Category: Ordained Ministers Priests Rabbis Clergy

Esoteric Christianity, what does it mean?

Bishop James posted Wikipedia’s definition of esoteric Christianity,

Esoteric Christianity is an ensemble of spiritual currents which regard Christianity as a mystery religion,[1][2] and profess the existence and possession of certain esoteric doctrines or practices[3][4] of which the public is unaware (or even to which they may be denied access) but which are understood by a small group of people.[5]

and then he asked:

Do you think it is an accurate description?  How can it be defined as “the existence and possession of certain esoteric doctrines or practices of which the public is unaware (or even to which they may be denied access) but which are understood by a small group of people” and yet many of the described elements have so many books and public websites devoted to it?

How can a Christian possibly be devoted to Crowley type goetia?

* * * * * * * * * * *

Very thought provoking question; I responded thus:

Aleister Crowley’s perverted nonsense is not esoteric Christianity.  One might call it esoteric Satanism, but never Christianity.
The Wikipedia definition of esoteric Christianity is accurate in my opinion for the “original” esoteric Christianity. Almost exactly 100 years ago esoteric Christianity finally became talked about in the salons and publications of the Western world.  Of course it did exist before, but the turn of the last century is when it gained a wider audience, a small niche, but much wider than the centuries before.
Now there are indeed tons of books and websites dedicated to esoteric Christianity, my first website in 1999 was one of them. But the esoteric underground stream is still just a small niche in Christianity. In this Internet Age esoteric is still little known, but not as obscure and “occulted” as it once was.
My favorite definition of the word esoteric is based on the original Greek word “esoteric”, which means “inner”. Esoteric Christianity is really “inner” Christianity. Richard Smoley lays it out perfectly in his very enjoyable book, Inner Christianity: A Guide to the Esoteric Tradition
Here are our lessons based on that book:
Because we are the Esoteric Interfaith Church, Inc. esoteric teachings and Smoley’s book figure prominently on our tenets of faith page here: http://esotericchurch.org/tenets.shtml
Our tenets of faith are not dogmas that must be followed by all our ordained minister and rabbi clergy. We are definitely multi-faith and interfaith in addition to being esoteric. We recently ordained a New Thought minister and a Celtic Minister. Technically since esoteric Judaism (Kabbalah, etc.) is part of the underground stream we enjoy, we should call ourselves esoteric Judeo-Christianity….and multi-faith, interfaith, spiritual…

Ordained Clergy helped calm Ferguson unrest

Father Erik, an ordained priest of our church, posted to our seminary forum about the racial protests going on in Ferguson, Missouri after a white police officer fatally shot a young black man.

Father Erik writes:

…the presence of clergy amongst the protesters …[reportedly has had] a recent calming effect.  As the article says, where tear gas and rubber bullets did not work, having a significant presence of clergy engaging persons seems to have a positive effect in reducing additional violence.  http://www.buzzfeed.com/jimdalrympleii/how-clergy-in-ferguson-succeeded-where-the-police-failed

…A pastor local to me stated that when the MO State Police got involved one of their commanding officers helped calm the crowds by walking with them in a protest march.  If that is an accurate report, we see another example of face-to-face human interaction having a positive, peaceful effect over and above the use of gas and bullets.

As the movie “The Five Element” observed, violence begets violence.

Now I’m neither a peace- or war-monger.  I feel there are times when violence must be met with violence.  But it is never a long-term solution.

I find it encouraging that clergy began to show a significant presence (over 100 as per the report) and that this has begun a positive shift.  It seems it might collectively give us something to think about.

So too, the larger social issues are worth consideration.  These are national and even international problems, so our individual effective response is limited.  To my mind a popular bumper sticker summed this dilemma up nicely:  “Think Globally – Act Locally.”

My gut instinct is that we are most effect close to home, where we can look someone in the eye.  Voting is important, and being active in our local communities is important.

The following is a YouTube link to a sermon which addresses these points (I think it was the one that mentioned the MO State Police too).

“Offending the Pious”
http://youtu.be/Ny3yajLR9zQ?list=UUeF1t9dro_UwXa5qO_FH7bg (17-minutes long)

Erik+

Another reason to become an ordained minister, rabbi, or other clergy

You can be one of the peacemakers.  There is work to be done in ministry.  If you have heard the Call to serve as a spiritual guide, a member of the clergy, to become an ordained minister, reverend, rabbi — now might be your time to answer that Call.

Here is another article on the subject,
Clergy calm tension on the streets of Ferguson — where you can see several photographs of ordained clergy in Ferguson, both men and women ministers, priests, black and white, all working together to bring peace. It’s worth remembering that the great Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an ordained minister, Doctor of Divinity, and a peacemaker with martyr-like stature surpassing Ghandi.

Become an Ordained Minister, get your Doctor of Divinity degree like Martin Luther KingHe never supported violence — and he went on a very famous protest march.

Ordained Rabbi Sent Me This: Don’t Cry for Us Israelis

Become an Ordained Rabbi, Woman Rabbi, Female RabbiSomebody who became an ordained Rabbi via our seminary sent me the following.

It’s Okay. Don’t Cry for Us Israelis

By Naomi Ragen

I’m sitting here in Jerusalem after a week of heartbreak over three murdered teens, followed by two weeks of sirens, bomb blasts, and finally, the funerals of young IDF soldiers, of whom one-third are students who should be taking their final exams, instead of risking their lives. I’m reading on the internet about what a horrible person I am as an Israeli and as a Jew, and what a terrible, immoral country I live in.

All this criticism comes mainly from the European press: The Guardian, the BBC, papers in Italy, Norway, France, and don’t forget America: The New York Times, CNN. And I’m thinking: Gee, the British should understand. After all, they lived through the blitz, Nazis raining bombs indiscriminately down on them, the way Hamas is raining bombs down on us. And when the brave pilots of the RAF aimed their bombs at Dresden killing 300,000 men, women and children, they didn’t throw down leaflets telling people to politely evacuate; didn’t send their soldiers to knock on doors to see if they’d followed the leaflets instructions (as CNN complained Israel failed to do at an UNRWA school, which was possibly hit by a Hamas rocket that didn’t make it out of Gaza to Israel, anyway.)

And I think of the rest of Europe, who rounded up our grandparents and
great-grandparents, and relatives –men, women and children—and sent them off to be gassed, no questions asked. And I think: They are now the moral arbiters of the free world? They are telling the descendants of the people they murdered how to behave when other anti-Semites want to kill them?

As for Americans, represented by the New York Times, that bastion of high-minded hypocrisy and mediocre journalism parading as the “newspaper of record,” one has only to read the article by Professor Auerbach in the New York Observer (Two Weeks of Shallow, Facile Moral Equivalency From the New York Times) to see how Jodi Rudoren and other Times apparatchiks have learned to close their minds and love Hamas. After all, there are CHILDREN DYING. It doesn’t matter that the Palestinians have educated an entire generation to be little Nazi-wannabes, who worship death and hate Jews, murdering their souls, and are now callously putting their bodies in harm’s way to use for touching photo ops. We shouldn’t be shocked by this omission by the Times. After all, The New York Times was one of the last news outlets to bring to the attention of the reading public the Nazi atrocities in Europe. Read the Times during the nightmare years, and see if you can’t find a pattern here.

And so, as an Israeli, brought up with Jewish values, and an American, taught to love freedom, justice, democracy and fair play, I have to tell all of you — Europeans, Americans, and last of all Muslim terrorist sympathizers and barbarians — that what you are saying no longer moves anyone of good moral judgment and intelligence. The current crisis in Gaza is so morally clear-cut, so absolutely a case of self-defense, that I must say to you, as someone finally said to Senator McCarthy: “Sir, have you no shame?”

I prefer that you — writers of these lies and libels — hate me and my country, if it means that you can save your tears for other people’s dead. We aren’t greedy for sympathy. After all, we got so much after the Holocaust, we prefer other people to have their share now. These days, we prefer to live, rather than have people cry over us and the injustices done to us.

So by all means, cry for the Palestinian people – men women and children- whose duly elected leadership has callously left them without protection from just retribution for Hamas’ terrorist crimes. Who took the Gazans’ aid money and are living in Qatar in five star hotels building shopping centers for themselves. Who built terrorist tunnels under the Gazans’ homes, mosques, hospitals and schools, and recruited the sons of Gaza to die for Allah, while the Hamas militants sit in bunkers waiting for the U.N. to rescue them.

Don’t cry for us, or our families, or our children, or grandchildren. Not this time. Not ever. Not if we can help it. Because this time, thank God, we have a country. We are armed. This time, with God’s help, we know how to protect ourselves from Nazis and their high-minded media cheerleaders.

I would like to end this with an expletive and a hand gesture towards the
people I’m addressing. Please choose one you think would be fitting. I can
think of many.

Naomi Ragen

Anger toward religion provoked priest attacks in Arizona

Anger toward religion may have provoked deadly attacks on priests in Phoenix last week

The person who brutally attacked two Phoenix priests might have a lot of anger toward people and things associated with religion, a Phoenix Police Department spokesman said.

Police also said they are looking for a man who was seen entering a residence attached to Mother of Mercy Mission Catholic Church, where one Phoenix priest was shot and killed and another badly beaten Wednesday night.

The violent nature of the crimes – the Rev. Kenneth Walker was shot multiple times and the Rev. Joseph Terra was brutally beaten – leads police to believe the attacker is angry at churches, priests or religion in general, said Sgt. Darren Burch of the department’s Silent Witness program.

Burch said there was a lot of anger and venom involved in the attacks in the rectory of the church on Wednesday.

“Somebody in our community knows about an individual in his 40s that has that type of anger, that type of violent nature, those tendencies and that’s the perfect tip that we need,” Burch said.

Terra remains hospitalized in critical condition.

Burch said the attacker might have previously outwardly exhibited anger toward religion or priests but might have become more withdrawn and not as visibly agitated since the attack.

A flyer issued by the Phoenix Police Department said police were looking for a white man, 40 to 49 years old, who was seen entering the residence at the church near 1500 W. Monroe St. about 9:11 p.m. Wednesday.

Police continue to urge anyone with information about the suspect or the crimes to call Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS (480-948-6377), or 480-TESTIGO (480-837-8446), or 800-343-TIPS (800-343-8477).

Silent Witness is offering up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and/or indictment of the suspect or suspects in this crime.

Read more: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2014/06/police-anger-toward-religion-may-have-provoked-deadly-attacks-on-priests-in-phoenix/#ixzz34kQ0LV9H

Women could be ordained deacons in Catholic Church and perform weddings

Women are unfortunately still not allowed ordination to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church, but there is new talk of allowing them to be ordained as deacons. A Catholic deacon is the equivalent of an ordained minister in the non-Catholic world.  Currently Catholic Deacons, like ordained pastors and ministers are called “Reverend”, and are allowed to officiate weddings and do other clergy functions.

The current movement would make women eligible for more jobs in the Roman Catholic Church than just becoming nuns. They might be eligible for ordination, not as a priest, but at least as a Roman Catholic deacon. A deacon goes thru an ordination, it is considered one of the Holy Orders. Having women as deacons in Catholic Churches would be awesome, and at least a step in the right direction. They would be female clergy.

Read more on the movement What more could women do in the Church, here are some ideas.

 

Women bishops increasing — at least in North America!

BIshop Katia Romanoff and Bishop Carol Parrish January 17, 2014. Don't mind the occult sign language there
Bishop Katia Romanoff & Bishop Carol Parrish. Don’t mind our occult sign language going on there…

Spent yesterday with Bishop Carol Parrish, one of my spiritual teachers from the 1990s.  She was consecrated an Independent Sacramental (Catholic) bishop a couple of years ago not long after my own consecration.  The ISM is still the only “catholic” movement allowing woman-bishops and priests, although the Anglicans finally have a few. The amount of female bishops is growing in North America, even if it is not in the rest of the world. Now if only my other favorite teacher, Margaret Starbird, would let us make her an Independent Sacramental Bishop….  hee hee. Time to join the episcopate, Margaret!

I often long for a feminine form of the word bishop we could use (just like I long for more feminine vestments and especially miters for us!).  In the Greek Bible the word for bishop is episkopo, right? So episkopa would be woman-bishop?

One of many things we talked about yesterday was the  Gospel of Mary Magdalene by Jean-Yves LeLoup which +Carol is currently reading.  It was a significant study for me and my own formation as a woman priest when I read it in 2004 — suggested by Margaret.  +Carol is just now discovering his work and says she really appreciates the way Leloup answers any naysayers and critics by putting the original text on one page, and the translation on the facing page. His translation and commentary are so inspiring.  I am going to have to go dig out my copy right now.

Bishop Carol is teaching a workshop tomorrow at the Temple of the Living God in St. Petersburg where she’s been coming every year for the past 40 years,  which is basically most of my life…  She really is amazing the way she keeps on working decade after decade.

Gift Idea for the Ordained Minister – Bible in Chronological Order!

This looks nifty. Just think, no Soap Opera style flash backs any more while reading the Bible!  <grin> 

Might be a good version of the Bible for our Doctor of Theology degree candidates since it’s non-mainstream and non-fundamentalist.
I need to put this on my Christmas wish list. The list I really don’t have this year. But if I did, my children and husband would groan and say, “What? Another booook on your gift idea list….?!”  Worse yet, it’s another religion book. That’s all I like to read. Hee hee.  But this is no ordinary religion book people, it is a version of THE religion book. PERFECT gift for the ordained minister in your life hint hint hint…

The Chronological Study Bible

The Bible in Dynamic Historical Order

Immerse yourself in the beautifully designed pages.  Dig into ancient civilizations, religions, governments and the cultures and peoples that continue to shape our world today.  Explore the hidden connections in Scripture through one dramatic historical timeline.

 

Ordained Ministers do counseling at crime scenes

Atheists are trying to stop clergy from being sent to crime scenes and accidents where they do grief counseling and help the victims deal with the tragedy or loss they’ve just endured.  The authorities, police, etc. send the minister, rabbi or chaplain to the scene.  But now the atheists say these dedicated ordained professionals are not doing anything, they are actually doing harm.

This article describes the atheist campaign to stop clergy.

Atheist group seeks end to Alabama grief counseling by clergy

Our online Seminary ordains ministers, chaplains and rabbis as alternative clergy…

…several of which have done crime scene counseling, terrorist scene counseling, etc.  Alabama is one of the places in the country that will still send a priest, ordained minister, as a counselor.  What a shame this practice is under attack now.  I remember reading after the Boston bombing how clergy were kept back from the scene, even a Catholic priest who could have read the last rites to the Catholic little boy that died. Humans have three natures, the physical, mental and spiritual.  It seems completely wrong to take every vestige of the spiritual out of public life and force it into private life only.  They are forcing spirituality into the closet.  Suppressing spirituality is  just as dangerous as suppressing sexuality.

 

Ordained Married Priest Hospital Chaplain and ministers 2 churches

Newly ordained married Catholic priest – Vatican approved!

Newly Ordained Married Priest blesses his wife and children
Photo by Bob Ocken of the Arkansas Catholic

Married Catholic Priest George Sanders blesses his wife and children on his ordination day

From Arkansas Catholic:

On his ordination day Aug. 3, Father George Sanders reflected on his journey that got him to Christ the King Church in Little Rock kneeling before Bishop Anthony B. Taylor.

As the bishop laid hands on him, as he prostrated himself during the Litany of Saints and had his hands anointed with chrism oil, he thought back on his life.

At 14, he first heard the calling to become a priest.

At 27 he got married.

When he was 39 years old, the El Dorado native joined the Charismatic Episcopal Church and served as a priest in that church for three years. When he left the church in 2001 he was told he could never become a Catholic priest.

When he was 47 years old, he and his wife Brenda joined the Catholic Church.

Four years later, he finally began his studies for the Catholic priesthood. It was initially believed that Sanders would be able to be ordained in 2011, but it took another two years of training and patiently waiting for the ordination date to be set.

Now at 57 years old, he is looking at a new journey as a hospital chaplain and administrator at St. Patrick and St. Mary churches in North Little Rock.

“I remembered all the ups and downs and remembered the journey. My greatest thought is that this journey has come to end and my new journey is just beginning. I am really excited to get out and work in God’s kingdom.”

Sanders’ youngest son Eric, said, “It’s about time. … It seemed like a lot of doors were closed to him, but I guess God just kept leading him.”

Eric, 27, is attending law school at the University of California in Hastings and is spending time this year at a Chinese law firm and taking courses for his degree.

Doors initially seem closed to Sanders because he is married. The Vatican has a special provision for Catholics who were previously ordained ministers to request to be ordained Catholic priests. Then-Bishop J. Peter Sartain made the initial request in 2004, and Sanders began his studies through St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana in 2007.

Sanders’ other son, Gregg, said, “It’s something we have been waiting for a long time. It was the pinnacle of the mountain (today). It is hard to describe all the emotions. It was a long, hard journey and finally arriving at home. It is unbelievable.”

Gregg, 29, recently finished his master’s degree at the University of Dallas and will begin teaching English in Lancaster, Texas, this fall. Gregg was a seminarian for the Diocese of Little Rock for four years shortly after he and his brother joined the Church in 2001.

Father Sanders is the second diocesan priest who is married. Father Alan Rosenau of Hot Springs was ordained 25 years ago after serving as an Anglican priest.

“George is a first for me,” Bishop Taylor said, “because he is the first married priest that will be ordained during my time here. I am so grateful to Brenda and how she has been a constant support through all the years with much patience and encouragement. And, of course, Eric and Gregg and the whole family.”

– Read the rest and see tons more photos at: http://www.arkansas-catholic.org/news/article/3572/Newly-ordained-priest-grateful-doors-were-open-to-him#sthash.nJ7kpBqy.dpuf

 

Women Deacons are technically Ordained Ministers

Women Deacons link all the way back to Phoebe, a female deacon in the New Testament. Phoebe was mentioned by name, and there were countless other female deacons just after the time of Jesus. A Deacon is the same as an ordained minister since they can officiate marriages, perform wedding ceremonies, and other clergy functions in which ordination is required. Deacons are actually ordained in an ordination ceremony. Below is a photo of women deacons being ordained in Armenia, near where the first Christians (such as Phoebe) lived. Asia Minor / Turkey is considered the cradle of Christianity (Israel the birthplace) and Armenia, a land full of the descendants of those ancient Christians, is right next to Turkey. They still ordain women. Very cool.

The Women Deacons of the Armenian Church

July 6, 2013 By 

Hours after this story broke, about the head of the CDF’s remarks on women deacons, the item below popped up in my Google newsfeed. I think it opens a window to a part of the Christian world many of us in the Latin church don’t know about.

The story recounts a talk given last month in Illinois by the historian Knarik O. Meneshian, who gave some of the background behind women deacons in the Armenian Apostolic Church:

“Women deacons, an ordained ministry, have served the Armenian Church for centuries. In the Haykazian Dictionary, based on evidence from the 5th-century Armenian translations, the word deaconess is defined as a ‘female worshipper or virgin servant active in the church and superior or head of a nunnery.’ Other pertinent references to women deacons in the Armenian Church are included in the ‘Mashdots Matenadarn collection of manuscripts from the period between the fall of the Cilician kingdom (1375) and the end of the 16th century, which contain the ordination rite for women deacons.’

“The diaconate is one of the major orders in the Armenian Church. The word deacon means to serve ‘with humility’ and to assist. The Armenian deaconesses historically have been called sargavak or deacon. They were also referred to as deaconess sister or deaconess nun. The other major orders of the church are bishop and priest. The deaconesses, like the bishops and monks, are celibate. Their convents are usually described as anabad, meaning, in this case, not a ‘desert’ as the word implies, but rather ‘an isolated location where monastics live away from populated areas.’ Anabads differ from monasteries in their totally secluded life style. In convents and monasteries, Armenian women have served as nuns, scribes, subdeacons, deacons, and archdeacons (‘first among equals’), as a result not only giving of themselves, but enriching and contributing much to our nation and church. In the 17th century, for example, the scribe and deaconess known as Hustianeh had written ‘a devotional collection of prayers and lives of the fathers, and a manuscript titled Book of Hours, dated 1653.’

…To appreciate more fully the role of the deaconess in the church, Father Abel Oghlukian’s book, The Deaconess In The Armenian Church, refers to Fr. Hagop Tashian’s bookVardapetutiun Arakelots… (Teachings of the Apostles…), Vienna, 1896, and Kanonagirk Hayots(Book of Canons) edited by V. Hakobyan, Yerevan, 1964, in which a most striking thought is expressed:

If the bishop represents God the Father and the priest Christ, then the deaconess, by her calling, symbolizes the presence of the Holy Spirit, in consequence of which one should accord her fitting respect.

“Over the centuries, in some instances, the mission of the Armenian deaconesses was educating, caring for orphans and the elderly, assisting the indigent, comforting the bereaved, and addressing women’s issues. They served in convents and cathedrals, and the general population…

“Mkhitar Gosh (l130-1213), who was a priest, public figure, scholar, thinker, and writer, ‘defended the practice of ordaining women to the diaconate,’ Ervine writes, and she adds that in his law book titled, On Clerical Orders and the Royal Family, Gosh  described women deacons and their specific usefulness in the following words:

There are also women ordained as deacons, called deaconesses for the sake of preaching to women and reading the Gospel. This makes it unnecessary for a man to enter the convent or for a nun to leave it.

When priests perform baptism on mature women, the deaconesses approach the font to wash the women with the water of atonement behind the curtain.

Their vestments are exactly like those of nuns or sisters, except that on their forehead they have a cross; their stole hangs from over the right shoulder.

Do not consider this new and unprecedented as we learn it from the tradition of the holy apostles: For Paul says, ‘I entrust to you our sister Phoebe, who is a deacon of the church.’

Read more.