“It is much more important to know what sort of a patient has a disease than what sort of a disease a patient has.” - Sir William Osler






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Another Mystery Series

Over the past ten days I have taken advantage of being in quarantine by reading my eyeballs to stubs. One of my favorite websites, Ace of Spades, has a weekly book post from which I have benefited many times: the book recommendations are always worth paying attention to. Recently someone on the site mentioned the Liturgical Mysteries series by Mark Schweizer and I wholeheartedly recommend these books.

The series is set in a small town in the mountains of North Carolina and narrated by Hayden Konig, the town chief of police who doubles as the organist and choir director at St. Barnabas. In his spare time the chief, a rabid Raymond Chandler fan, bends his efforts to writing hardboiled mystery novels. He even went to the effort of purchasing Chandler's typewriter at auction, refurbishing it and using it to write. There's just one problem: He's a terrible writer. 

The books are great. Vivid characterization, scathing religious satire, hilarious town developments, terrible puns and erudite musical and theological references which sail right over my head - they have it all. It is rare that I laugh out loud when I am reading, but every book in this series has made me do exactly that. And the mystery portion of the plots are really good. Do give these a try - you won't regret it. $2.99 apiece on Amazon, if you have a Kindle.

Labels: Books, Episcopaliana

posted by Dr. Alice at #

 
The Rev. Barbie

Apparently Barbie has now become an Episcopal priest. She's prettier than the Presiding Bishop Katherine Schori, and a better theologian to boot!

(via Christopher Johnson)

UPDATE. There is an excellent Sunday column addressing the state of the American Episcopal church, and what the existence of Rev. Barbie symbolizes to same, here. Hat tip to Instapundit.

Labels: Episcopaliana, Pop Culture

posted by Dr. Alice at #

 
Good Friday on Twitter

Trinity Wall Street is Twittering the Passion of Christ today (begins in about ten minutes). It sounds odd, but could be useful if you want to follow the story in real time.

I've become enamored of Twitter myself and unfortunately I've been posting a lot more there than here. It's less demanding, only 140 characters per entry are allowed.

UPDATE: Whoever handled the Twitter at Trinity apparently can't count, as they kept overrunning the 140 character limit. Overall: eh.

Labels: Episcopaliana

posted by Dr. Alice at #

 
Chaucer Comes for the Archbishop and Decks Him One

You may or may not be familiar with the latest brouhaha regarding the Archbishop of Canterbury and his silly remarks re: introducing Sharia law to England. If not, try going here, or here to read Ruth Gledhill's response. His remarks have created a hue and cry all over the Anglican world, but the best by far has been Iowahawk's take on the matter. Not only is it a sharp piece of commentary, it's a brilliant parody of Chaucer. Goeth and readeth itte.

(Props to Chris Johnson)

Labels: Episcopaliana

posted by Dr. Alice at #

 
Um, Hi Everybody

Welcome to everybody directed here by Stand Firm. I'm glad you're here. I'm in the midst of another busy day but will try to post more later.

Labels: Episcopaliana

posted by Dr. Alice at #

 
MCJ Rocks

Chris Johnson is a scream. Check out the latest post, featuring church signs who want to convert to Catholicism.

Labels: Episcopaliana

posted by Dr. Alice at #

 
"The More You Tighten Your Grip...


the more star systems will slip through your fingers."

This is merely the latest in a succession of withdrawals by various parishes and dioceses from the Episcopal Church. I find this truly tragic; to watch a denomination with a long and well-regarded history self-destruct is a very difficult thing. I do believe that the TEC leadership has brought this on itself; it's been a long and nasty development and it's a long way from being over. I have no idea what's going to happen next. It's entirely possible that Bp. Duncan will be kicked out of TEC, but at least he'll have the satisfaction of knowing that he made a deliberate choice to support his diocese. Should TEC decide to proceed with their threat to "discipline" (i.e. fire) Bp. Duncan, my take on it is that it will accelerate, not inhibit, the decision of any other congregations or parishes that might be teetering on the brink of deciding to leave.

But, of course, I could be wrong.

Labels: Episcopaliana

posted by Dr. Alice at #

 
Church? I'd Rather Have a Nightclub!

Well, this is interesting:

The Episcopal Church will make sure that any property it sells is not intended for use by parishes that plan to affiliate with other Anglican provinces, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said Sept. 30 on a visit to Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.

What this is about is the announced sale of St. Clement Pro-Cathedral in El Paso, Texas to its congregation. The congregation of St. Clement's is splitting from the Episcopal Church to join another diocese in the Anglican Communion and wishes to buy the property (rather than suing to try to take it with them). They made a good faith offer of, I think, two million dollars which was accepted by the bishop, Bishop Steenson of the Diocese of the Rio Grande (who interestingly enough is now resigning his position in the Episcopal Church to join the Roman Catholic Church). Apparently now Presiding Bishop Schori is moving to block the sale, or trying to, because the congregation is aligning with a dissenting Anglican diocese.

So, apparently, it's okay to sell a church building to any other Protestant demomination, or to turn it into a synagogue or a mosque, or even to put it to secular use such as a nightclub. But a dissenting Anglican denomination? No way. Uhh, yeah, that'll stand up in court.

I hope PB Schori got some really good legal advice before making this statement to the press. At best, it makes her organization look petty. At worst, if this isn't legally enforceable - and it's difficult to see how it could be - it will make her look foolish. And if there's one thing TEC doesn't need right now, it's that.

Labels: Episcopaliana

posted by Dr. Alice at #

 
Demotivational Posters for ECUSA TEC

Somebody's got fabulous Photoshop skills and a wicked sense of humor. Check 'em out.

And thanks to Stand Firm for the link.

Labels: Episcopaliana

posted by Dr. Alice at #

 
Dynamite in a Bottle

This week has brought another catfight in the Episcopal blogosphere. It began with a post from Elizabeth Kaeton, a priest in the diocese of New Jersey who happens to be both rector of a parish and head of the Standing Committee in said diocese. In other words, this is a person with administrative experience whom one would hope possessed the quality of good judgement.

What she wrote on her blog managed to enrage a lot of people. It was directed at another female priest who is married with three young children and a fourth on the way; in her original post (hastily taken down and edited after a few hours) Kaeton compared this woman to Andrea Yates and Susan Smith, two mothers who murdered their children. I'm not going to repost the entire story, which has been covered in great detail on multiple blogs, but a good summary of the episode is here with further analysis in a later post. (Full disclosure: one of the main bloggers on Stand Firm is Matt Kennedy, who is married to Anne Kennedy, victim of Keaton's original post.)

Kaeton's motivation for this rather appalling act was apparently based on a single blog entry from Rev. Kennedy, from back in March. In it she discusses her messy house and that she's too tired to clean because she and her husband have just found out that she's pregnant with their fourth child. It's not a desperate or incoherent post; it's actually rather cheerful. Read the post and see what your take on it is.

Now consider this. Kaeton responded to the outrage that greeted her post with another entry in which she apologized. Unfortunately the apology consisted of the following:

I need to say to you, however, as gently and lovingly as I can, that there are growing numbers of us, lay and ordained, mostly all in "the helping professions" including psychiatrists and psychologists, doctors and nurses and pediatric nurse practitioners, social workers and those whose speciality is in domestic violence and child protection, who grow increasingly concerned and check in on your blog with some regularity.

Some of us have written your bishop with our concern...
Many of us have raised the question of our legal responsibility as professional helpers who understand our obligation to report situations like this when we "see" or "hear" them.

In other words, Kaeton implied that she had contacted the Kennedys' bishop specifically to state that she felt Anne Kennedy might not be capable of holding down her job and implied further that Rev. Kennedy might be an unfit mother, emotionally unstable, or both. Further, she threw in the threat of continuing to watch Rev. Kennedy's blog specifically for the purpose of gathering evidence to this effect.

And she did all this based on a single blog post from four months ago without ever posting in Rev. Kennedy's comments and, apparently, without even emailing her, a fellow priest, to inquire how she was doing or if she was okay or needed help. (To clarify, I will add here that I've read all of Rev. Kennedy's entries and the blog's comments for the last four months. I find nothing in the blog to warrant this sort of reaction from Kaeton.)

This is beyond irresponsible and beyond unprofessional. It is unconscionable. Consider the following situation for perspective. Let's say someone who is caregiver for a parent or other relative with Alzheimer's has a blog. In it they write about how difficult it is to be a caregiver, how tired they are, how frustrating it is to try to communicate with and take care of their relative. The blog is their safety valve, if you will, and allows the writer to contact others in the same situation (for instance, anyone interested could post a comment, which most bloggers allow). It is not evidence that the relative is being mistreated. It cannot and should not be used as a warning sign.

Now let's say that someone who doesn't like this person - perhaps they're angling for the same job, perhaps they're of an opposing political ideology, perhaps it's another family member who wants access to the relative's money or property - uses the information in this blog to call Adult Protective Services and file a complaint against the caregiver. "See?" they say self-righteously, "It's all right there on the Internet! She admits she can't handle taking care of Dad, she said so!"

Kaeton's "answer" to her critics holds a very real threat to Ms. Kennedy: the potential to destroy her career. Being investigated by CPS is the sort of thing that tends to remain on one's record, and when it comes to applying for a job... would you want to ask a bishop for a recommendation when the bishop in question had been dragged into a messy child-protection case involving your children? No matter how innocent of the charges you actually are?

Kaeton has set a dangerous precedent here. The appeal of blogging is the ability to write about oneself, one's life and interests, like casting a bottle on the ocean with a message in it. It's disconcerting to think that someone might open the bottle and use the information in it to come after you.

Labels: Episcopaliana

posted by Dr. Alice at #

 
Why I Think Elizabeth Keaton is Totally, Utterly Wrong

Short lazy post: First read this. And then read this.

Longer version: let me start with an excerpt from Elizabeth's post.

My name is Elizabeth Kaeton, and I am a racist, in recovery. I hear some of you giggling nervously. You know me as someone who is passionate about justice. Some of you know I was a young teen on the Mall in Washington, D.C. when Dr. King gave his famous, "I Have a Dream" speech. (I had told a "white lie" (ahem!) to my parents who were opposed to the Civil Rights Movement, thinking it a Communist plot, that I was spending the weekend with a girlfriend - which I was - just not at her home, but with her on a bus with nuns from our church who wanted us to be there.) I have worked long and hard on my racism, and I have come a long, long way. Or, so I thought.

Oh, sigh. Let me just write the rest of the post from there. Or, rather, not: I'm sure most of you could do it for me.

This post illustrates what I think is so very wrong with many Christian denominations today. Not because I think that concern with racism, poverty, homophobia, fill-in-the-blank isn't valid. But because the concern is applied with a blunt overloaded trowel by a plasterer wearing a blindfold. "We're all to blame! No matter how much we're doing, how much we claim to care, we're all to blame!"

Well, gee. How helpful is that? Not very, may I state. Not very helpful at all. Why take action on any cause, if it doesn't matter what we do?

Now allow me to quote Jeff from the above-linked post:

To borrow a bit of Shamanic’s pompous and self-serving phrasing, I have—as a straight person --a deeply held notion that the desire to find homophobia where it does not in fact exist should be decidedly unfashionable in the world today. Because that feeling of “joy” Shamanic felt when she found what s/he implies were the appropriate denunciations of Coulter on rightwing sites?—that is triggered by the caricaturish belief that [people] are, by default, homophobic, and that until they prove themselves otherwise (by a willingness to denounce someone else’s speech), they are to be regarded as morally suspect.

Which of course bespeaks a rather crass bias of its own—but one that Shamantic has conveniently forgiven herself for, if only obliquely, when she writes, “[a]nyone who tells you they aren’t racist, or sexist, or homophobic, or suspicious of the guy down the street is lying. The best we can hope to become is aware of our own compulsions toward these and make the decision that they will not impede us.”

This is, of course, total nonsense—as there is absolutely no reason whatever to suggest that those who disclaim racism, sexism, or homophobia are necessarily hiding racism, sexism, and homophobia behind false denials.

That states it better than I ever could. TEC's recent prediliction to strain at gnats and swallow camels is not doing it any favors. To put it another way: when I see Episcopalians tearing their hair out over "homophobia" in the church today and, simultaneously, welcoming those who publicly preach about the necessity of stoning gays to death or burying them alive in a pit, the phrase "cognitive dissonance" cannot but come to mind. Dude, who do you think your enemies really are? If you think it's me, you're in for a very rude awakening.

Labels: Episcopaliana

posted by Dr. Alice at #

 
Oh, Hallelujah! Thanks, Santa Claus!

Labels: Comix, Episcopaliana

posted by Dr. Alice at #

 
Bugger. Off.

Let me tell you about my New Year's resolution... whether you want to hear about it or not. (Warning, if you are not religiously minded, you may not be all that interested.)

I have not blogged about this, really, because it seemed too personal, but I have thought about it a lot. The recent sudden and unexpected death of one of my partners (in the traditional sense - one of my professional partners in my medical group) seems to have spurred me on to take action and to write about it as well.

I will do my best to condense this... after many years of not being interested in organized Christianity, I was encouraged to come to church by a dear friend of mine. "You have to come here, you will love it," he said, and he was right. The church in question was this one, an Episcopal church (for the technically minded, a member in good standing of the ECUSA). I was happy with the beautiful music and services, struck by the formality of Episcopalianism (brought up as what they call a 'low Protestant', this was completely new to me), and in general welcomed into the family. I felt happy there... for a while. I joined that church in 1997.

But about three years ago, after GenCon 2003 (the greatest collection of highminded bullshit ever seen on God's Earth, second only to GenCon 2006) and after the loss of some dear friends and fellow church members to cancer and suicide, I began to hear this voice in my head. (No exaggeration, I did.) You have to move on, the voice said.

I don't want to, I said.

I tried arguing with the voice. I tried ignoring it. I tried shouting it down. Nothing worked. I gradually began to realize that I could not stay with ECUSA. This realization was, shall we say, made easier by online revelations of the stupidities of my chosen denomination which appears to be irrevocably wedded to the cause of Political Correctness over and above the ideal of Christianity. I mean, there's nothing wrong with nicey-nicey goodspeak, it's just that it has nothing to do with Jesus Christ and the Gospel He wanted to spread.

Whenever I hear or read about this stuff it reminds me of this group of atheists I see every year doing the Los Angeles AIDS walk -- no kidding, they have T shirts and everything. They want to do good for their fellow man (and woman), and that's great. They want to make life better on this planet for other people, and that's wonderful. But if you raised the question of whether God had something to do with their mission they would no doubt have a fit. That is, I think, where the Episcopal Church is today... so far from the basic tenets of Christianity that they would blush in embarrassment if you asked whether they believe the Nicean Creed that we recite by rote every week. If you think I'm kidding, read this. Yes, a canon in the church writing about the joys of taking a good dump, going on to compare it to sex (personally, I think he needs to get out more), then continuing from there to speculate whether Jesus had sex with some of his 'women admirers'. This is what my denomination, with a long and respected history in the US and other countries, has come to.

So can you guess my resolution for 2007? Oh, you have? That I will shake the dust of this Godforsaken--literally--denomination off my feet and go to find another one ASAP? How sharp of you.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Labels: Episcopaliana

posted by Dr. Alice at #