{"id":6119,"date":"2004-05-17T07:07:10","date_gmt":"2004-05-17T14:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2004\/05\/17\/running-interference.html"},"modified":"2004-05-17T07:07:10","modified_gmt":"2004-05-17T14:07:10","slug":"running_interfe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/05\/17\/running_interfe.html","title":{"rendered":"Running interference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since the brouhaha <\/a>broke open at our parish, I’ve been scanning the paper daily to see any further articles <\/a>have come out on it.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, there have been far more interesting and high-profile bits of religion news here in the state, as the local Catholics deal with Archbishop Chaput getting in an argument <\/a>with the sex abuse oversight committee, and, on a bigger national scale, his (and Colorado Springs Bishop Sheridan) stances on the whole “denying communion <\/a>to folks who don’t toe the orthodox line” bit.<\/p>\n

(About the latter of which my only opinions are (a) it’s perfectly legitimate for a church organization to say, “These are our beliefs, so agree with them or don’t consider yourself a full member of our faith,” and (b) it’s perfectly legitimate for folks who disagree to vote with their feet. One man’s divisiveness is another man’s adherence to principle, and if the Catholic Church really officially believes that issues like abortion and gay rights and stem cell research and euthanasia are profound societal and personal evils, turning a blind eye to those who publicly disagree and, in fact, act counter to those beliefs is hypocritical at best and being an accomplice in those evils at worst. But I digress. A bit.)<\/p>\n

Anyway, that’s basically been the focus of the Rocky<\/i>‘s religion news<\/a> of late (the Post <\/i>doesn’t seem to think religion news is all that big a deal), which has left our parish and the Episcopal diocese to stew in a bit of an information vacuum.<\/p>\n

Not totally, of course, since there are plenty of folks out there who have an interest in stirring up trouble and spreading rumors, it seems. But there’s been minimal formal communication from either the principles at the parish or from the diocese (and the silence from the former was at the request of the latter).<\/p>\n

That’s beginning to break. Bishop O’Neill sent a letter to the parish over the weekend, explaining that his priority has been on fact-finding and determining the truth of what’s happened (rather than simply relying on the Rocky<\/i>), and he plans on making a formal report to the Standing Committee (his advisory council) this week. His letter was supportive of the parish, but not partisan or pre-judging, and if it was a week or two slow in coming, better late than never. <\/p>\n

(I’d actually sent him an e-mail late last week urging him to issue some sort of a statement, even if it was of the “I can’t say anything now, but I will soon, and you’re in my prayers” kind of thing. He responded back with a nice note, agreeing with me, and the letter which was issued was pretty much just that. I do not take any credit, as it only makes sense.)<\/p>\n

Our rector and assistant rector will be sending out letters to the parish this week, too, going on the record. Whether that will calm folks down or stir things back up again (or both, depending on predispositions) remains to be seen. It’s unfortunate that it’s take this long for “official” word to go out, since conspiracy theories, like nature, abhor a vacuum, and lack of information only lets weeds grow. That’s good advice for anyone doing crisis management: communicate early and communicate often, even if you don’t have anything you can say, since not <\/i>communicating can send a message (rightly or wrongly) of its own.<\/p>\n

On the brighter side, the interior and exterior work on the building expansion is pretty much done — doorknob and shrubbery are mostly what’s left. The expansion is great, a real improvement in the facility in many ways. Hopefully the vast majority of our parishioners will stick around to enjoy it. I think they will.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since the brouhaha broke open at our parish, I’ve been scanning the paper daily to see any further articles have come out on it. Fortunately, there have been far more…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11374,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/09\/10\/a_sad_leave_taking_but_an.html","url_meta":{"origin":6119,"position":0},"title":"A sad leave-taking, but an admirable one","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 10-Sep-07 6:37pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Imagine -- some folks, including a parish priest, who have decided that they can no longer stay in the Episcopal Church, and who are ... leaving.\u00a0 Without fuss.\u00a0 Without...","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/episcshield_15_188.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":129144,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/15\/gimme-that-old-time-religion.html","url_meta":{"origin":6119,"position":1},"title":"Gimme that Old Time Religion","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 15-Dec-15 11:02pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Zoroastrianism is staging a come-back in Kurdistan, apparently a result of both growing Kurdish nationalism, ire at the Islamic extremism of Da'esh, and disgust with the variety of contending Islamic groups clamoring for allegiance. Thanks to Islamic extremism, Iraqi Kurds revive ancient Kurdish Zoroastrianism religion ERBIL-Hewler, Kurdistan region 'Iraq',\u2014 The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13501,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/26\/episcopal_news_from_color.html","url_meta":{"origin":6119,"position":2},"title":"Episcopal News from Colorado Springs","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 26-Nov-08 9:32pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I do try to be charitable, and not take any joy in the misfortunes of others. Really. But the spirit is often weak, and when the proud and the...","rel":"","context":"In "Episcopal Church"","block_context":{"text":"Episcopal Church","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion\/religion-episcopal-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/grace_police_tape.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":132605,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/21\/the-axanar-brouhaha-seems-to-have-been-settled.html","url_meta":{"origin":6119,"position":3},"title":"The Axanar brouhaha seems to have been settled","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 21-Jan-17 11:25am","format":false,"excerpt":"The Prelude movie, and a two-part Axanar feature will be posted on YouTube -- without any ads or other commercial inducements.The Axanar makers will admit they stomped all over CBS\/Paramount's intellectual property. CBS\/Paramount will stop looking so much like ungrateful bullies. The Axanar makers will stop looking like creeps who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129677,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/08\/the-evolving-demographics-of-world-religion.html","url_meta":{"origin":6119,"position":4},"title":"The evolving demographics of world religion","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 8-Feb-16 1:53pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Making predictions based solely on population changes is a dangerous game, since other factors can intervene, but it's one of the few games we have. Based on birth rates in various communities and shifting world demographics ...... By 2050, Muslims are expected to be close to the same proportion of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6050,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/06\/02\/formal_communic.html","url_meta":{"origin":6119,"position":5},"title":"Formal communications","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 2-Jun-04 9:18am","format":false,"excerpt":"The formal letter from Bishop O'Neill to the clergy of Colorado has been transcribed by someone and put online. 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