AP News: United Methodists repeal longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy BY PETER SMITH May 1, 2024 CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — United Methodist delegates repealed their church’s longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy with no debate on Wednesday, removing a rule forbidding “self–avowed practicing homosexuals” from being ordained or appointed as ministers.
How have the mighty fallen! When I was a kid being raised Catholic, the handbook for my “spiritual formation” (aka indoctrination) was arranged as a series of questions and answers. In early editions, there were as many as 1400 questions. I didn’t actually read much of it, but listened to and repeated more, and still … Continue reading In Baltimore, It’s Not Only a Bridge That Collapsed: The Catholic Church Has Too
[NOTE: This prominent article mentions Quakers 12 times, 11 times favorably. What do Friends think of that?]] Washington Post They quit liberal public schools. Now they teach kids to be anti-‘woke.’ By Hannah Natanson — April 15, 2024 Kali Fontanilla used to teach public school in California. Now she leads her own online Christian … Continue reading They’re Making an (Anti-Woke) Example of Quakers in their “Christian” School:
Last month I attended two presentations by the new AFSC Director of Quaker Engagement, Brian Blackmore, at Durham and Chapel Hill Meetings here in North Carolina. Blackmore, just a year in the job, is the successor to Lucy Duncan, a longtime AFSC staffer who was unceremoniously fired in early 2022 when she tried to start … Continue reading AFSC: When the Slides Went Awry, And The Key Questions Weren’t Asked . . .
For March 18th This post is adapted from: Tell It Slant, a Biography/autobiography by Emma Lapsansky-Werner, with Chuck Fager: Chuck’s first grandchild was born in September 1994, and named Amber Dawn. She and her mother, Chuck’s daughter Annika, lived in Martinsburg West Virginia. One early milestone on Amber’s road lay almost five hundred miles northeast, … Continue reading For March 17-18: The Best Friend & The Last Big Surprise