SpuriousSpurgeon

I'm betting most denominations have words like that. What's yours?

h/t Sacred Sandwich

I went to seminary for this?

Man, I could have gotten the same education by watching YouTube?

Happy (and HOLY) New Year!

Holy New Year!!!

from Pope John Paul II, 1985

Yes, “everyone is searching for you,” O Jesus Christ!

Many search for you directly,

calling you by name, with faith, hope and charity.

There are some who search for you indirectly: through others.

And there are some who search for you without knowing it…

And there are some who search for you

even though they deny that they are doing so.

Nevertheless, all men are searching for you,

and they are searching for you above all

because you search for them first;

because you became man for all men, in the womb of the Virgin Mother;

because you redeemed all men at the cost of your Cross.

In this way you opened,

among the tangled and impassable paths of the human heart

and the destiny of man, the way.

To you, who are the way, the truth, and the life, we turn in this prayer….

Partying Presbyters?

I normally try to keep Wednesdays focused on worship, but this just came across my desk. I guess it can tie into the ordination vows and examination taken (pp. 531-532 of the BCP).

Mr. Malia - a priest in the Bethlehem diocese - has been removed from office over his night-clubbing and flagrant party-spending. The bishop has done what countless committees fail to do - correct bad behavior. This is part of why I think that our postmodern age has realized a time for the return of episcopacy. Let's see what happened:

Driving from distant Wilkes Barre, Pa. - where bedtimes are early and life is slow - Malia would arrive in clubland and shell out thousands of dollars in tips, send bottles of Dom Perignon [ed. roughly $3,500] to fellow clubgoers and squire cocktail waitresses around town on shopping sprees.

What do you want to bet that he preached regularly against rich people spending their money on themselves while there are Millennium Development Goals to be done?

"The facts as reported would be a remarkable departure from normal standards of modest living to which the Gospel calls us," [Bishop] Marshall said.

I wish Mr. Malia well in his remaining line of employment, which may not last long either. I also hope that he will use this as an occasion for repentance and re-evaluation of his baptismal covenant. Perhaps he can even be restored to office? (Hey...Peter was, and don't forget it!)

But for now, thank you Bishop Paul, for being a faithful overseer of the undershepherds.

Hunter and the Hunted

The Daily Mail reported on a harrowing hunt in Barrow, Alaska.


Apparently, Barrow (Alaska's northernmost town) has a history of these critters getting after folks. I'll bet this guy stands behind his governor's approval of the reducing polar bear population.

But he may have a question about why she didn't gun it down, since she can apparently see a lot from her front porch.


h/t PhDiva

Stroking my cupidity

Thanks to PhDiva for Facebook-linking to a site with photos of the 20 Most Beautiful Libraries in the world.

It included one of my favorites: The Old Reading Room of the British Library.

This is where Karl Marx came up with some of his [ahem] curious economic and political theories. But don't hold that against it. The British Museum built around the room, and eventually the library collection was moved to a new (and, in my opinion, less aesthetically pleasing) building. (I mean, look at the bones of this thing! The new building in St. Pancras is just so...square.)

The museum also houses the Enlightenment Gallery (a remnant of the old Kings Library), which is still beautiful in its own right.

More pictures here!