In Paris, Bishop Whalon welcomes Shiite delegation to cathedral

From ENS-

Bishop Pierre Whalon of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe on Nov. 11 welcomed Sayyed Jawad al-Shahrastani, official representative of His Eminence Al-Sayyid Ali Al- Husseini Al-Sistani, leader of Shi’a Muslims throughout the world, to the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris.

Sayyed Shahrastani was in France on a tour arranged by the Paris branch of the Al-Khoei Foundation, founded in honor of one of Ayatollah Sistani’s most revered predecessors. The Al-Khoei Foundation promotes an Islam of peace and tolerance, as does Ayatollah Sistani.

Whalon also invited Bishop Michel Dubost, interreligious officer for the [Roman Catholic] Bishops’ Conference of France, and Pastor François Clavairoly, president of the Protestant Federation of France. The new Ambassador of Iraq, His Excellency Haidar Nasir, was also in attendance, as well as a delegation from the Al-Khoei Foundation.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2016/11/16/in-paris-bishop-whalon-welcomes-shiite-delegation-to-cathedral/

A lament over Munich from Europe Bishop Pierre Whalon

From ENS-

You know, God, that I am tired, I am sick and tired, of regularly writing these reflections. I do so because I am bishop for these lands. My heart goes out once again to a city battered and mauled by a kid with a gun. A few days ago, another town, Würzburg, and a boy with an axe. Last week it was a guy with a truck. Before that, with a knife, killing a mother and father in front of their three-year-old son. Before that, it was Brussels. And Paris. And Paris. And Toulouse.

Not to mention, Lord, what’s happening in my country of origin, my homeland. Baton Rouge, Dallas, Orlando, San Bernardino. And the land I visited in 2003, that you brought me to just before the war, that stupid war. Baghdad, I want to go back, but I can’t. And Turkey and Bangladesh. And the horror that is Saudi Arabia. I have friends, real friends, who are Muslim faithful, imams, even an ayatollah or two. And they are dying too. For what?

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2016/07/23/a-lament-over-munich-from-europe-bishop-pierre-whalon/

Ain't it awful 'bout dem Anglicans?

From Huffington (Pierre Whalon) With links

Schadenfreude is a wonderful German word, meaning to pretend to be saddened by another's misfortune while secretly rejoicing in it. It is a specialty of journalists, among all the rest of us sinners. "Ain't it awful about the Anglican Communion?" has been a headline that a lot of media around the world have been trying to write for some twenty years. I remember at the 2008 Lambeth Conference of bishops (a gathering of the world's Anglican bishops every ten years or so) how the media were salivating in hope of news that the bishops were at each other's throats and that the worldwide Communion would fracture and split apart. They soon slunk away as it became clear that we were not going to do any of that.

Last week's meeting of the 38 heads of the Communion's churches (called "Primates"), chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, was another example of Schadenfreude disappointed. The Washington Post, usually one of the lesser offenders, wrote a seriously wrong report, entitled "Anglican Communion suspends Episcopal Church after years of gay rights debates." The reporter apparently couldn't wait to proclaim the desired result, because had he waited for the final communiqué, entitled "Walking Together in the Service of God in the World", his editors would have stopped that story . The Episcopal Church was not suspended. The gathering of the Primates has no power to "suspend" a member church, in any event.


More here-


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bishop-pierre-whalon/aint-it-awful-bout-dem-an_b_9008452.html

In Paris, do we have to love our enemies? Bishop Whalon statement

From ENS-

How can we pray this prayer of all prayers, here in Paris, the day after?

O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth: deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p. 818.)

Yes, Jesus did command us: “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” “Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you.” (Matt. 5:44; Luke 6:27). Really? Yesterday several terrorists killed at least 128 people in 6 separate but coordinated attacks here in Paris. According to the Islamic State group, Da’ech, this was planned in advance and ordered from their base in Syria, in retaliation for the French involvement there.

The French president, François Hollande, has promised to reply in kind: “We will be merciless.” Meanwhile, hundreds of families are mourning their dead and wounded, attacked simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Charlie Hebdo and Hypercacher attacks in January were targeted specifically; these six attacks were against “targets of opportunity,” as the military says.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2015/11/14/in-paris-do-we-have-to-love-our-enemies-bishop-whalon-statement/

DEBATE: The Pope's visit: the role of religion today?

From France- Video

Benedict XVI is in Madrid for a four day visit, starting off with World Youth Day. An estimated one and a half million people are expected to visit the event, and with that in mind Laura Baines asks her guests if faith could be the answer to many of the ills plaguing modern society? Or does too much focus on the afterlife mean that we neglect the chance to make life on earth better for everybody?

• Pierre WHALON. Bishop in charge of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe;
• Myra MADHY DARIDAN. Egyptian writer, author of "Le Coran raconté aux enfants";
• Tom HENEGHAN. Religion editor, Reuters;
• Andrew COPSON. Chief executive, British Humanist Association - from London;
• Steve MARSHALL. Young participant to World Youth Days - By phone from Madrid.

More here-

http://www.france24.com/en/20110818-debate-The-Pope-visit-Whats-the-role-of-religion-today

How Quickly We Forget

From Huffington- (Bishop Pierre Whalon)

On Monday last, I went to Charles de Gaulle airport with members of the Association d'entraide aux minorités d'Orient (Organization supporting minorities in the Orient) or AEMO, to meet family members of people wounded in the October 31 attack on the Baghdad cathedral. At the request of the French government, AEMO members had found the wounded in various Baghdad hospitals, and the government had brought 53 people out in an air ambulance on November 8.

With me was the lone surviving priest, Fr. Raphaël Qatin, and some of the wounded awaiting their relatives. Our volunteers have cared for them daily since then, a huge burden on the little NGO I've presided over since its inception, designed to locate Iraqis threatened personally with death for reasons of faith. We have helped mostly Christians, but also Muslims and Mandaeans as well.

As eleven tired travelers strolled out of the customs area, laden with the belongings they could take, the reunions were joyful and terribly sad. One woman, awaiting the 17-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son she hadn't seen since November, was trembling and weeping as she waited. Weeping because her son had never been told that his father is dead, dead of his wounds. She dreaded telling him. It could wait a day, she told me in broken English. Fr. Raphaël embraced an elderly man, red-faced and crying unashamedly, whose son Fr. Wasim Tabeeh was the first to die. As he tried to convince the assailants to leave the church, they threatened him.

When he pleaded that they take him and leave his parishioners alone, they opened fire and actually cut him in two with concentrated AK-47 shots. The gentleman will find his wife, resettled in another city in France. A family of five children and their father impatiently awaited to leave and find their mother and wife, still recovering from her wounds.

More here-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bishop-pierre-whalon/how-quickly-we-forget_b_845771.html

Christian Morality and the Murder of David Kato

From Huffington- (Bishop Whalon and I were ordained to the deaconate together)

David Kato paid the ultimate price for being gay in Uganda. A leader of Sexual Minorities Uganda, which seeks to change fellow citizens' minds about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people, he was murdered in his home in Mukono, Uganda, on Jan. 26. He had been targeted as a "top homosexual" in a national newspaper last October.

The fear and hatred that inspired David's killers are not confined to the uneducated. Recently, a lawmaker proposed legislation that would make homosexual sex a capital crime in certain cases. The churches in Uganda have been slow to act. In fact, reports from David Kato's funeral affirm that an Anglican priest loudly interrupted the service to condemn "ungodliness," which led to the villagers refusing to bury his body. His friends had to haul his body to the grave and inter him themselves.

It would be easy to point fingers at "those Ugandans" but we cannot exempt ourselves. Gay people continue to be targets of violence across Europe and Asia, as well as the Americas. It is not enough to insist on the rights of people to live free from fear and harassment, though that is necessary. We Christians need to go further.

Followers of Jesus are to work at living a new kind of life that allows us, among other things, to conquer our fear and hatred of "the Other" -- whatever that Other is like. This must happen in order to honor the God who became one of us that we might become like God (2 Peter 1: 3-9). Jesus, the supreme Other, came so that we would reject him in fear and loathing, and kill him. In his death and resurrection, Jesus overcame fear with joy, dissolved hatred with love and conquered death with everlasting life, for you and me. Through the power of his Spirit, given in baptism, we can and we must give the Other not only justice but also love.

More here-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bishop-pierre-whalon/morality-murder-and-david_b_819404.html

The Most Effective Help For Haiti -- The Church

From Huffington- Pierre and I were ordained together.

Why bother with Haiti? There has been a lot of exasperation expressed that "nothing has changed in Haiti" since the earthquake a year ago. There is talk of God's punishment for "devil worship," of the bitter fruits of failed socialism, of the inability of former slaves to govern themselves effectively. Money given for Haiti is just "poured down a rat hole." In other words, let's blame the victims for their predicament and leave them in it. They brought it on themselves. What's it got to do with us?

When Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, there was a tremendous response from Americans and people across the globe. Even in the world's richest country, it will still require a long time before that one storm's damage will be completely effaced.

Contrary to media reports, a lot has changed in Haiti. For one thing, the dire predictions in January 2010 of massacres, civil war, massive epidemics, etc., have not materialized because of the efforts of many people, beginning with the Haitians themselves. We should not expect the much greater devastation in Haiti, one of the world's poorest countries, to be rebuilt any faster. At best, it will be many years before Haiti will be back on its feet.

More here-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bishop-pierre-whalon/whats-haiti-got-to-do-wit_b_807601.html