Healing News
taken from the May/June 2003 issue

In the Episcopal Diocese of Albany, Bishop Dan Herzog, together with Suffragan Bishop David Bena, plans to visit every deanery during this Lent and conduct evening healing services. In the diocesan newsletter he writes, "We want to continue the work that Jesus directed his disciples to do. …This gives us the opportunity to minister directly to the disciples of this diocese."

Isn’t this a great example?

Related to Healing our Image of God 
from a doctoral dissertation:

"People with a hierarchical orientation, my data revealed, held primarily power-over-images of God (e.g. God as master, ruler, and judge); persons with an ascetical orientation (defined as suffering for its own sake – regarding sex as unholy, for example, and "the world" a minefield of temptations) showed a similar pattern. However, hierarchical orientation was often enough accompanied by immanent images of God (e.g. God as spouse, lover, mother and child; ascetical orientation was not. Does an ascetic spirituality breed fear of God as an intimate other?

…Participants in my study who held hierarchical religious orientations had far more negative attitudes towards people of color, women and homosexuals, than did participants with a more democratic orientation. Those with primarily ascetic religious orientations were even more likely to be racially prejudiced and had similar attitudes towards women and gay people. Not surprisingly, people with hierarchical religious associations often held ascetical orientations as well." (Corpus Reports, Sept.-Oct., 2001, p. 21).

" Americans and people from developing nations place a higher importance on religion than do residents of other wealthy countries, a poll sponsored by the Washington-based Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has found. The poll, part of a 44-nation survey in the Pew Global Attitudes Project, showed that 59 percent of Americans said religion plays a very important role in their lives. That percentage is almost twice as high as that of Canadians, 30 percent of whom felt the same way. Americans’ positive sentiments about religion also were stronger than those of Western Europeans. About 33 percent of people polled in Great Britain ranked religion highly, compared to 27 percent of Italians, 21 percent of Germans and 11 percent of French citizens." Christian Century, Jan. 25, 2003, p. 17.

Raising fuel efficiency standards to 39 m.p.g. would save 51 billion barrels of oil over the next 50 years, more than 15 times the amount of oil expected from the Arctic Refuge.

Need for Healing in the Roman Catholic Church

The percentage of Catholics who attend church at least once a week dropped to 28 percent in December 2002, a decline from 39 percent a year before. This fell below the Protestant figure (35 percent) for the first time since polls have been recorded. Also there was a significant decline in the number of Catholics who described religion as important in their lives, while Protestant numbers rose slightly. All of this according to George Gallup, Jr.

(America, Feb. 3, 2003). This seems to be a result of the fallout from the pedophilia crisis and the eroding of trust in church authorities.

Renewed Appreciation for Life

The numbers of abortions are going down. It is estimated in the U.S. that the number of abortions is

1st trimester: 90%
2nd trimester: less than 10%, or possibly 100,000
3rd trimester: 12,400 infants.

Twinning can occur up to the 14th day.

In one act of intercourse 100 million sperm are released. 100,000 make it to the oviduct and only a few dozen reach the area of the egg. The odds against your ever being conceived are greater than the odds of your winning the national lottery every day of the year. "Not only does that fertilized ovum have within itself the makings of your brain and heart. It has the map of your face, yes your face." (John Kavanaugh, S.J., America, Feb. 3, 2003, p.8).