HOUSEKEEPING

Friday, July 3rd, 2009 | Uncategorized | 5 Comments

One of my daily chores here is to clean out the comment spam.  Most of it is garbage.  At this stage of the game, the size of my [_____] is really not a priority anymore and ever since I had prostate cancer surgery, they’ve frickin’ given me Viagra every single time I’ve been out for my check-up.  But occasionally you get something interesting.  I got one today that started out like this:

Congratulations you’ve UPSTANDING entranced your outset click as a help to attractive one of those people you get wind of about that regularly discover $100’s and again $1,000’s per prime on the internet and present up just an hour day to do so.

If you’re anything like me before I started using this combination the estimation of regularly making $400 - $800 a light of day, in your spare heyday, wishes give every indication like it could change your distinction entity forever. Find credible me - it does to the letter that.

Ideas and systems down how to form money on the Internet come and go all the time. The Gishlane technique has been used on the Internet since up 6 years. Be that as it may, its origins meeting sponsor to 18th century France, when the method was before all proved mathematically using the approach probability theory.

I distinguish you’re aflame but delight, merit with me and imitate all of the instructions TO THE LETTER.

The learning we are around to share intention variation your living forever. However, there is a highest end limit to how much any one solitary can make in anybody epoch (circa $2,000). We are already making that and our revenues wont be hollow by way of influential you how to duplicate our success. So why share?

We are sharing this modus operandi with you and inquire in carry back that you for a trivial cut (say 5%) of the money you contrive on your first hour to a charitable cause. We don’t make any money from the charities; if you already give to a chattels root pass over them a piece extra this month.

If just 10 people per day do this, then we comprehend that $100,000’s this year want be donated to people to whom it will fashion a trusted difference. We secure introduced 1000’s of people to this methodology over the matrix hardly years. We know that, initially, some people are uncomfortable with the idea of online casinos or contain a conduct question to playing in them when they identify they be enduring the upperhand. Suit provoke in intelligence, lotteries etc.. are obligated by law to donate 20% of profits to leniency - online casino’s are not.

Kind of reminds you of Rimbaud, doesn’t it?

WEDDING RECEPTION

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 | Uncategorized | 76 Comments

Commenting on this recent quote concerning The Other Issue from retired Episcopal Bishop William Wantland:

I queried retired Eau Claire, Wis., Bishop William Wantland, an old friend and an ardent opponent of ordaining women. He reminded me that 22 of the ACNA’s 28 dioceses do not allow female priests. It’s a system known as “dual integrity,” dioceses that differ on a question where Scripture can be read both ways agree to respect and live with each other’s views.

I asked him if he wanted the ACNA to eventually outlaw ordaining women entirely.

“Of course. That’s our mission,” he said. “Christ is the bridegroom and the church is the bride. The priest at the altar is an icon of Christ. What image is that if the person at the altar is a woman? It’s a lesbian relationship.”

Jim Naughton illustrates why the Episcopal Organization is dying.  Too many Episcopalians are complete Biblical illiterates.

The bishop’s turn of phrase is distinctly his own, he’s actually captured the official thinking of the Roman Catholic Church on this issue. The Vatican’s opposition to women’s ordination has nothing to do with Scripture. The Pontifical Biblical Commission found in the mid 1970s that the issue of women’s ordination was unresolved in Scripture. (All of this business about the apostles being men ignores the fact that the apostles were not what we think of as priests. And then there is that whole Mary Magdalene business, but that is another matter.) The Church’s opposition hangs primarily on interpreting the nuptial metaphor literally.

But if you interpret it literally, what exactly is the nature of a man’s participation within the mystical body that is the bride of Christ?

First of all, Jim, the Bishop’s turn of phrase is not “distinctly his own.”  Another Guy used variations of it a time or two.

And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

One of that Guy’s disciples also used it.

Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Any of this sinking in yet, Jim?

As far as the necessity of taking the metaphor literally is concerned, that is, quite frankly, one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever read in my entire life, Jim.  I don’t know of any Christian who has ever believed that he or she will someday marry Christ.

But I can see why you went off the rails, Jim.  To many of us over here among the bigots, the metaphor is meaningful because we have a much higher view of the institution of marriage than you and some of your commenters seem to. 

To your side, it’s all about the sex.  Hell, it’s defined by the sex.  To us, it’s far deeper and far more important than that.  Try this one on, Jim.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

If you can’t wrap your mind around that, I’m not the least bit surprised.  It’s the reason why I had to stop kidding myself in 2003 and also why I call that shrivelling cult of yours the Episcopal Organization.

CREATIVE WRITING CLASS

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 | Uncategorized | 18 Comments

Want to know how to look really stupid?  Decide that you are going to write something profound.  Case in point: the Rev. Rob Bagwell of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina who is WAY too fond of a certain punctuation mark:

How tragic that the “real” “body of Christ” must ostracize, even “cast out” others with whom they disagree on certain particular “preferences” of life as they have found it within themselves in this moral realm. Yet they embrace others among themselves who are “guilty” of “lifestyles” that the culture has found to be an “acceptable establishment” within the faith (i.e. adultery, disregarding a literal reading of the Bible that they proclaim, even among the clergy) who have found their CHOICES “acceptable to God.” How blessed is selective exegesis! (?) Heaven weeps!

How dumb are people who overuse sarcasm quotes and put question marks in stuff they write for no particular reason!  English teachers weep!

Rob?  Buddy?  The “‘real’ ‘body of Christ?’”  What does that even mean?  The fake non-body of Christ?  I’m also not sure what you mean when you put quotes around “cast out.”  Or “preferences.”  Or “guilty.” 

Or “lifestyles.”  Or “acceptable establishment.” Or “acceptable to God.”  What I’m getting at here, Rob, is that no one who can read the English language has any idea what you’re getting at here.

Our Lord had great advice for writers:

But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.

Let me translate that for you, Rob.  Just say what you mean.  Putting quote marks around words for no particular reason makes you look like a blithering idiot.

KLOWN KOLLEGE

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 | Uncategorized | 35 Comments

My work here is done.  I don’t think I can make fun of Episcopalians anymore.  Recently the Trinity-Wall Street organist’s postlude was a tribute to Michael Jackson:

Although, come to think of it, are there any Ramones still breathing?  Because I figure that when the last one goes, “Blitzkrieg Bop,” “53rd and 3rd” or “Pinhead” would sound bitchin’ on a pipe organ.

MEET-AND-GREET

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 | Uncategorized | 27 Comments

When he gets to Anaheim, Rowan Williams will meet with some Episcopalians and chat about The Issue:

Eight members of the Episcopal Church’s House of Deputies are scheduled meet privately with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams at General Convention in a session that is intended in part to address lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues in the church.

The session is not an official convention meeting and thus there has been no announcement of the plans. However, when contacted by Episcopal News Service, the Rev. Canon Michael Barlowe of the Diocese of California confirmed the details.

Secret, behind-the-scenes meetings?  I, for one, am appalled.  What are these people going to be yammering about?

Instead, Barlowe said, he hopes the meeting will be a chance for dialogue and a chance for Williams to hear about the ministries of eight Episcopalians whose “significant fundamental characteristic” is “our deep love for the Episcopal Church within the Anglican Communion.” The eight deputies’ lives reflect the broad range of ministry of all Episcopalians, he said.

Since Dr. Williams has never heard of homosexual Episcopalians before.

Williams, Barlowe suggested, has not had a chance to hear about the broad range of ministry and leadership in which LGBT Episcopalians are involved.

Who else is going to be at this meeting?  The first name should tell pretty much everything you need to know about what this group hopes to achieve.

Basically, these folks are going to tell my gracious lord of Canterbury about what wonderful Anglican Christians they are so could he PLEASE go back to being the leftist he used to be and stop giving all those stupid bigots the time of day.  One hopes that these people hear from Dr. Williams that a great many other Christians in the Communion hold a view of The Issue that differs from this group’s and that this different view is an entirely valid one.

AND A DOLLAR SHORT

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 24 Comments

The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina finally issues a statement on the Frank Lombard situation:

Frank Lombard is a parishioner of a congregation in the diocese of North Carolina. It is the bishop’s policy that in matters such as these, clergy will cooperate fully with law enforcement and allow the judicial process to run its course. In keeping with this same policy, clergy will not comment on investigations which are still in progress. The bishops and clergy of this diocese are committed to making certain that all of our churches remain safe places where all may worship and serve God. The Church is providing pastoral care and spiritual guidance for all parishioners who have been affected by this painful situation.

A decent statement.   The person who alerted me to it felt the need to add this:

Greg Griffith et al (I guess that includes this journal) are capitalizing on the Lombard case to target the liberal Episcopal church for their own political reasons. It is unfortunate, TRAGIC that this type of awful crime happens, but there’s an awful lot of mud-slinging and homophobia happening when it is pretty evident upon honest reflection that pedophilia is a different issue from homosexuality.

And where might that mud-slinging be exactly?  Lombard is a homosexual; he admitted as much in the affidavit.  And I would love it if anyone can show me where I equated homosexuality and pedophilia.

The facts are these: it took someone in Episcopal Organization authority in North Carolina three days to acknowledge that an Episcopal vestryman seems to have been a monster.  That both Drudge and CNN picked up the story may have contributed to Bishop Curry’s sudden interest in this matter.

Will the Bishop pursue this any further?  Will Curry investigate why the web site of Lombard’s church, the Episcopal Church of the Advocate, desperately tried to rid itself of any association with Frank Lombard before deciding, for whatever reason, that that might not be such a good idea?

TO SPITE THEIR FACE

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 14 Comments

Bonnie Anderson’s taking no chances:

The House of Deputies will be asked to consider meeting in two unusual sessions early in the 76th meeting of the General Convention to discuss Resolution B033 passed by the last convention.

“The purpose of this discussion will be to exchange information and viewpoints among the deputies, and to inform Legislative Committee #8 World Mission, to which committee all the resolutions relative to B033 have been assigned,” House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson wrote in a June 29 letter to deputies and first alternate deputies.

Anderson wrote that she believes the House of Deputies “will benefit by having an opportunity to discuss B033 apart from the context of legislative procedure” and noted that “many deputies have indicated their longing to discuss B033 together as a house.”

If the house accepts the proposal, the committee of the whole sessions will take place July 9 and 10, prior to when the world mission committee will hold its open hearing on proposed resolutions to rescind or supersede B033.

Which is interesting because the Presiding Bishop has gone on record as calling it unhelpful to revisit the issue at all.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has said she doesn’t think it’s helpful to revisit B033.

“It is far more helpful for us to say something significant about where we are in 2009. Conventions have passed resolutions in the past and they have rarely been revisited. New resolutions have been passed that state where the church is at that point,” Jefferts Schori told Episcopal News Service earlier this year.

It is “far more productive, I think, to have the hard conversations involved in claiming our current position and identity,” she said.

So what’s going on here?  Rescinding B033 is the last thing in the world TEO needs to do.  Better to do nothing to it at all, thus providing Dr. Williams with the perfect excuse to keep dithering around, while giving TEO bishops and priests the legal cover to ignore it which many GenCon resolutions are clearly intended to do. 

But that leaves out something very important.  The unforgivable sin in the Episcopal Organization is offending homosexuals.  Anything which they claim offends or even inconveniences them is far and away the worst of all human crimes and is not to be tolerated even for a moment.

Never mind the fact that B033 doesn’t directly mention them at all.  Never mind the fact that if B033 remains in place and the Convention plays out the way it’s going to, there will probably be another homosexual bishop or two before the end of the year, same-sex marriage liturgies will blossom from one end of the country to the other and all that will happen without any international Anglican cost to TEO whatsoever.

B033 was directed at homosexuals and therefore B033 must be completely and utterly repudiated regardless of what this might or might not do to TEO’s Anglican standing.  And that may be what Bonnie Anderson intends by this move.  Get everyone together in one room and communicate the individual cost to every single deputy even considering the idea of leaving B033 alone.

SAWDUST TRAIL

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 31 Comments

The Episcopalians want to drop a certain word from their lexicon:

In another proposed resolution, the standing commission recommends changing all references from “missionary” to “mission partner” in recognition of “the reality that when we engage in work overseas, we are learning just as much from those we encounter as we are able to teach.”

And since we have nothing whatsoever to tell them, why not?

Emphasizing “the reciprocal nature of mission work in the Anglican Communion today,” the report notes that the historical understanding of the term “missionaries” has caused tensions “with our brothers and sisters around the globe.”

I hope that your CRUSADE to change it succeeds.  I hope you pursue this with the same bravery and determination that the Knights Hospitallers displayed during the Siege of Malta and the Battle of Lepanto.

Mission partner, Copley said, is “a more accurate description of the role of mission personnel in the 21st century, with an emphasis on relationship building and the acknowledgement that we all mutually grow in our understanding of one another and of God when we nurture relationships with other parts of the body of Christ. The hope is that the change will help us all think about mission as being mutual and interdependent.”

What about people who aren’t yet a part of the Body of Christ?  Are you going to tell them about, you know…Jesus?  Or are you just going to splash a little water on them and figure they’re good?

The suggested name change, Alexander said, reflects the primary focus of the church’s work as being one of relationships. “As mission partners one is engaged in prayer, study, issues and projects together,” she said. “This is the crux of our ministry to one another.”

Not exactly the China Inland Mission, are they?

By being in partnership with others, Alexander added, “we are able to witness God’s love as we realize that our differences are minute compared to the numerous ways in which we are similar.”

After all, it’s not like we’re trying to get them to adopt the Christian religion or anything.  Hell, as far as we’re concerned, one religion’s pretty much the same as another.

BALLGAME, THANKS FOR PLAYING

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 35 Comments

Homosexual Bishop Gene Robinson, who is a homosexual, was recently NOT in whatever it is that he’s supposed to be the homosexual bishop of(yeah, I know, homosexual dog bites homosexual man, homosexual water is homosexually wet, etc) and had the following homosexual comments about the formation of the Anglican Church in North America:

A new North American group claiming to embrace “traditional Anglican values” will not last long, the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop has predicted.

Bishop Gene Robinson, an openly homosexual man living openly with a partner, whose 2003 consecration as bishop of the diocese of New Hampshire created a backlash among traditional believers within the U.S., church, told Ecumenical News International he does not believe the new Anglican grouping has long-term viability.

“A church that does not ordain women or openly gay people - I don’t see a future for that,” Robinson told ENI after delivering a sermon on 28 June at the First Presbyterian Church in New York City during the city’s annual gay pride festivities.

Roman Catholic Church?  Eastern Orthodoxy?  You’ve had good runs.  Lord knows, you’ve provided us all with some kick-ass art and hymns over the years.  But the future belongs to a “church” with more bishops than parishioners.  Suck it up and deal with it.

Homosexual.

EVENT HORIZON

Monday, June 29th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 33 Comments

Ladies and gentlemen, the perfect Episcopal storm:

Resolved, the House of _______ concurring, That the 76th General Convention direct the Executive Council to create a Strategic Planning Committee to support the Executive Council and the Church Center in their capacities as leaders of The Episcopal Church; and be it further

Resolved, That the Committee be charged with using the best appropriate planning methods available, including futurists’ inputs with a ten-year time horizon, to develop a strategic plan, updated annually, that identifies and tracks the missional, financial, societal, cultural and other challenges and opportunities facing The Episcopal Church; considers alternative paths of action; recommends a path; defines measurable indicators of success of the selected direction and a specific timeline; details resources needed and proposes how those resources will be gathered; and be it further

Resolved, That the Committee report annually to the Executive Council and triennially to the General Convention; and be it further

Resolved, To ensure that the strategic plan will be a living document, the Committee shall revise and extend the plan every year and submit it for consideration and approval by Executive Council annually at its fall meeting and by the General Convention; and be it further

Resolved, That the Church Center Staff, Executive Council and the Joint Standing Committee on Program Budget and Finance shall use the strategic plan as a tool in the preparation of the triennial draft budget of The Episcopal Church; and be it further

Resolved, That the Committee consist of fourteen persons: the Presiding Officers; three other bishops, three ordained priests or deacons, and six lay persons all jointly appointed by the Presiding Officers, at least three and no more than six of whom will be members of Executive Council; and be it further

Resolved, That the Presiding Bishop appoint three additional members from Church Center staff to serve on the Committee; and be it further

Resolved, That the work of the Committee be guided and supported by an external consultant; and be it further

Resolved, That there be one face-to-face meeting per year and up to two video teleconferences per year as needed; and be it further

Resolved, That minutes of the meetings of the Committee be distributed to the Presiding Officers, the Chief Operating Officer of The Episcopal Church Center, and Executive Council.

That sound you just heard was an entire forest screaming in anguished grief about all the reports that will be published that no one will ever read and will be out of date in three years anyway.  All this yammering and re-yammering and tree genocide is going to cost TEO mad jack. 

$219,000 for the Triennium to include:

Meetings: Three meetings where plan will be reviewed and revised at approximately $18,000 per meeting, for a total for the triennium of $54,000.

Five video teleconferences at $4000 per conference for a total for the triennium of $20,000.

Facilitator: $1,000 per day, for 2 days of one 3 day meeting per year, for a total for the triennium of $6,000.

Strategic Planning Consultant: $29,500 per year for first year, updating for years 2 and 3 at $17,250 per year for a total for the triennium of $64,000

Futurist Consultant: $25,000 per year for 3 years, for a total for the triennium of $75,000

Total request for triennium: $219,000

Is it JUST me or does all this seem a tad…pricey?  A committee of seventeen.  Three face-to-face meetings in three years at $18,000 a pop breaks down to just over $1,000 per person per meeting.

Two consultants.  And the one who’s going to be paid more than the other one is the one who’s going to do nothing but sit around and guess crap.

And…uh…$4,000 for a videoconference, Gracie?  Seems awfully steep since I’m assuming that most if not all these people own computers and can easily download any example they care to of all the VIDEOCONFERENCING FREEWARE OUT ON THE WEB!!

For crying out loud, TEO could sue a parish out of its meeting house for what this thing will cost.

UNDERCURRENTS

Sunday, June 28th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 46 Comments

Quite apart from the horrific nature of the charges against him, there’s something about the Frank Lombard story that just isn’t sitting right.  A Raleigh News & Observer reporter went to talk to some of Lombard’s neighbors and got this strange response:

Neighbors of Lombard had nothing to say about him Saturday to a reporter who visited Eno Commons, a co-housing community in north Durham.

Residents ordered the reporter to leave the neighborhood, which emphasizes communal life.

A roadblock with a “no trespassing” sign and a Subaru greeted visitors Saturday to Indigo Creek Trail, a private street in the 22-home neighborhood.

Then there’s Lombard’s church, the Episcopal Church of the Advocate in Carrboro, North Carolina.  Greg Griffith has documented ECOTA’s frantic efforts to remove all traces of Lombard’s existence from their web site, efforts which seem to have begun almost the moment the story broke.

(Never let it be said that bloggers don’t do journalism.  Given Lombard’s homosexuality, this story will not receive the prominence that the Duke lacrosse team rape accusations did.  But assuming anyone wants to, the religion angle couldn’t be followed up at all had it not been for Greg’s stellar work.)

ECOTA’s reaction to all this is strange.  Granted, the church seems to be a small one.  And it should be noted that if the small church I attended woke up to the fact that one of its members was accused of Lombard’s crimes, my first response might not be all that rational.

But it doesn’t seem to be all that difficult to say, “We are horrified and appalled by these charges.  We certainly had no idea that Frank Lombard entertained such evil thoughts.

“While we remind everyone that in this country, one is innocent until proven guilty, if Frank Lombard is convicted, he deserves to be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

“Regardless of what happens, we will continue to pray for Frank.  Our God can redeem anyone.  We will also pray for the healing of those little boys and we urge everyone to do the same.”

Say something like that and you’ve said all you really need to say.  Say nothing at all while frantically trying to hide the truth and people begin to think things.

UPDATE: ECOTA’s feeling the heat.  Lombard’s name has been put back on the vestry page, listed as “inactive.”

WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

Sunday, June 28th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 12 Comments

I guess you’re doing something right if Moody Onmydinnerjacket doesn’t like you:

In televised remarks to judiciary officials Saturday, Ahmadinejad struck back at Obama a day after the U.S. president praised protesters for showing “bravery in the face of brutality,” described violence against them as “outrageous” and said opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has “captured the imagination” of Iranians who want a more open society. Obama also dismissed Ahmadinejad’s demand for an apology for previous criticism and suggested that the Iranian leader apologize to the families of those who have been arrested, beaten or killed in the crackdown.

Noting that Obama has spoken of “reforms and changes,” Ahmadinejad asked, “Why did he interfere and comment in a way that disregards convention and courtesy?” He said Western leaders who made “insulting and irrelevant comments will be put on a fair trial” by Iran at international gatherings.

I think I speak for everyone in this country, Moody, when I say that we’ve got six words for you.  Bring it on, you little bitch.

PUB GRAB

Saturday, June 27th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 23 Comments

Is the king dead?  Not yet, but he’s getting some serious competition.  These days, when it comes to knocking people down to get to a reporter or in front of a camera, Gene Robinson is frickin’ J. D. Salinger compared to Southeast Florida’s Leo Frade:

Father Alberto Cutie and Ruhama Canellis were married Friday night in an hour-long Episcopal service that Episcopal Bishop Leo Frade said was a “beautiful ceremony in the richest Episcopal tradition.” Frade officiated the service and told CBS4 it brought a smile to his face. Frade spoke one-on-one with CBS4’s Peter D’Oench after the ceremony

“What can I say,” said Frade, “They are in love.” Frade said, “We welcome them into our church, as we welcome everyone who wants to join us. We are a very open group, and remember, we Episcopalians don’t bite.” Frade and Cutie have been friends for nearly a decade and both are Cuban-American.

It’s not clear where Cutié and his new bride were heading for a honeymoon.

I’m guessing Leo knows.  He’s probably staying in the next hotel room over and running errands for the happy couple.  Trips to the ice machine and such.

ICHABOD

Saturday, June 27th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 42 Comments

Greg Griffith alerts me to the story of a monster:

A Duke University official has been charged in federal court with offering his 5-year-old adopted son up for sex. Frank Lombard, associate director at the university’s Global Health Institute, was arrested Wednesday in Raleigh, the FBI said.

An unidentified informant who already faces child porn charges in a different child sex case pointed investigators to Lombard, according to court documents. The informant told investigators he had met Lombard on the Internet four years ago. The informant described in graphic detail how he allegedly observed Lombard molesting an African-American child on four occasions over an Internet video chat service called ICUii.

The informant said, according to court papers, that Lombard, who is white, said that he lived in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina and that the child was one of two adopted African-Americans in his custody.

Lombard allegedly used the adult Internet service to conduct his video chats. According to an affidavit in support of the arrest warrant, the Internet service indicated that Lombard’s profile “stated he was interested in “perv fam fun,” a reference to “incestuous child molestation.” The service also told investigators that a customer service complaint had been sent to the company in January 2007. A customer who had chatted with Lombard complained to the company that Lombard said he was “into incest” and had adopted two African-American children, court records said.

A Washington, D.C., police detective who was investigating the case set up undercover chats with someone matching Lombard’s description during which the detective says he was invited to fly to Raleigh to have sex with the person’s 5- year-old adopted child. In his affidavit, Det. Timothy Palchak wrote that he engaged in a chat with someone using the screen name “FL” who provided nude pictures of himself. The pictures matched Lombard’s North Carolina driver’s license photo, according to the affidavit.

During the chats, according to the affidavit, “FL” told undercover investigators that he had himself molested his child, whom he adopted as an infant, and that he had allowed others to molest his child. “FL” stated that “the abuse of the child was easier when the child was too young to talk or know what was happening, but that he had drugged the child with Benadryl during the molestation,” Palchak wrote in his affidavit.  

Greg has the affidavit for the arrest warrant available here but I warn you that it is very graphic.  Griffith also discovered something else.

What makes this story more than something to mention in passing, is that there is a Frank Lombard, with a Duke email address, on the vestry of the Episcopal Church of the Advocate in nearby Carrboro, North Carolina (listed here as a “gay friendly” church)… who is involved in anti-racism efforts.

I’m not trying to score moral points at the expense of the Episcopalians and neither should you.  Search your own hearts.  You know what evil has resided there in the past or resides there still.  Certainly nothing to this extent but all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

We all know or know of perfectly fine people whose children turned out to be criminals.  And this Lombard could have been a member of any church.  There have been numerous monsters in pews and in front of them all over the Christian spectrum, from liberal churches to conservative ones, and there will no doubt be many more. 

We live in a fallen world.

But what do you do if you discover that someone you prayed with, took Holy Communion with, sat in vestry meetings with, drank coffee after the service with or attended church social functions with turned out to be a Frank Lombard? 

Do you and your fellow parishioners think long and hard about what you’ve been preaching and proclaiming to this fallen world?  Do you issue a statement expressing your horror?  Do you tell the world that from now on, your number one priority, to the exclusion of everything else, is the healing and security of those little boys?

Or do you fall all over yourselves to pretend that your Frank Lombard never existed?

11:38 am: The Episcopal Church of the Advocate is busy erasing all traces of Lombard from their web site. Minutes ago they pulled Lombard’s name from the vestry listing at their site. Fortunately, Google has this cached version available, and we’ve archived this screen capture on our server. Calls to the church during this time have gone directly to voice mail.here. Our cached version is here.

11:46 am: The Episcopal Church of the Advocate has also pulled the “Who’s Who” PDF from their server, previously located here. Our cached version is here.

UPDATE: The Church of the Advocate doesn’t get it.

June 28, 8:28 am: The Episcopal Church of the Advocate has altered the newsletter PDF referenced above. Their altered version is found here on their web site. We saved the original version and cached it here.

UPDATE: The church is feeling the heat.  Lombard’s name’s back on the vestry page.

FOR THOSE WHO THINK THIS COUNTRY SHOULD “TALK” WITH THE CURRENT IRANIAN LEADERSHIP…

Friday, June 26th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 12 Comments

I’ve got two words for you.  Up yours.