New York Times:

Democrats hailed the vote as historic, comparable to the establishment of Medicare and Social Security and a long overdue step forward in social justice. “This is the civil rights act of the 21st century,” said Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the No. 3 Democrat in the House.

Episcopal Public Policy Network urged continued dialogue and momentum of the bill back in January.

We cannot afford to let this historic opportunity to restore the health and wholeness of families struggling to afford and access critical health care services pass us by. Turning back now will only lead to too many more years of denied care, higher numbers of uninsured, increasing health care costs, and lack of access to needed care.

But then, it won't be at any of the diocese's 70+ parishes, more than 20 of which are in Dallas proper; and it certainly won't be at any of the 13 Dallas-area parishes listed as affiliated with AAC.

Robinson will preach a mid-week, "contemporary worship service" (and sign books) at Cathedral of Hope, a United Church of Christ congregation that calls itself "the world's largest liberal Christian church with a primary outreach to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people."

The last visit to Dallas we can find on the record for Bishop Robinson was in November of 2008, when he addressed a "Transgender Conversations" event sponsored by Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies, and worshipped at St. Thomas the Apostle in north Dallas.

She sat down with Trinity Wall Street's senior producer Jim Melchiorre to talk about food distribution, sacramentality, and courage.

Try to figure out why you're [offering a food pantry]. Are you doing it to be good? Are you doing it to be nice to poor people? Or are you doing it because you want something that's promised to you, which is abundant life? If you want abundant life and you want to open up how you understand the world, you're not going to simply replicate a social service program; you're going to try to actually go deeper into relationship with other people. And wherever you are, you can do that.

Before all that, Smylie answered questions - plenty of 'em, both in print and in person.

Here, through the diocese's walkabout channel on YouTube, Smylie holds forth on a smattering of important matters.

Why he wanted the job:

I think that I could be your pastor. I think that I could work to love you into greater growth.

Same-gender marriage:

I would be open to affirming the unions, but we can't have the marriage because of the legal aspect.

His goals and what changes they might precipitate:

I don't know what the changes will be, but I know as we participate in our Lord's vision, we will be changed, and God will be glorified.

How he handles anger:

The one who anger hurts is the one who holds it.

With a hat-tip to Louie Crew, we note the following: Smylie, who was once an associate at Christ Church in Ridgewood, New Jersey, has become the fourth priest with such credentials to have been elected to the episcopate. He joins bishops Gene Robinson (New Hampshire), Richard Shimpfky (resigned from El Camino Real), and Philip Duncan (Central Gulf Coast) - all of them with ties of service to Christ Church!

Photos of the election (Smylie appears in photo #144.)

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

Pushed and pulled
by the pressures of the world.
The fire of the holy
hardens the clay
to its intended shape.

Seen above (and on home-page mastheads): “African Rhythms” by Ruth Councell.

Readings are from Streams of Mercy: a meditative commentary on the Bible by Ann Kristin Haldors Fontaine (used with permission of the author.

Easter Sunday is key, of course, to our common life and to our calendars, with Ash Wednesday, Pentecost, and several other important days being set by its placement. But if you've ever tried to work your way through the Prayer Book's rules for finding the date of Easter Day, you know how complicated it can be.

How'd it get that way? Bosco Peters opines,

The dating of Easter arises from the complicated joining of two different calendar systems. These calendars might be illustrated by the early story of Cain and Abel. If you are an Abel type – hunting, fishing, watching your flock by night, you will focus on the moon and the lunar cycle of 29 and a half days. Moonlight and tides will be significant to you. If you are a Cain type, a tiller of the ground and grower of crops, the solar cycle and its seasons will be more significant to you. The dating of Easter comes out of combining these solar and lunar calendars.

Let us look into the mystery this incident imported. Whatever soul among you wishes to be truly faithful, anoint the feet of the Lord with precious ointment like Mary did. That ointment was righteousness, and therefore it was [exactly] a pound weight: but it was ointment of pure nard, very precious. From his calling it “pistici” we ought to infer that there was some locality from which it derived its preciousness; but this does not exhaust its meaning, and it harmonizes well with a sacramental symbol. The root of the word in the Greek [pistis] is by us called “faith.” You were seeking to work righteousness: “The just shall live by faith.” Anoint the feet of Jesus: follow the Lord’s footsteps by living a good life. Wipe them with your hair: what you have in excess, give to the poor, and then you have wiped the feet of the Lord. For the hair seems to be the superfluous part of the body. You have something to spare of your abundance: it is superfluous to you but necessary for the feet of the Lord. Perhaps on this earth the Lord’s feet are still in need. For of whom but of his members is he yet to say in the end, “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of mine, you did it unto me”? You spent what was superfluous for yourselves, but you have done what was grateful to my feet.

From Tractates on the Gospel of John by Augustine of Hippo, quoted in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament IVb, John 11-21, edited by Joel C. Elowsky (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2007).

This is my last semester as Episcopal Chaplain at MIT. After nine years for which I am outrageously thankful, it is simply time for me to move on to whatever God has in store for me next (which is TBA -- a good lesson in trust.). The corridors of a world-class engineering school is a fascinating vantage point from which to watch for the Holy Spirit. So before I go, I want to share some of the most important things I’ve learned at MIT.

Matter matters: I slid through the science requirement in college by taking botany and social psychology. Not my thing, or so I thought. MIT students steadied my gaze on the outrageous beauty and mystery of the material world. From the night sky to neutrinos to the laws of physics, the MIT crowd have an innate cosmic sacramentality, and the ones I love have a passion for using “stuff” to do peace and justice in ways abstract theories can’t touch. As an example, read about the tremendous Amy Smith.

The merits of meritocracy: At MIT, no one cares what you look like, where you grew up, or who your father is. It’s all about one thing: Can you help us solve a problem? Now, there are theological problems with this rather utilitarian ethic, but compared to most communities I’ve encountered, and many corners of the church I’ve passed through, it has been refreshing. And it has kept me on my toes, as resting on laurels or credentials or personal charm is simply undoable at the ‘Tute.

In the footsteps of St. Anskar: Campus ministry is mission work, pure and simple. That is increasingly true, as a smaller percentage than ever of the students grew up with any religious practice. And because the public face of Christianity during the lifetimes of most of today’s students has been largely strident and self-righteous, the students who do affiliate with our ministry are reticent to come out as Christians on campus because of what their friends would (wrongly) assume about them. I am so thankful to have learned in seminary that blessed St. Anskar, missionary to Scandinavia, had his first convert after 36 years of work. It has helped me keep going, feel like I'm actually doing pretty well, and see my work as part of a worthy tradition.

How to identify left-brained prayers: Engineers pray best without words. They build flood warning systems in river basins in Honduras, to save lives in real time. They make furniture out of used boxes and whip up a nice offertory-collection basket out of a piece of paper during the peace (see photo). Physicists pray in labs, giddy with amazement at the workings of the world, and computer scientists pray by creating networks to help students in the developing world get a good education in the face of poverty and restricted freedoms. Read about the IDEAS competition, where outlandish prayers take flight. (http://web.mit.edu/ideas/www/)

The trickiest problems are non-technical: Early in my time at MIT, I attended the memorial service of a graduate student who had taken his own life. He was known and loved all over campus – a genius and a truly beautiful person. He had eaten Christmas dinner with me and the brothers at SSJE in Cambridge just months before. But he had carried inside wrenching turmoil as he tried to reconcile his own dreams with the hopes of his family. He could not reason or engineer his way out of this inner knot. In the following years, at times when I was tempted to think that what I had to offer was not enough or not relevant, when I was tempted to be intimidated by the Nobel prizes and the cutting edge research and the fancy labs where they were working on things I could not pronounce, I remembered this young man. And I kept going, kept speaking, kept offering what I could.

No apologies: an apology: My nine years at MIT was Time Well-Spent. That is so clear to me, despite comments I’ve gotten periodically from clergy colleagues who say things like “When are you going to move up the food chain?” (Not kidding). As a chaplain, I had to recreate leadership every year, do the same programs over and again as our congregation kept walking off in mortar boards, give 100% to both my diocese and the Division of Student Life. It was pretty humbling being “the priest of one religion in the temple of another,” as one of my predecessors put it. But I leave wiser, amazed, and blessed.

The Rev. Amy McCreath is the Episcopal chaplain and coordinator of the Technology and Culture Forum at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is a member of the Council of Associated Parishes for Liturgy and Mission.

The law would also make it illegal to pick up a day laborer.

"Catholic Bishops James Wall of Gallup, N.M., Gerald Kicanas of Tucson and Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix wrote a joint letter, saying that they were concerned the measure would make people fearful to report crimes and that children brought into the country by their parents could be criminalized under the bill's trespassing portion.

[...]The Rev. Sue Youngblood with St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Chandler said this state effort will push people out of Arizona.

'We need the immigrants. We need their labor,' she said. 'They are taxpayers, and they are consumers.'"

Read the full article here.

Phoenix is already reeling from a massive shortfall in wage and sales tax revenues and has begun to cut numerous social services. The state is reduced to closing rest stops on the highway. Much of the shortfall in tax revenue is attributed to the flight of tax paying immigrants who have left the state for other parts of the country.

The award for the most dedicated to corporate spiritual discipline goes to the people of the Church of the Epiphany in Rumford, Rhode Island:

"Responding to a challenge from their rector, the Rev. Jennifer L. Pedrick, at least 70 parishioners have pledged, as a spiritual discipline, to de-clutter their homes, and not to buy any new stuff other than food, medicine and fuel.

A realistic goal? Ms. Pedrick says that only time will tell, but during the first week and a half, the campaign has been ‘incredibly successful.’

She has a poster on her office door, one side listing items parishioners have and want to give away, the other listing things people would like to receive. ‘It’s been up for a couple weeks but you see all sorts of things on the list,’ she says. ‘People are giving away TVs and record players. I hear people are doing a lot of un-cluttering.’"

From here. Do read the whole article. There are reports of some delightful discoveries that people who have accepted the discipline this Lent have made.

The people of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Greenville SC have a special Lenten project that will keep on going into Easter season. They're starting a community garden that will be both an inter-generational parish project and a resource for feeding hungry people in the community this summer and fall.

The garden, which was dedicated Feb. 27, is located on the 5-acre campus of St. Peter's, on the edge of what used to be a soccer field.

“We have a natural divide, a terrace, where we've placed the garden project. We oriented it for the best sun and the best drainage,” said Ron Plemmons, one of the project leaders.

Inspired by a garden started by St. James Episcopal Church and with advice from area Master Gardeners, the St. Peter's gardeners are building a ministry that feeds the hungry and “provides wholesome intergenerational fellowship in the name of Christ,” according to an invitation to the dedication.

A state or so away, Jenny Fife, a member of St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church in Roanoke was the coordinator for a community wide effort that gathered 21+ tons of food and packaged them into meals for more than 285,000 people in Haiti. Yep. 285,000. (That's not a typo.) It took a whole day and 2,000 volunteers to pull off. And there were more volunteers than the teams could use. People were forced to wait in line to be able to help.

In a similarly inspiring, but smaller scale way, Amy Bleasdale, a high school junior and member of St. John's Niantic CT spoke to the Connecticut Trial Lawyers of New London County last week about her experiences volunteering along with other High School students at the New London Meal Center. She says that she was nervous the first time she volunteered but quickly found out that there was nothing at all to nervous about. She told the lawyers how volunteering had enriched her life and how she hoped that they would follow her example.

The people of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Greensboro NC are involved in finding a way for that community to continue its involvement with Refugee resettlement work. Lutheran Family Services in that city recently announced it would no longer be able to provide that service. City, county and religious leaders are sitting down together at Holy Trinity to try to find a workable solution that will allow the work to continue.

And finally here in the Southwest, St. John's in Bisbee AZ is looking for some unwanted art:

Liz Hampton, a member of St. John’s, announced the event called Art Has No Borders which will be held April 24 and April 25. Money raised through the auction will be given to the Episcopal Border Ministries, The Naco Migrant Resource Center, Humanitarian Border Solutions and The Naco Wellness Initiative, Hampton added. These organizations provide help for welcoming deported migrants, supply and maintain life-saving water stations in the Sonoran Desert and provide health care to border residents.

“We’ll take any sort of art from artists or from collectors,” said the Rev. Seth Polley. “I understand that artists are often asked to donate art for worthwhile causes. Please continue to be of support and direct your creative energy toward those who help migrants. Each recipient commits valuable resources of time and money to help those most affected by our current immigration crisis.”

Maybe you have something for them?

And maybe we need to get the people of St. John's in Bisbee in touch with the people of Church of the Epiphany in Rumford eh?

The New York Times has extensive coverage:

"Nowhere in the letter did Benedict address the responsibility of the Vatican itself. Many victims’ groups have criticized the Vatican for not recognizing the depth and scope of the abuse crisis sooner. Nor did he use the term punishment, or spell out any consequences for clergy or bishops who had not upheld canon or civil law. Indeed, he laid blame firmly with Irish Catholic leaders.

[...]For many Catholics, the letter offered a critical test of whether the pope can stem a widening crisis that has shaken the credibility and authority of the Roman Catholic church in other parts of the world, challenging the Vatican to end a culture of secrecy and cover-up permeating its cloistered hierarchy.

There's a problem though for the victims in both the lack of the specificity in the response and a sense that the Vatican is not recognizing the systemic nature of the problem which extends beyond Ireland:

Colm O’Gorman, the co-founder of a victims’ group called One in Four, who is now currently the head of Amnesty International in Ireland, was one victim of sexual abuse by a priest when he was a young teenager between 1981 and 1983 in the south-east of Ireland.

After reading the pope’s letter on Saturday, he said he was ‘concerned that there is still no full acknowledgment of the systematic institutional cover-up which is not restricted only to Ireland.’

‘Clearly the pope is trying to restrict it to the Irish church and they are speaking only to the Irish church. I find that deceitful because we know that this is a global and systemic problem in the global church. It’s all about protesting the institution and, above all, its wealth,’ he said in a telephone interview."

Read the full article here.

More coverage:

"The abuse scandal is the fault of liberals" (A particular passage is highlighted in the Spectator.)

Oliver Kamm on the scandal in response to criticism that his papers coverage of the scandal constituted a hate campaign against the Vatican..

Johann Hari who writes on how religious scandals like this cause us to think hard about the intersection of religion and secular society. (h/t to Thinking Anglicans)

The Lutheran bishop of the region, speaking in support of the Anglican bishop pointed out the coincidence of the day of the shooting being the 30th anniversary of the shooting of Archbishop Oscar Romero.

He added, “We are glad and pleased that the bishop is giving his testimony, but how sad it would have been if, on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Monsignor Romero, another bishop had been assassinated... the violence already is excessive.”

El Salvador, a Central American country, is considered one of the most violent countries in the world. According to official statistics, 13 people die a day as a consequence of the social violence.

Bishop Barahona expressed his regret at a press conference: “I leave this matter to the authorities who are investigating, but I am worried about this type of violence that everyone suffers.”

More here.

Immediately the father of the child cried out, "I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24)

My hand tires
and cramps
around the crayon
as I struggle
to complete the picture.
Vast unfilled spaces spread out before me.

Seen above (and on home-page mastheads): “Starfire in the East” by David Orth in the current ECVA exhibition, "Recognition & Return."

Readings are from Streams of Mercy: a meditative commentary on the Bible by Ann Kristin Haldors Fontaine (used with permission of the author.