One of the great characters in Anglican (or any) church life has died. The Rev’d Darwin Kirby, Jr, passed away yesterday in North Carolina. I received a call this morning from a lady in Houston — of all places — who was searching for info about Fr Kirby and came across my blog thanks to the following post from last year. (The funeral is scheduled for a week from this Saturday, March 11, at St George, Schenectady.) Trusting in the... Read more

KNOXVILLE (WATE) — A Knoxville firefighter claims she’s being discriminated against because she used to be a man. Fire Capt. Jamie Faucon has filed a grievance against Knoxville Fire Chief Carlos Perez and her supervisor, Mark Foulkes. She accuses them of depriving her of a take-home car, of reassigning her and cutting out her overtime because she is a transgendered firefighter. Faucon also says in her grievance Foulkes used incorrect gender terms when referring to her in conversations. HT Drudge Read more

Every year I would go to the service of the Great Canon, and it’s quite an experience: the darkened candle-lit church, incense smoke twining overhead, golden light glinting off the icons, and chanters singing the verses to ancient Byzantine melodies. After each verse everyone responds, “Have mercy on me, O God,” and bows to touch the ground. It’s serious, and timeless, and piercingly beautiful, and kindles humility and a yearning to be healed from all the poison within. In every... Read more

COLUMBIA, SC (March 1, 2006) – The Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2006 (S1084) passed the S.C. Senate on a voice vote Wednesday ending an eight-year political battle to overcome Senate opponents who say that recognizing an unborn child as a separate victim of crime is a stepping stone to overturning Roe vs. Wade. The bill now goes to the SC House. The House has passed the Unborn Victims bill three times in eight years only to have it... Read more

MONTREAL — In a rare public dissent, 19 Catholic priests have denounced the Vatican’s opposition to gay marriage and allowing homosexuals into the priesthood. The priests said the church was invoking “natural law” to make its case against homosexuality, arguing that slavery was also once considered “natural.” “What we are saying is that human nature is constantly evolving,” Claude Lemieux, one of the signatories, told The Associated Press by phone Tuesday. “We believe this position is closer to that which... Read more

by Bishop KALLISTOS (Ware)It is no coincidence that on the very threshold of the Great Fast, at Vespers on the Sunday of Forgiveness, there is a special ceremony of mutual reconciliation: for without love towards others there can be no genuine fast. And this love for others should not be limited to formal gestures or to sentimental feelings, but should issue in specific acts of almsgiving. Such was the firm conviction of the early Church. The second-century Shepherd of Hermas... Read more

HURRY … this e-offering won’t last looooo Read more

EAGLESWOOD TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) – To students at Eagleswood Elementary School, she used to be Mr. McBeth. Now, after undergoing a sex change, 71-year-old Lily McBeth is ready to return to teaching as Miss McBeth. Despite criticism from parents, the school board on Monday stood by its decision to allow McBeth to resume working as a substitute teacher … The Story. HT Drudge Quotes from Macbeth: Stands not within the prospect of belief.ACT I Scene 3. The insane rootThat takes... Read more

The following is taken from the monthly newsletter of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Washington, DC … On February 5, the day of commemoration of the Synaxis of New-martyrs and Confessors of Russia, Elder Ioann Krestiankin, at age 95 the oldest monastic of the Pskov Caves Monastery, and its spiritual director, an Elder fervently loved by all, reposed. He died several minutes after communing of the Holy Gifts of Christ. We present here to the readers... Read more

A former foreign intelligence officer in the KGB, Konstantin Preobrazhensky observes: Today, Russian intelligence can no longer recruit on the basis of political ideals. All KGB operatives share a communist ideology, which dumfounds the West. But, clearly, they can’t go up to a Western liberal and ask him to fight for global communism. That’s why potential agents are asked to fight against America, and many agree to do it. The second pillar of recruitment is a love for Russia. In... Read more