Resetting the Bowling Pins

From Bloomberg News:

Most U.S. mortgages modified in a voluntary effort to keep struggling borrowers in their homes and stem foreclosures fell back into delinquency within six months, the chief regulator of national banks said.

Almost 53 percent of borrowers whose loans were modified in the first quarter were more than 30 days overdue by the third quarter, John Dugan, head of the Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, said today at a housing conference in Washington.

Can't say I'm terribly surprised. In the old days, when your credit was no good the banks wouldn't lend you money. Nowadays, when your credit is no good the banks will keep lending you money until you pay it back. They call it "refinancing." I call it "punitive lending."

Thanks to For What it's Worth.

Resetting the Bowling Pins

From Bloomberg News:

Most U.S. mortgages modified in a voluntary effort to keep struggling borrowers in their homes and stem foreclosures fell back into delinquency within six months, the chief regulator of national banks said.

Almost 53 percent of borrowers whose loans were modified in the first quarter were more than 30 days overdue by the third quarter, John Dugan, head of the Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, said today at a housing conference in Washington.

Can't say I'm terribly surprised. In the old days, when your credit was no good the banks wouldn't lend you money. Nowadays, when your credit is no good the banks will keep lending you money until you pay it back. They call it "refinancing." I call it "punitive lending."

Thanks to For What it's Worth.

Respect for the Dead

This past weekend Corpus Christi Church held its annual flea market, an event I would normally avoid, being more interested these days in deaccessioning (to use museum terminology) bric-a-brac rather than adding to it. The sale, however, was held in the same room where coffee is served after mass so I had no choice but to have a look.

Given Corpus Christi Church abuts Columbia, it wasn't surprising to find a large book table and given Corpus Christi Church abuts Columbia, it wasn't surprising to find most of the non-fiction titles were decidedly left-wing. Except one: I quickly plucked it from the cast-off Marxiana and asked the friendly person manning the table what it cost, since it hadn't been priced.

She glanced at the book and cheerfully replied, "a dollar is probably too much." I cheerfully demurred and handed over a dollar, getting at a good price a hardbound copy, in fine shape, of Reagan in His Own Hand. I can't say when I'll get around to reading it (though I will) but am pleased already for having ransomed a book containing the writings of my favorite president from the ignominious company of the Gloria Steinem screed it was parked alongside.

Respect for the Dead

This past weekend Corpus Christi Church held its annual flea market, an event I would normally avoid, being more interested these days in deaccessioning (to use museum terminology) bric-a-brac rather than adding to it. The sale, however, was held in the same room where coffee is served after mass so I had no choice but to have a look.

Given Corpus Christi Church abuts Columbia, it wasn't surprising to find a large book table and given Corpus Christi Church abuts Columbia, it wasn't surprising to find most of the non-fiction titles were decidedly left-wing. Except one: I quickly plucked it from the cast-off Marxiana and asked the friendly person manning the table what it cost, since it hadn't been priced.

She glanced at the book and cheerfully replied, "a dollar is probably too much." I cheerfully demurred and handed over a dollar, getting at a good price a hardbound copy, in fine shape, of Reagan in His Own Hand. I can't say when I'll get around to reading it (though I will) but am pleased already for having ransomed a book containing the writings of my favorite president from the ignominious company of the Gloria Steinem screed it was parked alongside.

Reductio ad Absurdum

As seen on Amazon.com:

Amazon Music's 12 Days of Holiday

Don't Miss a Single Day

Time is running out to sign up for Amazon Music's 12 Days of Holiday Delivers. A series of 12 exclusive e-mail notices about daily deals, contests, and other offers beginning December 5, this will be the best mail you'll get 'til next year.

›Subscribe now

Will there ever be a time when spineless corporate chieftains no longer cower at incurring the wrath of a tiny cadre of non-believers that take delight in taking offense when the holiday celebrated on December 25th is called by its rightful name?

Mark Steyn reports a reader got this response from Amazon when he e-mailed to complain about their deep-sixing the offending word.

Please accept our sincere apologies if you were offended by the use of the word "Christmas" on our website. Our intention in referring to Christmas is to give specific ordering guidance for a specific holiday, not to exclude other faiths.

What a bunch of jellyfish. I wonder the effect if regular Amazon customers who've had their fill of political correctness made just one of their Christmas purchases from a competitor and let Amazon know why.

UPDATE: Thanks to Daniel Muller for alerting me a simple solution to the problem: Tossmas.

UPDATE 2: Jeffrey Goldberg says: Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas.

Reductio ad Absurdum

As seen on Amazon.com:

Amazon Music's 12 Days of Holiday

Don't Miss a Single Day

Time is running out to sign up for Amazon Music's 12 Days of Holiday Delivers. A series of 12 exclusive e-mail notices about daily deals, contests, and other offers beginning December 5, this will be the best mail you'll get 'til next year.

›Subscribe now

Will there ever be a time when spineless corporate chieftains no longer cower at incurring the wrath of a tiny cadre of non-believers that take delight in taking offense when the holiday celebrated on December 25th is called by its rightful name?

Mark Steyn reports a reader got this response from Amazon when he e-mailed to complain about their deep-sixing the offending word.

Please accept our sincere apologies if you were offended by the use of the word "Christmas" on our website. Our intention in referring to Christmas is to give specific ordering guidance for a specific holiday, not to exclude other faiths.

What a bunch of jellyfish. I wonder the effect if regular Amazon customers who've had their fill of political correctness made just one of their Christmas purchases from a competitor and let Amazon know why.

UPDATE: Thanks to Daniel Muller for alerting me a simple solution to the problem: Tossmas.

UPDATE 2: Jeffrey Goldberg says: Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas.

The First Amendment for Me, Not Thee

From Catholic New York:

New York City's pro–life advocates are bracing for an expected new law that they say will prevent them from gathering outside abortion clinics and will violate their First Amendment rights to free speech.

The Clinic Access Bill, known as Intro. 826 in the City Council, was introduced by Council Speaker Christine Quinn and is expected to pass overwhelmingly, possibly as early as Dec. 9. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is expected to sign it into law.

Opponents in the pro–life community, including officials of the archdiocese, say that a new law is unnecessary, and that the bill is so vaguely worded as to bar any kind of gathering at all. They say that the bill, in effect, allows clinic managers to have people outside their clinics arrested for harassment or interference without having to prove it.

Having people arrested, of course, is the whole point of this law, to suppress opposition. Ironic how the forked tongue left is all too quick to shriek "First Amendment!" whenever it perceives the slightest curtailment of their noisome activities, such as the disruption of church services or shouting down speakers in the academy with whom they disagree. Peaceful demonstrating at abortion clinics by pro-lifers is, however, another matter entirely and occasions shrill proclamations of a woman's "right to chose" or "control of her body;" unenumerated rights that apparently supercede the First Amendment rights of the protesters.

It may seem perverse but in a way I hope this bill passes. The pro-abortionists want to up the stakes in the fight and that should be encouraged. Abortion is a low-background issue in this country, most good people, while finding the subject distasteful, would rather not think or hear about it (for fear, perhaps, of incurring feminist wrath). Since the hearty souls who tirelessly demonstrate at Planned Parenthood locales are not easily intimidated, the passing of the Clinic Access Bill will result in their very public and recurring arrests, thus pushing the "distasteful" matter onto the front page, frequently, for all to see.

Militant pro-abortionists and feminists have few fans (other than their own company) so the frequent jailing of pro-lifers at their behest could result in the majority of people, those who feel at least "uneasy" about abortion, to consider the matter anew (as I did many years ago). Constantly having abortion brought to people's attention by the constant arrest of its opponents might have the salutary effect of persuading them the abomination it is, resulting in support of legislation that at least curtails the practice. That, in turn, would increase the stigma of abortion, making future, more restrictive legislation easier to pass.

In time, the day will come when the unborn child enjoys the same constitutional rights as those today who want to kill it.

UPDATE: a related story.

The First Amendment for Me, Not Thee

From Catholic New York:

New York City's pro–life advocates are bracing for an expected new law that they say will prevent them from gathering outside abortion clinics and will violate their First Amendment rights to free speech.

The Clinic Access Bill, known as Intro. 826 in the City Council, was introduced by Council Speaker Christine Quinn and is expected to pass overwhelmingly, possibly as early as Dec. 9. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is expected to sign it into law.

Opponents in the pro–life community, including officials of the archdiocese, say that a new law is unnecessary, and that the bill is so vaguely worded as to bar any kind of gathering at all. They say that the bill, in effect, allows clinic managers to have people outside their clinics arrested for harassment or interference without having to prove it.

Having people arrested, of course, is the whole point of this law, to suppress opposition. Ironic how the forked tongue left is all too quick to shriek "First Amendment!" whenever it perceives the slightest curtailment of their noisome activities, such as the disruption of church services or shouting down speakers in the academy with whom they disagree. Peaceful demonstrating at abortion clinics by pro-lifers is, however, another matter entirely and occasions shrill proclamations of a woman's "right to chose" or "control of her body;" unenumerated rights that apparently supercede the First Amendment rights of the protesters.

It may seem perverse but in a way I hope this bill passes. The pro-abortionists want to up the stakes in the fight and that should be encouraged. Abortion is a low-background issue in this country, most good people, while finding the subject distasteful, would rather not think or hear about it (for fear, perhaps, of incurring feminist wrath). Since the hearty souls who tirelessly demonstrate at Planned Parenthood locales are not easily intimidated, the passing of the Clinic Access Bill will result in their very public and recurring arrests, thus pushing the "distasteful" matter onto the front page, frequently, for all to see.

Militant pro-abortionists and feminists have few fans (other than their own company) so the frequent jailing of pro-lifers at their behest could result in the majority of people, those who feel at least "uneasy" about abortion, to consider the matter anew (as I did many years ago). Constantly having abortion brought to people's attention by the constant arrest of its opponents might have the salutary effect of persuading them the abomination it is, resulting in support of legislation that at least curtails the practice. That, in turn, would increase the stigma of abortion, making future, more restrictive legislation easier to pass.

In time, the day will come when the unborn child enjoys the same constitutional rights as those today who want to kill it.

UPDATE: a related story.

An Easy Difficult Decision

Reader "Augustine" comments on the posting below about the new Anglican province known as Anglican Christians of North America:

This is a disastrous marriage 'of circumstances'. The (predominant) evangelical Anglicans in the new entity are using the three Anglo-Catholic dioceses as a necessary source of their potential legitimacy as a full province of the Anglican Communion. Four (three?) dioceses are needed for the formation of a province and the evangelicals only 'have' one recognized diocese, Pittsburgh. The new entity's radical commitment to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and to the literal, 'grammatical' acceptance of the 39 Articles marks it as a thoroughly and fundamentally Protestant organization. While Anglo-Catholics may feel that it will allow them time to pursue other alignments, their alliance with Protestants who countenance the 'ordination' of women is not something on which to build faith and in which to preach salvation. The Anglo-Catholic world of North America has no remaining ecclesiastical home in any Anglican body. One can mourn this, but cannot tarry too long over mourning. One must choose: high church Protestantism or Rome.

Right on the mark, I say. As a former Anglo-Catholic I had to make the very choice Augustine posits. After much deliberation I came to the conclusion I could be an Anglican or a Catholic but not both. Upon that realization it was a relatively easy, though certainly not painless, decision to be received into the Holy Catholic Church, regardless her present deficiencies. For in the end music and liturgy, no matter how beautiful, are not sufficient in themselves to get us into heaven.

An Easy Difficult Decision

Reader "Augustine" comments on the posting below about the new Anglican province known as Anglican Christians of North America:

This is a disastrous marriage 'of circumstances'. The (predominant) evangelical Anglicans in the new entity are using the three Anglo-Catholic dioceses as a necessary source of their potential legitimacy as a full province of the Anglican Communion. Four (three?) dioceses are needed for the formation of a province and the evangelicals only 'have' one recognized diocese, Pittsburgh. The new entity's radical commitment to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and to the literal, 'grammatical' acceptance of the 39 Articles marks it as a thoroughly and fundamentally Protestant organization. While Anglo-Catholics may feel that it will allow them time to pursue other alignments, their alliance with Protestants who countenance the 'ordination' of women is not something on which to build faith and in which to preach salvation. The Anglo-Catholic world of North America has no remaining ecclesiastical home in any Anglican body. One can mourn this, but cannot tarry too long over mourning. One must choose: high church Protestantism or Rome.

Right on the mark, I say. As a former Anglo-Catholic I had to make the very choice Augustine posits. After much deliberation I came to the conclusion I could be an Anglican or a Catholic but not both. Upon that realization it was a relatively easy, though certainly not painless, decision to be received into the Holy Catholic Church, regardless her present deficiencies. For in the end music and liturgy, no matter how beautiful, are not sufficient in themselves to get us into heaven.

Schism

As of yesterday there is an alternative Christian church to the apostate Episcopal Church, comprised of various Anglican breakaway churches, four former ECUSA dioceses and various other organizations within and without ECUSA, all of which wanting nothing to do with the Gnostic religion-product offered by ECUSA these days. This is good news for disaffected Anglicans everwhere but there is a sad and fatal flaw to the new organization that calls itself the Anglican Christians of North America (ACNA): it does not come down decisively against women's ordination and by not doing so, it cannot succeed.

Opposition to women's ordination was the raison d'être for many of the schismatic episcopal churches formed in the past thirty years, many of which are now part of the ACNA. There are other organizations, however, also belonging to the ACNA, such as the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, that do permit it. Women's ordination was the camel's nose under tent in 1976 that led to, over the years, numerous other false doctrines infiltrating ECUSA and transforming it into an apostate church, leading to its fracture. The ACNA, by not dealing from the start with this most contentious and scripture-violating issue, will surely see fissures forming in their brand-new organization, it is only a matter of time.

I may be be wrong (perhaps William Tighe could help here) but I seem to recall many years ago the Episcopal Church was in some sort of communion with branches of the Eastern Church. If, however, that was the case it is no more and women's ordination was the cause of the breach. Were the ACNA to declare firmly, as did Pope John Paul II in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis in 1994, that the "Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women," perhaps some branches of the Eastern Churches will make overtures to the ACNA. Since relations with the Orthodox and the Holy Catholic Churches have been growing warmer lately, we might then have cause for hope that progress, however glacial, is being made toward the goal that all Christians pray for, the making of Christ's Church whole again.

Schism

As of yesterday there is an alternative Christian church to the apostate Episcopal Church, comprised of various Anglican breakaway churches, four former ECUSA dioceses and various other organizations within and without ECUSA, all of which wanting nothing to do with the Gnostic religion-product offered by ECUSA these days. This is good news for disaffected Anglicans everwhere but there is a sad and fatal flaw to the new organization that calls itself the Anglican Christians of North America (ACNA): it does not come down decisively against women's ordination and by not doing so, it cannot succeed.

Opposition to women's ordination was the raison d'être for many of the schismatic episcopal churches formed in the past thirty years, many of which are now part of the ACNA. There are other organizations, however, also belonging to the ACNA, such as the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, that do permit it. Women's ordination was the camel's nose under tent in 1976 that led to, over the years, numerous other false doctrines infiltrating ECUSA and transforming it into an apostate church, leading to its fracture. The ACNA, by not dealing from the start with this most contentious and scripture-violating issue, will surely see fissures forming in their brand-new organization, it is only a matter of time.

I may be be wrong (perhaps William Tighe could help here) but I seem to recall many years ago the Episcopal Church was in some sort of communion with branches of the Eastern Church. If, however, that was the case it is no more and women's ordination was the cause of the breach. Were the ACNA to declare firmly, as did Pope John Paul II in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis in 1994, that the "Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women," perhaps some branches of the Eastern Churches will make overtures to the ACNA. Since relations with the Orthodox and the Holy Catholic Churches have been growing warmer lately, we might then have cause for hope that progress, however glacial, is being made toward the goal that all Christians pray for, the making of Christ's Church whole again.

One Question

The pregnant mother of two-year-old Moshe Holtzberg (above) was tried, convicted and executed, all at once, by Islamic terrorists in Mumbai last week for the capital crime of being a Jew. The same terrorists also beat little Moshe after determining he was guilty of the same crime. Christopher Johnson of the Midwest Conservative Journal expresses the outrage civilized people everywhere feel over this barbaric act and does so far more eloquently than I could ever hope to myself.

I thus can only ask one question: do the experts in diplomacy who believe we must negotiate with the likes of those who countenanced the murder of Mosha Holtzberg's mother, also believe those parties will be faithful to any agreement that might be reached?

One Question

The pregnant mother of two-year-old Moshe Holtzberg (above) was tried, convicted and executed, all at once, by Islamic terrorists in Mumbai last week for the capital crime of being a Jew. The same terrorists also beat little Moshe after determining he was guilty of the same crime. Christopher Johnson of the Midwest Conservative Journal expresses the outrage civilized people everywhere feel over this barbaric act and does so far more eloquently than I could ever hope to myself.

I thus can only ask one question: do the experts in diplomacy who believe we must negotiate with the likes of those who countenanced the murder of Mosha Holtzberg's mother, also believe those parties will be faithful to any agreement that might be reached?

Season's Greetings

My internet friend Robbo is proprietor of the vastly clever blog The Port Stands at Your Elbow. I heartily commend it but beware: Robbo has a serious weakness that puts a blot on his old escutcheon (as some English writer might put it) specifically, an unhealthy fancy for the alleged paintings of the so-called "Pre-Raphaelites" ("greenery-yallery, Grosvenor Gallery," as another English writer might put it).

Well, he's at it again (albeit only in passing, on a different matter) and rather than take him to task in the combox (an exercise in futility, as I have learned to my bitter disappointment) and knowing he, for whatever reasons, is a regular visitor to this blog, I will merely post the image you see below and hope and pray it might have both the salutary and shock effect of curing good Robbo of his tragic affliction.

Feel better, sir.


Returning Home from the Mall

Season's Greetings

My internet friend Robbo is proprietor of the vastly clever blog The Port Stands at Your Elbow. I heartily commend it but beware: Robbo has a serious weakness that puts a blot on his old escutcheon (as some English writer might put it) specifically, an unhealthy fancy for the alleged paintings of the so-called "Pre-Raphaelites" ("greenery-yallery, Grosvenor Gallery," as another English writer might put it).

Well, he's at it again (albeit only in passing, on a different matter) and rather than take him to task in the combox (an exercise in futility, as I have learned to my bitter disappointment) and knowing he, for whatever reasons, is a regular visitor to this blog, I will merely post the image you see below and hope and pray it might have both the salutary and shock effect of curing good Robbo of his tragic affliction.

Feel better, sir.


Returning Home from the Mall

Wide-Screen Televisions, the New York Times and the Class Struggle

The New York Times outdid itself this weekend with an exculpatory piece on the mob that crushed to death a Long Island Wal-Mart temporary worker early Friday morning, the day after Thanksgiving. Beginning with a headline that likens the incident to the Guernica bombings of the Spanish Civil War, the prose only gets riper and culminates in the Times writer assessing culpability for this horrid incident. See if you can guess whom he really thinks is at fault (you did guess President Bush, didn't you?).

After 9/11, President Bush dispatched Americans to the malls as a patriotic act. When the economy faltered early this year, the government gave out tax rebate checks and told people to spend. In a sense, those Chinese-made flat-screen televisions sitting inside Wal-Mart have become American comfort food.

But, you might ask, doesn't the ravenous horde that stomped the oxygen out of that poor Wal-Mart employee bear at least some responsibility for its barbarous behavior? Kinda, sorta, says the Times but really, those poor benighted fools just couldn't help themselves; blame it on capitalism.

It was a tragedy, yet it did not feel like an accident. All those people were there, lined up in the cold and darkness, because of sophisticated marketing forces that have produced this day now called Black Friday. They were engaging in early-morning shopping as contact sport. American business has long excelled at creating a sense of shortage amid abundance, an anxiety that one must act now or miss out.

...It seemed fitting then, in a tragic way, that the holiday season began with violence fueled by desperation; with a mob making a frantic reach for things they wanted badly, knowing they might go home empty-handed.

Remember, however, it was not food or clothing most of those downtrodden members of the proletariat "wanted badly" to wrap their empty hands around, it was bargain-priced wide-screen televisions and Wii consoles, items the vast majority of the world's people couldn't afford even if they were marked down 99 percent.

No longer seeing itself as a conduit of truthful reporting, rather the molder of correct perceptions and scrupulous eschewer of unpleasant realities, the Times also engages in a bit of photographic duplicity. Observe the image accompanying their overwrought think piece: true, it is of a Wal-Mart store, taken early Friday morning as a mob barrels in but also note the store shown is in Elk City, Oklahoma, a long way from the store in Long Island where the temporary worker met his grizzly end. The New York Daily News website has plenty of photographs taken at the scene in Long Island that the Times could have availed itself of but did not. Why? Take a good look at them and hazard a guess.

Wide-Screen Televisions, the New York Times and the Class Struggle

The New York Times outdid itself this weekend with an exculpatory piece on the mob that crushed to death a Long Island Wal-Mart temporary worker early Friday morning, the day after Thanksgiving. Beginning with a headline that likens the incident to the Guernica bombings of the Spanish Civil War, the prose only gets riper and culminates in the Times writer assessing culpability for this horrid incident. See if you can guess whom he really thinks is at fault (you did guess President Bush, didn't you?).

After 9/11, President Bush dispatched Americans to the malls as a patriotic act. When the economy faltered early this year, the government gave out tax rebate checks and told people to spend. In a sense, those Chinese-made flat-screen televisions sitting inside Wal-Mart have become American comfort food.

But, you might ask, doesn't the ravenous horde that stomped the oxygen out of that poor Wal-Mart employee bear at least some responsibility for its barbarous behavior? Kinda, sorta, says the Times but really, those poor benighted fools just couldn't help themselves; blame it on capitalism.

It was a tragedy, yet it did not feel like an accident. All those people were there, lined up in the cold and darkness, because of sophisticated marketing forces that have produced this day now called Black Friday. They were engaging in early-morning shopping as contact sport. American business has long excelled at creating a sense of shortage amid abundance, an anxiety that one must act now or miss out.

...It seemed fitting then, in a tragic way, that the holiday season began with violence fueled by desperation; with a mob making a frantic reach for things they wanted badly, knowing they might go home empty-handed.

Remember, however, it was not food or clothing most of those downtrodden members of the proletariat "wanted badly" to wrap their empty hands around, it was bargain-priced wide-screen televisions and Wii consoles, items the vast majority of the world's people couldn't afford even if they were marked down 99 percent.

No longer seeing itself as a conduit of truthful reporting, rather the molder of correct perceptions and scrupulous eschewer of unpleasant realities, the Times also engages in a bit of photographic duplicity. Observe the image accompanying their overwrought think piece: true, it is of a Wal-Mart store, taken early Friday morning as a mob barrels in but also note the store shown is in Elk City, Oklahoma, a long way from the store in Long Island where the temporary worker met his grizzly end. The New York Daily News website has plenty of photographs taken at the scene in Long Island that the Times could have availed itself of but did not. Why? Take a good look at them and hazard a guess.

Old News

Ask any of the dwindling number of traditionalist Episcopalians (or the increasing number of former traditionalist Episcopalians) just what led to ECUSA's present barren and dessicated state and most will point to the church's famously refusing to deal decisively with heretics in her past. The two most likely cited will be Pike from the 60s and Spong from the 70s, ever drearily to the present day.

Good calls both yet it seems (and should come as no surprise) the miscreants Pike and Spong were hardly the first in ECUSA leadership to embrace heterodoxy. Consider this item from Time Magazine concerning Bishop William Lawrence, who haled from one of the church's most stalwart families.

...In 50 years of priesthood, says the Massachusetts bishop, he has seen most revolutionary changes in the thought of mankind. This has taught him that change is an element of human life. It is not to be feared. It is to be used. "No discovery of science has taken from us our faith," but "when we realize how our conception of the universe has been enlarged ten thousand times, we have a conception of God ten thousand times greater, nobler and more spiritual than was that of our fathers." Hence, although he believes in the usefulness of creeds, Bishop Lawrence refuses to insist on the literal interpretation of any creed, or of the Bible.

For example, although he is personally inclined to accept the traditional idea of the Virgin Birth, he says it is not essential to Episcopal faith.

Before conservatives in the Episcopal Church can begin to purge it of so-called "heretics" they must settle with Bishop Lawrence.

..."Permissive Creeds," in place of obligatory, is the proposal of the Faculty of the Episcopal Theological School, of Cambridge, Mass., of which Bishop Lawrence was once head. Thus, creeds with and without affirmation of the Virgin Birth, would be accepted by the Church. "The Church is greater than the creeds." This idea coincides with Bishop Lawrence's famous utterance : "I cannot define the Triune God," and, from a different point of view with Voltaire's remark: "I will believe in God if you will stop trying to define him." Liberals contend that the spirit of Jesus cannot be caught and perpetually held in any immutable creed.

None of Bishop Lawrence's utterances or proposals would seem at all out of place coming from Katharine Jefferts Schori or her satraps yet they were reported in a story that first appeared in Time January 14th, 1924.

Old News

Ask any of the dwindling number of traditionalist Episcopalians (or the increasing number of former traditionalist Episcopalians) just what led to ECUSA's present barren and dessicated state and most will point to the church's famously refusing to deal decisively with heretics in her past. The two most likely cited will be Pike from the 60s and Spong from the 70s, ever drearily to the present day.

Good calls both yet it seems (and should come as no surprise) the miscreants Pike and Spong were hardly the first in ECUSA leadership to embrace heterodoxy. Consider this item from Time Magazine concerning Bishop William Lawrence, who haled from one of the church's most stalwart families.

...In 50 years of priesthood, says the Massachusetts bishop, he has seen most revolutionary changes in the thought of mankind. This has taught him that change is an element of human life. It is not to be feared. It is to be used. "No discovery of science has taken from us our faith," but "when we realize how our conception of the universe has been enlarged ten thousand times, we have a conception of God ten thousand times greater, nobler and more spiritual than was that of our fathers." Hence, although he believes in the usefulness of creeds, Bishop Lawrence refuses to insist on the literal interpretation of any creed, or of the Bible.

For example, although he is personally inclined to accept the traditional idea of the Virgin Birth, he says it is not essential to Episcopal faith.

Before conservatives in the Episcopal Church can begin to purge it of so-called "heretics" they must settle with Bishop Lawrence.

..."Permissive Creeds," in place of obligatory, is the proposal of the Faculty of the Episcopal Theological School, of Cambridge, Mass., of which Bishop Lawrence was once head. Thus, creeds with and without affirmation of the Virgin Birth, would be accepted by the Church. "The Church is greater than the creeds." This idea coincides with Bishop Lawrence's famous utterance : "I cannot define the Triune God," and, from a different point of view with Voltaire's remark: "I will believe in God if you will stop trying to define him." Liberals contend that the spirit of Jesus cannot be caught and perpetually held in any immutable creed.

None of Bishop Lawrence's utterances or proposals would seem at all out of place coming from Katharine Jefferts Schori or her satraps yet they were reported in a story that first appeared in Time January 14th, 1924.