Church of England plan for welcoming trans people under fire

More than 2,000 clergy and lay members sign letter asking bishops to withdraw guidance

Harriet Sherwood 

Religion correspondent

@harrietsherwood

Tue 29 Jan 2019 11.42 EST Last modified on Tue 29 Jan 2019 14.05 EST

The church issued guidance in December on services to allow trans Christians to celebrate their new identity and name. Photograph: Alamy

More than 2,000 clergy and lay members of the Church of England have signed a letter calling on bishops to withdraw or change recent guidance on welcoming transgender people to the church.

Last month the church issued advice to clergy and congregations recommending an adapted affirmation of baptism service to allow transgender Christians to celebrate their new identity and name.

The guidance was criticised by a group of bishops who described it as “theologically and pastorally questionable”. One member of the archbishops’ council, the Rev Ian Paul, suggested church leaders were “allowing themselves to be hijacked by these very small special interest groups”.

Now 2,155 clergy and senior lay members of the church have demanded the guidance be revised, postponed or withdrawn, saying “the notion of gender transition is highly contested in wider society”.

Their letter to bishops says: “Gender dysphoria is an emotionally painful experience that requires understanding, support and compassion. In recent years controversial new theories about the relationship between biological sex and the social meaning of gender have been linked to gender dysphoria. These ideas continue to be widely contested, with well-intentioned and thoughtful people on all sides of the debate.”

It adds: “The many ordinary parents and teachers who now express concern about these new theories do not wish to cause harm to the tiny number of children afflicted by gender dysphoria; but neither do they want to harm the potentially large numbers of children by potentially imposing untried and untested ideas on young children.”

Paul, an evangelical member of the general synod, said the letter highlighted “really important doctrinal, liturgy and pastoral issues that have not been adequately addressed”.

He said: “The fact that so many, from a wide range of traditions in the church, have been prepared to put their heads above the parapet is an indication of the strength of concern expressed here.”

Another signatory, Edward Dowler, archdeacon of Hastings, who is from the Anglo-Catholic tradition, said church leaders “might have been more circumspect about appearing to lend their support to an increasingly high-profile ideological movement whose aims and methods sit uncomfortably with the Christian gospel and are now being increasingly questioned throughout western society”.

Members of the general synod last year urged the church to go further in welcoming transgender people. But some conservatives believe gender is assigned by God and cannot be changed.

 

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The letter opposing the transgender guidance will be presented to next month’s general synod session. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA


Tina Beardsley, a trans clergy member who was consulted on the guidelines, said it was important to be given official recognition by the church.

“This guidance arose from a decision at the general synod which was passed by an overwhelming majority. The signatories to the letter can’t accept this decision,” she said.

“The advice is to use the affirmation of baptismal faith service to reaffirm someone’s faith post-transition with the name they have adopted. That’s all we’re talking about. There is an anti-trans narrative in this letter which is unhealthy, stigmatising and fear-mongering.”

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George Haggett, a trans pastoral assistant, said: “My main qualm is so much of this discussion is taking place above trans people’s heads. The letter is not free from transphobia by any stretch of the imagination, and there is a nasty suggestion that trans people are causing harm to their families. This is not being done in good faith.”

The C of E says its guidance does not propose “transgender baptism services” but that clergy could use existing liturgy for baptism “in a creative and sensitive way” to mark a person’s gender transition.

A spokesperson said: “The bishops will give the letter their serious consideration, especially in the context of the preparation of a major new set of teaching and learning resources on identity, relationships, marriage and sexuality, Living in Love and Faith, which will be published next year. The guidance is not a restatement or a new statement on matters relating to gender, nor does it change the C of E’s teaching.”

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Wikileaks takes a swipe at the famously secretive Vatican

Pope Francis at the Vatican on Wednesday. (Tony Gentile/Reuters)

By Chico Harlan 

January 30 at 4:59 PM

ROME — WikiLeaks, the tell-anything anti-secrecy organization, on Wednesday took aim at one of the world’s most secretive institutions, the Vatican, releasing a small collection of documents about a power struggle involving Pope Francis, a leading traditionalist cardinal and a medieval Catholic order of knights.

The documents offered little new about a fight that two years ago was widely covered in the media. Their contents seem especially paltry at a time when the Vatican is embroiled in full-fledged scandals on multiple continents. But the release represented the first time WikiLeaks has turned its spotlight on the often-acrimonious internal affairs of the Holy See, and some Vatican watchers wondered whether more damaging secrets might start to escape the city-state’s walls.

“The fact itself, WikiLeaks entering the internal affairs of the Vatican, is an alarm bell,” said Marco Politi, a veteran Vatican watcher. “The subject itself is not interesting. These are old diatribes, old fights. But the important thing will be the next step. Will there be a subsequent WikiLeaks [release] on something not previously revealed? Should WikiLeaks pull out stuff regarding pedophilia or banking scandals, then we would be on to something new.”

Though the Vatican has been burned by leaks in the past — mostly notably when a trove of confidential documents was released in 2012 with help from then-Pope Benedict XVI’s butler — the city-state is famed for its airtight hold on information, including its paperwork on cases involving sexual abuse.

A Vatican spokesman noted that WikiLeaks had previously touched on church affairs, in 2010, but the documents leaked then were cables from the U.S. Embassy, describing diplomatic relations with the Holy See. WikiLeaks Editor in Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said Wednesday was the first time the organization released documents about the Vatican “conflict between the different factions.”

The documents stemmed from a knotty fight over leadership within the Knights of Malta, a sovereign Catholic order that in 2016 was found to have distributed contraceptives in some of the countries where it does charitable work. A power struggle ensued between the pope and the aristocratic order, and some observers said the tensions were exacerbated by Cardinal Raymond Burke, a papal adversary who was the group’s liaison to the Vatican.


But by the end, the pope had prevailed, forcing the resignation of the order’s grand master and installing his own apostolic delegate to the order.

WikiLeaks, describing some of the documents it released, recounted those events and said that the pope had “deeply undermined the Order’s independence and sovereignty.” Although it was unclear who shared the documents with WikiLeaks, that framing clearly echoed critics of the pope.

Among other documents, WikiLeaks released a letter from Francis to Burke, written before the conflagration had reached its height, indicating that he was keeping watch on developments. Several journalists said the letter had been in wide circulation, though it had not been made public.

Francis has become more vulnerable to opposition, and even dissent, as his papacy has been hobbled by a series of sexual-abuse-related crises. The faith’s leaders are divided over his handling of those crises, as well as his somewhat more permissive stance on social issues and his use of power. In August, a former Vatican ambassador — in the most visible form of friction of Francis’s papacy — accused the pope of knowing about and failing to act on the alleged abuse of seminarians by then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. The ambassador said Francis should resign.


Francis has not responded to the accusations. The Vatican subsequently said it was preparing “necessary clarifications.” The Vatican also said it was studying its archived records of McCarrick and would eventually “make known the conclusions.”

But so far, the church has taken neither promised step. And the files, for now, remain secret.

Stefano Pitrelli contributed to this report.

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FBI closes Las Vegas shooting case without discovering motive

By World Tribune on January 30, 2019




by WorldTribune Staff, January 30, 2019

The FBI on Jan. 29 reported that it ended its investigation into the Oct. 1, 2017 Las Vegas massacre and, after 16 months of investigating, could not determine a motive for the attack which left 58 people dead and hundreds wounded.

FBI special agent in charge Aaron Rouse said, “It wasn’t about MGM, Mandalay Bay or a specific casino or venue. It was all about doing the maximum amount of damage and him obtaining some form of infamy.”

But no specific motive was given for the massacre carried out by Stephen Paddock from his room in the Mandalay Bay hotel.

Related: Statement by Las Vegas policeman cites multiple active shooters on Oct. 1, 2017, Dec. 31, 2018

Paddock was not directed or inspired by any group and was not seeking to further any agenda, according to a report compiled by the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU). He did not leave a manifesto or suicide note, and federal agents believe he had planned to fatally shoot himself after the attack, according to the report.

Paddock’s physical and mental health was declining, the 64-year-old’s wealth had diminished, and he struggled with aging, the report said.

The BAU’s report also said that Paddock was inspired in part by his father’s reputation as a bank robber who was once on the FBI’s most wanted list.

He was similar to other active shooters the FBI has studied – motivated by a complex merging of development issues, stress and interpersonal relationships, the report said.

His “decision to murder people while they were being entertained was consistent with his personality,” the report said.

“This report comes as close to understanding the why as we’re ever going to get,” Rouse said.

Las Vegas police closed their investigation into the shooting in August 2018.

Police characterized Paddock as a loner with no religious or political affiliations who began stockpiling weapons about a year before the attack, according to a report by The Associated Press. He spent more than $1.5 million in the two years before the shooting and distanced himself from his girlfriend and family.

Paddock sent his girlfriend, Marilou Danley, to visit her family in the Philippines two weeks before the attack and wired her $150,000 while she was there. Danley, a former casino worker in Reno, returned to the U.S. after the shooting and told authorities that Paddock had complained that he was sick and that doctors told him he had a “chemical imbalance” and could not cure him.

Danley, who is Catholic, told investigators that Paddock often told her, “Your God doesn’t love me.”

A Reno car salesman told police that in the months before the shooting Paddock told him he was depressed and had relationship troubles. Paddock’s doctor offered him antidepressants, but told investigators that Paddock would only accept a prescription for anxiety medication.

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Sarah Sanders tells Christian Broadcasting Network: God wanted Trump to be president

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Christian Broadcasting Network that she believes God "wanted Donald Trump to become president." (CBN News) 

By Michelle Boorstein 

 

Michelle Boorstein

Religion reporter

January 30 at 6:28 PM

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told a Christian television station Wednesday that God “wanted Donald Trump to become president” so he could support “a lot of the things that people of faith really care about.”

The early, abbreviated transcript provided by the conservative evangelical station CBN, the Christian Broadcasting Network, didn’t include specifics from Sanders. However, many in a devoted segment of Trump’s base have said they consider any drawbacks of his presidency worth it, considering the president regularly speaks about their priorities and picked two Supreme Court justices believed to oppose abortion. On Monday, Trump lauded proposed state-level legislation meant to bring more teaching of the Bible in public schools.

[Trump just tweeted support for Bible courses, but it's already legal to teach about the Bible in public schools]


“Does it kind of blow your mind that someone like Donald Trump, who is sitting in the Oval Office, I know you can list the accomplishments, but at the same time just from a spiritual perspective there are a lot of Christians who believe that for such a time as this --” said David Brody of CBN, trailing off, according to the transcript.

Sanders replied: “I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times, and I think that he wanted Donald Trump to become president and that’s why he’s there. And I think he has done a tremendous job in supporting a lot of the things that people of faith really care about.”

The interview, which was to air later Wednesday, was on CBN’s show “Faith Nation.”

Much of CBN’s audience is composed of white evangelicals, Trump’s most fervent supporters. In a new Washington Post-ABC poll, Republicans and white evangelical Protestants were the only segments of the U.S. population in which a majority said they would “definitely” support the president in 2020. Fifty-six percent of all Americans said they would definitely not support Trump if he were the GOP nominee again, the poll found.

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Pope fears 'bloodbath' in Venezuela

Pope fears 'bloodbath' in Venezuela

AFPJanuary 28, 2019, 8:06 AM EST

Pope Francis waves good-bye as he prepares to board the plane for the Vatican at Tocumen Airport after participating in World Youth Day, in Panama City, on January 27, 2019Pope Francis waves good-bye as he prepares to board the plane for the Vatican at Tocumen Airport after participating in World Youth Day, in Panama City, on January 27, 2019 (AFP Photo/RAUL ARBOLEDA)More


ABOARD PAPAL PLANE (AFP) - Pope Francis said Monday he was terrified the political crisis enveloping Venezuela would descend into a "bloodbath".

"What am I afraid of? A bloodbath," the first Latin American pontiff told journalists aboard a plane on his return trip from Panama, adding that "the problem of violence terrifies me".

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido have been locked in a power struggle since Guaido proclaimed himself "acting president" Wednesday amid fierce protests over economic woes.

The standoff has split the international community between nations that recognize Guaido as president, including the United States and a dozen countries in the region, and those that still recognize Maduro, including Russia and China.

Before flying out of Panama, Francis called for a "just and peaceful solution" to the crisis and said he was praying for an outcome "respecting human rights".

Francis has been at pains not to take sides on the issue, even though the Church in Venezuela has been highly critical of Maduro's socialist regime amid the country's economic collapse.

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The Dangers of So-Called ‘Sexy Christianity’

January 27, 2019




My generation of believers loves the idea of radical Christianity.

It’s edgy, compromises everything, it’s dangerously transparent and it’s simple. Phrases like “I just want Jesus” are its slogan—its very breath.


Verses are tattooed on our backs, and Greek words are penned into our wrists and biceps. Our sweatshop-free clothes are ripped and dirty. Our coffee is fair-trade. Our books are doctrine-heavy and well-worn.

And maybe we’ll even have a drink or a cigar here and there over a deep theological conversation.

Today, most of us have made our pilgrimage to an African orphanage or held the hand of the dying somewhere in the third-world. We are not like our parents—who worry themselves that our bold faith is going to leave us homeless and maybe dead.

It’s exciting to be alive today. The amount of resources we have at our fingertips is overwhelming. And it’s invigorating to be a part of a generation of Sons and Daughters that just wants to get back to the unmuddied basics: “the old, old story of Jesus and His love.”

We want to live dangerously. And we would love the honor of being numbered with those in Hebrews 11—believers who lived so recklessly in homesickness for the love of God that the writer went on to say of them:

“They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.”

Hebrews 11:37-38 (NIV) 

Russia Says Any Military Intervention in Venezuela Should Be Avoided

By Reuters
Jan. 26, 2019



UNITED NATIONS — The United States considering all options in relation to Venezuela is dangerous and any potential military intervention there should be avoided at any cost, Russia's ambassador to United Nations said on Saturday.

"(The) U.S. has now stated all options are on the table which is ... dangerous," Vassily Nebenzia told reporters on the sidelines of a U.N. Security Council meeting. "If it evolves into something more military that is even more regretful. We think it should be avoided at any cost," he said.

Washington has recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the interim president and called for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down. Russia opposes the move.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Writing by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

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Two Nuclear Capable Russian Aircraft Entered American Airspace Before Being Intercepted By U.S., Canadian Fighter Jets

By Jason Lemon On 1/27/19 at 3:16 PM



Russia Test Fires Nuclear-Capable Iskander Mobile Missile System

WorldInternational Affairs


Two nuclear-capable Russian aircraft encroached close to American airspace on Friday, forcing Canadian and U.S. fighter jets to scramble and intercept the planes.

The Russian Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers entered an area patrolled by Canada’s Royal Air Force on Friday, close to Alaska, The Independent reported. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) revealed the incident on Saturday, saying that two U.S. F-22 and two Canadian CF-18 intercepted the Russian planes, escorting them away from the zone.

"NORAD's top priority is defending Canada and the United States,” General Terrence O'Shaughnessy, the NORAD commander, said in a statement, according to Radio Free Europe. “Our ability to protect our nations starts with successfully detecting, tracking, and positively identifying aircraft of interest approaching U.S. and Canadian airspace,” he added.

 

An Ilyushin Il-78 Midas air force tanker and a Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bomber fly over the equestrian statue of Russia's Prince Yuri Dolgoruky during the Victory Day military parade general rehearsal in Moscow on May 7, 2017 VASILY MAXIMOV/AFP/Getty Images 

The Russian Defense Ministry said the mission was a routine scheduled flight over neutral waters.

“Crews of two Tu-160 strategic bombers completed a scheduled flight over neutral waters of the Arctic Ocean on Saturday and practiced refueling,” the ministry said, Russia’s Tass news agency reported. “The flight took over 15 hours,” it added.

Similar encounters have increased between NATO aircraft and those of the Russian military in recent years, according to Radio Free Europe. Under President Vladimir Putin’s leadership, Russia has worked to expand its military power and pushed back more strongly against the U.S. and NATO.

Tensions remain high between Washington and Moscow over a range of international issues. The U.S. is also poised to officially withdraw from the Cold War-era Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which was signed in 1987 between former President Ronald Reagan and the Soviet Union’s Mikhail Gorbachev. Washington and NATO have alleged that Moscow’s 9M729 nuclear-capable cruise missile system violates the terms of the deal. Russia has disagreed and refused to destroy the defense system.

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Raising Children Without the Concept of Sin

My religious fundamentalist childhood was built around the fear of sin. My daughters don’t even know the word.

Credit

Yvetta Fedorova


By Julia Scheeres
Jan. 25, 2019


We were standing in line for meat pies at the Great Dickens Christmas Fair. The indoor arena south of San Francisco had been transformed into Victorian London; actors wearing top hats and crinolines roamed about wishing fairgoers “Happy Christmas.” As we contemplated the menu — haggis or shepherd’s pie? — a noisy band of temperance advocates marched by hoisting signs that stated, “Gin is Sin!”

As my 9-year-old daughter watched them pass, her forehead knitted, and then she looked up at me with solemn hazel eyes.

“Mama, what is sin?” she asked.

The merriment of the fair receded and I stared at her, my brain spinning with the magnitude of her question. By failing to teach my child the meaning of the word sin, had I somehow failed to give her a moral foundation?

Sin. That tiny word still makes me cringe with residual fear. Fear of being judged unworthy. Fear of the eternal torture of hell. Fear of my father’s belt.

The notion of sin dominated my girlhood. Raised in Indiana by fundamentalist parents, sin was the inflexible yardstick by which I was measured. Actions, words, even thoughts weren’t safe from scrutiny. The list of sinful offenses seemed infinite: listening to secular music or watching secular television, saying “gosh” or “darn” or “jeez,” questioning authorities, envying a friend’s rainbow array of Izod shirts. God was a megaphone bleating in my head: “You’re bad, you’re bad, you’re bad!” I had recurring nightmares of malevolent winds tornado-ing through my bedroom — a metaphor, I now realize, for an invisible and vindictive god.

Slimmed-down Vatican team plants a flag for faith at Davos

Claire Giangravè

Jan 26, 2019

FAITH AND CULTURE CORRESPONDENT





Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Vatican Dicastery for Integral Human Development, leads the Vatican's first panel at the World Economic Forum in 2019. (Credit: Courtesy of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development.)


ROME - While the Vatican’s focus currently is on sunny Panama for World Youth Day, where Pope Francis is once again presiding over the “Catholic Woodstock,” a small papal delegation instead spent the last few days at the World Economic Forum in freezing Davos to spread the Gospel to the world’s elite.

“Unlike other years, we didn’t go to Davos with a message from the Holy Father,” said Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development, in a phone interview with Crux Jan. 25.

“We just went to participate in some discussions on refugees, the globalization of religion and the role of religion for reconciliation in society,” he said.

The cardinal explained that the small Vatican delegation “didn’t go with any power or force” to the Jan. 22-25 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where market movers and political elite meet every year to discuss global challenges and innovations.

But, he added, the Vatican continued to bring forward the message sent by Francis to participants at the meeting last year, where he encouraged them not to forget about the needs and concerns of the poor and to put the dignity of the human person at the center of global affairs.

The world “cannot remain silent in the face of the suffering of millions of people whose dignity is wounded, nor can we continue to move forward as if the spread of poverty and injustice has no cause,” said the pope’s message, which Turkson read during the opening session of the 2018 meeting.

It wasn’t just the Vatican’s presence that was reduced at the Swiss resort this year, with other notable figures choosing for various reasons not to attend, including British Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Donald Trump, all facing considerable political turmoil in their own countries.

Trump Administration SLAMS Maduros Venezuela as illegitimate at the UN

Love of the World

42. Love of the World 

The temptation that was presented by Satan to our Saviour upon the exceeding high mountain is one of the leading temptations which humanity must meet. The kingdoms of the world in their glory were offered to Christ by Satan as a gift upon condition that Christ would yield to him the honor due to a superior. Our Saviour felt the strength of this temptation, but He met it in our behalf and conquered. He would not have been tested upon this point if man were not to be tried with the same temptation. In His resistance, He gave us an example of the course that we should pursue when Satan should come to us individually to lead us from our integrity.

No man can be a follower of Christ and yet place his affections upon the things of the world. John in his first epistle writes: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Our Redeemer, who met this temptation of Satan in its fullest power, is acquainted with man's danger of yielding to the temptation to love the world.

Christ identified Himself with humanity by bearing the test upon this point and overcoming in man's behalf. He has guarded with warnings those very points where Satan would best succeed in his temptations to man. He knew that Satan would gain the victory over man unless he was especially guarded upon the points of appetite and the love of worldly riches and honor. He says: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."

Here Christ has brought before us two masters, God and the world, and has plainly presented the fact that it is simply impossible for us to serve both. If our interest in, and love for, this world predominate, we shall not appreciate the things, which, above all others, are worthy of our attention. The love of the world will exclude the love of God and make our highest interests subordinate to worldly considerations. Thus God will not hold so exalted a place in our affections and devotions as do the things of the world.

Our works will show the exact extent to which earthly treasures have our affections. The greatest care, anxiety, and labor are devoted to worldly interests, while eternal considerations are made secondary. Here Satan receives of man that homage which he claimed of Christ but failed to obtain. It is the selfish love of the world which corrupts the faith of the professed followers of Christ and makes them weak in moral power. The more they love their earthly riches, the further they depart from God, and the less do they partake of His divine nature that would give them a sense of the corrupting influences in the world and the dangers to which they are exposed. 

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez quotes the Bible

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez quotes the Bible after Sarah Huckabee Sanders says she should leave climate change up to God

Eliza Relman 

Jan. 24, 2019, 1:04 PM

 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. ANDREW KELLY/Reuters 

• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hit back at the White House on Wednesday after the press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, dismissed her warning about the dire effects of climate change.
• Sanders argued that the fate of the planet should be left in "the hands of something and someone much more powerful than any of us." 
• Ocasio-Cortez quoted the Bible in her retort, adding, "You shouldn't need a Bible to tell you to protect our planet, but it does anyway."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez quoted the Bible on Wednesday after the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, suggested the US government should leave environmental protection up to God. 

Sanders, a devout evangelical Christian, added that the Trump administration wouldn't be taking any pointers on policy from "the freshman congresswoman."

"I don't think we're going to listen to her on much of anything, particularly not on matters that we're going to leave in to the hands of a much, much higher authority," Sanders said on Sean Hannity's Fox News program on Tuesday night. She argued that the country should leave the fate of the planet in "the hands of something and someone much more powerful than any of us," presumably referring to God.

Ocasio-Cortez has been outspoken about the need to mitigate the devastating effects of climate change and is pushing an ambitious policy proposal called the Green New Deal to decarbonize the US economy and create jobs.


Read more: THE TRUTH ABOUT ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: The inside story of how, in just one year, Sandy the bartender became a lawmaker who triggers both parties

The 29-year-old New York Democrat, who was raised Catholic, retweeted a story about Sanders' remarks and cited the Bible in her counterargument.

"'Genesis 1: God looked on the world & called it good not once, not twice, but seven times. Genesis 2: God commands all people to "serve and protect" creation. Leviticus: God mandates that not only the people, but the land that sustains them, shall be respected,'" Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.

She went on: "You shouldn't need a Bible to tell you to protect our planet, but it does anyway."

A recent survey from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication found that 73% of Americans said they understood that global warming is occurring — an increase of 10 percentage points from three years ago. And 72% of those polled said climate change was important to them.

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Pope Francis says fear of migrants 'makes us crazy'

The pontiff, who is the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, has made the plight of migrants and refugees a cornerstone of his papacy.



Pope Francis boards a plane bound for Panama City on Wednesday.Vincenzo Pinto / AFP - Getty Images


Jan. 23, 2019, 9:12 AM EST
By Associated Press


VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis suggested that hostility to immigrants was driven by irrational fear as he began a trip to Central America on Wednesday amid a standoff over President Donald Trump's promised wall at the U.S.-Mexico border and a new caravan of migrants heading north.
Francis was asked by reporters about the proposed border wall Wednesday on the way to Panama, where he is looking to leave the sex abuse scandals buffeting his papacy behind. Francis responded: "It is the fear that makes us crazy."



He risked his life playing 'The Game': A migrant's harrowing journey to the West

The Roman Catholic Church's first Latin American pope and the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, Francis has made the plight of migrants and refugees a cornerstone of his papacy.

Underscoring his firm focus on the issue, Francis met eight refugees living in Rome before heading to the airport for Wednesday's flight.

He is also expected to offer words of encouragement to young people gathered in Panama for World Youth Day, the church's once-every-three-year pep rally that aims to invigorate the next generation of Catholics in their faith.

Migrant caravan grows as Mexico fast-tracks humanitarian visas

UPDATED ON: JANUARY 23, 2019 / 9:22 AM / CBS NEWS

A migrant caravan trying to reach the U.S. is expected to grow as thousands gather at Mexico's southern border awaiting entry. Last week, Mexico decided to fast-track humanitarian visas so migrants can enter legally and nearly 8,000 people have applied. So far, more than 500 visas have been issued.

Thousands of migrants are gathered on both sides of Mexico-Guatemala border because of the five-day waiting period to get visas. Now, those who had originally entered Mexico illegally are trying to backtrack to the border, so they too can get visas, reports CBS News' Adriana Diaz.

As the buses arrived in Tapachula, 15 miles north of the border, desperation set in. The lines began forming before dawn Tuesday as word spread that the Mexican government was transporting migrants who had entered illegally to get humanitarian visas.

Ocasio-Cortez: 'World will end in 12 years' if climate change not addressed

January 22, 2019 - 08:27 AM EST

Ocasio-Cortez: 'World will end in 12 years' if climate change not addressed

BY JOHN BOWDEN


Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Monday said she thinks that there is an urgency needed in addressing man-made climate change, warning that it will "destroy the planet" in a dozen years if humans do not address the issue, no matter the cost.

During an interview at the MLK Now event in New York City honoring Martin Luther King Jr., Ocasio-Cortez told interviewer Ta-Nehisi Coates that younger Americans are looking for bold solutions to climate change, and are not concerned about the cost.

“Millennials and people, you know, Gen Z and all these folks that will come after us are looking up and we’re like: ‘The world is gonna end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change and your biggest issue is how are we gonna pay for it?' " Ocasio-Cortez asked Coates.

Her comments are in reference to a United Nations-backed climate report, published late last year, that determined the effects of climate change to be irreversible and unavoidable if carbon emissions are not reined in over the next 12 years.

In the same interview, Ocasio-Cortez took aim at the Trump administration and some Democrats on Capitol Hill for "abdicat[ing]" their responsibilities to govern and address the issue. She added that activists have a “responsibility” to be vocally opposed to the administration and "breathe fire" when necessary.

How close are we to Doomsday? Jerry Brown will soon tell us

BY ANDREW SHEELER


JANUARY 22, 2019 02:37 PM


Gov. Jerry Brown promised California would continue to vigorously pursue climate science the annual American Geophysical Union fall meeting in San Francisco. Video courtesy of American Geophysical Union


After eight years as California’s governor, Jerry Brown has a new job: Tracking the apocalypse.

On Thursday, the former four-term governor will announce whether the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock — a measurement of humanity’s proximity to total annihilation — has moved.

Brown will do so in his capacity as executive chairman of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, a nonprofit organization founded by Manhattan Project scientists in the aftermath of nuclear proliferation.

In January 2018, the Bulletin changed the clock to two minutes to midnight; the last time it was that close was in 1953, at the height of the Cold War.

The minute hand of the Doomsday Clock represents how close humanity is to an extinction-level event, whether by nuclear war, irreversible catastrophic climate change or other factors. The closer the hand is to midnight, the greater humanity’s peril.

Rep. Jackson Lee refuses to step down from CBC Foundation amid retaliation allegations

POLITICO


By HEATHER CAYGLE and ANDREW DESIDERIO

01/18/2019 06:56 PM EST

Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas) has been pressured by leadership within the Congressional Black Caucus to step down. | Alex Wong/Getty Images

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is refusing demands to step down as leader of the Congressional Black Caucus’ nonprofit arm amid claims she fired one of her congressional staffers over rape allegations.

Jackson Lee was told by the CBC Foundation’s board to resign during a lengthy call on Thursday night, according to two sources with knowledge of the conversation. Jackson Lee resisted those demands, and the call abruptly ended as other board members were trying to figure out how to continue the conversation without the Texas Democrat.

The Death Knell of Seventh-day Adventist Institutions of Higher Learning

January 21, 2019 by Andy Roman


“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.” 1 Corinthians 3:19.

When worldly beliefs and influences attack the church they usually aren’t isolated incidents. The extent of these attacks go far and wide, way beyond just one institution. All of our institutions are under assault. Every faculty, every student body and every university within Adventism is being targeted.

But what will bring about the death knell to Seventh-day Adventist seminaries and universities is when the guardians and gatekeepers of these institutions begin to pay nice compliments and show solidarity and appreciation to those who attack our faith. Instead of protecting our schools from these attacks and sounding an alarm of warning when they happen, many are actually welcoming these attacks; and in some cases certain Seventh-day Adventist schools are providing the attackers with a voice and a platform from which to launch their attack on the faith.

Last year Walla Walla University’s official publication, The Collegian, agreed to dedicate an entire issue to the LGBT+ question. This special issue was a one-sided discussion with 100% pro-LGBT+ essays, editorial and articles. [1] This was done to show inclusiveness and solidarity with its LGBT+ students. When any Seventh-day Adventist institution of higher learning dedicates an entire issue of its official publication that consists of 100% pro-LGBT+ arguments, this is a clear sign that shows where our schools are headed.

1. The Editorial – On page 2 of Issue 19 of The Collegian there is an editorial that says that this special issue is meant to provide a “more honest discussion” on the LGBT+ issue. Then the editorial lashes out against those who show hate towards members of the LGBT+ community. The only problem with this editorial is that the author doesn’t mention anything about the anger and hate that is manifested daily by radical LGBT+ activists. Somehow this important detail was conveniently left out. Well, it’s not a “honest” discussion when you only mention the hate coming out from one side and portray the other side as the only victims. This is actually showing a LGBT+ bias.

2. Article #1 – On page 3 is an article entitled “Queer Reflections” and was written by an openly gay student who attends WWU. He spends most of his time showing how discriminating SDA institutions (WWU) are. The author wonders if worship services at WWU will become “safe” places or will they “bash” people by saying that “homosexuality is a sin.”

3. Article #2 – On page 4 is an article called, “Is Gender Variation Possible?” The author attempts to show that not everything with regard to sexual development is black and white, or male and female. Unique cases of sexual development are presented with the notion that it may be time to consider more than just two sexual classifications. References are given that present only one side to this debate. You can find studies and experts on both sides to every issues. Sadly, only one side was presented. Here is a link that shows a different perspective the WWU community never received. [2]

Davos no-shows reflect the world in a state of crisis

By Charles Riley, CNN Business


Updated 5:18 AM ET, Mon January 21, 2019





London (CNN Business)President Donald Trump and other world leaders have canceled their trips to Davos to deal with more pressing matters back home. Still, the show must go on.
Some 3,000 of the world's richest and most powerful people are crowding into the small Swiss mountain town for this week's World Economic Forum.

The American president, who was the star guest at last year's forum, canceled his return trip earlier this month but wished organizers well.

"I am respectfully canceling my very important trip to Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum. My warmest regards and apologies to the @WEF!" he wrote on Twitter.

The annual summit produces the year's best opportunity to rub shoulders with chief executives, central bankers, Wall Street money men, influential regulators and powerful politicians. The media shows up too.



Armed security personnel stand guard on a rooftop in Davos.


Yet Trump's decision to remain at home with the rest of the US delegation reflects the world in a state of crisis.

British Prime Minister Theresa May called off her visit after suffering a stinging defeat on Brexit. French President Emmanuel Macron, who is struggling to stop street protests, is also skipping the forum. Neither Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is grappling with a slowing economy, nor Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is fighting for a second term, will be making an appearance.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa canceled his visit to Davos on Sunday after violent protests erupted at home. Mnangagwa said his finance minister would represent Zimbabwe.

Oxfam report says wealthy are getting wealthier | #TheCube

Covington Catholic and how social justice is the death of real justice

Opinion

by Tiana Lowe
| January 21, 2019 11:12 AM


It had all the makings of the perfect 21st century crime. A seemingly incriminating social media video. That red hat. A victim from perhaps the single most oppressed class in American history, a Native American. A villain from its most privileged, a white male. And most damning, that incorrigible and unrelenting smile.

But as it turns out, hundreds of thousands or even millions of retweets of an encounter following the March for Life told the wrong story. Nick Sandmann, a junior from Covington Catholic High School, didn't impede on the personal space of a Native American veteran and activist, Nathan Phillips. He didn't gloat and glimmer with centuries of white privilege held over the head of a man whose people faced genocide at the hands of the colonizer. So it seems, the student with the now infamous smirk committed only one crime: existing.

The original scandal wasn't a story. It was a series of photos and uninstructive video clips of the Covington student in a MAGA hat smiling shamelessly at Phillips. Most everyone, yours truly included, assumed the worst, namely that the student intruded on a Native American rally just to be a jerk. It fit a narrative of white supremacy, white colonization, and white shamelessness, so the media pounced.

But stories like these aren't just snapshots in time. They have a beginning and an end. In this case, the truth changed everything.

[Read: Rush to judgment? New details emerge on Native American elder's standoff with MAGA-hat-wearing teens]

Thanks to hours of video and a torrent of witness testimonies, the greater story unfolded. Phillips, painted as the victim in the narrative, was actually the one who impinged on the Covington student's space, where they had been instructed to wait to be picked up following the anti-abortion march. Prior to Phillips encountering Sandmann, a group of "Black Israelites," a well-known hate group, had been barraging the Covington students with homophobic slurs and racially charged smears. Phillips then intervened — on behalf of the hate group! He got in Sandmann's face, banging his drum.

Phillips, whose been on a media blitz since the narrative went viral, has happily claimed the mantle of victimhood. He told the Detroit Free Press that he entered the situation because the Covington children "were in the process of attacking these four black individuals" and that he merely confronted Sandmann to de-escalate the situation. As video evidence now demonstrates, this was a lie. The Black Israelites had been verbally attacking the students for some significant amount of time, and the students had not attacked them.

Sandmann, whose serenely smirking face has gone viral as a poster child for hate — celebrities from Chris Evans to Alyssa Milano have tried to shame the minor, and the hashtag, #ExposeChristianSchools began trending shortly thereafter — emerged on Sunday with a statement issued by a public relations firm. His family has been doxxed, his school publicly smeared, and his very identity turned into a crime itself. 

Cold weather cripples NYC, leads to mass delays at airports

By Clayton Guse
| New York Daily News |
Jan 21, 2019 | 12:45 PM

Birds play in a frozen fountain in Midtown's Bryant Park. (DON EMMERT / AFP/Getty Images)

Single-digit temperatures and blustery winds brought New York and the surrounding area to a freeze on Monday.

With subzero wind chills and gusts of up to 45 mph across New York City, flights into local airports reported extensive delays.

As of noon Monday, more than 2,000 flights were delayed across the country, according to FlightAware. Flights into or out of LaGuardia had reported 277 delays; Newark International reported 177, with another 133 flights left in a tizzy at JFK.


NYC Ferry service on the Rockaway route was suspended Monday morning due to high winds.


In Connecticut, more than 12,000 homes and businesses remained without power Monday morning following the weekend snowstorm. The effort to restore power there resulted in a fatality on Sunday when an Eversource subcontractor was struck by a falling tree in Middletown while working on a power line.


Temperatures are expected to rebound Tuesday with a high near 30, according to the National Weather Service, and continue to rise into the 40s Wednesday.

Source

Truth Behind Weird Sky in New York City.

Venezuela forces clash with protesters after reported mutiny

ABCNews

By The Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela — Jan 21, 2019, 10:41 AM ET

WATCH: As economic crisis worsens in Venezuela, families are caught in a dire situation: forced to skip meals, work extra jobs and more to survive.


Venezuela's government said Monday it put down a mutiny by a National Guard unit in a poor neighborhood a few miles (kilometers) from Venezuela's presidential palace.

The uprising triggered protests in the same neighborhood, which were dispersed with tear gas as residents set fire to a street barricade of trash and chanted demands that President Nicolas Maduro leave power.

The armed forces in a statement said that it had captured all those involved in what it described as "treasonous" acts motivated by "obscure interests tied to the far right."

It said at around 2:50 a.m. (06:50 GMT), a small group of guardsmen took captive a captain in charge of a police station in western Caracas and then moved across the capital in two military trucks to the poor neighborhood of Petare, where they stole a cache of weapons from another outpost.

They met resistance and were caught hours later at a national guard outpost 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the Miraflores presidential palace.

The armed forces said all the weapons had been recovered and the mutinous troops captured.

Report: Pope Francis knew about Argentina bishop’s sexual misconduct prior to Vatican promotion

Maike Hickson 

 

Pope Francis greets Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta. El Tribuno

Sun Jan 20, 2019 - 11:27 am EST


January 20, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis promoted one of his protegés within the Vatican, Argentine bishop Gustavo Oscar Zanchetta, despite the Vatican having received evidence prior to the bishop's promotion of sexual misconduct, which included accusations of "sexual harassment" of adult seminarians, taking "nude selfies," and exhibiting “obscene” behavior.

The Rev. Juan José Manzano, the former general vicar of Zanchetta in Argentina, told these facts to Associated Press, which released its report today. He stated that already in 2015, and then in 2017, Pope Francis spoke with Zanchetta twice about his misconduct.

The news comes on the heels of the Vatican announcing earlier this month that Zanchetta was under investigation for sexual abuse and had been removed from his post. Vatican press speaker Alessandro Gissoti said at the time that "there had been no accusation of sexual abuse" against the bishop after he resigned from his diocese of Oran in 2017.

"No charges of sexual abuse had arisen at the time of appointment as advisor [to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, which oversees the various real estate and other properties of the papacy]. The accusations of sexual abuse date back to this fall," he stated.

Reports AP:


The pope’s decision to allow Zanchetta to resign quietly, and then promote him to the No. 2 position in one of the Vatican’s most sensitive offices, has raised questions again about whether Francis turned a blind eye to misconduct of his allies and dismissed allegations against them as ideological attacks.

As the Miami Herald reports today, the Rev. Manzano – who is now a parish priest – said that he started to “raise alarm” already in 2015 about his superior who had even taken “nude selfies.” Manzano is one of three diocesan officials who at the time contacted the Vatican, first sending in some nude “selfies” of Zanchetta. In 2017, these officials made a second complaint to the Vatican “when the situation was much more serious,” not only because of the sexual abuses, but also because the “diocese was increasingly heading into the abyss.” The complaints then were about Zanchetta's “authoritarian rule” and “inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment of adult seminarians.” After each of these complaints, Manzano reports, Pope Francis met with Zanchetta in Rome.

Pastor Marlowe Parks' Invitation to Meetings in Berlin, Germany

AMERICAN AND WORLD CITIZENS / MANDATORY SUNDAY LAW IS COMING SOON / POS...

Nancy Pelosi -Spirits of Devils - St. Francis and Sun Worship

America: The new Socialist frontier

By Alexander G. Markovsky, opinion contributor — 01/18/19 05:00 PM EST 

© Getty Images


It seems that socialism is like an infectious disease that everyone has to get ill of to develop immunity. As Alexander Solzhenitsyn pointed out, “For us in Russia, communism is a dead dog, while for many people in the West, it is still a living lion.”

This dead dog, expelled from Russia, acquired a new life in the United States and regained vitality to become a living lion within the Democratic Party.

The 2018 Democratic victory in the midterms brought new Marxist arrivals to the House of Representatives who are interpreting the elections as an endorsement of socialist policies. They dropped all the pretenses — no liberals, no progressives — they are proud Marxist-Leninists driven by the ideology and committed to converting this country into the United Socialist States of America.

This militant crowd is comprised of uninformed and misinformed people looking at themselves as unfortunate, underpaid, underappreciated victims of capitalism, overwhelmed with jealousy that there are people who are everything they are not.

They are the face of new Democratic Party – “We have been naught, we shall be all.”

The Democratic Party explicitly casts itself as an inheritor of Marxism. The Democrats’ demands are almost total inversion of the Constitutional arrangements and traditional American values. The economic redistribution, open borders, repeal of the Second Amendment, the abolition of the Electoral College, the election of a president by popular vote, voting rights and free health care to illegal aliens are just part of the comprehensive strategy of putting the harness of socialism around the necks of the American people.

The driving force of the Democratic Party is economic “inequality” — the argument socialists have never tired of invoking since the dawn of capitalism. The mantra brought into play by the French Revolution — “War to the palace, peace to the cottage” — is alive and well today in the Democratic Party. The seductive idea of wealth redistribution has proved to be irresistible to the masses discontented by the inequities. The philosophy of envy and siphoning from the rich appeals to a large segment of the population that does not realize that the definition of “rich” is a spiral of devolution that eventually will reach every business and every individual who works for a living.

From the Democrats’ perspective, President Donald J. Trump is a disrupter of what had been a smooth transition to the bright socialist future. In a concerted effort to denigrate the President and paralyze executive authority, they are branding him a racist and blatantly subvert every program on his agenda. To render him ineffective, they actively support a collective mania for ever more sweeping investigations of dubious claims, rumors, unsubstantiated allegations and innuendos that has descended over the President, his family, his associates, and nominees. People who cannot even spell “impeachment” demand one without any substantiation. They act as if their fiat is turning the country into chaos, or as Lenin called it, “revolutionary environment.”

Chelsea Clinton Wishes The Church Of Satan A Happy New Year

12:21 AM 01/03/2018 | US
Dave Brooks | Deputy Editor


Chelsea Clinton gave a warm holiday greeting to an unusual group when she wished The Church of Satan a “Happy New Year” in a tweet Tuesday.

Clinton found herself in a Twitter conversation with The Church of Satan, model Chrissy Teigen, the restaurant Hooters and various assorted accounts after she tweeted encouragement to Teigen.

The popular model and best-selling cookbook author had tweeted her frustration Saturday over a verified Twitter account that used pictures of Teigen’s daughter in costumes to make wild accusations of pedophilia.

Clinton responded that she was sending Teigen and her daughter “a huge hug,” and Teigen sent her love back to Clinton and her family.

The exchange took a journey into the weird when an account called @roguehooters responded to the conversation the following day with tweets that resulted in Twitter suspending the account. A separate user tagged Hooters’ twitter account in a reply to bring @roguehooters’ tweets and handle to the restaurant’s attention.

Hooters responded Tuesday that the rogue account was not affiliated with the company. The tweet drew Teigen’s attention back to the conversation that had begun three days earlier in 2017.

Clinton replied that users tagged her and The Church of Satan’s twitter account in multiple threads in 2017. Clinton tagged The Church of Satan in her tweet, and the group responded.

That is when Clinton wished the most well-known Satanic organization in the U.S. a “Happy New Year.” The Church of Satan for its part responded in kind.

Source

Inter-America Division Embarks on Mission to Seek Former Church Members

 Libna Stevens

Intentional outreach initiative was launched territory-wide through an online program.
3 Min Read


Published on: 2 days ago

It’s no secret that people leave the church. This fact has Seventh-day Adventist leaders in Inter-America focused on a major initiative to seek and reconcile thousands of former members across the more than 22,000 churches and congregations in the territory.

Coined as the Inter-American Division (IAD) “Ministry of Reclaiming and Discipleship of Former Members,” the initiative was officially launched through an online program on January 12, 2019, from Miami, Florida, United States.

Seeking Missing Members

“This is a very important moment in the life of the church in Inter-America,” said IAD president Elie Henry as thousands watched in churches and offices online. “We must change the course of our actions and consider a new way of reaching [former] members and ensure to have a loving and friendlier church community.” 

Christians are ignorant of Great Commission because churches aren't teaching it enough

Staff writer 

Fri 18 Jan 2019 16:15 GMT

A pastor and missiologist have weighed in on why so many Christians in the US are unaware of the Great Commission.

After Barna research found that 51 per cent of American Christians do not know what the Great Commission means, it called in the experts to find out why.

Allen Yeh, associate professor of intercultural studies and missiology at Biola University, said some of the ignorance could be explained by simple terminology - the fact that 'the Great Commission' is not a specific term that Jesus actually used.

By contrast, Jesus taught his followers the 'greatest commandment' in Matthew 22:37-40 and it's a passage many Christians know by heart.

(Photo: Barna)

But that can't explain all of confusion, Yeh told Barna, and in his view, there's another important reason - churches are failing to teach it from the pulpit.

'I think some of the ignorance of this term can be attributed to churches not teaching this concept enough any more,' he said.

'I certainly heard it a lot growing up, but perhaps it has been lost on this current generation of believers.'

David Daniels, lead pastor of Pantego Bible Church in Fort Worth, Texas, takes a similar view.

Churches worldwide observe ‘Week of Prayer for Christian Unity'

Churches worldwide observe ‘Week of Prayer for Christian Unity,' focus on Deuteronomy 16:20 

By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter | Thursday, January 17, 2019 

Ecumenical delegates at 50 years jubilee of Vatican Synod: From left: Methodist, Anglican, Estonian-Orthodox, Evangelical, Lutheran. Vatican City, October 17, 2015. | (Photo: Thomas Schirrmacher)

Churches worldwide are planning to observe the annual “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” starting on Friday to promote ecumenical practices.

First started in the early 1900s, the Week of Prayer takes place Jan. 18-25, between the feasts of St. Peter and St. Paul on the liturgical calendar.

It features worship materials, such as liturgy, developed in cooperation between the International Committee of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

The Garrison, New York-based Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute helps to develop, publish, and disseminate these materials for use in North America and has done so since 1968.

Fr. Tom Orians, SA, associate director of the institute, told The Christian Post that this year’s theme is "Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue,” taken from Deuteronomy 16:20.

“This year’s theme, which finds its origins in Deuteronomy, was chosen for its powerful message of promoting truth, equality and unity,” Orians said.

“It was prepared by a group of representatives from different parts of Indonesia, including the Communion of Churches in Indonesia and the Indonesian Catholic Bishops’ Conference who felt it spoke powerfully to their situation and needs, and recognized this common need throughout the world.”

Orians also noted that this year “orders are increasing substantially” for the materials used by churches observing the Week of Prayer.

“We can say that hundreds of churches from the diverse Christian community across North America are participating this year, among them those from the Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, and Catholic traditions,” Orians added.

“By annually observing the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Christians around the world move toward the fulfillment of Jesus' prayer at the Last Supper ‘that they all may be one.’”

Margaret Rose, Deputy for Ecumenical and Interfaith Collaboration with The Episcopal Church, told CP that the denomination “has always been deeply involved in” the Week of Prayer, seeing in it “the hope of the unity of the Church.”

“What we have done in the last few years is that we always, from the churchwide office, send out resources for ecumenical officers and to all the dioceses and churches in the hope that they will do some of these prayers, do some of the scripture study,” said Rose.

“Our job is to be a bridge for the resources that are offered to make sure that our people know about that in terms of prayer and liturgy.”

Rose also told CP that churches have been known to engage in diverse ways of observing the Week of Prayer, including not only “joint church services” but also volunteer projects.

“I think more recently, there’s been a sense that our unity is often made even deeper by the relationships we have with one another,” continued Rose.

“And so oftentimes there will be places that will say ‘let’s build a habit house together,’ ‘let’s work together on a soup kitchen.’ So that it’s something that actually sends people outside the walls of the churches.”

Source