Povey Prattle

I ate the contents of my last can of Tuna at lunch today. It's the last can  -   of the six I bought a couple of months ago. It's the last can, cos I have decided to forswear Tuna.     It's great and tasty fish, whether served from a can or grilled from a Tuna steak. The canned variety is cheap. But humankind has ridden the oceans of 90% of their Tuna populations.  The 10% which are left are a shaky breeding stock. We humans seem determined to eat whatever we can take from the oceans, thus denuding populations and reducing breeding stocks to an impossibly low level. So I'll eat no more Tuna. My decision will have no effect on the decline of Tuna.  Yet... ... I'll eat no more Tuna

“Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts, nor measure words,  but pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping,  and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.” (Attributed to George Elliott)

For a brief period when I was Rector at St. James's, Cambridge, MA there were six assisting priests. They each had "day jobs", and were not salaried by St. James's. Here they are from left to right. The Revd. Dr Ian Douglas ,then a Professor at Episcopal Divinity School, and soon to be Bishop of Connecticut. The Revd. Dr. Robert K Massie , noted environmentalist and worker for God's justice - still at St. James's. The Revd. Christine Marie . Then a student at Episcopal Divinity School (whilst her husband was studying at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government). We've lost touch. The Revd. Dr. Andrew McGowan , then a Professor at Episcopal Divinity School, now the head honcho at Trinity College, University of Melbourne, Australia. The Revd. Dr. Judy Gay , former missionary to Liberia and Lesotho, and now retired.. (One of the first two women to be ordained in Lesotho, the other being a Lesothan). - still at St. James's, The Revd. ...

It doesn’t matter what you do in the bedroom as long as you don’t do it in the street and frighten the horses. — Daphne Fielding, The Duchess of Jermyn Street. ------------------------------------------ Let’s make a law that gay people can have birthdays, but straight people get more cake - you know, to send the right message to kids.   --------------------------- Aunt Lorraine said, “Bob, you’re gay. Are you seeing a psychiatrist?” I said, “No, I’m seeing a lieutenant in the Navy”.      

(1)  Ione with her parents, god-parents and big sister.  (2) Children bless the water with their hands (3)  Michael (Priest), Alan (Deacon) with Ione (4) The two Grand-mothers

The parish which is a spiritual home for me is St. Boniface on Siesta Key, Sarasota, FL.   I am one of six retired Priests who hang out there. St. Boniface has two and a half priests on staff.   There is Ted Copeland (Rector), Andrea Taylor (Assistant), and Wesley Wasdyke (Associate). Wesley (“Wes”) spends half the year in New Hampshire, so he is the “half” of the two and a half. Andrea (“Andi”) and I were colleagues in the greater Boston area, so we are delighted to have been re-united. Ted is a great Rector.   He is so very generous in the ways that he shares ministerial leadership with Andi and Wes, and with his six retirees. So it was that Ted, my Rector, asked me to assist this morning by baptising 6 month old Ione Rose Gasparillo . For various reasons this baptism was slated to take place between the 9:00 and 11:15 services.   (Ted and Wes were teaching classes at that time, and Andi was with the youth group which was concluding a 30 hour fast). What a gif...