Week Ending 7/25/16

Lake Oswego Priest Wins AR-15 in Raffle

The rector of Christ Church Episcopal Parish in Lake Oswego, New York bought 150 of the 499 raffle tickets that a girl's softball team was selling to finance a trip.  He would have bought more , but when he went back, the tickets were gone.  In the end, he won out over another purchaser who had bought 170 tickets.  The money came from his discretionary fund and donations by parishioners. The Rev. Jeremy Lucas wanted to win the AR-15 rifle that was the prize in order to remove it from circulation.   His goal is to have local artists transform the weapon into something positive and to remove a weapon from circulation. 

Episcopal Seminaries in the News

This last week the Episcopal Divinity School in Massachusetts announced that it would ceasse granting degrees in 2017. The seminary promised to help already enrolled students finish their studies.  A special committee has been formed to see what the seminary may do in the future.   EDS has gone through several changes in leadership and has been struggling with finances.   Meanwhile, in Chicago, Bexley Seabury Seminary announced its new quarters in the Hyde Park area where it will be able to take advantage of cross enrollments with several other seminaries of other denominations in the area.  Bexley-Seabury. Bexley-Seabury is the creation of a merger of Bexley Hall and Seabury Western Seminaries.  This merger had earlier resulted in Seabury selling its Evanston, IL campus and ceasing traditional on-campus classes.  Bexley recently ended its arrangement with the Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, and now the full operation of the seminary will be located in Chicago where its dean, Roger Ferlo already resided. For background, try Update stories, here, here, and here.

Hawaii Mourns loss of Congressman

Mark Takai, a well-respected first term member of Congress lost his battle with pancreatic cancer this last week.   Tributes note his commitment to the poor, social justice, his ability to get along with people on both sides of the aisle.  Takai was a lifelong Episcopalian.

San Joaquin Bishop Comments on the Lawsuit

Bishop Rice of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin gave an interview to Episcopal Cafe on the impact of the California Supreme Court Decision not to review the appeal on the diocesan property case, a decision that meant the property would not be turned over to the Episcopalians. His interview left little doubt that many of the properties would be sold.