Episcopal Divinity names new president

No comments but sadness...

Great choice - a proven leader

Episcopal seminaries are in dire straits. We have had several shut down in the last year alone. So, what do the radical lefties do? Nominate an in your face, late term partial birth abortions for all, lesbian priestess.

Say goodbye to the Episcopal divinity school.

I have great admiration for the Episcopal Church, and I think it has been a leader on many issues that are important to me. But this move is yet another example demonstrating that the Episcopal Church lacks a sense of solidarity with the Anglican Communion. With tension already so high among the communion, why would Episcopal leaders further agitate the situation?

This is nothing but a reaction appointment. Ms. Ragsdale may posses the intellect, organization, know how to run a school, but this is exactly the type of decision that makes true, sincere, and necessary ecumenical dialogue nearly impossible. I hope that I am not making a snap judgement, but it appears that the Episcopal Divinity School is looking to fullfill a certain political criteria rather than the mandate of true, theological education. Life issues are the fundemental JUSTICE issue of our time. But somehow these questions of justice to not conviently fall into the agenda of this revisionist, new theology and it's promoters.How can we be "affirming " with these types of appointments?

GOD IS GOOD TO ALL, AND HE IS THE JUDGE OF ALL NEED I SAY MORE BLESS YOU ALL..OLD ANGLICAN.

Is she qualified? Let's see. In the past 10 years, the small parish that Ms Ragsdall leads has shrunk from an attendance of 75 to 42, a 44% decrease. Giving is only $50 thousand, not even enough to support her let alone pay the utility bills and a secretary.

Several of the other Episcopal seminaries have closed recently. The Episcopal Divinity School is in dire straits. They got an extension in life by selling off a third of their buildings to Lesley University a few months back. Enrollment is down by 25%. Now, they hire this radical leftist. What ultra-maroons.

What? There were no transgendered persons available?

I know it's shooting fish in a barrel, but if one looks at the press release, they list her "publications" - a couple of recent non-peer reviewed articles and then a few more mostly non-peer reviewed articles from ten years ago. Academic qualifications to be a dean of a seminary? I think not. One of the search committee members states that Ms Ragsdale will "foster diversity." Please. The only diversity that the polarizing priestess will foster is radical left versus extreme radical left.

I am very sad to see that EDS has become such a suffocating institution for those with a more main-stream (not reactionary) perspective. Ironically, it has become the least-tolerant and least-diverse seminary in the Episcopal Church.

Perhaps she was hired simply because she was the most qualified of those that applied. Should someone with less qualifications get the job because they would be more politically correct?

Jimbo (#11) may have a point: Suppose Ms. Ragsdale was the most qualified person who applied for this position? Entirely possible! Scary prospect, eh? But this was inevitable.

Remember a while back when lots of Brits had their knickers all in a twist over Prince Charles remarrying, because it meant the COE would thereby eventually have a head who was divorced and remarried? My sides still hurt from laughing so hard, and if it weren't for pity, I'm not sure I could have forgiven them the agony of physical discomfort this caused. When you sow the wind, Hank, you reap the whirlwind. Ugh.

Why is everyone is concerned about solidarity with the greater Anglican union given that the Primate of Nigeria is condoning laws that would imprison gays and lesbians for merely cohabiting. Even if one does not approve of gay marriage or bishops, is this the type of person the Episcopal Church wants to emulate? Let the schism come.

It's a great choice. She'll get along very well with the Lesley administration, IMO.

This is why the Episcopal Church will soon be a footnote in history. The radicals have taken over, and it will doom the institution.

Let the right wing hate fest begin! Or, really, continue - it's not as if right wing hatreds ever take a holiday.

Is this what Jesus preached? Is this what being an Episcopalian means -- to be as hateful and angry as possible? Reading these comments, I see nothing but anger about issues and power. Where is religion here? Where is the love of God and man?

I am proud and excited for Rev. Ragsdale. She did an amazing turnaround at PRA. EDS is fortunate to have her skills, vision, and leadership.

Listen to her sermons and you get a glimpse of what an amazing woman she is.

it is unfortunate that the "gay "issue has KJS as its champion.Her Atilla the Hun>
"my way or the highway" aopproach is taking the American Church .. She is intemperate and arrogant and has done nothing in deed or demeanor to heal
the church, in lieu of gods love she intends to punish and bring on the lawyers!
the last time I looked lawyers are adversaririal .This will not end well. GOD
guide us and protect us from this misguided "oceonographer".

Well, maybe Bishop Ragsdale can come up with something more convincing that Bishop Robinson's latest absurdity that the Exodus is a great coming out story.

The EDS would have been much better served hiring, first and foremost, an INCLUSIVE religious leader. The EDS has become, very sadly, solely a center for gay politics. Second, it should have hired a well experienced and documented academic administrator. Neither of these criteria have been fulfilled by this appointment. This is totally bizarre thinking on the part of the school .

I am disappointed by the appointment of Ragsdale as EDS president. There were other candidates that were more academic, but EDS has chosen yet again to make a political statement. I am sure she will be a good administrator, but EDS needs to build up its credentials in the academic and Anglican world if it is to survive as an institution of higher learning. That endowment won't last forever...

Rev. Ragsdale just took down this inflammatory sermon formerly posted on her blog - an interesting view into the thought process of this new Dean.

posted by KHR+ | 3:47 AM | 0 comments
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Our Work Is Not Done

The Democrats have removed "safe, legal, and rare" language about abortion from the platform. About time! I was reminded of a speech from last year that never made it onto this site.

Better late than never, perhaps ...

Our Work is Not Done
Rev. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale
Birmingham, AL
July 21, 2007

Well Operation Save America came, they saw, they harassed, and they annoyed; but they did not close the clinic. The clinic stayed open, no patients were turned away, and the doors never closed. We remain victorious. And that victory is a good thing – but, make no mistake, even though OSA has gone home; our work is not done.

If we were to leave this park and discover that clinic violence had become a thing of the past, never to plague us again, that would be a very good thing, indeed; but, still, our work would not be done.

If we were to find that, while we were here, Congress had acted to insure that abortion would always be legal, that would be a very good thing; but our work would not be done.

If we were suddenly to find a host of trained providers, insuring access in every city, town, village, and military base throughout the world, that would be a very good thing; but our work would not be done.

When every woman has everything she needs to make an informed, thoughtful choice, and to act upon it, we will be very close; but, still, our work will not be done.

As long as women, acting as responsible moral agents, taking responsibility for their own lives and for those who depend on them, have to contend with guilt and shame, have judgment and contempt heaped upon them, rather than the support and respect they deserve, our work is not done.

How will we know when our work is done? I suspect we’ll know it when we see it. But let me give you some sure indicators that it isn’t done yet:

- When doctors and pharmacists try to opt out of providing medical care, claiming it’s an act of conscience, our work is not done.

Let me say a bit more about that, because the religious community has long been an advocate of taking principled stands of conscience – even when such stands require civil disobedience. We’ve supported conscientious objectors, the Underground Railroad, freedom riders, sanctuary seekers, and anti-apartheid protestors. We support people who put their freedom and safety at risk for principles they believe in.

But let’s be clear, there’s a world of difference between those who engage in such civil disobedience, and pay the price, and doctors and pharmacists who insist that the rest of the world reorder itself to protect their consciences – that others pay the price for their principles.

This isn’t particularly complicated. If your conscience forbids you to carry arms, don’t join the military or become a police officer. If you have qualms about animal experimentation, think hard before choosing to go into medical research. And, if you’re not prepared to provide the full range of reproductive health care (or prescriptions) to any woman who needs it then don’t go into obstetrics and gynecology, or internal or emergency medicine, or pharmacology. Choose another field! We’ll respect your consciences when you begin to take responsibility for them.

- Here’s another sign. Did you notice the arguments that were being shouted at us in front of the clinic? They’ve been trying for years, and seem to be pushing especially hard now, to position themselves as feminists – supporters of women. You heard them – yelling that they understand that it’s all men’s fault. That men must do better at supporting women and children so that women, presumably, won’t feel the need to abort. They yelled that they understood that the women going into the clinic had been hurt by men and were reacting to that pain and betrayal. They pledged to help men be more responsible so that women wouldn’t want abortions.

Let me tell you something. Any argument that puts men alone at the center – for good or for bad -- any discussion of women’s reproductive health that ends up being all about men, is not feminism. Nor, for that matter, is it Christian, or reflective of any God I recognize. And as long as anyone can even imagine such an argument, our work is not done.

- And while we’re at it, as long as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States can argue, as Justice Kennedy recently did, that women are not capable of making our own informed moral decisions, that we need men to help us so that we won’t make mistakes that we later regret; as long as a Supreme Court Justice can deny the moral agency of women simply because we are women – and can do it without being laughed off the public stage forever – our work is not done. What has happened to us that he could even think he could get away with publishing such an opinion? Our work most certainly is not done.

- Finally, the last sign I want to identify relates to my fellow clergy. Too often even those who support us can be heard talking about abortion as a tragedy. Let’s be very clear about this:

When a woman finds herself pregnant due to violence and chooses an abortion, it is the violence that is the tragedy; the abortion is a blessing.

When a woman finds that the fetus she is carrying has anomalies incompatible with life, that it will not live and that she requires an abortion – often a late-term abortion – to protect her life, her health, or her fertility, it is the shattering of her hopes and dreams for that pregnancy that is the tragedy; the abortion is a blessing.

When a woman wants a child but can’t afford one because she hasn’t the education necessary for a sustainable job, or access to health care, or day care, or adequate food, it is the abysmal priorities of our nation, the lack of social supports, the absence of justice that are the tragedies; the abortion is a blessing.

And when a woman becomes pregnant within a loving, supportive, respectful relationship; has every option open to her; decides she does not wish to bear a child; and has access to a safe, affordable abortion – there is not a tragedy in sight -- only blessing. The ability to enjoy God’s good gift of sexuality without compromising one’s education, life’s work, or ability to put to use God’s gifts and call is simply blessing.

These are the two things I want you, please, to remember – abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Let me hear you say it: abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done.

I want to thank all of you who protect this blessing – who do this work every day: the health care providers, doctors, nurses, technicians, receptionists, who put your lives on the line to care for others (you are heroes -- in my eyes, you are saints); the escorts and the activists; the lobbyists and the clinic defenders; all of you. You’re engaged in holy work.

Thank you for allowing me to join you in that work for a few days here in Alabama. God bless you all.

posted by KHR+ | 10:50 AM | 0 comments
Monday, August 11, 2008

Posted by j April 2, 09 10:10 AM

To have the courage to make such a speech in Alabama - pretty amazing, I'd say.

ROBROY, have you ever attended a mass at St Davids church in Pepperell??

I have been going there for a long time. Rev Ragsdale walked us to our daughters gravesite as we laid our angel to rest. St Davids is tiny by most accounts, intimate by the accounts of those who attend. Our daughters service was held at a large church due to the number of people attending. Notable among those at the funeral were busloads of my daughters college classmates. My wife and I were stunned at the comments we received from those young people. Most of those kids had given up the church as a relic of their childhood. They were soothed By Rev Ragsdales kind words, and her obvious dimminishment at the loss of our daughter and her friend. They were inspired enough to consider giving church another try. The people at St Davids began arriving at our home the day it happened. Bringing food, prayers, and just plain hugs. Our congregation shared a family loss.

You ramble on with your hatred and she inspires others to follow Christ. That simple stark comparison speaks volumes about the direction I want the church to go in.

I am an engineer by trade and I sat at St Davids as we lost membership. As an engineer I am studied at the practice of statistics. Shame on you. Do you really believe that a sample of 72 persons over a three year period is a veracible snapshot of a trend?? The simple facts are the MANY of those losses resulted from families moving away. The Loss in funding resulted from the sad passing of several of the older sustaining members. St Davids community went through a transition. The demograpics changed, they do everywhere but when you have a small statistical sample those changes are unfairly magnified. The fact is membership is growing again and has been doing so for a while.

It has always been an interesting dynamic for me to watch at St Davids. Crusty rural right wingers, not unlike myself, sitting next to liberals, sharing their faith. Using one voice to pray to God on behalf of ALL his children. It reminds me that right wing or left wing policies have no place in the church. We go there to love and worship Christ and to try our best to follow his teachings. I suspect she is more in tune with his teachings, but I won't criticize you for it. I will pray for you so that someday you too may know his love.