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Though Mr Hayano is unable to give any definitive answer as to why so many kill themselves at Aokigahara, he has gained great insight into the behaviour of those desperate enough to venture in with no intention of coming back.

In this haunting documentary he tells the film-makers how clues left among the trees can indicate what went through a person’s mind in the moments before they took their own life - or, as is sometimes the case, had a change of heart and chose to live.

His interest in death and despair may seem to stem from morbid fascination, but as the film rolls on it becomes clear that this softly-spoken, pensive man acts out of a desire to understand and prevent these tragedies.

Though the footage includes disturbing stills of bodies found dangling in the forest, perhaps equally chilling are the possessions they leave behind, often signs of distress and indecision.

Vice.Com produces some excellent documentaries - their piece on the labor camps of North Korea, and their foray into the savagery of Liberia are especially riveting - but they’re noted for their rough language as much as for their take-no-prisoners style of filmmaking, so you’ve been warned.

Thomas McKenna: “So a Catholic employer, really getting down to it, he does not, or she does not provide this because that way they would be, in a sense, cooperating with the sin…the sin of contraception or the sin of providing a contraceptive that would abort a child, is this correct?”

Cardinal Burke: “This is correct. It is not only a matter of what we call “material cooperation” in the sense that the employer by giving this insurance benefit is materially providing for the contraception but it is also “formal cooperation” because he is knowingly and deliberately doing this, making this available to people. There is no way to justify it. It is simply wrong.”

April 10, 2012

Kigali, Rwanda

To the Clergy of Rwanda serving the work of the Gospel in North America: Greetings in the Name of the Lord Jesus, the Risen Christ and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

We write to clarify some important questions that remain after our March 29 Resolution and April 2 Communiqué.

As a result of our March 29 Resolution, a Missionary District of PEAR in North America has been established. We are currently working with members of the PEAR‐USA Steering Team to create a temporary Charter for Ministry which will define the mission and structure of the Missionary District. Once we have approved the recommended Charter we will make it available to you. This Charter will be ratified through a proper process at an Inaugural General Assembly (of laity, clergy, and bishops) for the Missionary District which we hope to host in early August.

Members of the PEAR House of Bishops are also working with leaders from ACNA that Archbishop Robert Duncan has appointed and members of the PEAR‐USA Steering Team in the hope of establishing protocols that will govern the Missionary District as a subjurisdiction of the ACNA.

It is our clear intention that the Missionary District will be the only option for clergy and churches in North America wishing stay canonically resident in PEAR. As the details of the Charter for Ministry and the sub‐jurisdictional protocols become clear, we hope that all North American clergy resident in PEAR, along with their churches, will eventually join the Missionary District. A process of formal affiliation with the Missionary District will be described in the Charter. Until the Charter is approved, any North American clergy resident in PEAR can affiliate with the Missionary District by a simple declaration of desire and intent. (This declaration should be communicated in writing to the PEARUSA office. They will pass on further instruction for affiliation and participation for both clergy and churches.)

However, we understand that some clergy currently resident and in good standing in PEAR have chosen, with their churches, to begin the process of transferring to dioceses within the ACNA or other Anglican jurisdictions. Bishop Terrell Glenn is coordinating these requests for letters dimissory on my behalf. This process should continue as needed, and we are fully supportive of those moving directly into the ACNA and other Anglican jurisdictions.

We also understand that some clergy and churches may choose to remain affiliated with the Anglican Mission in the Americas. They are free to do so. Again, we will supply those clergy with letters dimissory to another Anglican jurisdiction upon request. As per our April 2 communiqué, the bishops of the Anglican Mission who resigned in December have been asked to declare the ecclesiastical jurisdiction to which they wish to be translated within the next few weeks. However, we understand that clergy and churches require additional time to make this decision. Therefore, all PEAR clergy in North America must make a clear decision about either affiliating with the Missionary District or transferring directly to the ACNA or another Anglican jurisdiction by August 31, 2012.

In summary, as you come to understand God’s direction for you, please send all requests in writing:

• For those who desire letters dimissory to be sent to a diocese in the ACNA or any other Anglican jurisdiction, to Archbishop Onesphore Rwaje, c/o Bishop Terrell Glenn: fiveglenns@aol.com

• For affiliation with the PEAR Missionary District, to Archbishop Onesphore Rwaje, c/o the PEARUSA office: bacton@pearusa.org

It is important that you are aware of one additional deadline: We anticipate the Inaugural General Assembly for the Missionary District to take place in early August. The proposed deadline for submitting lay and clergy delegates, which will be explained in the Charter, will be no later than thirty days prior to the General Assembly. Clergy and churches that have not decided to affiliate with the Missionary District at least thirty days prior to the General Assembly will be welcome to attend, but they will not have voice and vote.

We trust that this answers important questions and clarifies the possible directions that lie ahead for you.

You are beloved in the Lord! You remain the focus of our prayers. May God grant you his Spirit in full measure as you continue to proclaim the Gospel of the Risen Lord!

Archbishop Onesphore Rwaje and the House of Bishops of PEAR

The original PDF is here.

John McCain and Joseph Lieberman have already called for arming Syria’s rebels, in statements last month from the US Senate where they serve. But they repeated their demand in more dramatic fashion Tuesday – from a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey and with violence unabated, as the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad disregarded the UN plan that was to have silenced the Syrian Army’s guns Tuesday morning.

The two senators joined a growing international chorus of voices finding that the unimplemented plan, brokered by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, is simply allowing the Assad regime to continue its oppression.

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In The Brothers Karamazov, the rationalist and unbelieving Ivan is visited by the devil, who lays out the moral consequences of atheism. After belief in God is extinguished, “man will be exalted with the spirit of divine, titanic pride, and the man-god will appear.” Of course few will have the courage of the “man-god” to live in an entirely secular world. Ivan has the courage to face the fact that God is dead, or so the devil seductively suggests. And thus for him, “everything is permitted.”

The Reverend Fenhagen served as Rector of several parishes in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and at St. Michael and All Angels’ Episcopal Church in Columbia SC before becoming active in academic settings.

He was Director of the Church and Ministry Program at the Hartford Seminary Foundation.

He was named President and Dean of the General Theological Seminary in New York City in 1978 and retired from there in 1992.

Read it all. You may also find an ENS article there.

Japan and other countries in the Asia-Pacific appear to have failed to persuade North Korea to abort a rocket launch planned for as early as this week. Reports suggest that the region could be further unsettled by a rumored third nuclear weapons test by the regime.

The North insists that the launch, which could come on any morning between April 12 to 16 and will coincide with the centenary of the birth of the country's founder Kim Il-sung on April 15, is designed to put an observation satellite into orbit. Japan, South Korea, and the US, however, say the launch would violate United Nations Security Council resolutions banning the North from engaging in missile development.

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Mitt Romney.  Mormon.  Barack Obama.  Twenty years of this.

Bring it on.

Keep in mind from whence the 16 voting members of the Crown Nominations Commission will come:

6 members of the Diocese of Canterbury
6 members elected by General Synod [already elected]
2 members of the the House of Bishops - the Archbishop of York, and one other, or two others if the York declines
1 member of the Primates Meeting nominated not by the Primates, but by the ‘Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion
1 voting lay chairman [appointed by the Prime Minister]

Find out more about the process here.

So here are my two questions.

1) What do we know about the six members already elected by the Synod?

From the House of Laity:

Professor Glynn Harrison - Diocese of Bristol

Mrs Mary Johnston - Diocese of London

Mr Aiden Hargreaves-Smith - Diocese of London

From the House of Clergy:

The Very Revd Andrew Nunn - Diocese of Southwark

The Revd Canon Peter Spiers - Diocese of Liverpool

The Revd Canon Glyn Webster - Diocese of York

2) What do we know about the makeup of the “Vacancy in See Committee” of the Diocese of Canterbury, which elects the six representatives of the Diocese of Canterbury?

By Piero A Tozzi, Christian Post

In a major foreign policy address last December in Geneva before United Nations delegates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton identified "deeply-held … religious beliefs" as among "the obstacles standing in the way of protecting the human rights of LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender] people." Criticizing those who "cite religious or cultural values" to oppose "LGBT" rights, she then made a doctrinal point: if properly understood, "religious traditions" actually support the progressive march of "human rights" and sanction homosexual behavior.

Clinton's remarks followed an executive order making "combating criminalization of LGBT status or conduct" by foreign governments "central" to U.S. foreign policy.

Harnessing a "good religion vs. bad" theme to advance divisive social policy strikes a favored administration chord. Just as the White House has promoted ObamaCare's abortion pill/contraception mandate by using "Catholic" spokesmen such as Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Vice President Joe Biden to blunt Church disapproval, the Obama administration speaks in religious language to advance its global social policy objectives while marginalizing faith-based opposition.

Read here

Bruce Boling will celebrate Easter Sunday this weekend among Southern Baptists, just as he did when he prayed at a tiny Kentucky church where his family filled half the pews.

After decades away from faith, "I slowly began to see what I was missing was the relationship with God that I could find in my church," said Boling, 45, who has settled in with a little Baptist congregation in Hendersonville, Tenn.

Lydia Scrafano's heart will again thrill to hear Catholic hymns sounding on a great pipe organ, just as she did as a child in Detroit.

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Dr. Mark Rosenberg, chairman of emergency medicine at St. Joseph’s, said he had consulted on more than 50 geriatric emergency rooms to be opened across the country, from Princeton, N.J., to California, overcoming initial resistance from doctors and nurses who saw assignments to the units as scut work.

“They thought it was a bedpan unit, focused on nursing home patients,” Dr. Rosenberg said. “When they finally realized this was the unit that gave better health care to their parents and grandparents, they jumped onboard.”

Hospitals also have strong financial incentives to focus on the elderly. People over 65 account for 15 percent to 20 percent of emergency room visits, hospital officials say, and that number is expected to grow as the population ages.

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by Lucia Muchova, Turtle Bay & Beyond

Medical Students for Choice (MSFC), a US group set up to provide abortion training for medical students, will provide grants for up to 15 British and Irish students to train in abortion provision at British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) clinics- “the UK’s leading independent provider of abortion care” per their admission.   According to the Guardian, MSFC campaigners are “concerned that an absence of termination training in medical schools – coupled with what they see as a political hostility – will lead to a shortage of practitioners that could jeopardise women’s access to services in the future.”   To remedy the desperate lack of interest in abortion provision, MSFC will provide students with funds to cover their travel and accommodation. The Guardian reports these expenses are part of MSFC’s $100,000 budget funding externships in 10 countries. The abortion industry is clearly facing less and less interest among medical students to train as abortion providers. Attempts to remedy the dearth of expert providers must, therefore, extend beyond national borders:   Read here    

Moving hastily to curb possible political fallout from a scandal involving Bo Xilai, a major Communist Party figure, China’s top leaders have decided to expel him from the Politburo, the 25-member body that runs China, according to two sources with knowledge of the case.

Already ousted from his regional party role and under house arrest, Mr. Bo will placed under formal investigation, the sources said.

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Q, which stands for "question," will allow 30 different culture leaders — from New York Times columnist David Brooks to Florida megachurch pastor Joel Hunter— to present their ideas for the common good during a two-and-a-half day confab.

"We feel we have a role to play in renewing the culture and holding back the effects of sin," said [Gabe] Lyons, founder of Q, a nonprofit organization based in New York City. "We're not to do it in an antagonistic way. We hope to do it in a hopeful way that gives witness to the rest of the world in how things ought to be."

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By Douglas Farrow, Touchstone Magazine

[...]  Same-sex marriage dispenses with all of that, however. By excising sexual difference, with its generative power, it deprives itself of any direct connection to nature. The unit it creates rests on human choice, as does that created by marriage. But whether monogamous, polygamous, or polyamorous, it is a closed unit that reduces to human choice, rather than engaging choice with nature; and its lack of a generative dimension means that it cannot be construed as a fundamental building block.

Institutionally, then, it is nothing more than a legal construct. Its roots run no deeper than positive law. It therefore cannot present itself to the state as the bearer of independent rights and responsibilities, as older or more basic than the state itself. Indeed, it is a creature of the state, generated by the state’s assumption of the power of invention or re-definition. Which changes everything.

Six years ago, when same-sex marriage became law in Canada, the new legislation quietly acknowledged this. In its consequential amendments section, Bill C-38 struck out the language of “natural parent,” “blood relationship,” etc., from all Canadian laws. Wherever they were found, these expressions were replaced with “legal parent,” “legal relationship,” and so forth.

That was strictly necessary. “Marriage” was now a legal fiction, a tool of the state, not a natural and pre-political institution recognized and in certain respects (age, consanguinity, consent, exclusivity) regulated by the state.

Read here

Pravin Thevathasan, MercatorNet

An international conference of psychiatrists is ignoring the clamorous debate over the psychological consequences of abortion.

That there are psychological consequences to having an abortion have been accepted by many in the pro-life and pro-abortion camps. The psychiatrist Professor Ian Brockington has commented: "Some [post abortion] mothers feel like criminals and brood over the dead foetus. Some find it hard to look at small babies and burst into tears when they see babies or when abortion is mentioned."(1)   Perhaps most importantly, the "pro-choice" Professor David Fergusson reported in 2008 in the British Journal of Psychiatry (BJP) that his research shows that women who have abortions are twice as likely to suffer mental health issues and three times more likely to suffer specifically from depression than women who have either given birth or never been pregnant.   And yet there is an ideological drive to state that there are no psychological consequences to having an abortion. In 2011, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, together with the Royal College of Psychiatrists, brought out a systematic review that claimed that there was no causal link between abortion and subsequent mental ill health. The steering group which produced the review included psychiatrists Ian Jones and Rock Cantwell.   Read here  

By Steven M Perry, First Things

As government and other political institutions continue to fail us, people of faith remain the only consistent safety net for those in need. Take, for example, the State of Illinois, which recently passed the Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act. The Act requires state-funded adoption agencies to place adoptive children with same-sex couples when they are available. Pursuant to this law, Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois will no longer provide adoption services. This is just one example of what is happening throughout the country: Ideology is beginning to trump the common good.

Catholic Social Services lost funding not because they were ineffective, but because the orphans did not fit the State’s definition of underserved. According to the State of Illinois, same-sex couples are the underserved community and deserve higher priority than the orphans. In general, the government has become a force for “change” instead of a partner of charitable organizations. This was not always the case.

Read here

One of my favorite Easter hymns is about greenness. "Now the green blade riseth from the buried grain."

It goes on to talk about love coming again. It's a reminder to me of how centered our Easter images are in the Northern hemisphere. We talk about greenness and new life and life springing forth from the earth when we talk about resurrection. I often wonder what Easter images come in the Southern hemisphere, and I think that church in the south has something to teach us about that.

Read it all.

Many people still ask, “So what happened to the Episcopal Church? What happened to mainline Protestantism?” “Why do so few who claim to be leaders in the church rejected the most essential doctrines of the faith?” Dr. RC Sproul answers that question in a masterful overview of the last 200 years of western Christianity from Kant to Barth to the New Perspective on Paul, arguing that the Church must recover its “antithesis”, its antithetical stand against those who would deconstruct scripture and the gospel of Jesus Christ.