March 6, 2005

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  Saturday was the closing day of the Diocesan Convention for the (Episcopal) Diocese of New Jersey... I went because they were presenting the new postulants, those who are still in school, and those who are actually Candidates for Ordination since they just sat for their Ordination Boards... It was about 40% boring and about 60% awesome... First the awesome: The priest from my home parish of St. Mark's, Basking Ridge, Fr. Stephen Rozzelle, drafted/presented a resolution to the Convention regarding the Iraq "Armed Peace"... the text follows: Whereas The Government of the United States has condoned the torturous abuse of prisoners taken in the war in Iraq and other detainees; and Whereas U.S. troops and other persons acting in our name have, as admitted in government reports, used beatings, rapes, assaults with toxic chemicals, hooding, electrical shock, chilling and burning of naked prisoners, exposure, sexual humiliation, mutilation, chaining and other unreasonable restraints, religious humiliation, and other abuses as intentional tools of interrogation and for retribution against detainees, with at least five prisoners having been tortured to death; and Whereas U.S. government officials have further proposed to terrorize civilian supporters of insurgent forces through the used of death squads; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That this 221st Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey go on record as opposing absolutely and condemning any form of government torture or other abuse of detainees either directly or through agents anywhere in the world, no matter what degree of government justification may be claimed for such conduct; and be it Further resolved, That this Convention likewise condemn the use of death squads by the U.S. government or its agents; and be it Further resolved, That the Secretary of Convention transmit copies of these resolutions to the President of the United States, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and New Jersey Senators and Members of the House of Representatives, and to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church with a request that he forward copies to appropriate bodies of the Episcopal Church; and be it Further resolved, That individuals in this Diocese be encouraged to write to their own elected representatives urging support of the pricinples of this Resolution. The framers also came out with a statement in support of the Resolution with proofs of their assertions coming from books by Seymour M. Hersh, Mark Danner, The Official Report of the Independent Panel and Pentagon on the Shocking Prisoner Abuse in Iraq , The NewYorker, USA Today, and Newsweek... As I said, this resolution was defeated, more due to procedure than anything else, I think, since someone called the question in the middle of the debating on this, with at least six people in the queue set to speak.  But Robert's Rules of Order (by which the Convention abides) requires that, once the question is called, all debate must cease and the vote must take place... unfortunately, it was defeated... BUT I hope that any of you who read this and who value peace and the principles of Shalom and reconciliation will MAKE IT YOUR BUSINESS to spread this resolution around so that people will know that the Church is not silent on this matter, but is working the best she can within her own procedural limitations to speak out responsibly...

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  • 10:27 am
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