Cinéma realité

I just finished watching Le Grand Silence, Die Große Stille, Into Great Silence, a beautiful film on the monastery, La Grande Chartreuse, 25 kms outside of Grenoble, France. The film isn't for everyone — there is very little talk, almost no music (other than the Chartreusian plainsong chants), and no narrative voice-over to explain what is going on. Instead, one enters into the deep silence of this incredibly ascetical order devoted to silent contemplation, where a monk's cell becomes his desert and where he spends most of his time as a hermit within community. Watching this film is almost like seeing Andrew Wyeth still-life paintings put to video. It helps knowing the rhythm of the daily office hours and basics of monastic life.

Way back in 1976 with my French 'family' I went to La Grande Chartreuse. Given the solitary nature of the order, visitors do not enter the actual monastery; instead, they visit a museum that has a miniature monastery in which a monk's cell is replicated and where one can hear their music. Beyond the museum is seeing the sheer severity and beauty of the site with cliffs rising high behind the monastery.


Although I was underage at the time, I did manage to bring back two bottles of Chartreusian cognac for my father.

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This is the first film I have downloaded from iTunes and I can't say I am 100% pleased: it is awfully grainy in places and there are even spots in the film that made me think I was watching an old reel to reel film (little spots and streaks). I think I may buy the CD from the distributor; I'll only be out $10.00.

Bishop Ely on Vermont Public Radio

No matter where you are in the world, if you have a computer with a good connection, here is the link to Bishop Ely's interview on Vermont Public Radio today. You can listen to the half-hour interview without downloading it.

[Bishop Ely is the second person from the left in the top row. (c) Episcopal News Service]

They too...

Pray for the community of the order of the Holy Cross as they face the aftermath of the Tea Fire....

Monks Turn to Reflection With Monastery in Ruins

By REBECCA CATHCART
Published: November 18, 2008, NYT

LOS ANGELES — On Tuesday the monks met with their insurance agent.

Like thousands of other residents of Southern California, the seven Benedictine Anglican monks who lived at Mount Calvary Monastery and Retreat House, on a breathtaking ridge 1,250 feet above the Pacific in Montecito, were coming to terms with what they had lost in the fires that have swept across Southern California since Thursday.

Early last Friday, fire consumed most of the complex where the monks had chanted, studied the stars and welcomed guests from around the world. The next afternoon, they returned to survey the damage.

“We were very quiet,” Brother Joseph Brown recalled in a telephone interview Tuesday. “We just looked around. We were in shock.”

By the time the Tea Fire, in Santa Barbara County, was under control, all that remained of the 60-year-old monastery itself were a skeletal archway, a charred iron cross and a large Angelus bell.

Two small artist’s studios near the main building were intact. An icon of Christ that Brother Brown had been painting with pigments made from egg yolk and mineral powder was still on a desk. A cello sat a few feet away, unharmed. In the chaos of wind and fire, a sheriff’s deputy had moved another monk’s telescope outside, where it remained unscathed.

“In the midst of all this destruction,” Brother Brown, 46, said Tuesday, “miracles happened all over the place.”

“The feelings right now are difficult to describe,” he said. “One of the hazards of monasticism throughout the centuries is we become attached to what we have or where we are. This is simply a reminder that what we are called to is not our stuff. This is a cleansing by fire.”

Since the fire, the monks have stayed at St. Mary’s Retreat House, run by Episcopal nuns near the Santa Barbara Mission, as they searched for solace and prepared themselves to help others in the area who were displaced by the blaze.

Brother Brown said the monks, part of the Order of the Holy Cross, spent much of Tuesday meeting with an insurance agent and a contractor to discuss their options. Though the coastal mountains of Montecito were dear to their hearts, he said, they “need time to pray and discern” whether to rebuild there, and if so, how to go about it.

“And we’re like, ‘Hmm, how do we get a hold of Oprah?’ ” he added, speaking of another famous Montecito property owner, Oprah Winfrey, who was not there during the fire but who said on her show last week that she had made a plan to send her staff and dogs to stay at a nearby resort, and that her home was safe.

[photo: A charred archway stands at the Mount Calvary Monastery and Retreat House in Montecito, Calif., after a fire raced through Friday.]

So what will happen here?

Do you think the rest of the Anglican Communion is going to go nuts over this the way it has over one bishop and the ordination of LGBT and blessings of their relationships? After all, this is a huge break with 'tradition.'

Sydney votes to allow diaconal and lay presidency at the Eucharist

The Archdiocese of Sydney in Australia has broken with Anglican tradition and voted to accept a report which calls for allowing lay people and deacons to celebrate the Holy Eucharist without a priest present.

The Church Times reports in their article:

"In a motion moved by a Sydney regional bishop, Dr Glenn Davies, the synod accepted arguments that there was no legal impediment to deacons’ presiding, given that, under a 1985 General Synod canon, deacons are authorised to assist the priest in the administration of the sacraments.

A report accompanying the motion argued that, because deacons can administer the sacrament of baptism ‘in its entirety’, and because ‘no hierarchy of sacraments is expressed in describing the deacon’s role of assisting the presbyter,’ deacons are therefore authorised to ‘administer the Lord’s Supper in its entirety’.

Bishop Davies told the Synod that the Archbishop could not prevent a deacon’s ‘administering the Lord’s Supper’. But the motion, though it also affirmed lay presidency, could not approve lay people’s presiding at Sunday services, as the Archbishop would need to license them, Bishop Davies said. ‘The Archbishop will not license a lay person at this time.’"

The article speculates that the reason for Archbishop Jensen's reluctance to license lay people to preside at the Eucharist is that he is concerned about the reaction of the GAFCON leadership. But licensing deacons is, by itself, a departure from the Ordinal and the traditions of Anglicanism.

Hat tip to the Lead.

[later] Your comments prove my point.

My question is did they vote it before the Anglican Covenant was approved (should such a thing happen) thinking that they, too, might fall under the same rubrics of eligibility for admonition and needing the communion's consent to a decision? I cannot be anything but cynical and agree with you good readers — namely, the Covenant is only about queers and nothing else. Sacramental history be damned — if Sydney wants lay presidency that is a far less core doctrine. It's keeping those uppity women and queers out of ordained ministry and preventing the latter from benefiting from the fullness of the sacraments. The HOBD list has been strangely silent.

More on women bishops in England

from the Guardian

The Church of England was thrown into turmoil last night over the issue of women bishops, as it rejected proposals that would have accommodated clergy strongly opposed to the historic change.

In an emotional, sometimes bitter debate lasting more than seven hours, the General Synod voted against introducing separate structures and "superbishops", to oversee parishes opposed to women bishops, because they were seen as amounting to institutionalised discrimination.

Instead, the 468 members narrowly agreed to the idea of introducing a national statutory code of practice, throwing out all compromises that would have appeased opponents of women bishops.

The Bishop of Winchester, Michael Scott-Joynt, condemned the final vote, taken after amendments had been tabled and rejected, as "mean-spirited and short-sighted". "The manifest majority was profoundly short-sighted. At every point it could have offered reassurances, and it did not do that," he said.

He echoed the sentiments of the Bishop of Dover, the Right Rev Stephen Venner, who was in tears after he made a speech, imploring the pro-women lobby to show some generosity.

"I feel ashamed. We have talked about wanting to give an honourable place for those who disagree, and we have turned down almost every realistic opportunity. We have not even been prepared to explore the possibility of fresh expressions of dioceses or bishops. And still we talk the talk of being inclusive.

Rowan Williams and John Sentamu wanted legislative protection rather than a voluntary code of practice. Sentamu supported plans for superbishops, while Williams wanted "more rather than less robust" legislation.

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The BBC has Rowan Williams saying, 'I am deeply unhappy with any scheme or any solution to this which ends up, as it were, structurally humiliating women who might be nominated to the episcopate.'

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I am sorry. I just don't have much pity or sympathy here. To 'implore the pro-women lobby to show more generosity' as they are trying to toss out full inclusion in holy orders is an oxymoron to me.

There are the usual threats of people leaving the church over this. People have left the church before (or at least threatened to leave the church). Many return after testing the waters elsewhere. While it is grievous, sometimes it's nonsensical such as in the case of someone who left the church where I am because that person couldn't abide by Vermont's civil unions and worship with someone who was in one (actually the individual told me to my face that they didn't approve of women's ordination) only to go to another church where the congregation fully supports civil unions and has not only gays and lesbians up on the altar but also transgendered people, oh my. Having drawn the line in the sand, it is sometmes, hard to erase it, as in the case of this one person. I will welcome with joy that person back at the altar rail for communion has been incomplete these many years, but certainly I am not going to change my personhood nor can I.

If you look at the video up on the Guardian's site, you'll see nothing but men sitting up front. Once again, it's all about fear... fear of losing their power, fear of letting those icky women into positions greater than that of a doormat. Since we haven't sorted out women's ordination, we won't get around to resolving LGBT ordination. It's still all about patriarchy that just isn't dying easily.

Consider the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, who scolded the 75th General Convention at the hearing of the Special Committee for its move toward greater inclusion of LGBTs. And here, he supported super(flying) bishops to protect the Anglo-Catholics against women. (I don't get it since liturgically, theologically and even social issue-wise I am Anglo-Catholic, at least in the historical sense of the 19th century....) Who knows what he was saying as the photo was taken but it looks as though he is tearing out the non-existent hair he has on his head.

Bottom line: I am tired of people deciding what other people can and cannot do according to their very being. (Don't even bother reading the comments at the New York Times on their corresponding article. It's the usual tripe: Gene Robinson should resign; it's those egotistical liberals, it's all women's fault; it's all the gays' fault and on and on and on.) Get a grip and get on with life. There's work to be done.

Call me hot and bothered in Vermont.

Blessings All Around

[This piece is written by a friend of mine who was in my class of the Clergy Leadership Project ten years ago.]

Blessings all around
Our prayers for America today should keep whole world in mind

By PATRICIA TEMPLETON
Published on: 07/04/08, Atlantic Journal Constitution

Not long ago, my family attended an arts festival at Stone Mountain. The place was packed, and we had to park far away from the actual festival site.

We were making the long trek back to our car when I noticed people in front of us. When they got to our car, they stopped and pointed. Then a young woman took her drink and angrily flung it against the back of my station wagon.

At first, my husband and I could not figure out what was going on. But then it dawned on me — the woman was offended by my bumper sticker.

Here is the message that prompted such an angry outburst: "God bless the people of every nation." Apparently, the idea of God blessing other countries offended this woman.

"God bless America" is a phrase that we have heard a lot in the last seven years. One of the most poignant memories I have of that awful day of Sept. 11, 2001, is of the members of Congress standing together, singing that familiar hymn.

But in the years since that day, the mood has changed in this country. "God bless America" has become almost a mantra. We hear it everywhere — from politicians, on bumper stickers, from TV commentators.

And it seems to me that too often "God bless America" has become less a prayer and more a battle cry. Less a call for God's protection and guidance, and more an arrogant shout of superiority, a demand that God bless this country above all others.

As we celebrate the founding of our nation, it seems an appropriate time to ask what it means to call on God to bless America.

Recently I reread Mark Twain's essay "The War Prayer," written in the early 1900s in response to the Philippine-American War. The piece is set at a church service held to send the town's young men off to war.

The minister prays that God "would watch over our noble young soldiers and aid, comfort and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them ... help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory."

When the minister finishes, a stranger who identifies himself only as a messenger from God stands and speaks. He tells the congregation that their prayers ask for more than they are aware of; that there is an unspoken side to most spoken prayers.

"If you would beseech a blessing upon yourselves, beware!" he warns, "lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time."

And then the stranger tells the congregation of the unspoken ramifications of their prayers that morning — the violent deaths of soldiers from another land, the cries of the wounded, the devastation of homes and crops, the anguish of new widows and orphans. All of this is implicit in their prayers.

"The War Prayer" ends with this sentence: "It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said."

Twain's daughter urged her father never to publish "The War Prayer" because it would be seen as an affront to both Christians and patriots. Indeed, it was not published until 13 years after Twain's death.

At the risk of causing offense, I believe there is great sense in what Twain's stranger said; that his warning is one we should all heed on this holiday on which God will be called on countless times to bless our country in a time of war.

I am not suggesting it is wrong to ask God's blessing on our nation, or to pray that God protect those we love who are in battle. Of course we pray for them. But how do we ask God's blessing in a way that does not tacitly invoke God's curse on others?

Perhaps we should remember the biblical understanding of blessing. All through Scripture, God is very clear: With blessing comes responsibility. God's blessing is never intended to be only for personal or national prosperity and gain. God's blessings are intended to be used to bless others.

And God makes it clear that, ultimately, nations will be judged not by how strong their militaries are, not by how rich and powerful their most prosperous citizens are, but by how the poor, the marginalized, the aliens and enemies are treated.

We live in a country that God has deeply blessed. And when we are at our best, we have used those blessings to reach out to others in love and charity.

In the same way, God's blessing of others nations does not take away from our own blessing, but enhances it. The spread of justice and peace and prosperity anywhere is good news for people everywhere.

So on this day I pray that God will bless America. And I pray that God will bless Canada and Mexico and the nations of South American and Africa and Asia and Europe.

I pray that God will bless North Korea and Afghanistan, and Iraq and Iran.

May God bless all the nations of the world.

Surely the last article on this thread

I guess one reason why I am posting these articles is because I might well have ended up Catholic had my maternal grandmother not converted to The Episcopal Church when she was 12. We never knew what caused her to convert (it was in and around the time her mother died), she took that to the grave but I have long thanked God that I grew up in TEC and never had to confront the pain of considering conversion. (My cousins grew up Catholic and two now are Episcopalians, one is Catholic still and the last one does not attend church, I don't think, but if he does, also goes to TEC.)

I also post this because I long have followed the actions of Cardinal Ratzinger as he censored people like Leonardo Boff. One of the best books about his influence on the Latin American Church is the late Penny Lernoux's Cry of the People (1980) and then her People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism (1989 — especially pages 99-104).

Lastly, I am so tired of the use of the terms 'orthodox' and 'traditional' teachings. No point in discussing this matter; it has been covered ad nauseum elsewhere. But suffice to say that if we really did follow the Bible to the letter of the law, we'd be in for some nasty surprises.

Not totally off-track, but if you haven't seen the film, 'For the Bible Tells Me So,' do. It is exhausting to watch but it makes its point with some humour, too. You can order the film for under $20 by going here.

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Pope warns against `prophetic actions' by U.S. churches
By DANIEL BURKE
c. 2008 Religion News Service

NEW YORK -- Pope Benedict XVI on Friday (April 18) strongly urged leaders from U.S. Christian churches to hold fast against "so-called `prophetic actions"' and to unify under traditional Christian teachings.

Though Benedict did not single out any particular action, the remark appeared to be a subtle dig aimed at a growing acceptance of homosexuality in some U.S. churches, especially the election of an openly gay Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson in 2003.

Many who supported the Robinson's election called it a "prophetic" witness for justice and inclusion, even as traditionalists -- and the Vatican -- saw it as unbiblical and damaging to church unity.

The pope also criticized Christian communities that bypass unified action "choosing instead to function according to the idea of `local options"' -- a phrase often invoke by those who want to reform church teachings even if the wider church won't follow.

He warned against actions that are "not always consonant with ... Scripture and Tradition," and said that "only by holding fast to sound teaching will we be able to respond to the challenges that confront us in an evolving world."

The head of the U.S. Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, was invited but could not attend because of a previous commitment. Episcopal Bishop Mark Sisk of New York did attend and said he would be "surprised" if the pope was targetting U.S. Episcopalians.

"I don't think he was trying to send a shot across the bow at a particular church," said Sisk, who greeted the pope personally. "This was not the place to try to do that."

The speech to Christian leaders came after Benedict arrived in New York on Friday morning and addressed the United Nations on the need to protect human rights and religious freedom around the world.

His speech to Protestant and Orthodox leaders was not the first time Benedict had injected himself into the controversy roiling the Episcopal Church. In 2003, while still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he sent a telegram expressing his "heartfelt prayers" to conservative Episcopalians gathered in Texas.

The pope also sounded his oft-repeated alarm that relativism -- the idea that truth is subjective -- is undermining Christianity from within, as well as in the wider culture, which makes it all the more important that Christian leaders hold fast to tradition.

"The very possibility of divine revelation, and therefore of Christian faith, is often placed into question by cultural trends widely present in academia, the mass media and public debate. For these reasons, a faithful witness to the Gospel is as urgent as ever. Christians are challenged to give a clear account of the hope that they hold," the pope said.

At the end of the ceremony at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, where Mass is still celebrated in the Benedict's native German tongue, the pope greeted a more than a dozen evangelical, Eastern Orthodox, mainline Protestant and black church leaders.

The meeting with ecumenical leaders comes less than a year after the Vatican reasserted its claims to primacy, calling other Christian churches defective and saying Protestant denominations are not churches "in the proper sense."

Many Protestants in the U.S. had questioned the timing and intent of the Vatican's statement. Among them was the Rev. Donald McCoid, who heads ecumenical and interfaith outreach for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

McCoid attended the ecumenical service Friday, and said beforehand that many Catholics and Protestant leaders had already talked through their differences on the document.

"If I thought it was geared toward Protestant and Orthodox churches that would be different," McCoid said. "But I think it was really intended to state to Catholics: this is where we are."

Earlier in the day, Benedict visited Park East Synagogue, the first time a pope has visited a Jewish house of worship in the U.S. The brief stop was billed as a "informal visit ... to express his good will toward the local Jewish community as they prepare for Passover," according to Monsignor David Malloy, the general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Earlier on Friday, Benedict told leaders at the United Nations that human rights are "inscribed on human hearts" and asked them to work together to eradicate violence and poverty and to care for the environment.

Benedict said "efforts must be redoubled" particularly to protect religious freedom and impoverished countries in Africa.

"A vision of life firmly anchored in the religious dimension can help to achieve this" Benedict said, "since recognition of the transcendent value of every man and woman favors conversion of the heart, which then leads to a commitment to resist violence, terrorism and war, and to promote justice and peace."

Speaking in English and French, the pope did not mention specific conflicts, such as Iraq or the Middle East, but laid an intellectual foundation for human rights based on justice and the dignity of all persons.

If sovereign nations are unable to guarantee those rights, the pope said, "the international community must intervene."

During his three days in Washington earlier this week, Benedict met President Bush at the White House and celebrated a public Mass for 46,000 at a baseball stadium.

The early stages of Benedict's six-day U.S. trip, however, have been dominated by his attention to the clergy sexual abuse crisis, which he has addressed every day since landing in the U.S. for his first trip as pontiff. On Thursday, the pope held a closed-door meeting with a small group of survivors at the Vatican embassy in Washington.

Benedict is the third pope to address the UN, after Paul VI in 1965 and John Paul II in 1979 and 1995. The Holy See, led by the pope, is a permanent observer at the world body, and is able to contribute to debates but does not have a vote.

The pope's address touched a wide range of topics, including climate change, the negative effects of globalization and the tendency of the global agenda to be "subordinated to the decisions of a few."

Easter message from the Most Rev'd Martín Barahona

(en español aquí abajo)

A Resurrection Message by the Most Rev. Martín Barahona
Bishop of the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador and
Primate of the Anglican Church of the Region of Central America

Easter Resurrection: Another opportunity to be born anew

The Easter Resurrection signifies for Christians a new life: almost every world religion in its conception or spiritual dynamic of relationship with God has in its calendar festivals to renew life or creation. In this context, as Christians since the life of Jesus of Nazareth, we invite all men and women of good will to renew creation.

The resurrection is the hope of the Christian community. With the resurrection, Jesus invites us to a project of hope and to change our lives.

In our liturgy, the Pascual Triduum, as its name indicates, consists of three days — Friday, Saturday and Sunday — three eloquent days that unite the accusations against Jesus in the tribunal and the testimony of a witness who said, “This man [referring to Jesus] will destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days” (Matthew 26).

It is time to arrive at the third day, to change our patterns, and transform our lives in order to change others’. El Salvador is a small country, with a big population and plenty of social problems. It needs to be resurrected. Just as El Salvador needs to be resurrected, so, too, does the entire world need to be resurrected. The Call is to change lives in this global village.

Our social fabric is torn each day: in general, citizens live with anxiety, and vulnerability, facing the possibility of being a victim of crime, and being overwhelmed by the economic situation. Easter comes into our lives, but what are we to leave aside in order to be born anew?

We need to leave aside social sin — sin that is called corruption, ambition, lack of love of one’s neighbor, lack of actions for plans that favorize a dignified life with education, health, employment and security for each and every single person without excluding anyone.

It is time of the resurrection; the third day has arrived, Easter has arrived. What have we done for our brothers and sisters, for our own lives? What have we done with Jesus’ project? It is time to re-examine ourselves and act so that leaders and the led are filled with hope in order to offer hope in others.

The word, ‘resurrection,’ means ‘to come to life,’ the hope that we will have life after death. It is necessary to come to life out of this death of anguish, anxiety and insecurity.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
A blessed Easter.

Mensaje de Resurrección por Reverendísimo Martín Barahona
Obispo de la Iglesia Anglicana de El Salvador y Primado de Iglesia Anglicana de la Región Central de América (IARCA)

Pascua de Resurrección: Otra oportunidad para nacer de nuevo

La Pascua de Resurrección significa para los cristianos una nueva vida; casi todas las religiones del mundo en su concepción o dinámica espiritual de relación con Dios tienen en sus calendarios de festevidades renovar la vida o la creación. En este contexto como cristiano desde la vida de Jesús de Nasaret hacemos una invitación a todos los hombres y mujeres de buena voluntad a renovar la creación.

La Resurección es la esperanza de la comunidad Cristiana. Con la resurrección Jesús nos invita a un proyecto de esperanza y a cambiar nuestras vidas.

En nuestra liturgia, el triduo pascual como su nombre lo indica consta de tres días; viernes, sábado y domingo, son tan elecuentes estos tres días que una de las acusaciones de Jesús en el tribunal, fue que un testigo dijo: "Este hombre, (refieriendose a Jesús) dijo: destruid este templo y yo lo reconstruiré en tres días". Mateo 26.

Es tiempo de que llegue el tercer día, cambiar los esquemas, transformar nuestras vidas para transformar a los demás. El Salvador es un país pequeño, con mucha población y suficientes problemas sociales, necesita resucitar y así como El Salvador también el mundo entero necesita resucitar. El Llamado es para cambiar las vidas en esta aldea global.

Nuestro tejido social se rompe cada día, el ciudadano promedio amanece con la zozobra, la vulnerabilidad ante la posibilidad de ser victima de la delincuencia y agobiado por la situación económica. Llega la Pascua de Resurrección en nuestras vidas, pero ¿qué debemos dejar atrás para nacer de nuevo?: Debemos dejar atrás el pecado social, pecado que se llama corrupción, ambición, falta de amor al prójimo, carencia de acciones y planes que favorezca una vida digna con educación , salud, empleo y seguridad para todos y cada uno de los seres humanos sin excluir a nadie.

Es tiempo de la resurrección, llegó el tercer día, llegó la pascua y qué hemos hecho por nuestros hermanos y hermanas, por nuestras propias vidas, qué hemos hecho con el proyecto de Jesús?. Es tiempo de revisar y actuar, que gobernantes y gobernados se llenen de esperanza para brindar esperanzas a los demás.

La palabra resurrección significa volver a vivir, la esperanza de que tendremos vida después de la muerte.- Es necesario volver de esta muerte de angustia, de zozobra y de inseguridad.

Aleluya Cristo ha resucitado

Felices Pascuas de Resurección

Plus ça change...?

Last night I started reading Deborah and Nicholas Clifford's book, "The Troubled Roar of the Waters": Vermont in Flood and Recovery, 1927 (Durham, NH: UNH Press, 2007). They published it on the 80th anniversary of the huge flood that caused chaos in Vermont 2-5 November 1927. While all of New England and parts of Canada were affected by torrential rains, Vermont was 'covered by a "cube of water more than a mile high, a mile long, and a mile broad," according to meterologists at the time' [back book jacket]


Whole villages disappeared in the floodwaters and the book details the tragic fate of people trapped in their gaslit houses as they were swept away in the torrents.


No matter where one turned, towns were immersed under floodwaters.


Vermont had an extensive railroad network that took people to and from Boston, New York and Montréal. The dairy industry depended on the railways to carry their milk down to the lucrative markets of Boston and New York. The north-south routes were heavily damaged and really didn't get back up to steam until 1928.

What attracts my attention beyond the gripping story of the flood and its aftermath is the sociological study of Vermont in the 1920s and the importance of the state to the US at large. (I also read this with the personal knowledge that my mother was a month and four days old when this all happened.) So much of what the authors describe happening in the 1920s seems still visible even today. Looking back at the state's pride in being 'exceptional' and 'different', one sees the same desire to maintain that somewhat carmudgeonly air.

As for the title of this entry, the following quotation (51) seems particularly timely. Ignore the somewhat disparaging language of 'Papist' (it is xenophobic) — of the time and from the Rutland Herald, not reflecting the authors' opinions — as you read this description. The context is describing people's angst about losing the 'old' way of life and distrust of the following social forces: modernity, urbanism, immigration and 'radical' politics, pitted against an idealisation of folk-life and a belief in rural life and its rhythms.

Views such as these... reflect a general sense of crisis among old-stock Americans, who saw what they imagined as an earlier and homogeneous and harmonious society — native, Protestant, and middle-class — challenged by a modern culture increasingly influenced by immigrants, Catholics, and Jews. Even those lovely white churches adorning the village greens were no longer much a part of the lives of Vermonters as they once had been. "Papists Have Increased 20% in Ten Years," read a headline in the Rutland Herald, and though in the United States as a whole, Protestant church membership was rising at roughly the same rate, that was not true of Vermont. A study of President Coolidge's home county of Windsor revealed a severe drop in Protestant church-going, and in 1931 a committee chaired by [Governor] John Weeks — himself a man of profound Protestant convictions — discovered that while 51.9 percent of adult Vermonters were church members, without the Papists, the figure would have been far worse, for only 36 percent of the state's non-Catholic population over the age of thirteen belonged to any congregation (the national average was 46.5 percent).

Evidently church going 80 years ago wasn't a high priority either — perhaps for very different reasons but nonetheless, it's a pretty low percentage of folks who attended church. Given how strong the Congregational church is historically in Vermont, it's amazing that we've had an incorporated Episcopal diocese for 175 years with 48 congregations. This little historical foray offers some perspective as I worry about our shrinking numbers. Maybe what is happening in 2008 isn't that much different from what was going on in 1927... before all the suffering of the Great Depression... where it seems we might be headed as well.

De acuerdo

Puttering around the web and blogosphere, I ran across this logo. If you google it, you'll find that there is a blog devoted to this action. The last time this group of bloggers 'swarmed' was on Easter. For those of you who know me and know where I stand politically, I don't think that you'll find it a surprise that I am dreading our government becoming more and more of a theocracy. The thought is terrifying. All I can see is a world like Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, a story that scared me when I read it back in 1991.

I won't go as far as putting this logo in the sidebar, but I sympathise with the sentiment... especially as I read more and more of Hucklebee's words. Those pesky gays and lesbians? Get rid of them, lock them up. The US constitution? Change it so it reflects an evangelical fundamentalist's understanding of God.

Time to go read Karen Armstrong's The Battle for God, which I have had since it came out eight years ago (has it been that long? Yes, pre-September 11th 2001). She writes in the preface that can be found in the paperback edition (which I printed out from online somewhere):

'[O]nce people begin to use religion to justify hatred and killing, and thus abandon the compassionate ethic of all the great world religions, they have embarked on a course that represents a defeat for faith. This aggressive piety can tip some of its more extreme proponents into a moral darkness that endangers us all. If fundamentalists in all three faiths [Christianity, Judaism, Islam] are beginning to embrace more radical and nihilistic creeds, this is a truly perilous development. It is all the more important, therefore, that we learn to understand what lies behind this profound desperation and understand what impels fundamentalists to act as they do....'

People of the United States, wake up!

[Tengrain who does amazing (and naughty) things had this article:

Lilly Ledbetter worked at Goodyear Tire & Rubber for 19 years. She was a good employee, got to work on time, did her job day in and day out, and only learned after she retired that she earned considerably less than the men she worked with who were doing the same job… Ledbetter filed a lawsuit, and initially was awarded $3 million in damages. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where by a decision of 5-4 the Justices reversed the lower court ruling. It's by following TG's link that I found the logo above.]