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Bishop's Notebook Page 2003 |
| Bishop's
Notebook 26 September 2003 2001 was a bad enough year but for baseball player Scott Hatteburg in December he was released from the Boston Red Sox because injuries finally eclipsed his career as a catcher. His life was about to change, however, in ways he could not conceive. He had an enduring ability only one team was looking for: staring down a baseball in the batter’s box. Pitchers couldn’t intimidate him and he nearly always achieved a full count, walked often, and consequently wore out an opposing pitcher’s arm. No one noticed that, he was just another beat up catcher. No one except for the Oakland Athletics. Oakland didn’t have the resources of a larger team so they had to spend their payroll carefully. In other words they had to play smarter. So, when the Sox dumped Hatteburg the A’s snapped him up in a bargain deal. There remained the problem of where to put him on the field and Scott spent a year bobbling easy grounders, missing tags, and catches until he worked into his new position at first base. Smart doesn’t mean easy. For the Oakland Athletics, though, what Hatteburg did on the field didn’t compare with the genius he performed at bat and the statistics proved it. Playing smart has a lot to do with getting clear on the priorities. I see this “playing smarter” all the time in my visits with you in the field, whether it be pasting together some
I know one could say such a remark is naïve but that’s a trap. We can be seduced into thinking that with just enough savvy we can live well when God’s attention is not on our efficiency but on our frailty. Lamenting actions that could have been taken before this Convention, i.e., postponing debate on homosexuality, or sit-downs with the good people of New Hampshire beforehand may have all the appearance of “being smart” but it does not take into account the basic collision between two different, fervent beliefs of interpretations of scripture and even two different understandings of the evolution of God’s time. Two parallel jurisdictions in the United States may be in the offing, maybe even with careful provisions for communion, but if either thinks God’s mercy is inaccessible for the other, well that’s just not smart at all. +gep “Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game” by Michael Lewis, WW Norton and Co., 2003 Note: The Athletics, who trailed the Seattle Mariners all summer, took the first place in the Division after Labor Day. At least somebody’s summer improved.
Bishop's Notebook 17 September 2003 Caserma Carlo Ederle, Italy
I'm posting this as I prepare to do the Confirmation for this fledgling eucharistic community. Thanks to the "walk about ministry" of Reservist CH Mike McEwen, an Episcopal congregation worships where there was none before. This camp is an hour west of Venice and 2 hours southwest of Avianno and now has elements of its 173rd Airborne Brigade dispersed from Liberia, to Afghanistan, to Iraq. It's the story of today's military.
Before arriving here I spent time in Germany with CH Phil and Dori Kochenburger and son Neil, CH Eric and Sue Mills and daughters Katie and Rachell, Pat and Carl Johnson, Bill and Alice Humphreys, and Carl and Lynne Andrews. They all send their very best! We may be out of sight from each other but we are one of heart.
Over dinner with Mike and son Clint McEwen (wife Vycke just returned home after a visit), Mike asked what I thought was the most enjoyable and most challenging part of this job. I thought a minute and it occurred to me it is one in the same: visiting our far-flung family. Brook and I are forever trying to juggle calendars to optimize more "face time" without sacrificing our own family. Last year I traveled 1/3 of the year. That takes a lot of effort but when we're (Brook and Clara are with me on three major trips) breaking bread with a chaplain and his/her family all the travel hassles become a distant memory.
We've had exotic thoughts about teleconferences to increase our connections and of course we have the Internet, but it doesn't match lingering over coffee with brothers and sisters. We'll post pictures when I get home. +gep
PS: I take a
little cream in my evening coffee, no cream or sugar for Brook.
We'll bring the dessert. Bishop's
Notebook
I recently had the privilege of representing Bishop Packard at the Civil Air Patrol Chaplain Service meetings which were held in Las Vegas, Nevada, 25-27 August 2003 in conjunction with the annual Civil Air Patrol's National Board and Annual Conference. The Episcopal Church currently has 21 chaplains serving in a voluntary capacity with the Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force.
The mission of Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is to respond to disasters and aircraft accidents. It is perhaps the largest volunteer organization in the country and includes many civilian pilots, primarily of small aircraft, as well as other volunteers, both young and old. It includes a very fine CAP Cadet program which provides high school youth will excellent training opportunities. Many of the cadets later become leaders in the U.S. Air Force. The all-volunteer Civil Air Patrol Chaplain Service provides moral leadership, guidance and counseling for the cadets as well as for the adult members of CAP.
Two of our ECUSA CAP chaplains attending this year's annual conference had key leadership roles in that event. Chaplain, Lieutenant Colonel Jerrold "Jerry" Beaumont of Cocoa Beach, FL is one of the eight regional CAP chaplains. In that capacity he supervises the training and voluntary ministry of chaplains of various faith groups serving in his multi-state region of responsibility. As a regional chaplain Jerry serves on the advisory board for the CAP Chief of Chaplains, Ch, Col James H. Mclancon.
ECUSA Chaplain, Major Nancy Smalley, is a parish priest in Dallas who serves as one of the volunteer chaplains in the Texas CAP Wing. She is also a certified abuse counselor and made a superb presentation at the conference in Las Vegas on "Understanding Sexual Abuse."
ECUSA priests interested in applying for endorsement by Bishop Packard as a volunteer CAP chaplain should contact me at gblackburn@episcopalchurch.org and request an application. For opportunities in your local Civil Air Patrol and for the specific CAP chaplaincy training requirements, contact your local Wing and/or the national headquarters at Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama at www.cap.gov.
Those already serving as ECUSA CAP chaplains will perhaps remember reading in a recent QwikNote from Bishop Packard stating that CAP Ch, LtCol Charles Wood of Yanceyville, NC has agreed to be Bishop Packard's point of contact for CAP chaplains who wish to convey comments, questions, and/or concerns to Bishop Packard from the Civil Air Patrol ECUSA chaplain community regarding recent decisions at General Convention. Fr. Charles Wood can be reached at c.n.wood@juno.com.
Finally, while
in Las Vegas I hosted a dinner on Tuesday evening 26 August for
all area ECUSA chaplains, whether they were CAP related or not.
Those attending were Chaplain Bill Cantrell, USNR, and his wife
Cathy, Chaplain Lloyd Rupp, USN (Ret.) and his wife Virginia, Healthcare
(Mortuary) Chaplain Mary Bredlau and her husband Kurt, CAP Chaplain
Nancy Smalley, CAP Chaplain Jerry Beaumont, and ELCA Ch, Capt Christine
Blice-Baum, USAF, who was attending the conference representing
the U.S. Air Force Chief of Chaplains, Ch, Maj Gen Lorraine Potter.
Christine was the speaker for the Annual CAP Prayer Breakfast at
the convention in which she presented a fine and timely homily on
religious leadership. In her remarks she reminded us that eagles
do not travel in flocks but travel alone-a route that spiritual
leaders must often follow. Bishop's
Notebook
For a federal chaplain it's the question nobody wants to ask but everyone has thought about.
"In the fallout after General Convention if my home diocese seeks realignment with another Anglican authority how will that affect my current ecclesiastical endorsement through ECUSA to the government?"
It's natural to get your mind running on these tracks but as I have counseled in the past let's just wait and see. This is not to say I am trivializing your own belief; not at all. Make a concerted effort to link with your home diocese and your bishop not only for praying through where you stand, but also because we are family and they would value the connection in these days. I am not encouraging a re-shuffling of chaplains to new dioceses where they are utterly simpatico with the way things are. The Episcopal Church has enormous diversity, even within the smallest diocese, yet we hang together somehow. It's the "somehow" which future days will reveal to us.
As to our "conversations" by email and phone conferencing, I'm taking steps to widen the representation by asking FBI Chaplain Larry Murphy, murphy67@earthlink.net, and Civil Air Patrol Chaplain Charles L. Wood, c.n.wood@juno.com, to participate. Further, I had been relying on a network to radiate from our senior leaders following some of the mentoring relationships that are already in place but we will convene another phone conference forum amongst junior chaplains. Engagement with each other requires additional special efforts.
Let's not have preoccupation with the internal affairs of our Church keep us from attending to major milestones in our culture: the 40th anniversary of the March on Washington last week, and of course, the second anniversary of September 11th.+gep |
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