Words fail me. This woman preaches, yea, celebrates, murder for convenience. She ought not to be a priest (the WO issue aside), much less the leader of a seminary.

Maybe I’m just trying to rationalize something about this, since otherwise these statements from Ms. Ragsdale are insane (and I truly mean that – this is insanity, and heartbreakingly sad), but maybe Katherine Ragsdale is broken and hurting because she had to face this herself, maybe the only way she can ease her burden is to think abortion is a good thing. I have no idea, but I honestly can’t think of anything else that would cause someone to be so dismissive of human life and of Christ’s words to us to protect children. Perhaps our prayers for her are what she needs and would be the best way for us to offer her comfort in the Lord.

After all, the only between me on October 29, 1955 and me a day later was the umbilical cord. Had my mom had second thoughts about yet another kid and told Deaconess Hospital in Billings, Montana to put me in a room and leave me there, I would have cashed in my stack in a very short time.

That doesn’t sound right, Mr. Johnson, especially for those days! Wouldn’t the hospital instead take that as a surrender of you the child for adoption?

Otherwise, boy oh boy am I glad NOT to be affiliated with any communion that can tolerate such an apostate body anymore!!! Such things as this only make me all the more to yearn to die… [Sometimes, it's in part precisely such news that serves as a temptation to suicide!]

Branford, I wish you were right; however then, what do you say to those who’re now out to flaunt this evil scourge of abortion the same way as sodomites their “gay-pride”?

We must pray for those who committ evil, Brandon, but we also must do everything in our power to remove them from office and influence…to denounce their actions and words.

We must speak, write, act, stand firm against them and if necessary, die opposing them!!!

And, yes it is insanity – sin is insanity, it is lawlessness, chaos (I John 3:4)

Sin is cooperating with evil and being a child and servant of the devil (I John 3:8)

Sin is separation from God – schism.

I just read the linked article – a 2008 sermon from Ms. Ragsdale. Wow.

Words are difficult to find, but I’ll give it a shot:

Insanity only begins to touch a description of her thinking. I’m inclined to agree with Branford that there’s something very deeply twisted at the root of her psyche that’s turned her religious/moral sense inside out.

I feel sorry for every Episcopalian seminarian at that school. They’re going to receive an anti-education.

Kathleen – Words may fail, but it harkens to an even darker thing. There’s a book out there called “The Sacrament of Abortion.” The author pushes the sacramental nature in a neo-pagan context – abortion as a sacrifice to Artemis. No, I’m not kidding. She thinks abortion should be elevated to a sacrament because then the mother will feel better about her choice and everyone involved can gain spiritual strength and acceptance.

I read it a year or so ago. It was one of those things I felt obligated to do. You can’t defeat them if you don’t understand your opponent. Since reading that book, I came to the conclusion that we will not win this war in the courts or legislatures. The rot is too deep. The only way we’ll win is on bended knee.

To those of you that are going to stay in the Anglican communion (Sarah Hay?), consider this: Why are you in spiritual communion with a church that is so deeply evil? The only thing lacking from KJS’s vestments is a pentagram.

Beyond insanity. This is monstrous evil. For things like THIS, God permits the existence of hellfire.

I don’t say any of that lightly and I’m not given to hyperbole.

She has no more concern for the unborn than she has for a dead goldfish.
Come on Chris, be fair. She probably has feelings for the dead goldfish.

Ans did everyone notice the mantra like chant in the second paragraph? Like all good leftists, its all about reeducation and brainwashing, isn’t it. Disgusting.

Ragsdale could never be a priest of the Most High, but is clearly well-suited to the pagan priesthood she (and TEO) practices.

We must pray for those who committ evil

Indeed we must. We must pray for them like this in Easter-tide!

Minister. Cursed is he that curseth his father or mother.
Answer. Amen.
Minister. Cursed is he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark.
Answer. Amen.
Minister. Cursed is he that maketh the blind to go out of his way.
Answer. Amen.
Minister. Cursed is he that perverteth the judgement of the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.
Answer. Amen.
Minister. Cursed is he that smiteth his neighbour secretly.
Answer. Amen.
Minister. Cursed is he that lieth with his neighbour’s wife.
Answer. Amen.
Minister. Cursed is he that taketh reward to slay the innocent.
Answer. Amen.
Minister. Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, and taketh man for his defence, and in his heart goeth from the Lord.
Answer. Amen.
Minister. Cursed are the unmerciful, fornicators, and adulterers, covetous persons, idolaters, slanderers, drunkards, and extortioners.
Answer. Amen.

ECUSA has fallen under each and every one of these curses.
Truly it is damned – and to attempt to save it in any way simply permits evil to thrive

Could be worse..you could have to call her mommy…
Intercessor

That’s fairly – horrifying, actually. Even the abortion-rights agitators present it as a horrible, wrenching choice that some women have to make due to force of circumstances.

You can afford to have this child. You’re not shacked up with a deadbeat; he doesn’t beat you or drink the rent money. You’re a grown adult and knew (presumably) that sex = babies. But if it happens not to be convenient at this particular time, instead of saying “Well, that was a surprise, but what the hell – may as well start the family now as wait until later”, you just make your appointment at your local Planned Parenthood clinic and avail yourself of the blessing of the holy work done by saints.

Even the pagans weren’t this barefaced.

Mark, that’s not even the right goddess. Artemis was (amongst other things) the protectoress of young; she was invoked for fertility of the animals (Great is Diana of Ephesus!). Now, perhaps the lady is confusing the triple aspects of the Lunar Goddess (Artemis, Diana, Hecate) but it still remains that she’s invoking the wrong one.

Aleister Crowley, in his novel “Moonchild”, talks about the sacrifice of abortion indeed, but to Hecate – and he was very against it (it is carried out by the black magicians). Yes, the Great Beast thought abortion was murder. When a self-professed Satanist, Diabolist, and wanna-be “World’s Most Wicked Man” has a more pro-life position than the President of a theological college – what more needs to be said?

All I can say right now is Lord, have mercy.

That, and thank God I am no longer a member of the Episcopal Church.

“All I can say right now is Lord, have mercy.

That, and thank God I am no longer a member of the Episcopal Church.”

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Okay, was very curious to find out more about the lady, and found a profile of her in the “Boston Globe” of 5th March, from which I plucked this tidbit:

“Ragsdale had to go to Newark, N.J., where she was ordained by then-bishop John Shelby Spong, a progressive cleric and author.”

Says it all, really.

What I want right now, is holy. If I want to drink myself into oblivion, then that is a sacrament. If I want to have intercourse with anyone or anything, then that is god’s will. If I wish to escape the consequences of my actions, even at the expense of someone else, then that is what god wants as well. Snorting meth is just swell.

The new theology is that the individual’s wants and desires are paramount.

No wonder they don’t like Scripture. That whole bit about loving the Lord, your God with all your heart, soul and mind and your neighbour as yourself must seem a real drag to the rampant hedonism that undergirds the Rev. Ragsdale’s theology.

This women is evil. I would not allow her in the same room as any child or grandchild of mine. Or anyone elses child for that matter. She is drunk on death and her hands clutch mayhem.

And I for one want to know just how much,if any her, political activity melded with her job as a rector. Sure would be interesting to know what the IRS thinks of this.

But wait! There are some “conservatives” that are “happy to be Episcopalians,” as you will see on this comment thread:

http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/21440/

and especially #s 12, 20, 26, 34, 43, 57 & 59.

Mark, that’s not even the right goddess.

No, it was Artemis – Greek goddess of the hunt. I’m not even going to try to sift through the twisted logic, but it had something to do with the hunt. And no, I’m not going to go back and look at the book again to make sure I’m right.

Artemis was her choice, but she did leave it up to the individual to pick a deity to sacrifice to. It could have been Molech or Baal, for all she cared.

Christopher, I wonder if that “sermon” to which you link will soon be disappeared.

Maybe I just don’t get it because I am an outsider. But I think the only excuses for staying in TEC at this point is complete ignorance of the goings on and a false sense of security from being in an orthodox Diocese and/or Parish. But to stay in full awareness of these horrors gives a legitimacy to TEC that people one day will be answerable for. Mainly because TEC has become a cause of great harm to children and other innocents.

She has been vicar of St. David’s on Pepperell, MA since ’96. This is a church that currently has about 42-43 people showing up on Sunday mornings (and their Chart shows something happened in ’06 that cut attendance in half. They haven’t recuperated from that.) They are in mission status. Ragsdale hasn’t done much for them in 12 years.

However, all that being said, this was the most interesting of all the EDS commentary:

In making this announcement, EDS trustee chair Brett Donham said, “The Search Committee presented to the Board of Trustees The Reverend Katherine Ragsdale as its unanimous recommendation for president and dean of Episcopal Divinity School.

So was she the only candidate? Is this another Thew-Forrester type election or did the committee only have to present their one candidate after deliberating on others? What were the other candidates (if any) like? Does this mean that she was considered the best of the bunch?

Mark, it’s depressing that they can’t even get their deities right.

Or perhaps I am not living into the revisioning of the mythology correctly – after all, why should those long-dead Greeks be assumed to know all about what gods they worshipped and for what reasons?

If abortion can be connected to hunting (and I really, really cannot make the connection – hunters don’t kill pregnant animals or their young since if they did, there wouldn’t be any more animals to hunt) then go right ahead and never mind that the functions of Artemis are not those of Hecate or Persephone.

Forget that she is Locheia, goddess of childbirth and midwives; let us create a new myth to serve our purposes, and never mind if it involves calling black white and saying left is right, up is down, and back is front.

This is what kills me about the ‘new thing’; it thinks it is so much more sophisticated and intelligent and comprehending than the old ways, but it can’t even string two notions together intelligently or coherently or consistently.

Paula, I wonder if what you describe (“something happened in ‘06 that cut attendance in half”) is related to this bit from that really very enlightening “Boston Globe” profile:

“But Ragsdale’s parishioners love her, aside from a few who have left because of her politics, says Andrew Palmer, St. David’s senior warden. “She has an uncanny ability to be able to take ancient scripture into contemporary life. . . . People [will] say to me, ‘The only reason I come here is just to hear Katherine.’ ”

“A few” by one count, “half the ASA” by another – what’s the difference, when All Is Well? And I note they explained it away as down to “politics” – goodness, I don’t suppose preaching activism morning, noon and night instead of the Gospel had anything to do with it?

Wow; That is unbelievable. To call “abortion” a blessing and to say that the people involved with are “saints” Even people I know who support abortion under very select circumsatnces wouldn’t go that far. I wonder if Shelby-Spong would agree with her? Grotestque.

Katherine Ragsdale horrific comments about abortion aside, this is what the gospel on the left has come to-that Jesus is a convenient name for social action-period. As Dallas Willard puts it in his book “The Divine Conspiracy” and his critique of the gospel (small g) on the left- this is the view that God himself stood behind liberation and that Jesus died to promote them-God was resurrected in the form of a social ethic-and one could share this with people who had no sense of God as a present reality….God is a version of the American Dream associated with egalitarianism, hapiness and freedom…that desire becomes sacred and whatever thwarts desire is sin or evil.” Willis’s book is one of the best books on Christian discipleship I have ever read. Ragsdale sounds like a “stellar” example of support for the gospel on the left.

I probably don’t need to add that for the people who endorse the gospel on the left the Kingdom of God is a political kingdom achieved by political means.

Okay, Paula, you got me interested. I Googled, and neither the Diocesan nor the St. David’s website is any use at all, but there was a 2005 article from the Living Church News Foundation.

Curiously enough, this parish isn’t long established – it only began as a mission in 1985 and Katharine came there about 1994/95 (if we go by the Globe article which says she’s been there 14 years). They had a fire in 2005, so I’m wondering if that (as well as ‘politics’) helped with the decrease in attendance; maybe some parishioners who perforce had gone elsewhere while they rebuilt decided to stay gone?

“A two-alarm May 19 fire burned St. David’s Church, Pepperell, Mass., damaging the converted farmhouse that has been home to the congregation for 15 years.

The Rev. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, vicar of St David’s, told The Living Church the “building isn’t totaled, but isn’t usable.” Founded as a mission of the Diocese of Massachusetts in 1985, the congregation moved to its present location, a 19th-century farmhouse, in 1990…. St. David’s vicar is a noted activist and speaker on public policy issues affecting women, professional ethics, and lesbian/gay rights. A member of the board of NARAL Pro-Choice America, The White House Project, the Progressive Religious Partnership, as well as the bi-national advisory board of The Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence, Ms. Ragsdale served for eight years as chair of Religious Coalition for Reproductive Rights.”

On second thought, she’ll fit right in at EDS.

I did find this comment at the bottom the the 3/5/09 Globe article

Note that her parish has gone from 75 to 43 attendance in the past 10 years under her
“leadership”, a 43% drop. That is a good thing for less (sic) souls will be at risk from this spiritual toxic wolf in sheep’s clothing.

How true.

Fuinseoig, I made the comment about her ASA being halved in ’06. As regards your question, “..what’s the difference, when All Is Well?” Actually when ASA goes from 60 down to 30 in one year, it really is a matter of just a “few people” but it has quite an impact when numbers are so small.

Katharine Ragsdale is a very sick woman. I would go so far as to say that she is possessed. Should we pray for her? Yes, indeed! But in the periods between prayers, we need to oppose her agenda with every ounce of our energy!

Dr. Tighe. I do not know what to make of Ms. Hey. The more I read her smug and smarmy posts, the more puzzled I become. I am beginning to believe that she takes perverse pleasure in staying within TEC. She’s already stated that were she to leave the Episcopal Church that she would go to a non-denominational evangelical church. So much for her sense of the sacraments and being part of an Apostolic church.

None of this is any kind of judgment on her spirituality or Christian faith. That sort of thing is above my pay grade. I just find it odd that she seems so indifferent to TEC’s failure to reform itself and the inability of any outside authority to call it to accountability.

Very strange.

Little Myrmidon, Thanks for clarifying who posted about ASA. I was beginning to think I simply had done so and forgotten.

Dark dark dark. A servant of the dark lord has been put in charge of teaching new priests. If Rowan Williams had balls (and sound principles) he would walk in on her induction and denounce her – like Gandalf smiting Sarumen. Maybe Nazir-Ali could do it – he has cojones – and maybe all those babies being sacrificed to Molech count as persecuted Christians…

I trust the enrollment at EDS will plunge more precipitously that the ASA at St. Davids. Immediately.

Hippocrates, as devout a worshipper of Apollo (and I assume his twin Artimis) as ever there was, wrote an oath that all doctors used to say upon graduation. (They don’t any more).
In it, the health practioner swore by all the god to do no harm and also not to perform abortions.

It’s an offense to the memory of these noble ancients when these post modernists recreate them in their own image.

I’ve never met Sarah Hey, so I’m just speculating here. She does the kind of political organizing and behind-the-scenes work that might have helped ten to fifteen years ago; I think it’s too late, but she may not. My opinion is that she stays because she enjoys a fight, and she won’t leave until driven out.

This is a demonic woman against whom the psalms of imprecation must be prayed with regularity: “Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered from before His face!”

All I can say is that I most certainly would not want to have this poor deluded woman’s afterlife.

An what appalling credentials for the job! She has, for the past 13 years, led a parish of less than 100 people. So her experience as a manager would be… one part-time book-keeper and a volunteer secretary/receptionist?

How on earth did she land this position? It’s weird.

in my eyes, you [cold-blooded murderers for hire] are saints

Can someone familiar with the Old Testament help me out here? “In [his] eyes” is a hebraism; that is, it would not exist in English if it were not for translations of the Old Testament. But am I right in thinking that it generally refers to God? Is she identifying herself as the goddess … unconsciously, I hope? Or am I exegetically way off base, and the phrase is “in [anyone's] eyes?”

Well, at least the woman makes me think about the Old Testament, I will have to give that to her.

Re: the book mentioned above… An article by Fr. Frank Pavone… a bit long for a post, but I think it is worth it…
” The Sacrament of Abortion is the title of a book written by Ginette Paris and published in 1992. In this short book, the author claims that abortion is a sacred act, a sacrifice to Artemis (known to the Romans as Diana).

Artemis is both a protector of wild animals and a hunter who kills them with deadly aim. How can these contradictory roles be found in the same female deity? The view proposed in this book is that a mother properly cares for life only if she possesses full power over life and death. Death is sometimes preferable. The one who can provide death, in order that one may escape an unfriendly life, is really loving the one who is being killed.

Abortion, then, is seen as “an expression of maternal responsibility and not a failure of maternal love” (p.8). “Artemis stands for the refusal to give life if the gift is not pure and untainted….As Artemis might kill a wounded animal rather than allow it to limp along miserably, so a mother wishes to spare the child a painful destiny” (p. 55).
Artemis, of course, is the same goddess whose worshippers felt so threatened by Paul’s proclamation of the Gospel in Ephesus, where a riot nearly broke out and a vast crowd shouted for two hours, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” (Acts 19:34). The worshippers of Artemis today should likewise feel that their beliefs are threatened, because the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ is that He alone has authority over life and death. Neither the mother, nor the father, nor the state, nor the individual herself, can claim absolute dominion over life. “Nobody lives as his own master, and nobody dies as his own master. While we live, we are responsible to the Lord, and when we die, we die as His servants. Both in life and death, we are the Lord’s” (Rom. 14:7-8).

The fact that some defend abortion as a sacred act should alert us to the depth of the spiritual warfare that is going on. Abortion has never been merely or even primarily a political issue. It is a false religion. When pro-life Christians, for example, pray in front of an abortion mill, it is not simply a matter of pro-life people opposing false medicine. It is the true Church in conflict with a false Church. One former clinic security guard, after being converted, admitted why he was angry at pro-life sidewalk counselors: “You were coming to protest in front of our church. That clinic was where we conducted our worship.”

May all believers, and their clergy, take renewed strength to speak out against abortion. Not only is doing so consistent with the proclamation of the Gospel; it is the proclamation of the Gospel. “

I looked at the interactions on the StandFirm thread to which Dr. Tighe linked and it finalized a thought that I have been percolating for awhile.

Reading T1.9 from time to time, I have noticed the presence of a regular commenter who is in favor of legal abortions. He has all the standard, irrational talking points down pat, and he remains an Episcopalian conservative in good standing. Of course, it’s been noted before that the most vehement anti-catholic slanders are tolerated there. I recognize that our esteemed host on this site would be equally tolerant of even true slanders, as are regularly posted by one fellow on T1.9, were said commenter to make an appearance here. However, I doubt Christopher would delete the replies to his sick lies. Yet he, and a regularly vicious Episcopalian cleric are regarded as pets to be trained, rather than the ravenous wolves they are. Sarah Hey’s sarcastic, non-rational non-replies to those who dare disagree with her are just as lacking in charity. All of which leads me to the conclusion that remaining Episcopalian truly does rot your soul.

There is something to this connectedness of Communion. Yes, there are heretics and brigands among the Catholics and Orthodox, but there is also a light that shines on those wayward souls and illumines the darkness. That light, sad to say, seems absent from Episcopalianism and those who hope for a happy end to it all may, like all of us, be saved by grace despite our follies; still, there’s little excuse for ignoring the clear signs of destruction. The fact is that the Episcopal Church is cancerous, and those who remain in her are subject to it’s malignancy.

Speaking of the true Church in conflict with a false “church”, is anyone planning to jam up the “proceedings” at GenCon 2009? I’m talking about full-on Elijah-proclaiming-the-Word-to-Jezebel-and-Ahab preaching. None of this “collegiality” crap. We see how much good that has done. Someone needs to speak the truth loudly and repeatedly to the HoB and HoD. If you get tossed out and inhibited on the spot, big deal – it’s not as if Laud is burning you at the stake.

Father, by your Son’s sacrifice on the Cross He defeated death and evil. Remind those that support this evil of abortion that they are hanging millions of millstones around their necks – a far greater burden than “loss of income” or “delay of life plans”. Give those of us you have called to witness in TEO your Spirit that we may overturn the tables and drive out the moneychangers and sellers of sacrificial animals who defile the temple of your Holy Spirit.

We also ask that you protect and defend any whom you call to ordained ministry – keeping them as far as the East is from the West from EDS and the other whitewashed tombs of TEO.

We ask that you open the eyes of all laypeople – those who are merely asleep and those whose hearts have been corrupted by the Enemy of our souls – that they turn to you and put a hard stop to this evil. Stir up the remnant of your shepherds that they may hear and speak your Truth and seal their lips and ears against the lies of the Enemy.

By the most precious Passion of your Son, we pray that you bind the demonic powers that have captured the minds of the false shepherds. We pray that you visit on them the curse of Babel that all may recognize that their fine words are the Pandaemonium of Hell. We pray that they see the full depth of their evil – moderated only though your redemptive love – that they may turn to you and live.

In the Name of Jesus we ask these things. Amen, Amen, Amen.

The question, Doug Stein, would be how many believers are left among delegates to General Convention. Bishops have demonstrated they’ll go along to get along, and they may pressure their lay delegates to do the same. It’s a sick organization.

And, what a surprise – she’s gay. http://ragsdalesermons.blogspot.com/2008/08/sold-into-egypt.html

Apologies to both Paula and Little Myrmidon. I had better go lash myself with wet noodles in mortification, yes?

A congregation of only 60 (to start with), now down to 30? See, the way they were gushing over her, I thought she had been vicar of an established parish in the hundreds, at least. I was surprised to see it had only been established in 1985, and since she’s been there for the majority of the time it’s been in existence, it doesn’t say much for her skills in promoting growth, does it?

Then again, if she’s constantly off on junkets to Washington to testify, and running around at meetings of the three/four/however many other organisations she’s a member of, she must be in the parish about as often as the Simple Country Bishop is in his diocese.

And by “a few”, I thought the spokesman meant “Six or seven or even ten malcontents who don’t realise when the Spirit is moving”, but by any measure, losing nearly HALF the attendance is more than “a few” – whether it’s three people out of six, thirty of sixty, or a thousand out of two thousand.

Looks like another case of the New Episcopal Maths, doesn’t it?

Michael D., you raise a very good point. What exactly are her qualifications to be head of a theological college?

Her experience seems to lie less in the running of her parish and more in her political lobbying – her profile from the Political Research Associates think-tank website:

“Katherine Hancock Ragsdale (president and executive director) is an Episcopal priest and advocate who served for 17 years (8 as chair) on the national board of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. As chair, she led RCRC through a mission, name and organizational change that doubled the size of both staff and budget. She also serves on the board of NARAL: Pro-Choice America and The White House Project, as well as the bi-national advisory board of the FaithTrust Institute. She has testified before the United States Congress as well as numerous state legislatures, and is a widely sought speaker on public policy issues affecting women, professional ethics, and LGBTQ rights. She serves as vicar of St. David’s Church in Pepperell, Massachusetts, and is the editor of Boundary Wars: Intimacy and Distance in Healing Relationships.”

The only mention I can find of her educational credentials is in the ENS article:

“Ragsdale holds a doctor of ministry degree from Episcopal Divinity School, a master of divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary, and a bachelor of arts degree from William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia. Her publications include “Not by Outrage Alone,” Dispatches from the Religious Left (Ig Publishing, 2008), “The Christian Right’s Staying Power,” with Chip Berlet, The Progressive (July 2008), Boundary Wars: Intimacy and Distance in Healing Relationships (Pilgrim Press, 1996), “The Role of Religious Institutions in Responding to the Domestic Violence Crisis,” Albany Law Review (1995), and Building Advocacy Skills (Leader Resources, 1994).”

So the basic qualifications you’d expect for a seminarian, publications on social topics, no mention of any experience in religious institutes apart from her parish – and I laughed out loud at this bit:

“The Rt. Rev. M. Thomas Shaw, EDS trustee, said, “I am thrilled with the appointment of Katharine Ragsdale as the president and dean of EDS. She brings a wealth of small parish ministry to her new position and it is critical that the new president and dean be able to train and form parish priests for the growth of progressive parishes across the country. She brings a wealth of experience, talent and creativity to this new position.”

She certainly does seem to know all about small parishes, her own being a prime example!

I think, though, that the clue is the phrase “progressive parishes”. She’s been appointed to make sure any trainees are properly indoctrinated in the New Thing.

Doug Stein, Amen and Amen!!!

I agree in prayer with you.

“I’ve never met Sarah Hey, so I’m just speculating here. She does the kind of political organizing and behind-the-scenes work that might have helped ten to fifteen years ago; I think it’s too late, but she may not. My opinion is that she stays because she enjoys a fight, and she won’t leave until driven out”

Sarah Hey was one of the featured speakers at a major conference held in 2005 for reasserting Episcopalians at the Hylton Chapel in Woodbridge, VA. I attended that conference, and Katherine’s description of Sarah as an organizer is pretty accurate. However, in retrospect, I think that the described organizing and behind-the-scenes work is about twenty to twenty-five years too late.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but TEC’s refusal to discipline John Spong or Walter Righter made subsequent events inevitable, in my opinion.

“And, what a surprise – she’s gay.”

Well of course she is. That is the number one pre req for the job.

It’s obvious that being homosexually active is a MAJOR sin in God’s Eyes, sufficiently so that if you persist in committing it He’ll Write you off and give you over to such a truly evil spirit as to be extra-repugnant in the eyes of all true believers!!

Obviously, that’s what’s happened with Ms. Ragsdale (many sodomites are virulently pro-abortion!)…

No doubt this is too obvious to state in many people’s eyes, yet sometimes what’s under one’s nose needs to be said…

Here she is with the babies. I suppose pictures of her with the “blessedly” aborted would probably be unhelpful in building an inclusive community. But it would sure be a hell of a lot more honest.

http://www.saintdavidschurch.org/

I’m very, very late to the fireworks display between Christopher Johnson and Sarah Hey. (Business conference).

What can I say that I haven’t said already about Ms. Hey? Wait, I know. I can say “Thank you, Sarah. You’ve truly revealed who you are (for those people who didn’t know or who didn’t want to believe it) in that SFIF thread exchange between you and CJ and Dan Crawford. Thank you for confirming with your own words about who you really are and how you really behave.

P.S. I don’t buy Fr. Matt Kennedy’s categorization of those remaining in TEc. If you’re in TEc, you’re an Institutionalist-Enabler of soul-destroying heresy and apostasy. Period. That means Sarah Hey, Kendall Harmon, Jackie Bruschi, Greg Griffith, Jill Woodliff, Rob Eaton+, Phil Snyder, +Mark Lawrence, +John Howe, ACI’ers Radner, Seitz, Turner and the Communion Partner clergy are ALL Institutionalist-Enablers of soul-destroying heresy and apostasy.

If you want to kid yourself, go ahead. But don’t b.s. me with your snarky quips.

Chris:

Some welcome news: Uncle Diogenes cites you again as the go-to guy for the latest in EO goofiness.

Heh. P McGrath beat me to the punch.

I could understand gutting it out if your theology was such that you believed that Episcopalianism was the One True Church and you were part of the remnant not bowing to Ba’al. But Hey sounds like someone delighted to be splashing around in a portatoilet, happily awaiting the next dump.

The theological equivalent of “Jackass,” so to speak.

Please do not assume that all Episcopalians go along with this garbage. I (and many others) do not feel like being run out of our church by whatever kind of movement this has become (many terms can apply, I’m at a loss for words to describe this mess most of the time). Maybe this “progressive movement” should break away and give themselves some nifty progressive title as to not be associated with us backward folk. Guess when they can prove all this crap (oops, that wasn’t PC) in scripture I’ll have to rethink. Probably haven’t put this as eloquently as some could and am venting to some extent. I try to remember to pray for all His chldren. The kingdom of God is eternal, the whims of man are not.

Lucifer seems to be getting dumber and dumber. What ever happened to the good ole days when evil subtly masqueraded as good, and at least tried to be deceitful? This is a no-brainer (quite literally, if you catch my drift). Any observant, rational person – even of the non-religious sort – recognizes that Episcopalianism long ago stopped troubling itself with Christianity. This type of news simply drives it home with a painfully comical exclamation point.

W. T. F.!? I am completely speechless. This is madness. “Dear Lord, please forgive Ms. Ragsdale, and receive her into Thy rest––AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!”

Okay people are going to find this a bit hard to take but here goes.

1) I agree that her theology is the pits.

2) I agree that her views on abortion are pretty vile.

3) And how she wants doctors/nurses/pharmacists who do not toe her line to “choose another profession” is particularly despicable and callous.

4) But *and here is the part people will find difficult* we can actually appreciate(?!?) one aspect of her rhetoric. When she says “why the heck do we talk about abortion as a ‘tragedy’?” this makes a certain consistent sense we should in fact welcome. Gary Graham makes precisely this point at Bighollywood.Breitbart.Com several weeks ago. If abortion is not the unjust destruction of a pre-born human being… then why bother kvetching about how we should make abortion “legal but rare” because it is some sort of “necessary tragedy”? In other words – as vile as Ragsdale’s rhetoric is… she helps undermine a more wretched compromise. Those that say elective abortion is “bad/sad/tragic” but it should remain legal. Either is is unjust/wrong – or not. And if not then of course one would see it as a “blessing” in the situations Ragsdale lists. Granted – we do not see it that way and it is not a “blessing”. But by scolding clergy who support abortion but refrain from calling it a “blessing”… she actually helps clarify the real issue. Find the truth even in the worst error!

Wow… just wow.

In all honesty – how can EDS (or Episcopalians as a whole) expect to be taken seriously if this is allowed to stand?

I mean, would you allow someone with such an open opinion about adultery or lying/stealing to hold such a position? Then why someone who espouses murder?

Being silent on the issue of abortion is bad enough. But to openly promote it in such a way… and to call it a blessing… wow.

[...] h/t The Anchoress via Via Media, via Midwest Conservative Journal. [...]

Jesus Himself said that if anybody causes one of those who believe in Him to stumble, it would be better for them if a huge rock were hung around their neck and then thrown into the sea.

Her homosexuality is a cancer. Her endorsement of abortion is a cancer. If Episcopalians refuse to evict her from the fellowship for subverting people’s faith, then they have much to fear in the judgment.

I pray that, until people like this odious woman and Gene Robinson and Rowan Atkinson are disciplined and removed, God removes all blessing and favor from the Episcopalian church.

[...] another heretic priestess Here’s the new Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School: And when a woman becomes pregnant within a loving, supportive, respectful relationship; has every [...]

[...] part of it is because of the attention she has received this week. On Monday, March 30, 2009, the Midwest Conservative Journal explained that the Episcopal Divinity School appointed Ragsdale as the school’s sixth president [...]

Interesting. The infamous “sermon” has been removed from her blog. I hope someone saved a copy.

This is from a sermon Ragsdale gave to Spiritual Youth For Reproductive Freedom (thanks Jill W)

“I recently had the privilege of sitting on a panel at a medical school for a class on abortion. It was
a delightful experience-wonderful students, wonderful faculty, great opportunity. But I have to tell you that I was appalled by the discourse between the ethicist on the panel and some of the
students. They kept talking about the ethics of conscience and the importance of a conscience that
allows caregivers who have qualms about abortion the freedom not to be involved in any abortion
procedures. But no one mentioned-until I had had enough and jumped in-the disturbing
implications of such acts of conscience. No one asked whether it was ethical for someone who was
not prepared to provide the full range of reproductive services to become a gynecologist in the first place. No one suggested that failure to provide care might be morally suspect or that providing abortions might be an act of faith and conscience.”

She may have deleted it, but the cached version is right here.

Interesting that it’s deleted. It seems incredible that she’d suddenly be ashamed of it, so I’d guess someone else became embarrassed by it and brought some pressure to bear. Wonder who?

[...] Laura found the cached version [...]

Daniel Mueller –

How about this verse from Judges:
In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
The Holy Bible : King James Version. 1995 (Jdg 17:6).

The phrase is also repeated in Chapter 21 of Judges.

Would this be a counter-point to your argument?

[...] writing: Damian Thompson Kim Priestap The Midwest Conservative Resisting Termination Your life, or your baby’s No greater love… Zeke lived 1/2 [...]

[...] by aconservativeedge on April 2, 2009 The Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge has unanimously elected a new dean, Dr. Katherine Ragsdale. Chris Johnson at the Midwest [...]

Idiots. Moral imbeciles. So glad I’m out.

This lunacy is why old-school, evangelical, conservative Episcopal congregations from all across the USA have severed ties with the Episcopal Church USA to align with “Southern” (African) congregations. Africans are theologically conservative, and we think along the same lines. We breakaway Episcopalians now call ourselves Anglicans. The current ECUSA is disgusting! Anything goes.

[...] more towards the conservative than liberal in my religious beliefs, but something still tells me this sermon from the newly appointed dean of one of the Episcopal Church’s seminaries will cause even [...]

[...] blessings”, the Episcopal Church is right up your religious alley. According to the blog, Midwest Conservative Journal, Episcopalians are trumpeting the recent addition of the new dean of the Episcopal Divinity School [...]

[...] blessings”, the Episcopal Church is right up your religious alley. According to the blog, Midwest Conservative Journal, Episcopalians are trumpeting the recent addition of the new dean of the Episcopal Divinity School [...]

[...] was Barack Obama — and he is wrong. And when a woman becomes pregnant within a loving, supportive, respectful relationship; has every [...]

I was born in 1948 in a very small Catholic hospital in a small town in Nebraska. I was also born a month early and weighed only 4 pounds, 13 ounces at birth. The chances of such a low-weight, month early baby surviving in 1948, especially in a small hospital in the middle of nowhere were, to say the least, slim. All the nuns could do was put me in an incubator and pray for me, as did my parents. The little hospital and its nuns are both long gone, but I am still here because the nuns and my parents saw me as a “blessing.” And this despicable woman calls killing unborn babies a “blessing.” Those can’t both be “blessings.” Someone has a very hot eternity ahead of them!

[...] own sins while they teach others to do the same.  This week, for example, we learned that the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge  unanimously elected a new dean, Dr. Katherine Ragsdale.   An      article regarding her, [...]

Daniel Muller: In addition to the quote Allen Lewis found, there are lots of uses of phrases such as “[to find] favour in thine eyes” and other expressions where “in [someone]‘s eyes” is being used in reference to a person. The phrase has no particular implication of the “eyes” in question being God’s eyes unless specifically identified as such.

Great comments. This is part and parcel of Mystery Babylon, harlot false religion, which rides the beast of world government. See more at my web site: http://zedek.us I posted an article today I think you will find particularly interesting.

I write extensively about this.

Blessings to you. Zedek

[...] (I first read about all this in Midwest Conservative Journal.) [...]

You people sicken me.

Don’t preach to the choir in here… you, all of us, me included, should take to pen and write so many letters that she’ll drown under them!!! As distasteful as her rhetoric is, remember she has a precious soul in need of Christ’s gift of salvation. This poor woman needs to repent.

[...] “logic.”  In case you don’t, I’ll ask a question that I asked once before.  What was the difference between me on October 29, 1955, a little after 7:30 PM in the evening, [...]

[...] Midwest Conservative Journal on the issue [...]