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:delurking: to say that I empathize, while active in the church I spent most of my time advocating for young adult and campus ministry. It amazes me how shortsighted diocesan budgets can be when they cut these kinds of programs. I'm glad your college has been partially funding the position, my...

NSB, a close friend of mine blogged about depression and his faith in this great post. While he never was suicidal, I think his points about how one with depression has difficulty escaping it may be relevant. The Noonday Demon. | elephant journal

My last parish did this regularly throughout most of the academic year -- once a month, after a choral evensong. The lecture was accompanied by a potluck dinner, so after evensong we would eat together, then during dessert the lecturer would speak. We often had themes such as Christianity and...

I'm in the Diocese of Pennsylvania, centered in Philadelphia. I'm not certain, but I think the diocese has a sizeable endowment. I also used to be a member of a rather wealthy church (old money there) that also had an endowment. The recession has affected the endowments because the churches...

Unfortunately, I don't think it is very common around here. The only adaptations I've seen have been "children's" liturgies, but that's about it. Nothing this extensive for people with sensory disorders, for example. Can you describe what some of your adapted liturgies are like? I'm not...

Episcopal News Service - NEWS This is awesome. I have often felt that many people were left out of the liturgy because of their age or other factors.... the liturgy should welcome everyone, and these services are including children who have amazing gifts to share. Love it.

Well, Kenith and Leslie, I don't have to convince either of you (or anyone here) what I believe and whether this is acceptable to Anglicans everywhere in order for me to participate in the Eucharist or any other form of liturgy. You have missed the point of what I was trying to say anyway --...

I guess my only response to this is: Does my belief system have to be labeled? At all? I'm not really in a hurry to do so, it doesn't bother me, really. All I've been trying to say in all of this is that if I can get something out of Christianity, I want to be able to participate in it. But it...

Well, first, I'm not sure I'm an atheist, so I'm not sure what you mean by "other atheists" wanting to walk in the door.... other than perhaps my husband, but that's another issue entirely, he doesn't seem attracted to the church anyway, so no worries for you there. And I'm not sure that there's...

I'm not involved in any church right now (haven't been for a few years). And the churches I have been involved in have been pretty liberal, and I know the ones around here would not have a problem with me. That's not really the concern -- I'm concerned about getting over involved in TEC (because...

Of course. I never said that the content needs to be taken out of the rituals or liturgies, or that the rituals and liturgies need to be taken out of a Christian context (as Liturgy in D Minor seems to think I've said). It's the opposite. In order to get any meaning out of them, I have to return...

I've been lurking in this topic... and I'm with you on the cycle of "should I stay or should I go?" I've been spinning around this question for several years now. It is, naturally, far more comfortable for me to be in a spiritual community that shares my beliefs than to wedge myself into a...

So are you saying that it's not the Spirit who does the consecrating, but only a qualified human being?

It's a very interesting quandary. On the one hand, given my current personal struggles with what "church" means to me (both as institution and as a local faith community -- and I preface this by saying that I have not been a member of a parish for a number of years due to this struggle), I'm...

Very interesting, thank you for sharing that. It is fascinating the different ways Anglicanism is expressed in different parts of the world. I wonder if such a situation exists in any Anglican/Episcopal US churches, and if they'd feel the same way about lay or diaconal consecration of...

Hunh, well that's interesting. I have never seen or heard of lay or diaconal consecration of eucharist even in my very liberal-leaning parishes in the US. So I really have no experience with the debate or the practice.

I always thought that "administration" was simply that, literally giving the eucharist to others. This is not the same as "consecration" -- where the bread and wine are consecrated by one who has the authority to do so. If the Dio of Sydney has the same understanding of these terms as I do, I...

All kinds of situations happen in real life. I have relatives where the father forced his wife to have an abortion (before they were legal). I have a friend whose longtime girlfriend claimed she was taking birth control pills but was lying and wound up conceiving a child she wanted to keep. My...

It's not that it was acceptable to give to the canine -- in itself, there was (IMO) no harm done to the sacrament or to the canine in that case. It was acceptable in that the action helped bring one closer to God, and brought that person into a Christian community. In that community, in that...

Not necessarily. Not sure what I believe in these days, I'll admit. But I _do_ find discussions such as these a real turn-off. I would much rather experience the real presence in the form of radical welcome and community than argue about who is fit to receive the real presence.