A TALK ON CHURCH ARCHITECTURE

Greetings, blog reader, on Friday, January 27, 2023. I still have no news to relay about the schism in SC. The SC Supreme Court has been sitting on the three petitions before them since last September. The justices must decide the dispositions of three parishes in question, Old St. Andrew's, Holy Cross (Stateburg), and Good Shepherd. So far not a peep from the court. Likewise, the two dioceses have released nothing new in the last couple of weeks about settlements. So, we have no choice but to bide our time and await announcements from Columbia and Charleston as they occur.

On another topic completely unrelated to the above, I recently gave a talk to my local historical society about the history of my local church, St. Luke's, of Jacksonville AL. I made a video of 56 minutes as part of that and I will share it with you in case you are interested in church architecture.

St. Luke's was designed by Richard Upjohn, the architect of Trinity Church, Wall St., NYC. It is from his 1852 pattern book, Upjohn's Rural Architecture. While not exactly by the pattern, it is remarkably close and has been very well preserved and maintained. The building was constructed in 1856, all of heart-of-pine. There were seven Upjohn churches built in Alabama before the Civil War, five still standing. St. Luke's is the truest and best kept of these.

So, if you care about church buildings at all, you might enjoy my little tour of St. Luke's.

 Find the video on Youtube here

NOTES,  19 JANUARY 2023

Greetings, blog reader. It is Thursday, January 19, 2023. Unfortunately, I have no news to report today. This is just to let you know I am still here and waiting on announcements concerning the state of the schism in South Carolina. The South Carolina Supreme Court, which made a mess of the case in 2022, is now sitting on three petitions before it which have been there since September: EDSC's petitions on Old St. Andrew's and Holy Cross and the ACNA congregation of Good Shepherd, Charleston. These are asking for a rehearing or reversal. So far, no word from the SCSC. Your guess on when we will hear from them is as good as mine.

Apparently, negotiations are ongoing between the two dioceses on disposal of mission properties. The EDSC has turned over deeds to three to the local ACNA congregations: St. John's mission, Charleston, St. Andrew's mission, Charleston, and St. Alban's, Blackville. By my count, this is five properties that the EDSC has turned over or is about to turn over to the separatists: St. Matthew's, of Ft. Motte, the rectory of Cheraw, and these three missions. My guess is arrangements are being made for other properties. 

So, with both the SCSC and the diocesan settlements, we have no choice but to bide out time and await news announcements.

In case you missed the news yesterday, the bishops of the Church of England are recommending the blessings of same-sex unions in church but are not recommending same-sex weddings in church. This is a major breakthrough even though it is illogical. If homosexual unions are good enough to be blessed in church, they are good enough to be solemnized in church. The English are typically reasonable and logical people, so I expect it is just a matter of time before common sense prevails and same-sex marriages are allowed in the Church of England. Same-sex marriages have been legal in Britain since 2014. Find the ENS article about yesterday's news HERE .

My brother and sister, who live in Bay St. Louis MS, were fishing on the sea wall of the bay a few days ago when this heron decided to join them. He got within arm's length. After it posed for the picture, they rewarded it with bait shrimp which it caught in mid-air. They did not catch any fish but they enjoyed their friend's visit. So, we should be like the heron, patiently biding our time in the expectation that this will pay off, perhaps in unexpected ways.  Like the heron, we should make the best of the time that God has given to us for our lives. Peace.

 

 

DISORDER IN THE HOUSE

Embarrassing, childish, shameful, damaging, dangerous, choose your own word here. What we saw transpire in Congress this week was unnerving for the country. It was chaos in the House; and it portended a tumultuous next two years. The radical fringe is in control. It will be a wild ride.

Extra troublesome to me is that the two most rambunctious people of this devolution into near-anarchy were elected by landslides in the districts near and dear to me. Rep. Mike Rogers represents my Congressional district in Alabama and has for many years.

In a pique of anger, he lunged at Matt Gaetz (on live worldwide television) and had to be muzzled and dragged away by a friend from NC. It will be hard to forgive this sorry display of behavior. Mike Rogers is an embarrassment to the good people of eastern Alabama and he should resign immediately. I would tell him so but his social media sites have crashed.

Speaking of embarrassment, what about that loose cannon Matt Gaetz? Unfortunately, he represents my hometown, Pensacola.

Apparently, he thoroughly enjoyed hogging the spotlight for days on end as he led a very public and humiliating denunciation of McCarthy, only to support him in the end. No doubt he reveled in all the attention. He and his twenty or so kindergarten classmates discovered they could control the classroom and they did. Since they have proven the point, can we expect any different behavior in the future? I doubt it.

The good citizens of the Third Congressional district of Alabama and the First District of Florida deserve better than this. Let's hope they remember what happened this week when they go to the polls in the next election (Nov. 2024).

    

 SC SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN STATE ABORTION LAW

On yesterday, 5 January 2023, the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned the state law that banned abortions after six weeks. The vote was 3-2 with Justices Hearn, Beatty, and Few in the majority and Justices James and Kittredge in the minority. The majority opinion in the 147-page paper was written by Justice Kaye Hearn, the only woman on the bench, who channeled the late great Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Essentially, the majority reasoned that the state law violated the right of privacy. The minority argued that privacy did not extend to a woman's reproductive rights [come on guys, if reproduction is not private, what is?]. 

Banning abortion after six weeks effectively removes the right to abortion since many women do not even know they are pregnant in that time period, let alone make arrangements to terminate. It is a matter of common sense.

With this, the SCSC struck a significant blow against the anti-abortion crusade across the south where state legislatures have rushed to end women's rights to control their own bodies. This is a large part of the culture was in contemporary America. This decision should have influence on other states. No doubt the socially and culturally reactionary SC state legislature will enact a new anti-abortion law but it will not be quite as draconian. We shall see.

Now, since the SCSC found sound reason and competency to rule sensibly on the abortion issue, let us hope they can keep up the good work and wind up the church case. They have been at it since 2015, seven and a half years! Along the way, they issued three different, and contradictory decisions (2017, April 2022, August 2022). If they are not embarrassed about this, they should be. Moreover, they have had three petitions before them for the past four months without a peep from the justices. Finality, please! 

Find HERE a news article about yesterday's decision.