March 2018 - Dialogue - lists.wedgeblade.net

8/11/16, Spong: The Unlikely Honored Guest at the Democratic National Convention
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 31 Jul '18

31 Jul '18

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He was surrounded in that reserved and exclusive seating area by the power-elite of the Democratic Party: A former President, the sitting Vice-President and the “second lady,” the spouses and children of the nominees, as well as those especially invited guests, who were uniquely and politically related to the convention’s eventual nominee. This unlikely guest was in his own way quite unique. He was a Republican, one who had been elected to a state-wide office as a candidate of the opposition party. He served as the governor of Virginia from 1970 – 1974 and was the first Republican governor of Virginia since 1869 in the last days of reconstruction. Later he sought his party’s nomination to the Senate of the United States, losing to another Republican, John Warner, who served with distinction from 1979 until he retired in 2008. The name of this mystery quest is Abner Linwood Holton. He is now, and has been since the day I first met him, an extraordinary man. People, unaware of the history of the Democratic Party in Virginia, find it strange that the man I regarded as the best governor of Virginia during the years I lived in that state would be a Republican. Let me tell you his story.</p> <p>Linwood Holton was born in 1923 in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, a town deep in the heart of Appalachia. He was a Republican from the moment of his birth. He was also bright and ambitious. Being a Republican in Virginia in those days was to be part of a distinct minority, perhaps even an endangered one! The Democrats of Virginia were the only cohesive political force in the state. This majority party was run by Virginia’s senior United States Senator, Harry Flood Byrd, who after serving a term as governor from 1926 to 1930, effectively ran the state until he died in 1966. It was said of Harry Byrd that he and a few of his closest political advisors would sit on the porch at his home in Berryville, Virginia, and pick the candidates for every political vacancy in Virginia from governor on down. The electorate was deliberately kept small by poll taxes, which effectively discouraged both blacks and poor whites from voting. A Byrd loyalist was in every county seat in Virginia to run the party. Racism was deep and “States Rights” was a holy slogan designed to make racism seem socially acceptable. Virginia was a one party state. Frequently the Republicans would not even nominate candidates and, even when they did, no one paid much attention to them because whoever won the Democratic primary seldom even campaigned in the general election, since Republicans simply did not win in this state! Linwood Holton made it his life’s ambition to establish two-party politics in Virginia.</p> <p>He graduated from Washington and Lee in Lexington, Virginia, and then entered the law school at Harvard University. Along the way he married a Roanoke girl, named Virginia Rogers, who went by the name of Jinks. She was the daughter of Frank Rogers, an upright, but ultra-conservative, successful and well-connected Roanoke citizen, who was the grandson of the first Episcopal Bishop in Southwestern Virginia. In his mind, the two greatest virtues were to be a conservative Episcopalian and a loyal Byrd Democrat. Jinks, the more rebellious of Rogers’ two daughters, chose to marry a Republican and a Presbyterian! Supported by this remarkable woman, Linwood began his life’s task of strengthening Virginia’s Republican Party. This party’s base, such as it was, had always been in the mountains of the western part of Virginia. As a force in opposition to Byrd Democrats, the Virginia Republican party tilted slightly leftward. There was no room to the right of the Byrd machine. The Virginia Republicans were known for their party’s efforts to improve education statewide and to develop better state mental health facilities. Linwood’s organizational efforts were so successful that in 1965 he was the Republican nominee for governor opposing the Southside, Virginia, Byrd Democrat, Mills Godwin, who had emerged as the new leader of the Democratic Party. The sickness, retirement and subsequently the death of Senator Byrd meant that the torch of party leadership had to be passed to the next generation. It is interesting that Harry Byrd, Jr., always known as “Little Harry,” who was appointed to succeed his father in the Senate, did not succeed him in the leadership of the statewide Democratic Party. Holton was defeated in that first run for the governor’s office, but he garnered a respectable total of votes and succeeded in introducing himself to the state. The day after the defeat, he began planning for his second run in 1969. The governorship in Virginia, we need to note, is limited by the Constitution to a single term.</p> <p>National issues soon began to erode the Byrd majorities. Poll taxes were declared unconstitutional in 1964. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 opened the ballot to people of color. The feminist movement began to galvanize women into an effective political force. A national- thinking Virginia Democrat, named Henry Howell, began to build a liberal political base made up of labor unions, blacks, women and young people. His challenge to the Byrd machine resulted ultimately in his election as Lt. Governor in 1971, but he could go no farther. He remained anathema to Byrd Democrats. In the Democratic Primary of 1969, the Byrd candidate, William Battle, the son of former Governor John Battle, defeated Henry Howell in a bitter contest. The party could not heal this division, so in the General Election, Linwood Holton, supported by many of Howell’s still angry voters, rode to victory with a 65,000 vote majority.</p> <p>In his inaugural address, Holton called for an end to Virginia’s pattern of racial discrimination and its racist politics. No Virginia Governor had ever uttered such words before. Words, however, were not enough. People looked for actions. They would follow soon.</p> <p>In the most dramatic step imaginable, the new governor and his wife made the decision not to put their children in the church-related or independent private schools of Richmond, where all governors’ children had previously attended, but to enroll them in Richmond’s public schools which were at that time about 80% black. It was such a startling action for a Virginia politician that the New York Times covered it with a front page story and a picture of Virginia’s Governor Holton escorting one of his daughters into a school surrounded by a host of black faces smiling broadly. In a state where the official response of the ruling Democratic machine to “Brown vs. the Board of Education,” had been to call for “massive resistance to the law of the land,” a state in which some counties chose to close their public schools rather than to integrate them, here was the highest elected official in the state escorting his children into the majority black public schools of Richmond, Virginia. No action could have announced better that a new day was dawning in what had once been the capital of the Confederacy. One of those Holton children entering those public schools on that day was their oldest daughter, Anne.</p> <p>The white population of Virginia was shocked. They believed and stated that their new governor was sacrificing his children on the “altar of integration.” Many suggested that the “inferior education” that his children would receive in those heavily black schools would cripple them for life. It was a strange argument that gave the lie to the previous white claim that all of its racially segregated schools were “separate, <em>but equal</em>.” Anne, in her early teens, would be an exemplary student. She received a fine education and upon graduation from high school would be admitted to Princeton University, from which she graduated <em>magna cum laude</em>. She seemed not to have been penalized at all in her educational achievements. After Princeton she was accepted into the class of 1983 at the Harvard Law School, from which she now holds a doctor of Jurisprudence degree. From there she went into a legal career that in time would include being a domestic relations judge and Virginia’s Education Secretary.</p> <p>While at Harvard she met, fell in love with and married a fellow law student, who was born in Minnesota and educated at the University of Missouri. His name was Tim Kaine. She lured him back to Richmond, where his earlier life experiences, including his Jesuit high school education, his year as a volunteer missionary to Honduras and his mastery of the Spanish language, prepared him to begin his Richmond law practice as a civil rights attorney. Then responding to an expressed community need, he entered politics at the most local of levels, running for a seat on Richmond’s nine-member City Council. In a majority black city, Tim not only won that seat, but was also later elected by that majority-black city council to be Richmond’s Mayor. Two years later, in 2001 he moved to the state level, being elected Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor. In 2005, he won the governor’s office. His wife, Anne Holton, became the first person to be at one time living in the governor’s mansion as the child of a Republican governor and then a second time as the state’s first lady and wife of a Democratic governor. In 2012, Tim Kaine won a seat in the United States Senate. In 2016, with two years remaining in his first term as senator, he was chosen by the presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, to be her vice-presidential running mate. Anne Holton was there with him, waving to the crowd on the final night. As Hillary Clinton raised Tim Kaine’s hand high, former president Bill Clinton was at her side and Anne Holton was at Tim Kaine’s side. The crowd roared with approval.</p> <p>In the VIP section of that vast Philadelphia arena sat the former Republican Governor Linwood Holton, now 92 years old, with his wife Jinks, both still vibrant and attractive, watching their daughter being introduced to the nation. There is sometimes a reward for integrity. Linwood and Jinks Holton, who would not allow their lives to be twisted by the prejudice of racism, challenged the distorting and debilitating social structures of his generation in Richmond, Virginia. Doing what is right sometimes carries with it intimations of transcendence and even immortality. To this day he remains one of my heroes.</p> <p>John Shelby Spong</p> <p>Read the essay online <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">here</a>.</p> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> <div style="color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;text-align: left;"><h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Question & Answer</h2> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Alberto Mejia Aguilera from Mexico writes via the internet:</span></p> <h4 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 22px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;"> Question:</h4> <p>I am from Mexico and I would like to know your opinion about Liberation Theology. Do you think that this theology is still an inspiration for the struggle against the social injustice?</p> <h4 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 22px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Answer:</h4> <p>Dear Alberto,</p> <p>Liberation theology was, I believe, was born in Latin America, so you should be especially proud of it. I associate the name of Leonardo Boff, primarily, with it, but there were others like the murdered Bishop Oscar Romero. It was born in an attempt to apply the principles of the gospel not just to individuals, but also to the structures of our society, which so often drive the masses into poverty. It identifies God with the poor. For those reasons it tended to be resisted in ecclesiastical circles, especially by the leaders of the Roman Catholic during the years of Popes John Paul II and Benedict, both of whom were so politically conservative that they saw it as another manifestation of Communism. I think they were both wrong in this judgment. Liberation theology, I believe, constituted a call to Christianity to see that its alliance with power, both in Europe and the new world, had corrupted the essential justice that Christianity requires.</p> <p>Christianity was born among the poor and the outcasts. It rose to dominate society and so became the religion of kings. Liberation Theology was a necessary correction.</p> <p>I wish you well.</p> <p>John Shelby Spong <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Read and Share Online Here</a></p> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> <div style="color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;text-align: left;"><h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Announcements</h2> <div style="text-align: center;color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;"><a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…"><img align="none" height="262" style="width: 350px;height: 262px;margin: 0px;border: none;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="350" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/e67ac6a0-334…"></a></div> <h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:26px"><span style="color:#000000">Bishop Spong at the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan September 10th & 11th</span></span></h2> <strong>Schedule:</strong> Saturday, September 10, 2016 1:00 pm at the Reynolds Recital Hall, Northern Michigan University 7:00 pm at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Marquette Sunday, September 11, 2016 2:00 pm at the Memorial Union Building , Michigan Technological University At each location, there will be an opportunity for Q&A and book signing.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top"> </td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></center><center><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" id="aolmail_canspamBarWrapper" style="background-color:#FFFFFF; border-top:1px solid #E5E5E5;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top" style="padding-top:20px; padding-bottom:20px;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></center></div> </div> <style type="text/css">#AOLMsgPart_2_1c149769-41d3-4c3b-8300-eaccdde19ae7 td{color: black;} @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .aolReplacedBody table[id="canspamBar"] td{font-size:14px !important;} .aolReplacedBody table[id="canspamBar"] td a{display:block !important; margin-top:10px !important;} } </style>

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Memorial Celebration for Robert Rafos
by Sharon Rafos 29 Mar '18

29 Mar '18

Dear Friends of Robert, My sisters and I are planning our Father's Memorial Celebration and are trying to get a feel for the number of people that will be coming from out of town. If you're planning on attending, and haven't already been in touch with one of us, can you send me an email or give me a phone call to let me know. Dad's Celebration will be held on Friday, April 27th at 4:00 p.m. at the Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Congregation. The address there is 79 Hiawatha Rd, Toronto, Ontario. The celebration will be in true Robert fashion. In his words "I want this to be a tribute and thank you for all the people that have been in my life. If possible I would like to have a celebration of my completed life organized at our Neighborhood Congregation. Invite the Congregation, my neighbors, all my ICA friends, my extended Northwater Capital family, my brokers, men’s group and Sandra’s women friends. I would like it be catered, with good and ample food: like oysters, shrimp, sliders, canapes, cheeses, sliced beef, etc. Wine and beer, music, and jokes and stories over a life well lived and in appreciation for each other for helping me on my journey." If possible, please join us in celebrating our Father's beautiful life. We would love to see you and share in your stories. I apologize if you've received this in duplication...as I'm sending this out to both the OE and Dialogue lists. In love and kindness, Sharon on behalf of Kim, Robin and Sandra Sharon's Cell - 231-340-0634 srafos(a)gmail.com (Sharon) robrafosroy(a)gmail.com ksirrine(a)gmail.com

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Re: [Dialogue] Memorial Celebration for Robert Rafos
by Del Morrill 29 Mar '18

29 Mar '18

How I wish we could be there in person; we will be in spirit, however. Sounds like a great celebration. From: Dialogue <dialogue-bounces(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> On Behalf Of Sharon Rafos via Dialogue Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2018 8:24 AM To: oe(a)lists.wedegeblade.net; dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net Cc: Sharon Rafos <srafos(a)gmail.com> Subject: [Dialogue] Memorial Celebration for Robert Rafos Dear Friends of Robert, My sisters and I are planning our Father's Memorial Celebration and are trying to get a feel for the number of people that will be coming from out of town. If you're planning on attending, and haven't already been in touch with one of us, can you send me an email or give me a phone call to let me know. Dad's Celebration will be held on Friday, April 27th at 4:00 p.m. at the Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Congregation. The address there is 79 Hiawatha Rd, Toronto, Ontario. The celebration will be in true Robert fashion. In his words "I want this to be a tribute and thank you for all the people that have been in my life. If possible I would like to have a celebration of my completed life organized at our Neighborhood Congregation. Invite the Congregation, my neighbors, all my ICA friends, my extended Northwater Capital family, my brokers, men’s group and Sandra’s women friends. I would like it be catered, with good and ample food: like oysters, shrimp, sliders, canapes, cheeses, sliced beef, etc. Wine and beer, music, and jokes and stories over a life well lived and in appreciation for each other for helping me on my journey." If possible, please join us in celebrating our Father's beautiful life. We would love to see you and share in your stories. I apologize if you've received this in duplication...as I'm sending this out to both the OE and Dialogue lists. In love and kindness, Sharon on behalf of Kim, Robin and Sandra Sharon's Cell - 231-340-0634 srafos(a)gmail.com <mailto:srafos@gmail.com> (Sharon) robrafosroy(a)gmail.com <mailto:robrafosroy@gmail.com> ksirrine(a)gmail.com <mailto:ksirrine@gmail.com>

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Recent article in Chicago Magazine
by James Wiegel 25 Mar '18

25 Mar '18

Growing Up in the Order | | | | | | | | | | | Growing Up in the Order Now all but forgotten, an obscure religious commune took over a building in Uptown and tried to change the world... | | | Jim Wiegel “That which consumes me is not man, nor the earth, nor the heavens, but the flame which consumes man, earth, and sky." Nikos Kazantzakis 401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353 623-363-3277 jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com www.partnersinparticipation.com

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Bob Rafos's Obituary
by Timothy Wegner 19 Mar '18

19 Mar '18

I have received the following from Sharon Rafos and Martha Laird, and am posting this at their request. The link takes you to Bob's obituary. Tim https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/toronto-on/robert-rafos-7786212

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Re: [Dialogue] Tim Wegner said: "We experienced an unintended conseq"
by Timothy Wegner 18 Mar '18

18 Mar '18

Jim wrote: > Just to say, this message describes a significant portion of my/our journey(ies), a portion that seems to grow day by day. > and Jo wrote: > Some of these unintended consequences are delightful, some are just curious, and some are disastrous. Complexity is so interesting! > Glad to see my oe/dialogue mailing list adventures have triggered some of my colleagues' sharp wit or deep profundity (or both)! I can say beyond a shadow of doubt (but expressing more of an existential stance than a belief) that the lists have in the last 48 hours experienced a painful, miserable death but then experienced glorious resurrection! Beyond that, your mostly humble list administrator has learned a few things, and further, has figured out some ways to back up the lists so that if the mystery similarly strikes again, we can recover without divine intervention. This optimistic claim must be tempered with the lucidity that the mystery always wins in the end. Tim

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Tim Wegner said: "We experienced an unintended conseq"
by James Wiegel 18 Mar '18

18 Mar '18

Just to say, this message describes a significant portion of my/our journey(ies), a portion that seems to grow day by day. Jim Wiegel 401 North Beverly Way, Tolleson, Arizona 85353 Tel. 011-623-936-8671 or 011-623-363-3277 jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com www.partnersinparticipation.com Loneliness does not come from having no people around you. But from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to you. Carl Jung > On Mar 17, 2018, at 19:54, Timothy Wegner via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: > > We experienced an unintended conseq > _______________________________________________ > OE mailing list > OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net

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List problem averted (I thin k)
by Timothy Wegner 18 Mar '18

18 Mar '18

We experienced an unintended conseq

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Re: [Dialogue] Celebrating the completed life of Bob Rafos
by Michael Tippett 12 Mar '18

12 Mar '18

In January 1968 Marion karpoff and her brother Mark Poole finally succeeded in recruiting us for the RS1 course. It was held at Windermere United Methodist Church in East Cleveland. The man who seemed to be the custodian and helping in the kitchen turned out to be Dr. Robert Rafos, who people referred to as Brother Lawrence. That began a 50 year friendship, that included establishing The Cleveland Religious House in 1969, Lagos in 1981, then continued to the present time. Judith and I, Meg , Kit and Brooke send our sympathy to Sandy, Kim, Robin and Sharon and the extended family. I hope the memories of a truly Spirit Giant will sustain your family in the years to come. Grace, peace, and love, the Tippett family Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE Droid On Mar 10, 2018 12:09 PM, Lynda C via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: > > > > On 3/9/18, 9:51 AM, "John C" <jpc2025(a)outlook.com> wrote: > > One great man! What a great soul, indeed! > > He phoned us a couple of weeks ago thanking us for our letter and the “Journey Reflection” blog, that he said was a help to his sense being connected to our global Order community and mission on a daily basis. > > It was a profound conversation about the journey he and his family were on. He spoke proudly and gratefully for the presence and care for him and Sandra provided by their team of strong young women. > > We send our care to Sandra, Sharon, Robin, Kim and families as they celebrate his life and mourn his absence. Bob's care and leadership in our community will long be remembered. > > Grace and Peace, > > Lynda and John Cock > > > On 3/9/18, 9:35 AM, "Dialogue on behalf of Priscilla Wilson via Dialogue" <dialogue-bounces(a)lists.wedgeblade.net on behalf of dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: > > I talked with Bob earlier this week. He sounded very weak but good. Kaze just called me. He died at 3:30 this morning. Such a fine human being—one of the best ever. > Priscilla Wilson > > Sent from my iPad > _______________________________________________ > Dialogue mailing list > Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Dialogue mailing list > Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net

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Bob Rafos
by Priscilla Wilson 10 Mar '18

10 Mar '18

I talked with Bob earlier this week. He sounded very weak but good. Kaze just called me. He died at 3:30 this morning. Such a fine human being—one of the best ever. Priscilla Wilson Sent from my iPad

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