Simplified system assists in gathering comments on Episcopal Church’s Holy Women, Holy Men

A simplified system for logging comments is providing an easier way for the submission of opinions concerning Holy Women, Holy Men, a major revision of Lesser Feasts and Fasts.

As mandated in General Convention 2009 Resolution A096, The Episcopal Church Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music (SCLM) is soliciting feedback about the book, currently in trial use.

The Rev. Ruth Meyers, Ph.D., Hodges-Haynes Professor of Liturgics at Church Divinity School of the Pacific and SCLM Chair, explained that the simplified system “is quicker, easier to use, and allows people to fill out comments without having to scroll through the entire calendar listing.”

The online survey is available at https://www.psychdata.com/s.asp?SID=139265

The online survey will be available through June 30, 2011.

After compiling the data derived from the survey, SCLM will prepare a comprehensive report on the usage and people’s experiences with Holy Women, Holy Men for the 77^th General Convention in 2012 in Indianapolis, IN. As directed by Resolution A096, the report will include recommendations for revisions to the calendar as well as the collects and lessons approved in 2009.

For more information on Holy Women, Holy Men: http://www.churchpublishing.org/

Communicating with SCLM

SCLM is committed to communicating with the wider church. To do so, a special email address has been established for all correspondence, to offer ideas, or to contact a SCLM member: sclm@episcopalchurch.org

The SCLM blog is here: http://liturgyandmusic.wordpress.com .

A Spanish-language Holy Women Holy Men is in production.

The Episcopal Church welcomes all who worship Jesus Christ in 109 dioceses and three regional areas in 16 nations. The Episcopal Church is a member province of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Episcopal Church Standing Committee on Liturgy and Music: http://generalconvention.org/ccab/mandate/2

The Episcopal Church: www.episcopalchurch.org

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Ten Reasons Why the Proposed Anglican Covenant Is a Bad Idea

The No Anglican Covenant Blog suggests:

It may be helpful to think of the reasons given above in terms of one-word descriptions. The ten reasons describe the Covenant as

1. Radical
2. Reactionary
3. Impractical
4. Divisive
5. Vague
6. Judgemental
7. Impetuous
8. Insincere
9. Misnamed
10. Suboptimal

The 10 Reasons

1. The proposed Anglican Covenant would transform a vibrant, cooperative, fellowship of churches into a contentious, centralized aggregation of churches designed to reduce diversity and initiative.The Covenant would institutionalize the “Instruments of Unity” as never before and would give extraordinary power to the newly enhanced Standing Committee.
   
   
2. Under the Covenant, churches will be inhibited from undertaking new evangelical or mission initiatives for fear of offending other Communion churches and becoming embroiled in the disciplinary mechanisms set up by the Covenant.
   
   
3. The centralization of authority envisioned by the proposed Covenant is cumbersome, costly, and undemocratic. In an era in which power and authority are being distributed in many organizations in order to achieve greater efficiency, responsiveness, and accountability, what has been proposed for the Communion seems out of step with current thinking regarding large organizations.
   
   
4. Although the proposed Covenant is offered as a mechanism to achieve unity, its immediate effect is to create divisions. Churches that cannot or will not adopt the Covenant automatically become second-class members of the Communion. The inevitable application of the disciplinary provisions of Section 4 will likely further distinguish between “full” members of the Communion and less-than-full members.
   
   
5. The proposed Covenant is dangerously vague. Sections 1–3 of the Covenant, which are seen by many as innocuous, leave much room for divergent interpretations. Section 4 makes it all too easy for any church to “ask questions” about the actions of another, which may then be subjected to unspecified “relational consequences.” There is no sure measure of what behaviour is likely to be acceptable, no checks provided against unreasonable complaints, and no guarantee that “consequences” (i.e., punishments) meted out will be commensurate with the alleged offence.
   
   
6. The proposed Covenant runs counter to the gospel imperative of not judging others. It is all too easy for Communion churches to complain about the sins of their sister churches while ignoring or diverting attention from their own failures to live out the Gospel.
   
   
7. The proposed Covenant encourages premature ending of debate.Rather than taking the advice of Gamaliel (Acts 5:38–39) and seeing how controversial matters play out, the Covenant evidences an eagerness to “settle” them. This is an unfortunate temptation to which the Communion seems subject. It has too quickly concluded that “homosexual practice” is “incompatible with Scripture” and that adopting the Covenant is “the only way forward,” neither of which is either intuitively obvious or universally agreed upon.
   
   
8. The notion that we need to make “forceful” the “bonds of affection” is fundamentally flawed. If we need force and coercion to maintain relationships between Communion churches, there is no true affection, and the very foundation of the proposed Covenant is fraudulent.
   
   
9. The proposed “Covenant” seems more like a treaty, contract, or instrument of surrender than a covenant. In the ecclesiastical context, a covenant is usually thought of as an agreement undertaken in joy and in an atmosphere of trust—baptismal and marriage covenants come to mind. The proposed Anglican Covenant, on the other hand, is advanced in an atmosphere of anger, fear, and distrust, and with the threat of dire consequences if it is not adopted.
   
   
10. The proposed Covenant is not the only way forward; there are better options. The Anglican Communion would be better served by remaining a single-tier fellowship of churches, allowing disaffected members to leave if they must, while keeping the door open for their return. Any alternative position cedes too much power to those willing to intimidate by threatening to walk away.

Episcopal Church Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music seeks comments on possible hymnal revision

The Episcopal Church Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music (SCLM) is inviting input and comments about a possible revision of The Hymnal 1982.

Starting December 15, an online survey is available to engage the entire church in this discussion, noted the Rev. Dr. Ruth Meyers, chair of the SCLM. The survey is available at http://www.cpg.org/hymnalstudy2

“We have established this survey as part of The Episcopal Church’s ongoing work with liturgical materials and in compliance to Resolution B004 as approved at General Convention 2009,” Meyers explained. “This is important work in the life of our church and we are grateful for participation as our church embraces this task.”

Resolution B004 “authorize(s) Church Publishing Incorporated, working with the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, to conduct a feasibility study on the need for revision of The Hymnal 1982 by speaking to congregations, dioceses and all seminaries of this Church, and to report its findings to the 77th General Convention.”

The survey, coordinated by the Church Pension Fund’s Office of Research, will be available online until January 31, 2011.

“The study seeks answers to two basic questions,” said Dr. Matthew J. Price, Church Pension Group Director of Analytical Research. “First, do the hymnal and the other authorized resources that the Church has for worship music meet the needs of the Church? If the answer to the first question is ‘no’, then the question should be asked as to whether a new Hymnal is the most efficacious means of answering these new needs.”

Meyers explained that prior to the December 15 debut of the online survey, the first step in the Hymnal Revision Feasibility Study was to invite clergy, music directors and church members in 1400 congregations, representing all sizes, locations, and languages in a stratified random sample, to participate in an initial phase of the study.

Following the January 31 deadline, the responses from the initial phase along with the general survey info, will be collated and all data reviewed, under the leadership of Jeannine Otis, a well-known musician from the Diocese of New York and an SCLM member.

These results, along with recommendations for next steps, will be presented to General Convention 2012 as part of the SCLM report.


Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music: http://generalconvention.org/ccab/mandate/2
General Convention 2009 Resolution B004: http://gc2009.org/ViewLegislation/view_leg_detail.aspx?id=931&type=Final

Church Pension Group Office of Research: http://www.cpg.org/productsservices/research.cfm

The Episcopal Church: www.episcopalchurch.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/episcopalian
Twitter: http://twitter.com/iamepiscopalian
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/TECtube

Sounds of the Seaason

Antigay DVDs to Return to Archdiocese

Some 3,000 DVDs sent to Catholic homes in support of a ban on same-sex marriage in Minnesota will be returned to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on Friday.

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/12/10/Marriage_DVDs_to_be_Returned_to_Archdiocese/

Transgender woman says DMV clerk warned of hell

A few days after Amber Yust visited the Department of Motor Vehicles in San Francisco to register her sex change from male to female, she got a letter at home from the DMV employee who had handled her application.

Homosexual acts, he informed her, were "an abomination that leads to hell."

The same day, Yust said, a DVD arrived from a fundamentalist church warning of eternal damnation for anyone "possessed by demons" of homosexuality

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/09/BAGS1GOICK.DTL#ixzz17kZYXidr

Tolerance Program Raises Ire Of Some Vallejo Parents

Parents packed the Vallejo School Board's meeting Wednesday night to express their opposition to an anti-bullying program because they weren't given a chance to review its curriculum or have their child excused from it.

The "Respect for All" program aimed at teaching children tolerance includes three documentary films that are shown to students from kindergarten through high school. The documentaries teach about sexual orientation and alternative families.

Some parents said they felt they were being bullied by the district over the anti-bullying program because they couldn't have their children opt out even though they found some of the content age inappropriate. KTVU