October 2012 - OE - lists.wedgeblade.net

10/25/12, Spong: You Are Profoundly Wrong! A Response to the Archbishop of Newark and Other Catholic Leaders
by Ellie Stock 25 Oct '12

25 Oct '12

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR You Are Profoundly Wrong! A Response to the Archbishop of Newark and Other Catholic Leaders The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Newark, the Most Reverend John J. Myers, has recently issued “A Pastoral Teaching on the Definition, Purpose and Sanctity of Marriage.” In this document, which is clearly politically motivated, he urges “faithful Catholics” and other “men and women of goodwill” to vote against any candidate for public office who supports same-sex marriage. He also states that “all Catholics, who support a candidate for elective office, who does not oppose same sex marriage, should consider themselves excommunicated, and should, therefore, absent themselves from the Eucharist at Catholic altars. I have never met Archbishop Myers. I have no reason to believe he is not a good and sincere person. When one enters a public debate, however, especially in an attempt to elect one candidate over another, one has a responsibility to be well-informed on the issues about which one speaks. It is not sufficient simply to appeal to the authority of the magisterium of one’s church to find support for these ideas or to quote traditional religious conclusions, as if they are still viable or are still accepted in academic and intellectual circles. This is the Archbishop’s fatal error. His underlying definition of homosexuality is the badly dated and all but universally rejected idea that it is “deviant,” “unnatural” or even “evil.” His definition of human life is based on the pre-Darwinian idea that life was created perfect only to fall into “Original Sin,” which then distorted humanity’s original perfection, thus justifying the negativity toward homosexuality because it is an expression of that distortion. Darwin’s thought, which today underlies all science and is the basis of teaching in every medical school in the developed world, has also been validated by the discovery of DNA. That idea can hardly be dismissed because it is inconvenient to one’s religious doctrines. Darwin teaches us that there never was a time of human perfection, but that we have always been evolving into our humanity. We are, therefore, not fallen sinners, but rather incomplete human beings. To talk, about how God established monogamous heterosexuality as the basis for all family life at the time of creation, which means that it cannot be validly set aside by any government or political decision, is to engage in pious nonsense. It also reveals a lack of knowledge about and understanding of the last two hundred years of biblical scholarship. To go on from that weak premise to liken homosexuality to incest and to use this argument to buttress other positions of the Roman Catholic Church, including opposition to all forms of contraception and family planning; opposition to abortion under any circumstances, including rape, incest and the threat to the life of the mother; opposition to any end of life conversations or procedures, as well as opposition to the full acceptance of gay and lesbian people as violations of God’s natural law is, quite frankly, breathtaking in both its gall and its arrogance. Let me try to unravel this maze of incoherent conclusions. Did God set monogamous coupling as the original basic building block of all human society in the creation story of the book of Genesis? Of course not! Does the good archbishop not know that the “seven-day” creation story of Genesis 1:1-2:4a is a product of the 6th century BCE? Does he not know that the story of the “fall,” as related in Genesis 2:4b-24 is the product of the 10th century BCE? Neither of these times is anywhere close to the beginning of human history. Human-like creatures, called hominids, have populated this planet for at least 4,000,000 years, and self-conscious, language-using, recognizably human creatures have been on this planet, according to the best scientific estimates for somewhere between 100,000 and 250,000 years. The biblical story of creation is, thus, very recent, relatively speaking. In most of human history monogamous marriage between one man and one woman was all but unknown. The original pattern of human “marriage” and family life appears to have been polygamy and harems. Since women were largely regarded as property in that period of time, the number of wives a man had determined his wealth and status. A vestigial reminder of this value system is preserved in church marriage ceremonies, when one man, the father, gives the bride away to another man, the husband, as if she were a possession. When the early writers of the Bible sought to describe this period of their own Hebrew ancestry, they quite accurately portrayed their forebears, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as polygamous people. Even the ultimate Jewish hero, King David, who was called “the man after God’s own heart,” was portrayed as the husband of many wives. His son, Solomon, in whose reign the Adam and Eve story was actually written, was famous for having had 300 wives and 700 concubines. So the suggestion that the monogamous, heterosexual marriage of one man to one woman is the original divine plan written into “natural law” and is, therefore the “basic building block of the social order” and thus not capable of being altered is both patently false and historically inaccurate. Marriage as a human institution has been and still is evolving from polygamy based on male supremacy to monogamy, based on sexual equality. In the light of this understanding the ability to grant to same-sex couples the dignity and sanction of official marriage is simply another step to be welcomed in that evolution. The prelude to that new step in the evolution of marriage is the recognition, now universally acknowledged, that homosexuality is a reality among many higher mammals. What is present in the natural world can hardly be called “unnatural” or the result of the fall! Because an Archbishop cannot process this new insight outside his dated and antiquated theological and ethical frame of reference does not make it “evil,” it rather reveals the limitation of knowledge present in the system on which that archbishop bases his decisions. These are the facts that need to be embraced: No reputable scientist today supports the idea that anyone chooses his or her sexual orientation; scientific data now validates the reality that the number of homosexual people in the population is a steady, perhaps fixed, percentage among all people at all times and in all places; homosexuality cannot be cured because it is not a disease and those organizations that claim to be able to do so are fraudulent; homosexuality is not hereditary and every gay or lesbian person is presumably the child of a heterosexual union, and children born to gay men or lesbians have no higher chance of being gay or lesbian than the ratio in the population. These facts mean that the moral teaching of the church, as expressed in the “Pastoral Teaching” of the Archbishop of Newark is based on premises that are no longer viable and thus cannot with credibility be used to counter the best scientific scholarship available to the world today. Does the Archbishop want to repeat the darker chapters of church history? Galileo was right in the 17th century even when he was found guilty by the church of heresy. It simply took the Roman Catholic Church some 400 more years before its leaders were able to free themselves sufficiently to open their doctrinally closed minds. Charles Darwin was also right in 1859, but it was in the 1990’s before this church could acknowledge this fact in a very tepid and limited way. The problem is that when religious leaders issue statements, based, not on knowledge and contemporary research, but rather reflecting their comfort level inside their own closed systems of thought, all the while pretending that this is divinely revealed knowledge, they do enormous damage to people whose humanity they so badly compromise. The church supported for centuries the institution of slavery, even quoting the Bible to justify it. The church supported second class status for women and in many places still does so to this day, once again quoting the scriptures to give this prejudice the cover of perfumed piety. When Archbishop Myers argues, not for the equality of women, but for the “complementarity” of women, is he not doing anything other than to quote an ecclesiastical version of the old “separate but equal” argument used for so long to justify segregation? Homosexual persons are a perfectly normal, but minority, part of the human family. So are left-handed people, bald-headed people and red-headed people. To call homosexual persons “deviant,” “unnatural” or “evil” is a commentary not on the gay community, but on the uninformed prejudice of the person or institution that is speaking. The Fourth Gospel portrays Jesus as saying that his task, and thus the task of his church, is to be the giver of abundant life to all people. Can anyone do that by calling another, who is different, “evil, deviant and unnatural?” This “Pastoral Teaching” reaches the height of absurdity when it suggests that homosexual partners ought to seek heterosexual unions and try to make them work. Elements in the church well into the 20th century thought that they had to break the “unnatural” stance of being left-handed by tying the hands of left-handed children behind their backs in order to force them to be “normal.” We now know that this was nothing but an expression of ignorance as to how the brain was organized, but it dehumanized many a left-handed child before the religious leadership got over its prejudice and began to recognize that the problem was not located in the victim that they so badly violated, but in the ignorance that fed the prejudice of the violating ones. That is exactly what is being done anew in this “Pastoral Teaching” promulgated by Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark. Of course the Bible reflects the prejudices of antiquity toward those who are “different.” That, however, should not be used to justify the continuation of these destructive patterns. We have, over the centuries, learned to set some parts of the Bible aside when we come to new understandings of truth. That is what is now happening in our society as a new consciousness is being forged, based upon contemporary understanding of how human values operate. One cannot uphold ancient ignorance by pretending that one’s own prejudice is blessed by God. That is what Archbishop Myers seeks to do. His “Pastoral Teaching” will be ridiculed by the educated. It will be ignored by those he calls “the faithful,” just as they today largely ignore the church’s teaching on birth control, end of life decisions and even abortion. The sad thing is that the credibility of the church is compromised by the uninformed prejudice of its leaders and time ultimately will sweep this ignorance aside. It will be the laity of this church who will dismiss it in their practice first. Both the Pope and the Archbishop will someday discover that “truth,” which is not truth, cannot be imposed. Only then will their minds be changed and apology will be appropriate for the pain their prejudice and ignorance, has caused millions, including many who are priests and bishops of their own church. ~John Shelby Spong Read the essay online here. Question & Answer Edward from London, England, writes: Question: As you know, I very much appreciate your books and weekly essays, even if I may be so bold as to say I do not agree with every bit of them. I wonder whether you have read a new book, Moral Transformation: The Original Christian Paradigm of Salvation, by A. J. Wallace and R. D. Rusk, who I believe are two New Zealand biblical scholars. The book, backed up by copious quotations from the New Testament and from early Christian writers such as Irenaeus and Origen, throws a flood of light on Christian beliefs and practices of the first three centuries AD, which were quite simply to follow faithfully the teaching and example of Jesus in the hope of being judged by God worthy of eternal life. There was no conflict between Paul and Jesus, no conflict between faith and works – the Greek word “pistis” and its assorted adjectives and verbs, commonly translated “faith,” really means, in 80-90% of the cases, faithfulness or loyalty, not belief in a system of ideas. They show how the reformers of the 16th century misunderstood the point that Paul was making, largely due to this mistranslation. If you have read the book, I should be interested in your comments on it. If not, may I respectfully recommend it to you? Answer: Dear Ted, It is always good to hear from you. You are the only Queen’s Counsel I know. My best to your wife Rachel. I have not read the book you recommend and appreciate you calling it to my attention. It is quite difficult to determine what differences there were between Jesus and Paul since most of what we know about Jesus is recorded in the four gospels that were not written by eyewitnesses, but by Greek-speaking authors, who composed them between 40 and 70 years after the crucifixion. That would be two to three and a half generations after Jesus. The Hebrew word, “dabar,” which was translated by the Greek word “pistis” does in fact mean trust or a willingness to put one’s confidence into something or someone. It was only in the Greek language that this Jewish concept was changed and came to mean believing or giving intellectual assent to propositional statements. The creeds were never written to define faith, they were written to enable human beings to trust the God they sought to capture in creedal words. This is why the shift from “I believe” to “We believe” when we say the creed in church is a step in the right direction. It is a corporate faith not an individual belief. I am still convinced that most of the difficulty Christians have today with the Bible is that they do not understand or appreciate the power of the Hebrew Scriptures that lies behind almost everything in the New Testament. They do not understand, for example, that the story of Jesus feeding the multitude in the wilderness with five loaves and two fish was related to the story of Moses and manna in the wilderness, that the Sermon on the Mount is based on Psalm 119 and that the Palm Sunday story is based in Zechariah 9:9-12. These were not “predictions” that Jesus somehow miraculously fulfilled, it is evidence that when the Jesus story was being written his interpreters used the scriptures to interpret and to frame his life. When Christians left the synagogue, they left the interpretive context in which their own gospels were written. The time has come to recover that. My best, ~John Shelby Spong Announcements Any questions or concerns, please contact us at support(a)johnshelbyspong.com or 503-236-3545. Copyright © 2012 ProgressiveChristianity.org, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you have a membership at our website. Our mailing address is: ProgressiveChristianity.org 3530 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Unit 1 Portland, OR 97214 Add us to your address book

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Thanks, George
by Bud Tillinghast 24 Oct '12

24 Oct '12

Thanks, George, for calling attention to my response to Bishop Coyner. Indeed it does change the dynamic to have a whole Jurisdiction stand against the UMC's exclusionary policy. Would you want to hazzard a guess as to where the Niebuhr quote came from? I'm continually grateful for the influence of the Ecumenical Institute. > Our colleague, Bud Tillinghast, a UMC clergy, (he's on this list serve) responds to a Bishop's attack on the Western Jurisdiction of the UMC for contesting the latest General Conference decision to continue their prejudice against Gays and Lesbians. For those not up to speed on this - the United Methodist Church's continued policies against Homosexuality is being challenged. Several churches around the country have for some time declined to follow the denomination's line by being known as Reconciling congregations. Recently a retired Bishop has questioned the church's position. There have been demonstrations at several General Conferences and efforts to turn the position around including letter signings and efforts to get Annual conferences to take a stand, which a few have. This is the first time a whole Jurisdiction has made a statement, and a powerful defense of it by Bud. It was published in an official publication of the church. I hope you take time to read it. > > George Holcombe > 14900 Yellowleaf Tr. > Austin, TX 78728 > Mobile 512/252-2756 > geowanda(a)earthlink.net > > Hope appeareth, but it is not your Hope—you do not have anything to do with it. It just appeareth. It comes as a stranger, as an alien—it just appeareth! You do not even know why you hope. How in the world could you hope when there is absolutely nothing to justify any hope? ~Joseph W. Mathews > > > > > http://www.umcconnections.org/2012/10/22/a-response-to-bishop-coyner/

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Re: [Oe List ...] Fwd: Nick gets Married
by Del Morril 23 Oct '12

23 Oct '12

Yeah, I had to leave those horses behind and stay with the train! Still going strong, despite looking like a pitched tent when dressed. Del October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Del Hunter Morrill 3217 North Mason Avenue Tacoma WA 98407-5419 H: (253) 752-1506; W: (253) 383-5757 <mailto:delhmor@wamail.net> delhmor(a)wamail.net Web site: www. hypnocenter.com The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. (Joseph Campbell) _____ From: oe-bounces(a)lists.wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces@lists.wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of LAURELCG(a)aol.com Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 8:27 PM To: oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Fwd: Nick gets Married Thank you for the great update, Del. What a journey you're in the midst of. So, in the dream, I assume you left on the train. Staying on track and moving one. Congratulations. The video was amazing. Love, Jann In a message dated 10/22/2012 11:38:04 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, delhmor(a)wamail.net writes:

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Re: [Oe List ...] Fwd: Nick gets Married
by LAURELCG＠aol.com 23 Oct '12

23 Oct '12

Thank you for the great update, Del. What a journey you're in the midst of. So, in the dream, I assume you left on the train. Staying on track and moving one. Congratulations. The video was amazing. Love, Jann In a message dated 10/22/2012 11:38:04 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, delhmor(a)wamail.net writes: Hi dear ones, An amazing dream this week - First of all, I almost NEVER remember my dreams, even just upon awakening. Second, I am rarely IN my dreams, more of an observer. In this dream, I definitely was in it and woke up remembering it, even anxious in experiencing it. This dream (which I won’t get into details about) ended up with me trying to get my “one” horse, whom I cared greatly for, onto a freight train. It was tied to the end of the train, which started to move. I knew that after a bit, the horse wouldn’t be able to keep up with the train. I final got the train to stop so I could get someone to find a location on the train for my horse. After much search and people finding no space or simply saying NO, the dream ended up with, not one, but “two” horses left behind; the engineer didn’t feel that either were worth putting on the train, one of them being too sick. The train pulled out without them. Now, how about that for a Freudian dream during this time of my life! It amazed me once I wrote it into my journal to so quickly grasp the symbolism – it’s pretty obvious, and on this side of it, I find it pretty amusing. I’m getting used to my new body when I look in the mirror, though I still look rather like an experiment by Dr. Frankenstein, with big stitches almost around my whole torso. I’m feeling better all the time, seeing friends, having lunch out, etc. Once in awhile I feel that vulnerability, which continues to keep me from having clients right now until I feel much more consistently stable. Hormones have gone a bit crazy, I guess. My dentist explained that the reason my gums were so sensitive with this last cleaning was due to the surgery – a connection I never would have made, myself. Good news is no need for spinal surgery (from the fall backward I had sometime ago). Good news also is that a date is set for redoing the knee replacement, this time a full one, November 12. Justin and I feel very confident with this new doctor (I wouldn’t ever have the doctor I had before, who would NOT pay attention to what was going on, and couldn’t even read the X-ray, which I could see in front of me was telling us something was wrong!) We’re anxious to get it out of the way, not so much due to holidays, but a vacation in February for Justin’s cousins’ reunion, this time in Arizona. Below is access to a video just sent to me by friend, Robert. When it started, I thought, “Why in the hell is some stranger’s wedding of importance to me? Within seconds, I discovered why. It’s interesting how the right thing is coming my way in the right time. This past couple of years hasn’t been easy, but seeing this guy puts everything into such perspective. Many of you may be aware of him; before this video I think I’d only seen a photo sometime ago. _http://www.youtube.com/embed/da5QQSxSsGY_ (http://www.youtube.com/embed/da5QQSxSsGY) (You may need to cut/paste it if the link doesn’t take you directly to the web.) -----DEFINITELY ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST INCREDIBLY COURAGEOUS HUMAN BEINGS!! Del October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net

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Re: [Oe List ...] From Tippett: Preparation for the 2013 Directory
by Del Morril 22 Oct '12

22 Oct '12

Hi Mike, Tremendous work, always. Nothing has changed here. I'm listing the ones I know who died this year, just in case one of them got missed. I imagine you have them all, but this is just "in case". Anita Gibson died 12/16 in 2011 (can't remember when the directory for 2012 came out, so I'm including this, just in case it was too late to get in) Jesse Clements died 2/16 Barbara Barkony died 3/29 Robert Shropshire died 4/29 Frank Hilliard died 6/7 Sheldon Hill died 6/11 Carol Pierce died 9/19 Edith (Ellery) Adele McKinley Elizondo died 9/20 Del October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Del Hunter Morrill 3217 North Mason Avenue Tacoma WA 98407-5419 H: (253) 752-1506; W: (253) 383-5757 <mailto:delhmor@wamail.net> delhmor(a)wamail.net Web site: www. hypnocenter.com The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. (Joseph Campbell) _____ From: oe-bounces(a)lists.wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces@lists.wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of Jayandem2(a)aol.com Sent: Friday, October 12, 2012 8:31 AM To: oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net; Dialogue(a)wedgeblade.net Subject: [Oe List ...] From Tippett: Preparation for the 2013 Directory Dear Colleagues: Yes, it's time again to get the 2013 edition of The Directory pulled together, to mail out in mid-November Please check over your entry in The 2012 Directory. Indicate below any changes necessary. If you don't have a 2012 Directory and want to see your entry, please email me with your request. For those who aren't familiar with The Directory, it is a listing of names, addresses, phones and emails and occupations of several hundred people who have been at one time or another associated with the I.C.A., or the Ecumenical Institute, or its programs and projects. If you aren't listed, and want to be, fill out the form below and either mail it to me, or email it. DEADLINE FOR CORRECTIONS IS NOVEMBER 1ST. If you want to order a directory, complete the order form and send your check (made out to Michael B. Tippett). In preparation for the Directory, I need input from you. A. In Memoriam: Please let me know of any colleagues that have died since the last Directory was published. Also, if you know the year of death that isn't listed for a colleague, let me know. B. Cover for the 2013 Directory: For the past several issues of The Directory, I have featured a picture, a written piece, and/or artwork submitted by colleagues. I would like to hold a contest this year for artwork or a photo to put on the cover. If you have something you would like to submit as a cover possibility, send it to me. The first and second place winners will get a free Directory, and the first place winner will be featured on the cover. It will be interesting to see what the response is. REPLY TO THE DIRECTORY EMAIL ADDRESS, WHICH IS: <mailto:movementdir@aol.com> movementdir(a)aol.com THE DIRECTORY REGISTRATION FOR INDIVIDUALS OR FAMILIES: Please use to update PERSON # 1: Name as it should appear in THE DIRECTORY:________________________________ Date of birth: __________(m/d/y) [optional] Occupation: ____________________________________________________________ (Maximum 45 characters) Office Phone: (__) [____] _______________ Office Fax :(__) [ ___ ] _____________ Bus. E-mail: _________________ (Country Code) [Area or City Code] Local Number PERSON # 2: Name as it should appear in THE DIRECTORY: _______________________________ Date of birth: __________(m/d/y) [optional] Occupation: ____________________________________________________________ (Maximum 45 characters) Office Phone: (__) [____] _______________ Office Fax : (__) [ ___ ]____________ Bus. E-mail: _________________ (Country Code) [Area or City Code] Local Number Home Address: _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ Home Phone: (__) [____] _______________ Home Fax :(__) [ ___ ]_____________ Home E-mail: _________________ (Country Code) [Area or City Code] Local Number Children living with parents: (Include birth dates, also, if desired) ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________ Individual or Family listing is FREE! Cost of the Directory is $20.00 for either the booklet form or a CD copy. If you order 2 forms, it will cost $30.00. **************************************************************************** ******************** ORDER FORM NAME: ______________________________ Email: ________________________ ADDRESS: ____________________________ CITY/STATE/POSTAL(ZIP) CODE/COUNTRY: ____________________________________ Please send me a copy of the directory: [ ] Booklet form [ ] CD Cost of the Directory is $20.00 for either the booklet form or the CD. If you order 2 forms, it will cost $30.00 . The CD will contain In Memoriam and Names and Addresses, etc, in Microsoft Word format. I enclose $___________ (Check/Money Order made out to Michael Tippett) Re: PayPal: I'm sorry, but I can no longer accept PayPal. I've had too much trouble with it in the past. Also, I can't accept Credit Cards. I hope it isn't too much of an inconvenience to send a check or money order.. The CD will contain In Memoriam and Names and Addresses, etc, in Microsoft Word format. Send orders to: Michael B. Tippett, 4676 32nd Court East, Bradenton, FL 34203-3946 USA Phone: (941) 753-5189 Email: MOVEMENTDIR(a)aol.com

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Re: [Oe List ...] Memorial Service for Edith "Ellery" Elizondo
by jonzondo＠juno.com 22 Oct '12

22 Oct '12

David and more, My email records show that I sent this announcement out (the one listed below) on October 7th. I apologize to any who missed this notice. The service for my mother was today. It was a strong service, a fitting celebration of her completed Life and Death. We are all one with the Mystery. Amen. Walk in Beauty, Jon Mark Elizondo Memorial Service for Edith "Ellery" Adele McKinley Elizondo Sunday October 21st at 3:00 PM The Woodlands Community Presbyterian Church 4881 West Panther Creek Drive Spring, TX 77381 (281) 363-2040 In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Presbyterian Church. Contact me if you need more information. Please forward this to others who know Ellery. Blessings to us all. Jon 425-205-3856 Please note: message attached From: David M Dunn <dmdunn1(a)gmail.com> To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Memorial Service for Edith "Ellery" Elizondo Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2012 07:54:22 -0500 ____________________________________________________________ Fast, Secure, NetZero 4G Mobile Broadband. Try it. http://www.netzero.net/?refcd=NZINTISP0512T4GOUT2 Jon. I'm in Chicago and wondering when the memorial service for your mom is. Alice Harriot is asking. Let me know if I missed an announcement. We both wish you and your family well. David Sent from my iPhone On Oct 20, 2012, at 4:17 PM, "jonzondo(a)juno.com" <jonzondo(a)juno.com> wrote: > ____________________________________________________________ > Fast, Secure, NetZero 4G Mobile Broadband. Try it. > > _______________________________________________ > OE mailing list > OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net

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Re: [Oe List ...] Dan's status report?
by Lee Early 22 Oct '12

22 Oct '12

I talked with Dan for the first time since his surgery yesterday evening. He is still in intensive care. He is still in much pain. The tricky part, at the moment, is giving him enough pain medication without him going off the deep end and hallucinating. He sees things in this state. He has a hard time forming sentences and that frustrates him even more. His spine is seriously mis-shapen and no one knows whether or not the surgery will alleviate the pain that prompted all this to begin with. I thought he did pretty well with sentences but, he will pause trying to think and articulate a word he looking for. I believe we all do that from time to time. Regulating the pain seems to be the chief challenge for now. More when I have it. Lee On Oct 22, 2012, at 6:21 AM, rebeccajnichols(a)aol.com wrote: > hey - can I get an update??? > > > Rebecca Lee Early 19230 Forest Park Dr. NE, A102 Lake Forest Park, WA 98155 Home: (206) 922-3182 Lee's mobile: (425) 212-7997 lees.mail(a)comcast.net

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Fwd: Nick gets Married
by Del Morril 22 Oct '12

22 Oct '12

Hi dear ones, An amazing dream this week - First of all, I almost NEVER remember my dreams, even just upon awakening. Second, I am rarely IN my dreams, more of an observer. In this dream, I definitely was in it and woke up remembering it, even anxious in experiencing it. This dream (which I won't get into details about) ended up with me trying to get my "one" horse, whom I cared greatly for, onto a freight train. It was tied to the end of the train, which started to move. I knew that after a bit, the horse wouldn't be able to keep up with the train. I final got the train to stop so I could get someone to find a location on the train for my horse. After much search and people finding no space or simply saying NO, the dream ended up with, not one, but "two" horses left behind; the engineer didn't feel that either were worth putting on the train, one of them being too sick. The train pulled out without them. Now, how about that for a Freudian dream during this time of my life! It amazed me once I wrote it into my journal to so quickly grasp the symbolism - it's pretty obvious, and on this side of it, I find it pretty amusing. I'm getting used to my new body when I look in the mirror, though I still look rather like an experiment by Dr. Frankenstein, with big stitches almost around my whole torso. I'm feeling better all the time, seeing friends, having lunch out, etc. Once in awhile I feel that vulnerability, which continues to keep me from having clients right now until I feel much more consistently stable. Hormones have gone a bit crazy, I guess. My dentist explained that the reason my gums were so sensitive with this last cleaning was due to the surgery - a connection I never would have made, myself. Good news is no need for spinal surgery (from the fall backward I had sometime ago). Good news also is that a date is set for redoing the knee replacement, this time a full one, November 12. Justin and I feel very confident with this new doctor (I wouldn't ever have the doctor I had before, who would NOT pay attention to what was going on, and couldn't even read the X-ray, which I could see in front of me was telling us something was wrong!) We're anxious to get it out of the way, not so much due to holidays, but a vacation in February for Justin's cousins' reunion, this time in Arizona. Below is access to a video just sent to me by friend, Robert. When it started, I thought, "Why in the hell is some stranger's wedding of importance to me? Within seconds, I discovered why. It's interesting how the right thing is coming my way in the right time. This past couple of years hasn't been easy, but seeing this guy puts everything into such perspective. Many of you may be aware of him; before this video I think I'd only seen a photo sometime ago. http://www.youtube.com/embed/da5QQSxSsGY (You may need to cut/paste it if the link doesn't take you directly to the web.) -----DEFINITELY ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST INCREDIBLY COURAGEOUS HUMAN BEINGS!! Del October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

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Memorial Service for Edith "Ellery" Elizondo
by jonzondo＠juno.com 21 Oct '12

21 Oct '12

This is a reminder notice. Please call me if you intend to come to the service. Memorial Service for Edith "Ellery" Adele McKinley Elizondo Sunday October 21st at 3:00 PM The Woodlands Community Presbyterian Church 4881 West Panther Creek Drive Spring, TX 77381 (281) 363-2040 In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Presbyterian Church. Contact me if you need more information. Please forward this to others who know Ellery. Blessings to us all. Jon 425-205-3856 ____________________________________________________________ Fast, Secure, NetZero 4G Mobile Broadband. Try it. http://www.netzero.net/?refcd=NZINTISP0512T4GOUT2

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When the Saints Go Marching In
by Jaime R Vergara 21 Oct '12

21 Oct '12

Mary Lou, my "dalao po" (primal spouse) in Zhongwen,just caught up with the Frank-Ellery-Carol march of the saints. She sent me an alert. This week, one of four friends on survival mode post-chemoparted with her oxygen tank at 81. Wewrote of her three years ago in Saipan when she was given three-to-six monthsof breathing space. I was also making myadieu. We said then: "This ismy penultimate submission for this year. My valedictory article(s) will come next week. After that, should I ever pick up on doingsocial commentary again, it will surely be in honor and in the fearlesstradition of Ruth L. Tighe, On My Mind! Thankyou, Ruth, and let the 'goodbyes' comewhen they come!" She took her time (wrote her last OnMy Mind column turned blog Friday). So did I. Am still hacking myOpEd pieces for the same daily. Frank and Aimee are inseparable, in our recollection - Aimee thesoft-spoken spokesperson, and Frank the brooder and bold strategist. We needed a building in Sudtonggan's trainingcenter, especially after the staff house burned down. Frank passed the word down from Manila that money was never the problem. With Qing On ofHong Kong, we convinced a Chinese lumberman in Cebu City to advance all thematerials we needed to construct a "log house". We got the building up in a jiffy. Dick Alton settled our account. Later, Frank planned to shed a few pounds off his Texas-size girth,and did so in three months. I rememberedthis when I heard of Frank's passing; responded with a weight watch of my own inhis memory! Ellery and Tony are a duo in my ITI and Davao pictures of them. Ours was a fellowship of levity andgaeity. The cerveza de San Miguel was a help but the comaraderie came naturally. Jon was mostly Kemper, and Debra,Sudtonggan. They were family, especiallyTony's booming "Arriva!Arriva!" all the way to the barrio of Sol de Septiembre! We located Tres Equis in China this week and downed the brew for theElizondos. One can't remember Carol without recalling Joe as well. Joe on discontinuity in the Seoul ITI of '72, nursed a tumbler at the bar while listening to Neil Diamondcroon, "I am, I said, to no one there!" I dusted my vinyl the first day I got back toManila, and immediately moved in to the Manila House when it became obvious Iwas not valued just for my ecclesiastical connection. Serendipitously, we moved in the same dayMarcos declared martial law, so Mary Lou was with Caucasians, and I decided notto throw away my green card, just in case. It must have been the spring of '82 when I decided to proceed to theGuardians' meeting at Kemper, extending a trek from Majuro to Honolulu sincethe additional cost was a bargain. I'bumped' into Carol and Joe Crocker at O'Hare, and asked where they were headed(thought they were on a development trip). Carol smiled me to breakfast, and announced the Panjayat's sense thatI might visit my mother-in-law, then come to Kemper after the weekend. Majuro calledin panic. Someone speculated on the damage I might cause if my tongue wagged loose on tender ears who have contributed much of their life savings to ourproject's economic debacles. In her characteristic charm and power of persuasion, Carol cut me by theballs without my feeling pain. In fact,when she and Joe drove me to Sandwich, Illinois where mother-in-law lived, Iended up the apologetic, self-effacing, grateful Asian, for their time and attention. I spent a week at Kemper later, watching W. Marshall J. meticulously finesse to perfection and some, the global film. That was the year Mary Lou and I took our sabbatical at a local church in Guam. Frank and Aimee sent usout over lunch and wished us health when we returned. I am not sure where the Elizondos werethen. Four years later, I would pen inSudtonggan another farewell reflection (with a few other stragglers left behindwhen the Cebu House moved across the channel to the City). We never seem to get our memoirs of theOrder's last '84-'88 quadrennium before oblivion beyond poetry of goodwill and veiledself-congratulations. Maybe we shouldromp on the O of ORID without apology or remorse, if we still can. Summer 2010, I overnighted at Kemper, said "Ni Hao" (You Good) to Terry, Marge, Mary Laura, andtheir crew, and exorcised any remaining demons that may still bedevil us. In sentiment, I am with Joe Pierce: "I am, I said, to no one there ..." But Carol was never shy in factuallyarticulating the truth, as she saw it. We found her candor and lucidity refreshing and healing. For now, we join Frank, Ellery, and Carol in the parade. Their goose steps are also our own. j'aime la vie Yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate. In all, Celebrate!

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