[Magdalen] Prayers for Ascension, Chicago

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

I wasn't aware of that. I can sympathize, however, my former parish was one
of a kind. It was very thoughtful, had an extremely lively adult education
program that had all kinds of stuff going on to feed the inquiring mind.
Its choir made the intentional decision not to wear vestments. I think the
rector we had was absolutely crucial, because he was one of the most
thoughtful people I've ever known, and he was able to draw a huge number of
brilliant presenters to him. When he left, gradually everything unraveled.
 the had a rector who went to a fundamentalist school (scholarship, his
ticket out of a nasty setting), and fell in love with the liturgy of the
Episcopal Church, but he never really got it that we are a diverse
communion. He just was incredulous about the things he found there, and he
could not push through a choir vestment scheme fast enough.
Now what was a gem, a pearl of great price is just a neighborhood parish.
Before I would have driven an hour to get there, and many folks in the
congregation did in fact do that. Now, it's nothing special.  Nice people,
of course, but no reason to go past any other church to get there.  This is
the result of evening things out.  It is not helping our denomination to
thrive.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Tue, Sep 15, 2015 at 12:06 AM, Cantor03--- via Magdalen <
magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:

>
>
>
> It's probably not completely understood here that Ascension, Chicago,
> is one of the famous flagship Anglocatholic parishes.  It is not just  your
> average neighborhood Episcopal church.  It is an example of the  highest
> liturgical and musical sophistication, and many of us look at the  Sunday
> music/liturgy program, shake our heads in disbelief and drool.
>
> Every ECUSA parish is not going to be able or even want to be part of
> such a sceptered-sway, but there is a lot to be learned from this type  of
> special parish.
>
> The idea that we would lose such a gem is intolerable.
>
>
>
>
> David Strang.
>