In a holy season, faiths share a meal and understanding

From North Carolina-

With plates of horseradish, bitter herbs and boiled eggs set in their familiar places on the table, Jews gathered Sunday for a ritual that broke from tradition in a few notable ways.

For starters, the setting for this Passover Seder was the Irregardless Cafe, a Raleigh mainstay known more for its eclectic menu and music than a role in Holy Week activities.

And among the invited guests were Presbyterians, Baptists and Episcopalians, some experiencing the Jewish holiday of Passover for the first time. It coincided with a day associated with the beginning of their Christian faith, Palm Sunday.

Read more here:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/04/02/1974787/in-a-holy-season-faiths-share.html#storylink=cpy

Soggy Church Vestibule Cleaned in Time for Christmas Eve Services

Gid was a seminary classmate. God really does redeem disasters.

One of the most prominent and historic churches in the Washington region went through a trial by water yesterday before it managed to open for Christmas Eve services.

Water from a break in a fire-suppression system cascaded from the steeple of St. Anne's Episcopal Church in Annapolis on Tuesday night and rose in a vestibule.

"We had a waterfall," said the Rev. Gid Montjoy, the priest at St. Anne's, which traces its origins to the 1690s.

The current building, which is 149 years old, is the church's third on its site in the center of historic Annapolis. And when the water began to gush, so did the dirt and soot that had built up in the steeple since 1859, Montjoy said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/24/AR2008122402639.html?hpid=sec-religion

In Hard Times, Houses of God Turn to Chapter 11 in Book of Bankruptcy

This is from the Wall Street Journal and focuses on a Conservative break away Anglican Congregation which after 17 years of struggling finally had to file for bankruptcy. The first link below is to the article the second to the church's web site. I can't tell if they are affiliated with one of the Common Cause partners or not.

St. Andrew, the recently auctioned Maryland church, opened 17 years ago in a former sporting-goods store in downtown Easton. The town of historic colonial mansions and sprawling farms was once home to Frederick Douglass. More recently, the town has become a retreat for Washington's elite.

Bats in the Belfry
The rector of St. Andrew, Bishop Johnson, attracted like-minded conservatives who disliked Episcopal innovations, such as ordaining female priests. In 2005, the church borrowed $850,000 to buy a much larger space that had once belonged to a Roman Catholic parish.

The 1868 Gothic revival structure was large for Bishop Johnson's congregation of 50 people. But the gregarious Midwesterner, who once raised money for a ballet troupe and orchestra, said he was confident his ministry and donations would grow. "I'm well liked, I'm a lucky man," he says he felt at the time. He wooed real-estate agents, bankers and well-heeled locals -- some of whom didn't even attend the church -- and received pledges worth $200,000.

Food Pantry
Some donors said they were impressed with the bishop's generous food pantry and help given to local Hispanics. For a time, Bishop Johnson said Mass in Spanish on Friday nights for workers at a crabmeat processor, and the parish also offered English classes.

"He served a part of this community that often times does not get served well," says Lee Denny, president of the local General Motors dealership. Mr. Denny, an elder in Easton's Presbyterian Church, donated $10,000.

But expenses mounted. There were mice in the basement and bats in the belfry. It cost about $45,000 to stanch creeping black mold. Once the local Catholic parish began saying Mass in Spanish, it drew off most of St. Andrew's immigrant members. Weekly donations dropped to about $600 from $1,425 three years ago, says Bishop Johnson. And many of those who had pledged $200,000 toward the mortgage payments told the bishop they needed to delay their gifts, saying their stock portfolios were down.

The rest is here-

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122999261138328613.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

St. Andrew's web site here.

http://www.saintandreweaston.org/