The Question of Race

I have been reading… and reading… and reading… for years, commentaries and opinion peaces on race. I have listened to the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton, Don Imus (so I don’t get confused… whatever), Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack H. Obama. Simply put, I am confused…

Slavery brought Africans to the New World… hence the term “African American,” which I do not use… you are either African (a citizen from an African nation) or American… unless you have duel citizenship. Ironically… and tragically… slavery was an evil needed for success… at least success as early as it came for the new country of the United States of America. Slavery actually solidified the country through the Civil War… bringing in the 13th Amendment.

Racism… within the secular world, is inevitable. It is bred within us. We are German-Americans (not possible unless we are duel citizens), Italian-Americans (again….) African-Americans (okay… again). We are white, brown, black, yellow, red… and yes, Jesus loves us…. we all know the song. All precious in His sight.

Did the USDA lady play racism… who cares… most of us do… even when we don’t realize it or even want to. Was President Obama elected because he is black… maybe… who cares, Was G.W. elected because he talked like a Texan? Was Justice Sotomater (SP???) chosen because she was Hispanic? Probably… who cares. Is Arizona wrong??? I don’t think so… profiling happens everywhere, regardless of race.

I’m a white guy… with an almost finished degree from the University of Georgia… in History and Classical Culture with experience in Archeology and Native American Studies… again, I am white, who married a woman of El Salvadorian/ white (Costa Rican Missionary) descent… whose father I work for who employs mostly Dominicans… who speak only Spanish… and I love ‘em.

I have chosen not to become a slave to race or racism. I hope you can do the same. I am not a racist… but I do not read in my Bible where the Hebrews asked the Egyptians for reparations. It is time for blacks to acknowledge their renowned place in American history… and realize, as the “Irish Saved Civilization,” the black man and woman saved the Union, more commonly called “The United States of America.”

I think whites and blacks…. i.e. Americans, should be thankful for slavery… it brought us together. Through the hell, the bullshit, and the nightmare, it gave us our first, and the world’s first prominent black leader. Without slavery… would never have happened.

Recently Completed – 1124 West Shore Rd. – Warwick, RI (via Casa Buena Builders – Providence, RI)

We had the wonderful opportunity to renovated and restore the exterior of the Capt. Peter Greene House at 1124 West Shore Rd in Warwick, RI. This house was built by at least 1751, and quite possibly is older than that. Renovations included replacing the sill on the back of the house, replacing wall sheathing boards, installing new clapboards, painting and building and installing new "period" style wood/copper gutters. Below is a few before and af … Read More

via Casa Buena Builders – Providence, RI

World’s Largest Beer Stein!

This is pretty neat…

The World’s Largest Beer Stein!

Beer of The Week on The Beer Wall

There is a new Beer of The Week at the Beer Wall beer blog, check it it!

Beer of The Week April 11 – April 17 2010

Beer Wall Complete! Visit “The Beer Wall”

Beer Wall Complete!

Of course now we will have to find another wall…

Beer Poll 2.0 – What is your Favorite Craft Brewery?</

Beer Poll 2.0 – What is your Favorite Craft Brewery?.

If not one of these, tell us which one it is!

Beer Poll 2.0 – What is your Favorite Craft Brewery?</

Beer Poll 2.0 – What is your Favorite Craft Brewery?.

If not one of these, tell us which one it is!

Introducing a New Blog: “The Beer Wall”

A few years ago, while me and my brother Jacob where at UGA, we thought we knew what “good” beer was… than one night Jake got on the internet… and discovered we had no clue. Luckily, we had a wonderful pub in Athens, GA – The Trappeze – to help guide us on our way. Over two years later, we are both still learning and loving, one new beer at a time.

This blog, which was started yesterday, will have both daily and weekly updates and reviews. Also, we have linked a twitter account – @beerwall – so we don’t have to have a computer – or wait until we get to one – to let you know what we have found. I hope everyone enjoys!

The Beer Wall

Mama Writes Thank You Cards at Emory

Mama in the hospital…

Again, we thank everyone for their prayers and support!

Charismatic Episcopal Church – Statistics

I have had several people ask me the statistics of the CEC, and so I finally decided to go on the website and actually figure them out. Bear in mind, these stats come directly from the ICCEC website, or, in the case of Africa, come from Patriarch Council releases, wikipedia, etc, and are mostly guesses or unconfirmed… but come close.

CEC NA

100 churches, with 50 of them in the Southeast Province. 11 active bishops, in inactive. Counting active bishops, there is a bishop for every 9.25 churches. There are roughly 171 priests and 84 deacons. 20 of the priests are chaplains. The Central Diocese has 10 churches and 2 bishop (I put Bp. Weeks here), the Northeast has 18 churches (6 of which are CEC Canada) and 2 bishops, plus the Primate’s See and the Patriarchal See. As mentioned before, the Southeast has 50 churches, 5 active bishops, and 1 retired bishop. The West has 16 churches and 2 bishops. The Southeast has the most priests with 77, followed by the west with 29, followed by the Northeast with 26 (6 are CEC Canada), followed by the Central with 13. The Society of St. Dismas has 6 churches with 7 priests.

Brazil has 37 churches, 4 bishops and a guess at 39 priests. Deacons are not listed on the website

The Philippines has 41 churches, 5 bishops and 44 priests. Again, finding the exact number of deacons (a lot) and priests is difficult.

Europe has 27 churches, 2 bishops (Philippines), 17 priests, and 6 deacons. It is important to note that the majority of the European Church are actually under the jurisdiction of the Philippines.

The whopper, Africa. Last report I found, from like 2002, had the number of churches at over 1300. I listed it at 1100 to be conservative. According to the Wikipedia page listing bishops, there are 22, making them have 50% -1 (Bp. Prakash makes the total number of active bishops 45) of all the ICCEC bishops. They are represented by Abp. Jones of Alabama who heads the IDA. Bp. Njoroge is assistant (I think that is the term) Patriarchal Legate to Africa.

The Patriarch’s Council -
The Patriarch, His Beatitude Craig Bates
Primate, Abp. Hines (Philippines)
Primate, Abp. Garcia (Brazil)
Archbishop Jones (USA, IDA)
Bishop Kessler, General Secretary (USA)
Bishop Davidson (USA)
Bishop Njoroge (Africa)
Bishop Prakash (Pakistan)

4 of the 8 members are USA, each national church (3 – CECNA, CEC Philippines, CEC Brazil) has their Primate on the council. Africa and Pakistan are represented. European churches other than the ones under Abp. Hines are represented by Abp. Jones as head of the IDA. 11 bishops are represented by 4 on the council, 34 bishops are represented by 5 bishops on the council.

The total number of churches in the ICCEC are somewhere between 1300 and 1700, with the vast majority in Africa. The Southeast province outnumbers every national church in the communion – not counting any churches in Africa – with both bishops and churches, except of course the CECNA of which they are apart, but again, they account for half of the churches, almost half of the bishops, and around 30% of the clergy.

Finally, again, most of this is guesswork, but it is close to the real numbers.

JZ Holloway

P.S. If you want a file version of the stats I compiled, send me your email address and I will be more than happy to email them to you.