US diplomat: 100,000 may have died in Myanmar cyclone

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Bodies floated in flood waters and survivors tried to reach dry ground on boats using blankets as sails, while the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar said Wednesday that up to 100,000 people may have died in the devastating cyclone.

Hungry crowds stormed the few shops that opened in the country’s stricken Irrawaddy delta, sparking fist fights, according to Paul Risley, a spokesman for the U.N. World Food Program in neighboring Thailand.

Shari Villarosa, who heads the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar, said food and water are running short in the delta area and called the situation there “increasingly horrendous.”

“There is a very real risk of disease outbreaks as long as this continues,” Villarosa told reporters.
State media in Myanmar, also known as Burma, reported that nearly 23,000 people died when Cyclone Nargis blasted the country’s western coast on Saturday and more than 42,000 others were missing.

U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said Thursday that the cyclone’s death toll may rise “very significantly.”

The military junta normally restricts the access of foreign officials and organizations to the country, and aid groups were struggling to deliver relief goods.

Internal U.N. documents obtained by The Associated Press showed growing frustrations at foot-dragging by the junta, which has kept the impoverished nation isolated for five decades to maintain its iron-fisted control.

“Visas are still a problem. It is not clear when it will be sorted out,” according to the minutes of a meeting of the U.N. task force coordinating relief for Myanmar in Bangkok, Thailand on Wednesday.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Myanmar’s government to speed up the arrival of aid workers and relief supplies “in every way possible.”

State television in military-ruled Myanmar, though, said that the government would accept aid from any country and that help had arrived Wednesday from Japan, Bangladesh, Laos, Thailand, China, India and Singapore.

Local aid workers started distributing water purification tablets, mosquito nets, plastic sheeting and basic medical supplies.

But heavily flooded areas were accessible only by boat, with helicopters unable to deliver relief supplies there, said Richard Horsey, Bangkok-based spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid.

“Most urgent need is food and water,” said Andrew Kirkwood, head of Save the Children in Yangon. “Many people are getting sick. The whole place is under salt water and there is nothing to drink. They can’t use tablets to purify salt water,” he said.

Save the Children distributed food, plastic sheeting, cooking utensils and chlorine tablets to 230,000 people in Yangon area. Trucks were sent to the delta on Wednesday, carrying rice, salt, sugar and tarpaulin.

A Yangon resident who returned home from the area said people are drinking coconut water because of lack of safe drinking water. He said many people were on boats using blankets as sails.

Local aid groups were distributing rice porridge, which people were collecting in dirty plastic shopping bags. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared getting into trouble with authorities for talking to a foreign news agency.

Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for U.N. relief efforts in Geneva, said the U.N. received permission to send nonfood supplies and that a cargo plane was being loaded in Brindisi, Italy, but it might be two days before it leaves.

The U.N. is trying to get permission for its experts to accompany the shipment, Byrs said. She said U.N. staff in Thailand were also awaiting visas so they could enter Myanmar to assess the damage.

Some aid workers have told the AP that the government wants the aid to be distributed by relief workers already in place, rather than through foreign staff brought into the country.

Relief teams and aid material are waiting to deploy from Thailand, Singapore, Italy, France, Sweden, Britain, South Korea, Australia, Israel, U.S., Poland and Japan, according to minutes from a U.N. relief meeting in Geneva that were obtained by the AP.

However, Myanmar state-run television said Wednesday that Japan had sent tents, while planes from Bangladesh and India brought medicine and clothing. China sent 1,300 pounds of dried bacon, while Thailand sent 1.2 million packets of noodles.

Britain has offered about $9.8 million to help the crisis, and the U.S. offered more than $3 million in aid. President Bush said Washington was prepared to use the U.S. Navy to help search for the dead and missing.

However, the Myanmar military, which regularly accuses the United States of trying to subvert its rule, was unlikely to accept U.S. military presence in its territory.

The U.S. military started positioning people and equipment as it awaited word from Myanmar’s government. An Air Force C-130 cargo plane landed in Thailand and another was on the way, Air Force spokeswoman Megan Orton said Wednesday morning at the Pentagon.

“When they accept, or if they accept — and we know what supplies they need — those planes will be there to transport those,” she said.

The Navy also has three ships participating in an exercise in the Gulf of Thailand that could help in any relief effort — the USS Essex, the USS Juneau and the USS Harper’s Ferry — but Navy officials said they are still in a holding pattern.

The Essex is an amphibious assault ship with 23 helicopters aboard, including 19 that are capable of lifting cargo from ship to shore, as well as more than 1,500 Marines.

Because it would take the Essex more than four days to get into position for the relief effort, the Navy is considering sending some of its helicopters ahead, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because it was still in the planning stages. The aircraft would be able to arrive in a matter of hours, and the Essex could follow, he said.

In Yangon, many angry residents say they were given vague and incorrect information about the approaching storm and no instructions on how to cope when it struck.

Officials in India said they had warned Myanmar that Cyclone Nargis was headed for the country two days before it made landfall there.

The state-run Indian Meteorological Department had been keeping a close watch on the depression in the Bay of Bengal since it was first spotted on April 28 and sent regular updates to all the countries in its path, department spokesman B. P. Yadav said.

Myanmar told the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva that it warned people in newspapers, television and radio broadcasts of the impending storm, said Dieter Schiessl, director of the WMO’s disaster risk reduction unit.

State television news quoted Yangon official Gen. Tha Aye on Wednesday as reassuring people that the situation was “returning to normal.”

But city residents faced new challenges as markets doubled prices of rice, charcoal and bottled water.

At a market in the suburb of Kyimyindaing, a fish monger shouted to shoppers: “Come, come the fish is very fresh.” But an angry woman snapped back: “Even if the fish is fresh, I have no water to cook it!”

Electricity was restored in a small portion of Yangon but most city residents, who rely on wells with electric pumps, had no water. Vendors sold bottled water at more than double the normal price. Price of rice and cooking oil also skyrocketed.

The cyclone came a week before a key referendum on a proposed constitution backed by the junta.

State radio said Saturday’s vote would be delayed until May 24 in 40 of 45 townships in the Yangon area and seven in the Irrawaddy delta. But it indicated the balloting would proceed in other areas as scheduled.
A top U.S. envoy to Southeast Asia said Wednesday that Myanmar’s military junta should be focusing all its efforts on helping victims of a devastating cyclone, not pressing forward with a planned constitutional referendum.

“It’s a huge crisis and it just seems odd to me that the government would go ahead with the referendum in this circumstance,” said Scot Marciel, who was appointed last week as the first U.S. ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. Its government has been widely criticized for suppressing pro-democracy parties such as the one led by Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been under house arrest for more than 12 of the past 18 years.

At least 31 people were killed and thousands more were detained in September when the military cracked down on peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks and democracy advocates

From the AP

The Keys

So it is a good thing Jesus did not give the keys to this Peter. Last night I had a training session with my fire department. All went well until I got back to the fire house. You see I have my own vehicle that I drive on fire department business and when I returned I was moving things back to my truck and some how I locked my keys in my truck. Of course my spare key was… wait for it… it the arm rest between the seats.

So I tried a few things and then called the police to come. They have this amazing little device and in like 2 seconds they were in and I had my keys back. I did not like that feeling of not having access to my keys at all. Thanks to the guys at the firehouse and the police for helping me out.

Church is one body, many voices

The subject line of this post is the title of a new article on the Washington Post blog On Faith. Written by Bishop T.D. Jakes this is a great view of what church should be and I think how we can make it happen. Give it a read.

Bishop Jakes has been on the Dr. Phil show and I think he has an amazing grasp on our Country and the direction it is heading.

2nd Sunday of Pascha ~ Sunday of St. Thomas

Apolytikion in the Grave

Christ our God, You are the Life that dawned from the grave, though the tomb was sealed. Through closed doors You came to the Apostles. You are the Resurrection of all. And, You renewed us through them with an upright spirit, according to Your great mercy.

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone

Thomas examined Your life-giving side with his probing right hand, O Christ our God. As You entered, though the doors were closed, he cried out to You, with the other Apostles “You are my Lord and my God.”

Reading:

Though the doors were shut at the dwelling where the disciples were gathered for fear of the Jews on the evening of the Sunday after the Passover, our Saviour wondrously entered and stood in their midst, and greeted them with His customary words, “Peace be unto you.” Then He showed unto them His hands and feet and side; furthermore, in their presence, He took some fish and a honeycomb and ate before them, and thus assured them of His bodily Resurrection. But Thomas, who was not then present with the others, did not believe their testimony concerning Christ’s Resurrection, but said in a decisive manner, “Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe.” Wherefore after eight days, that is, on this day, when the disciples were again gathered together and Thomas was with them, the Lord Jesus came while the doors were shut, as He did formerly. Standing in their midst, He said, “Peace be unto you”; then He said to Thomas, “Bring hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and bring hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not unbelieving, but believing.”

And Thomas, beholding and examining carefully the hands and side of the Master, cried out with faith, “My Lord and my God.” Thus he clearly proclaimed the two natures – human and divine – of the God-man (Luke 24:36-49; John 20:19-29).

This day is called Antipascha (meaning “in the stead of Pascha,” not “in opposition to Pascha”) because with this day, the first Sunday after Pascha, the Church consecrates every Sunday of the year to the commemoration of Pascha, that is, the Resurrection.

From www.goarch.org

Language in Church

I hate to wade into these waters again because it is a very delicate topic but I think I must. First off if you must post anonymously please put your name at the end of the post!

Okay with that said, language in church is a very delicate issue for many people. Right or wrong, if you understand Orthodox Church history in the country then you will understand that Churches were primarily founded as social clubs where people from the same place could come together and speak the language the left behind when they came here. In this little village I live in we have four Roman Catholic Churches. One was the French Church, one the Italian Church, One Polish, and one Irish. Now I believe that the Polish Church is the only one that does not worship in entirely in English and people still seem to go. The Church of Rome as recently loosened up the reigns on the Latin Mass of the Pre-Vatican II days. In some places where this Mass has begun they do not have enough room for all the people that attend, and guess what folks, no one speaks Latin anymore.

Language is not keeping people away, we are! That’s right we are. How welcoming are we when people show up for church? Do we show them to a seat, give them a liturgy book, of we have such a thing, invite them to coffee hour, if we have such a thing, and smile at them once in a while. Or when someone new comes in the door do we look at them like they have three heads. What are our churches doing for outreach? Do we have bible studies for adults? Are we involved in our local communities? Do we reach out to those who have stopped coming? Have we converted ourselves? Ahhhh the last one is key. How many of the “members” of the parish actually come to the church? How many of those same people avail themselves of the Sacraments of the Church to include Confession and Eucharist more than once a year, which is an abomination by the way. How much time does the priest spend in preparation for preaching or does he just throw it together at the last minute? Does the chanter or choir rehearse or does it just sort of happen? how does the church look, the grounds, the vestments, etc?

All of these things are important and it is what people look at. Language will not keep people away nor will it bring them in, neither will putting the Self Ruled Diocese on everything that will hold ink by the way no one cares who rules what!

There are many reasons why people come and do not come to a church and yes language is one of them but there are many others, and we, converts that is, seem to blame everything on language. At the Resurrection service we read the Epistle in Romanian, and by the way read it right after in English. And did a few other things in Romanian. All toll I bet we did 98% of the Liturgy in English and I heard complaints about the amount of Romanian we used. We need to understand that the Orthodox Church is an ethnic Church, there is no such thing as a non ethnic church right Syedna? You coming to the Huffly this weekend? If you understand Orthodoxy then this is clear to you. All of the music we use is ethnic, the eight tones of the church are all ethnic there is no such thing as American tones. Even the Orthodox Church of America is very Russian in it’s Liturgy and music.

As the church grows in this country less and less of the original language will be used but for the time being do not blame lack of attendance on language. Take a long hard look at what you do as Church and how you do it. Make sure you know all there is to know about your church and her beliefs. Don’t be so concerned with how things are done but rather why things are done. Is the church relevant to society today? That’s the big question. Are we relevant to people who are not traditionally Orthodox? Why are people converting? Not because of language or lack of it, they are converting to churches that hold to what they have taught… And I hate to say this but we are not the only game in town folks… Just my 2 cents worth.

Church Advertising

So how does one advertise the church on a small budget? We have tried all sorts of things to get people in the doors of the church but nothing seems to be working. In February we bought some airtime on the local radio station and began to syndicate the National Radio Program Come Receive the Light. No one has come through the doors. So I am trying something new this week. I just posted an ad on Craig’s List for Liturgy tomorrow. Not sure if it will work but it is FREE and that is always good so we will see what happens.

Churches that hold to original beliefs, traditions growing

By JAMES D. DAVISReligion Editor
April 26, 2008
Cory Dorta tried those big new warehouse churches with rock music and upbeat sermons. He went back to Orthodoxy.

“It was fun and games, but it wasn’t church,” Dorta, 20, said in the foyer of St. Philip Antiochian Orthodox Church in Davie as incense and ancient hymns filled the air. “I like more discipline.”

That solid feel, of clinging to truth in a trend-driven world, is what helps the church keep about 75 percent of its young people attending, according to Bishop Antoun of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese.

“People today are thirsty and hungry to know the truth,” Antoun said after a Holy Week service this week at St. Philip’s. “Faith and truth — that’s what lasts.”

Antoun, whose Diocese of Miami and the Southeast covers nine states, has been in South Florida on a round of services.

On Wednesday, he anointed people with oil and wine at St. Philip’s. On Thursday night, he led a procession around St. Mary parish in West Palm Beach during the Twelve Gospel Readings of the Passion of Christ. The bishop returned to St. Philip’s on Friday for the Funeral and Burial Service of Jesus Christ. And tonight, he’ll lead the Resurrectional Service at 10 p.m. at St. George Cathedral in Coral Gables.

The Antiochians are part of the Eastern Orthodox Communion, which includes Greek, Russian and Ukrainian groups. The Orthodox pride themselves on keeping the old-time religion from the oldest times. They still uphold the teachings of the first seven church councils, which ended in the eighth century, before the Eastern and Western churches parted ways.

One such point is the date of Easter, which they’re celebrating more than three weeks after their Catholic and Protestant brethren. The Orthodox keep the original standard to observe Easter after Passover, a rule dropped by Western churches in the 16th century.

Most Antiochian Christians are ethnically Syrian and Lebanese, and a few of the prayers are said in Arabic. But the church is rapidly Americanizing and has drawn thousands of converts from Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal and other churches.

Antoun, 77, is the senior among the six Antiochian bishops of Canada and the United States, where a half-million Antiochians live. They’re increasing by a thousand or more per year — sometimes by whole congregations, he said.

“They’re all just looking for the full truth of the church,” the bishop said. “They decided to return to the New Testament religion.

“The church also has made some practical moves, he said. The church runs a camp, school, museum and library on 403 acres in Ligonier, Penn. It all amounts to a lasting home for young people, like Cory Dorta.

“I don’t understand why so many churches preach different messages,” he said. “Other churches base their beliefs on the Bible. But the Orthodox Church made the Bible.

Canterbury to meet with Pope, convene 7th Building Bridges Seminar in Rome

[Lambeth Palace] The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, will convene the 7th Building Bridges Seminar in Rome next week and will meet privately with His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.

The Building Bridges Seminar is a unique annual series which brings together a range of internationally recognized Christian and Muslim scholars for an intensive study of relevant Biblical and Qur’anic texts.

The seminar, which is organized in partnership with Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., will run from May 6-8. “Communicating the Word: Revelation, Translation and Interpretation in Christianity and Islam,” builds on similar events in London, Doha, Sarajevo, Washington, D.C., and Singapore.

On May 7, Williams will preach and preside at a service for the Inauguration of his new Representative to the Holy See and director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, the Rev. David Richardson.

Archbishop of Canterbury lectures on ‘Religious Faith and Human Rights’

[Lambeth Palace] The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, delivered a May 1 lecture, titled “Religious Faith and Human Rights,” at the London School of Economics.

Williams sets out a fresh and original vision of how religious tradition — Christianity in particular — can help ground human rights thinking in ways that protect human life from violence, abuse or inequality.

Williams responded specifically to the challenge laid down by Alastair McIntyre to find a language, or ethics, for human rights which is robust enough to resist moral relativism on the one hand and political utility on the other.

If McIntyre was right to say that the problem with the strict Enlightenment framework of human rights is that it leaves us ‘bereaved,’ what might religion have to say about the ‘most secure foundations’ for a universal ethic of inalienable rights? In answering this question, Williams shows how theology can come to the aid of social, political and legal theory.

Human rights cannot be allowed to become just a list of entitlements “dropped into the cradle,” he says. “If human rights theory is to be robust enough to rank as ‘the only generally intelligible way in modern political ethics of decisively challenging the positive authority of the State to do what it pleases,’ it needs to be rooted more deeply than is possible within a purely secular rationale.”

Using the development of Christian thinking about slavery as an example, Williams explores how the notion of bodiliness could be a key to a deeper rooting of the notion of inalienable human rights and how “my rights and yours are inextricably linked: ‘my liberty not to be silenced, not to have my body reduced to someone else’s instrument, is nourished by the equal liberty of the other not to be silenced’.”

“Equal liberty is at root inseparable from the equality of being embodied,” he says. “Rights belong not to the person who can demonstrate capacity or rationality but to any organism that can be recognized as a human body, at any stage of its organic development.”

The full text of the lecture is available here.

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