30 November 2007
Alternative Christmas giving
The Mad Priest has started an appeal to raise money for a church in Rio de Janeiro. See here for further information. The donations will go to an Anglican church, Cristo Rei (Christ the King), in the Ciudade de Deus (City of God), "one of the most impoverished and dangerous neighbourhoods in the world."
29 November 2007
An Advent resolution
Why can't we all start being Queer for Advent and see where it takes us? I, for one, would celebrate being free of the Alphabet Soup of God's Rainbow Tribe.
This quote comes from That Kaeton Woman on the Mad Priest's blog.
So here goes. I'm Queer for Advent! And I can't wait to tell my spiritual director.
This quote comes from That Kaeton Woman on the Mad Priest's blog.
So here goes. I'm Queer for Advent! And I can't wait to tell my spiritual director.
28 November 2007
Sisinius
29 November
Sisinius, deacon and martyr, with presbyter Saturninus, sentenced to hard labor and later martyred at Rome, 309.
Saturninus was a presbyter from Carthage who went to Rome and was arrested with a deacon, Sisinius, during the persecutions of Emperor Maximian. They were sentenced to hard labor and either died during their ordeal or were tortured and then beheaded. Saturninus lived, was martyred, and was buried on the Via Saleria in Rome, although details are not reliable.
Sisinius, deacon and martyr, with presbyter Saturninus, sentenced to hard labor and later martyred at Rome, 309.
Saturninus was a presbyter from Carthage who went to Rome and was arrested with a deacon, Sisinius, during the persecutions of Emperor Maximian. They were sentenced to hard labor and either died during their ordeal or were tortured and then beheaded. Saturninus lived, was martyred, and was buried on the Via Saleria in Rome, although details are not reliable.
27 November 2007
Jesus for President
I swore I would not get involved in the presidential election, but here's a contribution I can't resist, with thanks to Ken Arnold.
23 November 2007
Jeffrey Ferguson of Maine
23 November
Jeffrey Ferguson, deacon, prison minister, and community networker in Maine, died 23 November 2004.
Jeffrey Ferguson, deacon, prison minister, and community networker in Maine, died 23 November 2004.
19 November 2007
18 November 2007
Faustus of Alexandria
19 November
Faustus, deacon and martyr of Alexandria, Egypt, killed 4th c. Faustus was the companion in exile of bishop Dionysius of Alexandria. He was killed in extreme old age.
Faustus, deacon and martyr of Alexandria, Egypt, killed 4th c. Faustus was the companion in exile of bishop Dionysius of Alexandria. He was killed in extreme old age.
Romanos of Caesarea
18 November
Romanos of Caesarea, deacon and martyr, killed at Antioch in Syria, c. 304.
In 303 or 304, at the beginning of the Diocletian persecution, a deacon called Romanos of Caesarea in Palestine suffered martyrdom at Antioch. Upon the proclamation of Diocletian’s edict, Romanos strengthened the Christians of Antioch and openly exhorted the weaker brothers and sisters, who were willing to offer heathen sacrifices, not to waver in the faith. He was taken prisoner, condemned to death by fire, and bound to the stake; however, as the Emperor Galerius was then in Antioch, Romanos was brought before him. At the emperor’s command his tongue was cut out. Tortured in various ways in prison, he was finally strangled.
Eusebius speaks of his martyrdom in De martyribus Palestin, c. ii. Prudentius (Peristephanon, X in PL, LX, 444 sq.) relates other details and gives Romanos a companion in martyrdom, a Christian named Barulas. Several historians, among them Baronius, consider that there were two martyrs named Romanos at Antioch, though more likely there was but the one whom Eusebius mentions. Prudentius introduced legendary features into his account, and his connection of the martyrdom of Barulas with that of Romanos is probably arbitrary.
Romanos of Caesarea, deacon and martyr, killed at Antioch in Syria, c. 304.
In 303 or 304, at the beginning of the Diocletian persecution, a deacon called Romanos of Caesarea in Palestine suffered martyrdom at Antioch. Upon the proclamation of Diocletian’s edict, Romanos strengthened the Christians of Antioch and openly exhorted the weaker brothers and sisters, who were willing to offer heathen sacrifices, not to waver in the faith. He was taken prisoner, condemned to death by fire, and bound to the stake; however, as the Emperor Galerius was then in Antioch, Romanos was brought before him. At the emperor’s command his tongue was cut out. Tortured in various ways in prison, he was finally strangled.
Eusebius speaks of his martyrdom in De martyribus Palestin, c. ii. Prudentius (Peristephanon, X in PL, LX, 444 sq.) relates other details and gives Romanos a companion in martyrdom, a Christian named Barulas. Several historians, among them Baronius, consider that there were two martyrs named Romanos at Antioch, though more likely there was but the one whom Eusebius mentions. Prudentius introduced legendary features into his account, and his connection of the martyrdom of Barulas with that of Romanos is probably arbitrary.
17 November 2007
Eugene of Florence
17 November
Eugene, deacon at Florence, Italy, under Zenobius, and a disciple of Ambrose of Milan, died in 422.
Eugene, deacon at Florence, Italy, under Zenobius, and a disciple of Ambrose of Milan, died in 422.
Zachaeus of Caesarea
17 November
Zachaeus, deacon and martyr, with Alpheus, beheaded at Caesarea in Palestine, 303. In the first year of Diocletian’s persecution, Zachaeus and Alpheus received capital punishment after having undergone many tortures.
Zachaeus, deacon and martyr, with Alpheus, beheaded at Caesarea in Palestine, 303. In the first year of Diocletian’s persecution, Zachaeus and Alpheus received capital punishment after having undergone many tortures.
15 November 2007
14 November 2007
Miss Navajo
Crystal Frazier in traditional Navajo dress.As long as I'm writing about Native Americans, I thought I'd tell you about "Miss Navajo," a documentary film I saw last night on our local PBS channel. To see more, click here.
The film was about the pageant to select the 2005 Miss Navajo Nation. Young Navajo women have a solid, practical, dignified, and even spiritual beauty, which makes their pageant different from the glitzy, silly events elsewhere (and certainly from the recent pageant offshoot, "reality" shows).
The camera follows 21-year-old Crystal Frazier, from her family home out in the desert and through the pageant events. She takes a leading role in the sheep butchery, in which all the contestants kill a sheep with a knife, cut it up, and cook the parts. Crystal doesn't win--she comes in "first runner-up"--mainly because she is weak in speaking the traditional language, or Diné. We see her a year later, and she is fluent in Navajo, because she has worked hard to improve herself.
God bless Crystal and all the beautiful young Navajo women.
12 November 2007
Natives of south Louisiana
The real natives of south Louisiana are the descendants of those who lived here when the Europeans and Africans arrived. One of them is the United Houma Nation, a people driven from good farm land along the rivers and bayous and eventually to the marshlands south of the city of Houma in Terrebonne Parish. Their Principal Chief (as they call her), Brenda Dardar-Robichaux, was a speaker at the New Jamestown Covenant Summit at Historic Jamestown in Virginia on November 1.
Here's what Episcopal Life Online has to say about the speech:
Dardar-Robichaux spoke movingly of the effects of 2005's hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the 16,000-member Houma tribe, which has inhabited the bayous of South Louisiana for generations. Louisiana recognizes the tribe, but they lack federal status despite petitioning since 1983. Opposition to the appeal comes from the oil and gas industry, which fears the implications for land claims if the Houma are successful, she said.
Dulac, DuLarge, Grand Caillou, Montegut, Pointe-au-Chien and Isle de Jean Charles -- more populous Houma communities in Terrebonne Parish that had escaped extensive damage from Hurricane Katrina -- became victims of the rising storm surge from Hurricane Rita, which also reflooded Plaquemines, St. Bernard and lower Jefferson Parish communities that were beginning to dry out from Hurricane Katrina.
But the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Red Cross, and the Road Home housing assistance program have been no help, she said. Because the Houma weren't allowed to attend Louisiana public schools until the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, illiteracy is high among the tribe's older members, and many Houma could not cope with complicated applications for assistance. FEMA and Road Home staff failed to show up for several scheduled meetings with the tribe, and the Red Cross -- months after the double disasters -- could offer only a loan of metal framed cots for which the tribe would be held financially liable, said Dardar-Robichaux.
Grants and donations from religious and humanitarian organizations, including a group of Native American doctors and the American Indian Movement, have helped put the tribe back on its feet.
Mistreatment of the Houmas is one of the disgraces of our state, even worse than our historic degradation of French-speaking Acadians. The local Episcopal Church (diocese and congregations of the area) has paid them little or no attention, either with charity or with evangelization. If there are any Houma Indians in our congregations in Bayou du Large or Houma, please correct me. If there are, I've never seen them.
Here's what Episcopal Life Online has to say about the speech:
Dardar-Robichaux spoke movingly of the effects of 2005's hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the 16,000-member Houma tribe, which has inhabited the bayous of South Louisiana for generations. Louisiana recognizes the tribe, but they lack federal status despite petitioning since 1983. Opposition to the appeal comes from the oil and gas industry, which fears the implications for land claims if the Houma are successful, she said.
Dulac, DuLarge, Grand Caillou, Montegut, Pointe-au-Chien and Isle de Jean Charles -- more populous Houma communities in Terrebonne Parish that had escaped extensive damage from Hurricane Katrina -- became victims of the rising storm surge from Hurricane Rita, which also reflooded Plaquemines, St. Bernard and lower Jefferson Parish communities that were beginning to dry out from Hurricane Katrina.
But the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Red Cross, and the Road Home housing assistance program have been no help, she said. Because the Houma weren't allowed to attend Louisiana public schools until the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, illiteracy is high among the tribe's older members, and many Houma could not cope with complicated applications for assistance. FEMA and Road Home staff failed to show up for several scheduled meetings with the tribe, and the Red Cross -- months after the double disasters -- could offer only a loan of metal framed cots for which the tribe would be held financially liable, said Dardar-Robichaux.
Grants and donations from religious and humanitarian organizations, including a group of Native American doctors and the American Indian Movement, have helped put the tribe back on its feet.
Mistreatment of the Houmas is one of the disgraces of our state, even worse than our historic degradation of French-speaking Acadians. The local Episcopal Church (diocese and congregations of the area) has paid them little or no attention, either with charity or with evangelization. If there are any Houma Indians in our congregations in Bayou du Large or Houma, please correct me. If there are, I've never seen them.
10 November 2007
Anianus of Antioch
10 November
Anianus, deacon and martyr, with bishop Demetrius, Eustosius, and twenty companions, killed at Antioch in Syria, date unknown.
Anianus, deacon and martyr, with bishop Demetrius, Eustosius, and twenty companions, killed at Antioch in Syria, date unknown.
07 November 2007
Our gumbo of race
There's a story in the New York Times today about the writer Bliss Broyard, whose father, Anatole Broyard, was passablanc--a Creole term for those who pass for white. The family came from New Orleans, where many Broyards have both African and European ancestors.
Race in New Orleans--indeed, in all of south Louisiana--is a complicated matter, and you have to be careful about making assumptions about people. The famous Cajun fiddler Dennis McGee had an Irish name, Indian facial structure, and African coloring, and he spoke only French. It's what we call cultural gumbo, everything thrown in the pot and stirred until it comes out just right. In 18th century New Orleans, French settlers, African slaves, and native peoples lived side by side, shared languages, stories, and cooking, and made babies together. The babies were called Creole, from a Portuguese word meaning native born. We have Creole tomatoes, Creole cream cheese, and Creole people. All those whose ancestors lived in colonial Louisiana are Creoles, and usually they are a wonderful mixture of races.
But race also has a dark side, an irrational side. If you are one-eighth African (and seven-eighths European), you are black. If you are one-eighth European (and seven-eighths African), you are still black. I have a son-in-law who is one-eighth Choctaw. Does that make him a native American? Probably not, since his blonde hair and blue eyes make it hard for him to pass as tribal. This absurd system of racial classification was invented mainly by les américains who flooded into Louisiana after 1803, reinforced by the politicians after Reconstruction who passed Jim Crow laws. It resulted in a search for skin pale enough to pass for white. To get that way, people of color had to breed with people of no color, or at least pale color.
Dividing people by race has caused a great deal of evil, and we ought to stop doing it.
COMMENT: There's a legend in my family that one branch is descended from Pocahontas. Unfortunately, a genealogist has used DNA to disprove the connection. But I still have Choctaw inlaws.
Race in New Orleans--indeed, in all of south Louisiana--is a complicated matter, and you have to be careful about making assumptions about people. The famous Cajun fiddler Dennis McGee had an Irish name, Indian facial structure, and African coloring, and he spoke only French. It's what we call cultural gumbo, everything thrown in the pot and stirred until it comes out just right. In 18th century New Orleans, French settlers, African slaves, and native peoples lived side by side, shared languages, stories, and cooking, and made babies together. The babies were called Creole, from a Portuguese word meaning native born. We have Creole tomatoes, Creole cream cheese, and Creole people. All those whose ancestors lived in colonial Louisiana are Creoles, and usually they are a wonderful mixture of races.
But race also has a dark side, an irrational side. If you are one-eighth African (and seven-eighths European), you are black. If you are one-eighth European (and seven-eighths African), you are still black. I have a son-in-law who is one-eighth Choctaw. Does that make him a native American? Probably not, since his blonde hair and blue eyes make it hard for him to pass as tribal. This absurd system of racial classification was invented mainly by les américains who flooded into Louisiana after 1803, reinforced by the politicians after Reconstruction who passed Jim Crow laws. It resulted in a search for skin pale enough to pass for white. To get that way, people of color had to breed with people of no color, or at least pale color.
Dividing people by race has caused a great deal of evil, and we ought to stop doing it.
COMMENT: There's a legend in my family that one branch is descended from Pocahontas. Unfortunately, a genealogist has used DNA to disprove the connection. But I still have Choctaw inlaws.
Mental disorders increasing after Katrina
Percentage of Katrina survivors with mental disorders increasing
November 4, 2007
David Cameron
Harvard Medical School
According to the most comprehensive survey yet conducted of people affected by Hurricane Katrina, the percentage of pre-hurricane residents of the affected areas in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi who have mental disorders has increased significantly compared to the situation five to eight months after the hurricane.
These findings, which were presented last week to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery, counter the typical pattern found in previous disasters, in which the prevalence of mental disorders decreases with the passage of time.
For the whole report in the Harvard Science Journal, see here.
November 4, 2007
David Cameron
Harvard Medical School
According to the most comprehensive survey yet conducted of people affected by Hurricane Katrina, the percentage of pre-hurricane residents of the affected areas in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi who have mental disorders has increased significantly compared to the situation five to eight months after the hurricane.
These findings, which were presented last week to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery, counter the typical pattern found in previous disasters, in which the prevalence of mental disorders decreases with the passage of time.
For the whole report in the Harvard Science Journal, see here.
03 November 2007
Aeithalas of Naeson
3 November
Aeithalas, deacon and martyr in Persia, with bishop Acepsimus of Naeson and presbyter Joseph, killed in 379.
The three Christians lived in Persia at the time of King Shapur II. Acepsimus was known for spreading the faith. After Shapur began his persecution of Christians in Persia, all three were seized. Having endured cruel imprisonment for three years, Acepsimus was beheaded, and his companions were stoned to death. The Orthodox Church commemorates them together on 3 November, but Aeithalas is sometimes also remembered on 1 September.
Aeithalas, deacon and martyr in Persia, with bishop Acepsimus of Naeson and presbyter Joseph, killed in 379.
The three Christians lived in Persia at the time of King Shapur II. Acepsimus was known for spreading the faith. After Shapur began his persecution of Christians in Persia, all three were seized. Having endured cruel imprisonment for three years, Acepsimus was beheaded, and his companions were stoned to death. The Orthodox Church commemorates them together on 3 November, but Aeithalas is sometimes also remembered on 1 September.
Hilary of Viterbo
3 November
Hilary, deacon and martyr, with presbyter Valentine, beheaded at Viterbo near Rome during the persecutions under Diocletian, 304.
Hilary, deacon and martyr, with presbyter Valentine, beheaded at Viterbo near Rome during the persecutions under Diocletian, 304.
01 November 2007
Caesarius the African
1 November
Caesarius the African, deacon and martyr, with presbyter Julian, drowned at Terracina in Italy, 2nd c.
Caesarius, a deacon from Africa visiting Italy, denounced the pagan custom of having one youth per year immolate himself to the demons by jumping off a cliff in honor of the god Apollo. The priest of Apollo had him arrested and taken before the governor. He was sentenced to be sewn into a sack and thrown into the sea. He was martyred together with Julian, a local presbyter. His feast is held on 1 November.
In the fourth century, Emperor Valentinian was cured at the shrine of Caesarius at Terracina. The emperor then decided to move his relics to Rome. They were taken to a church on the Palatine Hill, and when they were later moved to a new church near the Appian Way which got the name San Cesareo in Palatio.
Caesarius the African, deacon and martyr, with presbyter Julian, drowned at Terracina in Italy, 2nd c.
Caesarius, a deacon from Africa visiting Italy, denounced the pagan custom of having one youth per year immolate himself to the demons by jumping off a cliff in honor of the god Apollo. The priest of Apollo had him arrested and taken before the governor. He was sentenced to be sewn into a sack and thrown into the sea. He was martyred together with Julian, a local presbyter. His feast is held on 1 November.
In the fourth century, Emperor Valentinian was cured at the shrine of Caesarius at Terracina. The emperor then decided to move his relics to Rome. They were taken to a church on the Palatine Hill, and when they were later moved to a new church near the Appian Way which got the name San Cesareo in Palatio.
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