Category: Christianity

Catholic School Expells Student for Pro-Life Views

I have been following the strange saga of Katelyn Sills and Loretto High School for several weeks without rendering any comments until now. I’m now ready to chime in on this whole situation.

For those of you that haven’t been following this story lets me quickly summarize. Marie Bain was a drama teacher at a Loretto High School. In her spare time she was also a clinic escort at the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic. Oh, Loretto is a Roman Catholic School. This is an obvious conflict with established church doctrine and the moral example that Loretto should expect from its faculty. Once this double life was brought to the attention of the school administration, the school did nothing. Frustrated beyond words, Katelyn’s mother appealed this issue to the local Bishop, William K. Weigand. The Bishop thoroughly investigated this matter and decided that there were sufficient grounds to dismiss Bain. A few weeks later, the school administration retaliated by expelling Katelyn and her sister.

The fact that Marie Bain was perfectly fine being a clinic escort is all that you really need to know about her. I have spent my share of time protesting in front of abortion clinics and normal people that like abortion don’t do that sort of activity. Only zealots who believe in a culture of death will participate in the murder of unborn children. The women that I encountered as escorts were either hardcore members of the National Organization of Women (NOW), lesbians from the local Lambda Community Center, dumb girls recruited from Women’s Studies Department at Sac State or imports from San Francisco.

For Marie Bain to be a teacher at a Catholic School is anathema to everything that the Roman Church believes. As a teacher, you represent the school 24/7. Anything you do in public reflects back on the school.

Marie Bain has responded to her firing by filing complaints with two California state agencies: Department of Labor and Department of Fair Employment and Housing. These complaints will set the groundwork for her to file suit for wrongful termination against Loretto and Catholic Diocese of Sacramento.


Too bad for Loretto that Katelyn is an established blogger. This incident has received both national and international exposure. I have seen posts on Katelyn’s site from a host of other states plus England and Canada. Articles have run on WorldNetDaily, LifeSite and RenewAmerica and a host of other sites. This has turned into a BlogSwarm.


Katelyn is on the verge of becoming a conservative symbol of what’s wrong with America on the same magnitude as Terri Schiavo. Loretto may not readmit Katelyn to school but their hypocrisy has severely hurt their reputation as a Catholic institution.

My thanks to Andy Nevis at California High School Conservative for filling in the gaps in this story until Katelyn’s attorney gives her the “green light” tell us the rest of the story.

 

The Basis of Global Peace

This week, my junior high school student came home with an assignment to draw a poster for a Peace Poster contest. The instructions were to draw a picture but use no text or writing of any kind in your design. This turns out to be a preliminary step in some international competition. This event is sponsored locally by the Lions Club.

We were surprised and concerned that our child received such an assignment. As a result, my wife and I had an hour long discussion with our child about what is peace? What is war? What about nations that are not at war but tyrannical?

Our child wanted to use primarily a symbol of a dove to represent peace. Ok so what does the dove represent? Our child did know that the dove (with olive branch) was from the biblical account of Noah and the ark. Our next question was where else in the Bible do you find a dove and what does it represent? Our child was clueless. We opened the New Testament and read the account of the baptism of Jesus. Mark 1: 9-11 From this story we learn that the dove often is related to the presence of the Holy Spirit.

We also discussed the purpose and origin of government. As source material we used the Westminster Confession of Faith section XXIII on Civil Magistrates, the scope and limitation of government as viewed by our founders and the biblical covenant where God first established human government Gen 9.

What was shown was that God established human government as a means of protecting the innocent and punishing the wicked. God raises up human leaders and removes them at his pleasure. The government has a God-given role, the church also has a God-given role in society and each citizen has obligations to their government.

We also briefly mentioned a description of Christ on his throne ruling over the nations as described in the book of Revelation. We talked that normally war is only justified as a defensive measure. Government insures the safety of citizens from threats both internal and external.

Our child kept saying that harmony was a goal of nations. It was a typical Rodney King moment appealing to the why cant we just get along? sentiment. Ok. What does that mean?

Using the Global War on Terror as our example we explained that not everyone is interested in peace. Peace can often be confused for surrender. Just ask Cindy Sheehan. We asked our child what the United States could do to have a ceasefire with the Islamic fundamentalists. Who would we negotiate with? Who has authority to sign a treaty? What assurance would there be to compliance with the terms of peace? (These are the same questions that the Liberals are unable to answer.)

The War on Terror is a just war because it is a defensive measure necessary because of a clear and present danger to our nation.

Our child enjoys music and said that all the nations are a big orchestra and peace is defined as a harmony of all the parts. We then inquired as to why nations should be in harmony and to extend the analogy, what would they be playing?

My contention is that there can only be peace when every knee shall bow and tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord. Phil 2:11 To that end our song is Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come! Rev 6:8b Only to the extent that nations are obedient to Christ and fulfilling their God ordained role can any nation truly know peace.

Question 1 of the Westminster Catechism asks, What is the chief and highest end of man?

Answer Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever .

One purpose of government is to maintain a society where man is free to worship his creator and live in peace.

Now that you understand all this, we told our child to go and make a poster about world peace.

Local Parish Wins More from Diocese of Los Angeles

This is follow-up story to a previous post that I made.

Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles must pay legal fees to Newport’s St. James, judge says. By Lauren Vane Daily Pilot September 16, 2005 An Orange County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday that the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles must pay more than $81,000 in legal fees to St. James Church, the Newport Beach congregation that split from the diocese over a dispute about church doctrine. The same judge, David Velasquez, ruled Aug. 15 to dismiss a lawsuit against St. James Church’s congregation that claimed the Newport Beach breakaway church’s property and assets belong to the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. Velasquez ruled that efforts by the national church to retain the property of the seceding St. James congregation was an attempt to tread upon the congregation’s freedom of speech. Praveen Bunyan, pastor of St. James, said the awarding of legal fees is another affirmation that the St. James Church was right from the beginning. “This is a reiteration saying that the lawsuit was wrongfully brought against us,” Bunyan said. Representatives from the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles did not return phone calls Friday. Financially, Judge Velasquez’s ruling Thursday means that the church can apply funds toward “God’s mission,” Bunyan said. “We’re glad that we can continue to concentrate on the mission that we believe as a church we are called to do,” Bunyan said. The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles filed suit against St. James in September 2004 after the Newport Beach church and two other Southern California congregations broke away from the diocese and the Episcopal Church of the United States in protest of the national church’s positions. After leaving the national church, St. James affiliated with the Diocese of Luwero in the Anglican province of Uganda, Africa. The Los Angeles diocese’s lawsuit alleged St. James’ property belongs to the national church, not to the congregation. Although St. James Church is pleased with the awarding of legal fees, the church remains skeptical that the diocese will pay the legal fees without first appealing the decision, said St. James attorney Eric Sohlgren, in a statement released Thursday. “I don’t know whether they will appeal,” Bunyan said. “Of course, we’ll continue to fight for what is ours.”

http://www.dailypilot.com/religion/story/24626p-35178c.html

Nigerian Church Breaks with Canterbury

Update on Episcopal Church Split

CHURCH OF NIGERIA REDEFINES ANGLICAN COMMUNION

With a careful rewording of her constitution, the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) redefined her relationship with all other Anglican Churches.

All former references to ‘communion with the see of Canterbury’ were deleted and replaced with another provision of communion with all Anglican Churches, Dioceses and Provinces that hold and maintain the ‘Historic Faith, Doctrine, Sacrament and Discipline of the one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church’.

Emphasis was also placed on the 1662 version of the Book of Common Prayer and the historic Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion.

The Constitutional change also allowed the Church to create Convocations and Chaplaincies of like-minded faithful outside Nigeria. This effectively gives legal teeth to the Convocation of Anglican Nigerians in Americas (CANA) formed to give a worshiping refuge to thousands in the USA who no longer feel welcomed to worship in the Liberal churches especially with the recent theological innovations encouraging practices which the Nigerians recognize as sin.

Anglican Church to Dump Queen & Archbishop of Canterbury

I was sent the following article today. It is worth reading.

Africans set to found rival Anglican Church
By TREVOR GRUNDY

AFRICANS say they have had enough of the Church of England’s endless discussions over the ordination of gay vicars and same-sex blessings. With help from their colleagues in Latin America, African primates, bishops, priests and laymen are getting ready to strike out on their own and establish a new Anglican Church based in Egypt.

A conference that could turn the Anglican community on its head takes place in Alexandria, Egypt, next month, organised by angry Africans and Latin Americans who say they are “sick and tired” of endless debate about same-sex blessings and the ordination of gay Christians. “We’ve had enough,” the Archbishop of Central Africa, Bernard Malango, said last week.

The Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) and the recently formed Council of Anglican Provinces of the Americas and Caribbean (CAPAC) will represent up to two-thirds of the world’s 77 million Anglicans.

In a new African-based Anglican community they plan to replace the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams as their spiritual leader with the Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Jasper Akinola, and exclude homosexuals from full church life.

A leading gay vicar – who asked not to be named – said: “I fear for Rowan Williams if he attends the Alexandria Conference. Anglican dissidents will publicly announce that Archbishop Akinola is their new spiritual leader and that there is no place for the present Archbishop of Canterbury in the new community based in Alexandria.

“I also hear that African Anglicans plan to place a throne in a conference room and ask Archbishop Akinola to sit in it – while Dr Williams is supposed to stand by and watch.

“Where will that leave the man, and where will that leave the Queen, who is head of the Church of England?”

CAPA’s members include the Anglican dioceses of Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Egypt. It was formed in July at Nassau after Latin American Christians expressed their bitterness towards the Church of England, saying it was prevaricating on the subject of gay rights and same-sex blessings – 300 of which take place in England every year.

“We were inspired by CAPA,” says Drexel Gomez, Archbishop of the West Indies. He predicts “a shattering split in the entire worldwide Anglican community” following the Church of England’s approval of the Civil Partnership Act that comes into force in December.

There are about 13,900 clergy in the Church of England, which is facing slumping attendance and widespread indifference – even though some 25 million people in the UK are nominal members.

Africans have been watching what seems to be growing tolerance by the Church of England towards gays with alarm and deep anger.

Anglicans in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Egypt say that when eight Church of England bishops supported the Civil Partnership Act in the House of Lords they flouted the rules of the worldwide Anglican community.

Since then, Akinola has called for the suspension of the Church of England. “I believe that the temporary suspension of the Church of England is the right course of action to take.”

Akinola says that he is disappointed with the example that Williams is setting by appearing to condone the Civil Partnership Act and he advises Anglicans to steer clear of the leadership of Lambeth Palace.

“Lambeth Palace upholds our common historic faith and it will now lose that place of honour in the world.”

In a pastoral statement issued in August, English bishops said that they would allow gay clergy to register their partnerships, as long as they abstained from sex.

Akinola asked: “Is the Church of England planning to install cameras in the bedrooms of its clergy?”

However, Richard Kirker, general secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, said: “Personally, I’d rather see a split within the ranks of the Anglican community than for people of principle to bow to the demands of homophobic Africans.”

Some Anglican churches in Africa are turning away funds from US and Canadian churches because of their tolerance of active gays in the church.

And a vicar from London has been asked by Archbishop Malango to clarify his views before being consecrated as Bishop of Lake Malawi.

The Rev Nick Henderson has two parishes in west London and Malango asked him to confirm that he subscribes to the Creed, the Bible and the Thirty-Nine Articles and “fashions his own life and his household according to the doctrine of Christ”.

Until recently, he was chairman of the Modern Churchpeople’s Union, which is a leading liberal forum for “open and informed theological comment in the Church of England and the Anglican Communion”.

Henderson is unmarried and shares his vicarage with a male lodger, who is organist at one of his churches. In a letter to Henderson, Malango said: “It has been reported that you currently live with a male lodger. Because of reports of your advocacy of the gay and lesbian movement, I am constrained to ask a very awkward question.”

Henderson was asked if he believed sexual intimacy should be restricted to within the marriage of one man and one woman. “Is there anything I should know that would make my work difficult if you took up this position?” asked the archbishop.

Henderson was not available for comment and Lambeth Palace is – for the time being – keeping quiet about the seriousness of a looming split.

A Prayer in Time of Terrorism

I was sent this e-mail September 11, 2001

Grant, O God, that in this time of national testing, thy people may know thy presence and obey thy Will: that with integrity and courage we may accomplish all that which thou would have us to do, and to endure that which thou would ask us to bear;

Pour out, O merciful Lord, thy aid and comfort to all who those who at this time are visited with tragedy and bereavement; and prosper with thy continual blessing all those those who administer the healing gifts to the injured and those who labor to devise protection against fanatical terrorist attacks.

Grant, O Lord, the execution of righteous judgment against those responsible for this evil, that justice might be done in this world and in the life to come..

Finally, O Lord, we pray that thou would convert and turn the hearts of our enemies, who by the hardening of their hearts, know not what evil they do.

This we ask through Him who both healed and hallowed suffering, thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Rev James Payne, Houston, TX

Minister Murdered by “Flood Thugs”

Michael Osborne was a happily married man and the father of six children; four are still living at home. He was a minister in the Episcopal Church. 

He was murdered driving his car in Hattiesburg Mississippi by flood thugs who were trying to rob him.

He was buried yesterday in Memphis and leaves behind two teenage boys and two daughters ages six and four.

English Church: Spouse Equated With Civil Partner

Liberal Anglicans are using the English government to force gay marriage into Church Law by bypassing normal procedures and just rewriting key sections of Church Cannons. They are going to replace the word “spouse” with “civil partner” according to an article in the August 12th edition of Church of England Newspaper. This change will take effect on December 5th, 2005.


Needless to say a firestorm has been ignited by this action. There is not much coverage of this conflict or others raging within the Episcopal Church but things are really boiling. I will periodically give you some glimpses of this conflict on my blog.


Below are a few reactions to the current state of the Episcopal Church:

The Bishop of Worcester Dr. Peter Selby

Andrew Cary Blog

David Virtue

Liberal Episcopalians Dealt Near Fatal Blow

In a victory for local parishes, an Orange County Superior Court Judge David C. Velasquez said the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles had not shown that it was likely to prevail in a property dispute with a local parish, St. James Church.

Also see story in L.A. Times.

Under current bylaws, the Episcopal Church claims ownership of all real property in the denomination; even if the local parish paid for their buildings without any assistance from the denomination. No local parish in the Episcopal Church in the United States (ECUSA) owns their church buildings, parsonages or any other property!

Centralization of assets appears to be invalid based on this ruling. A similar case in the Methodist Church also was ruled in favor of St. Lukes; a local parish in Fresno.

It appears that the end of ECUSA’s monopoly is drawing nearer. Those parishes that still adhere to the Christian faith may at last be allowed to go in peace to serve the Lord taking both their people and real property with them.

Farewell to My Grandfather

I had some fun items that I was going to really spend a lot of time writing about this weekend. I had a great call to Eric Hogue this morning and my day was going great for a Friday. I was looking forward to writing lots on my blog. As I was sitting down at the computer I got the phone call that I had dreaded since I was a teenager. It was my dad. He told me that my grandfather had died.


My grandfather was 96 years old and it seemed that he would live forever. Ray was born in Oroville and spent most of his youth in Arbuckle. He did lots of manual labor as a young man. He did many things over the course of his life. He was a cattle rancher, a rice farmer, owned his own rice milling company and did many other jobs related to rice milling. In his later years, he came up with a quick cooking wild rice and invented more energy efficient systems for rice milling and drying.


He loved hunting and fishing. Deer hunting and trout fishing stories were always welcome subjects for discussion. My grandfather spent many deer seasons at the Jackson Ranch west of Arbuckle. As I understand it he went hunting there almost every year from the late 1930s until the 1970s.There was no hunting during World War Two and as a result the Jackson Ranch was teaming with game during the 1950s. By the time I went hunting there with him, the deer were very scarce.


In the 1960s and 1970s he also spent the second deer season at the Anderson Ranch west of Willows. I remember exiting Interstate 5 at Norman-Princeton Road many times as a kid. His 1946 Willies Jeep was always in tow behind his old Ford Ranchero.


At the Anderson Ranch, I killed my first deer at age ten. It was the weekend of the big slaughter. We got thirteen deer in two days. My deer was the biggest. My dad and other grandfather, Jim, were with me in his International Scout. When we got back to camp, my Grandfather Ray was happy for me.


My grandfather also loved trout fishing. He took his three children to Stonyford to catch fish. They also spent many summers at Lake Tahoe and the Truckee River. In his 50s and 60s, my grandfather spent his time fishing in Lake Berryessa. He liked the lake so much that he bought a place at Steel Park Resort. He tried retirement at age 65 but he got bored with that after about a year and went back to work.


My grandfather had seven patents related to rice milling, drying and production. While he could never make any commercially successful, he always hoped that they would catch on. In an earlier age, he might have been as revered as a pioneer in the rice industry but he never got the recognition that he was due.


Grandfather loved to talk about politics. My earliest recollection of talking politics with him was about the symbols of the two major parties. Democrats had the symbol of the donkey because they were jackasses. He hated labor unions and loved Richard Nixon and later Ronald Reagan. He and my step-grandmother used to watch All In The Family. Grandma used to tease that Archie Bunker was based on my grandfather.


For most of his life, my grandfather had a hatred for God and religion. It was the area of his life that held bitterness. God and ministers were usually described with curses and profanity. I have prayed for him since I was a teenager. In the last few years, he seemed to loose much of his hostility towards God. His cussing was noticeable decreased and he seldom used Gods name in vain.


A few months ago, my parent’s pastor started calling on him on a regular basis. About three months ago, he prayed the sinners prayer with the pastor. The pastor continued to look in on him from time to time. The active rebellion towards God was gone. He seemed at peace with the world and his maker.


He died this morning in his sleep.


I love him and wish the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon him in his eternal rest.


Comments, Trackbacks, Pingbacks:
Comment from: Julie [Visitor]
Bill,

What a wonderful story of the memories that you had of Grandpa. Two years ago in October when Grandpa got sick, I called on our old Pastor to look in on him and he never followed through. That night in the Hospital, I prayed Lord please spare his life and do not take Grandpa’s life until he accepts The Lord as his Savior.


Well, as the story goes, When I started to go to West Valley Baptist Church this past winter, I asked Pastor Everston to start visiting Grandpa in St. John’s retirement home and he did just that. He took Dylon along with him, at first Grandpa didn’t want to hear about God and so they would talk about fishing and hunting.


About a month and a half ago when Grandpa almost died, Pastor had a strong sense to go and visit Grandpa and talk to him about heaven. He did just that and Grandpa told him that he already had a glimpse of heaven and he was ready to go and wanted to hear more about it, so Pastor Everston told Grandpa how to know Jesus as his Savior and when I got the call that he accepted Christ as his personal Savior, I cried.

Thank you for the memories of a wonderful man. He was know as “SPARKIE” to the immediate family.
08/13/05 @ 05:27