid a growing divide between conservatives and liberals in the worldwide Anglican Communion over the ordination of women, acceptance of gay clergy and the celebration of same-sex relationships.

As attention has focused on disaffected Anglican conservatives "crossing the Tiber" -- slang for joining the Roman Catholic Church -- Sutton, who is firmly on the side favoring greater acceptance of women and homosexuals, wanted to make clear that Roman Catholics also are joining the Episcopal Church.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore has declined to comment on the Vatican announcement until hearing more details.

The interview with Sutton yielded a story in Friday's paper. But because we found the entire discussion interesting, we're posting the complete transcript here, after the jump.

Continue reading "Episcopal bishop: Church switching goes both ways" »

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The New York Times has convened an august panel of Vatican watchers to comment on the moves this week to make it easier for Episcopalians to cross the Tiber.

“ 'Cafeteria Catholic' is about the worst epithet that conservative Catholics can hurl at liberals, with its implications of a pick-and-choose faith rather than a consistent fidelity to every jot and tittle of the catechism," writes David Gibson, author of "The Rule of Benedict." "But after the news that the Vatican is effectively carving out a special church-within-a-church to shelter traditionalist Anglicans upset at gay priests and women bishops in their own church, one has to wonder if the cafeteria line isn’t forming to the right.

"While both Pope John Paul II and his successor Benedict XVI have been known as staunch conservatives, they have in fact shown a remarkably liberal willingness to bend the rules when it comes to certain groups."

"The news that the Vatican will create special structures for disaffected Anglicans will likely be criticized in some quarters as 'anti-ecumenical,' meaning a blow to good relations between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church," writes John L. Allen Jr., author of "The Rise of Benedict XVI." "That’s because Anglicans already seem on the brink of schism over issues like women priests (and bishops), gay marriage and the ordination of gay clergy, and now the conservative opposition has a Vatican-sanctioned exit strategy.

"Such criticism, however, tends to presume that the Vatican’s choice was between accepting these Anglicans and keeping them at arm’s length. In truth, the latter was never a serious option, because Catholicism is in the business of encouraging converts, not spurning them."

Read more at nytimes.com.

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Pope Benedict XVI has created a new church structure for Anglicans who want to join the Catholic Church, responding to the disillusionment of some Anglicans over the ordination of women and the election of openly gay bishops, the Associated Press is reporting.

The new provision will allow Anglicans to join the Catholic Church while maintaining their Anglican identity and many of their liturgical traditions, Cardinal William Levada, the Vatican's chief doctrinal official, told a news conference in Vatican City.

The move comes weeks after 10 of 12 Episcopalian nuns and their chaplain at a Catonsville convent left their church en masse to become Roman Catholic, citing the stability of church teaching and the unananimity of its leaders on social issues as factors.

From the Associated Press:

The new church structure, called Personal Ordinariates, will be units of faithful within the local Catholic Church headed by former Anglican prelates who will provide spiritual care for Anglicans who wish to become Catholic.

"Those Anglicans who have approached the Holy See have made clear their desire for full, visible unity in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church," Levada said. "At the same time, they have told us of the importance of their Anglican traditions of spirituality and worship for their faith journey."

Levada said the new canonical structure is a response to the many requests that have come to the Vatican over the years from Anglicans who have become increasingly disillusioned with the ordination of women, the election of openly gay bishops and the blessing of same-sex unions in the 77-million strong Anglican Communion. He declined to give figures on the number of requests that have come to the Vatican, or on the anticipated number of Anglicans who might take advantage of the new structure.

Continue reading "Catholic church makes it easier for Anglicans to join" »

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President Barack Obama and his family attended a worship service Sunday at St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, their third visit to the historic congregation across Lafayette Square from the White House.

According to the Associated Press, Obama, first lady Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia listened to a sermon about how Christianity has consequences.

During the sermon, seminarian Mike Angell told the parishioners that the consequences vary, whether it's making a hard decision at work or deciding to give more time to God. But he added that they don't face these consequences alone. "We are given each other as a source of boldness," he said.

Obama also worshipped at the church on Inauguration Day and Easter. St. John's has been a popular choice among presidents, including George W. Bush, because it is close to the White House and familiar to the Secret Service.

Washington churches have competed for Obama's attention since his election. He quit his last church, Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, during the presidential campaign last year after the circulation of controversial sermons by its former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Photo by Getty Images

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Churches and whole dioceses have left the Episcopal Church since the 2003 consecretation of an openly gay bishop brought a lonstanding divide over homosexuality within the nation's sixth-largest Protestant denomination out into the open.

But on Thursday, 10 Episcopal nuns from a Catonsville convent took what scholars say is the unprecedented step of joining the Catholic Church. At a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien, each vowed to continue their tradition of consecrated life, now as a religious institute within the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

"We know our beliefs and where we are," Mother Christina Christie, superior of All Saints Sisters of the Poor, told sun colleague Mary Gail Hare. "We were drifting farther apart from the more liberal road the Episcopal Church is traveling. We are now more at home in the Roman Catholic Church."

In a statement, Bishop Eugene Taylor Sutton of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland wished them God's blessings.

"Despite the sadness we feel in having to say farewell, our mutual joy is that we remain as one spiritual family of faith, one body in Christ," he said.

Read the story at baltimoresun.com.

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The Rev. Canon Mary D. Glasspool, canon to the bishops of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, is one of six finalists to become bishop suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, according to a release on the diocesan Web site. The Los Angeles diocese will choose two finalists to serve together as bishops suffragan in an election in December.

“I have often said that this is one of the finest diocesan staffs in the Episcopal Church,” the Right Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton, Episcopal bishop of Maryland, said in a statement. “When one of its members is called to other important positions in the church, then all of us are honored. Mary Glasspool is an important and long-serving leader in the Diocese of Maryland. Her work here has prepared her for even greater responsibilities. Our prayers are with Mary through this election, and with the Diocese of Los Angeles as it discerns God’s will.”

As canon to the bishops, Glasspool’s work includes Sunday visitations with parishes, congregational development and pastoral and mission strategy planning. As bishop suffragan in Los Angeles, she would help the bishop diocesan oversee the ministries and administration of the diocese.

Ordained in 1981, Glasspool served in parishes in Philadelphia and Boston and at St. Margaret’s in Annapolis before becoming canon to the bishops in 2001, according to the release. She has served on the diocese’s Standing Committee, the board of Episcopal Community Services of Maryland, and has been elected four times to head the deputation to General Convention four times.

Episcopal Diocese of Maryland

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Christians must show love to all people, even if they don't support their values, evangelical megachurch pastor Rick Warren said Tuesday to breakaway Episcopalians and other Anglicans splitting from their national church over gay clergy and other issues.

"We are to love the people of the world no matter what they believe; we are to not love the value system of the world. And the problem today is lot of Christians are getting that reversed. They love the value system and hate the people," Warren told the crowd of 800 under a large tent on the lawn of St. Vincent's Episcopal Cathedral Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Bedford, according to the Associated Press. "God has never met a person he didn't love."

This week's meeting is the first national assembly for the Anglican Church in North America, formed by theological conservatives as a rival to the U.S. Episcopal Church. On Monday, delegates approved a constitution and church law for the new group.

Warren, who opposes gay marriage, sparked a protest by gay-rights supporters after President Barack Obama selected him to deliver a prayer at his January inauguration.

Warren did not mention gay relationships or other issues that caused the conservatives to break away, but he said he "jumped" at the chance to speak to the assembly and called it historic. He encouraged the new group and offered advice on how churches could reach out with ministries.

Read the rest of the story by the Associated Press.

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Local Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders will come together on Wednesday to discuss a new plan to promote peace in the city this summer.

The group, to be hosted by Catholic Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien at St. Mary’s Seminary and University, will include Arthur Abramson of the Baltimore Jewish Council, Imam Earl El-Amin of the Muslim Community Cultural Center, Bishop John Rabb, suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, the Rev. Frank M. Reid, III, pastor of Bethel AME Church, and the Rev. Johnny Golden of New Unity Church Ministries and the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance.

The group plans to meet with interim Health Commissioner Olivia Farrow, and then hold a press conference to announce a summer peace initiative. Watch here for more details.

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