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HTS Theological Studies
On-line version ISSN 2072-8050
Print version ISSN 0259-9422
Herv. teol. stud. vol.64 n.3 Pretoria Jul./Sep. 2008
A pastoral response to the unhealed wound of gays exacerbated by indecision and inarticulacy
Yolanda Dreyer
Department of Practical Theology. University of Pretoria
This article consists of six sections. It illustrates the ambiguity in pastoral care with gay people in institutional Christian communities and how this ambiguity exacerbates the unhealed wound of gay people. It discusses how the Christian message becomes ineffectual in its attempt to address the dilemma of injustice when Biblical evidence is used uncritically. The virtues of truth and righteousness in pastoral care are emphasised. The article argues that Paul Ricoeur's ethics of hermeneutical discourse could provide an epistemological framework for an appropriate response to the dilemma of ambiguity in ecclesial approaches to pastoral care with gay people. Listening for the unheard voices of marginalised people is an essential component of such a "discourse ethics" which is offered as a possible solution to the problem of inarticulacy. The article concludes by indicating some possibilities for a postmodern pastoral response to the unhealed wound of gay people, which at present is often exacerbated by the ambiguity and indecision of official church resolutions.
In South Africa official church resolutions with regard to the position of gays as office bearers and members of the Christian faith community can be described as "indecision". For example, in the publication of the Africa Christian Action, The pink agenda (2001:155, ed by Christine McCafferty and Peter Hammond) the stated intention is to support "ministries of churches that are reaching out to, educating or counselling", which sounds positive. But the people to whom they want to "reach out", whom they want to "educate" and "counsel" are labelled as "deviant" (McCafferty & Hammond 2001:xix) and "caught up in homosexual sin". The term "gay" is hereby stigmatized. Some other churches do not want to stigmatize, but their approach is likewise paramount to "indecision". Gays are welcomed in the faith community and regarded as devoted Christians, but church councils are officially allowed to exclude gays who are honest about their gay lifestyle. In South Africa an example of this approach is the policy of the Dutch Reformed Church (Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk).1 The policy of the general assembly of the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa (Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika) is that congregations should accommodate gays and display a pastoral attitude towards them. However, in the same resolution same-sex behaviour is pronounced "sin" and celibacy the only lifestyle option for gay people.2 This ambiguity in effect silences those who are affected by the ecclesial decisions. Theologically seen, these church policies could appeal to the dogmatics of Karl Barth. However, the Reformed (Gereformeerde) theologian and ethicist, Amie van Wyk (2008:1574, 1576), criticizes Karl Barth's condemnation of homosexuality as "non-christological". Van Wyk's argument implies that the church itself could become "immoral" if it perpetuates this kind of ambiguity. Yet, Van Wyk himself does not succeed in avoiding the pitfall of ambivalence completely.3
How should one respond to such an "officially endorsed immorality" of churches?4 In their endeavour to promote morality, churches themselves are tempted to act and speak in ways that are in fact immoral - "love" cannot be shown and "outreach" be done by exhibiting prejudicial and judgemental attitudes. War language is used in the "battle" against the so-called "pink agenda". In the following citation from The pink agenda (McCafferty & Hammond 2001:145-146) homosexuality is "condemned" as "wrong" and "desctructive", bad for society and "against God's ideal":
There can be no sitting on the fence. Society has to choose the direction it wants to go. We need to regain our ability to discern between right and wrong. We must choose to condemn what is wrong and destructive. We need to ensure that we promote and pursue what is right and good for our society. We must hold up God's ideal to society.
Such selfrighteousness by some and indecision by other churches have the effect of silencing the voices of those who see sexual minorities as people created by God and who, like all people, are entitled to giving and receiving love in all its forms. The present-day moral philosopher Charles Taylor (1989:97) remarks: "There are good reasons to keep silent. But they cannot be valid across the board. Without any articulation at all, we would lose contact with the good, however conceived. We would cease to be human. The severest injunctions to silence can only be directed to certain classes of articulation, and must spare others. The issue is to define which ones." An unhealed wound caused by immoral ecclesial actions which aggravate the pain of people is certainly one of those issues that pastoral theology cannot ignore. "Inarticulacy" is not an option.
This article is about what Charles Taylor (1989:53-90) refers to as the "ethics of inarticulacy". It focuses specifically on how to articulate a reasonable pastoral response to the "indecision" with regard to the standing of gays according to "official" declarations by most mainline churches. These resolutions demonstrate how very difficult it is for institutional religion to accept paradigm shifts - whether they are triggered by scientific or sociological insights. Such paradigm shifts lead to all kinds of changes, but churches hold on to "the old way". After some time has elapsed churches can no longer defend the old position and are obliged to apologize to those who have been harmed by their stance. Examples in the field of the natural sciences are the apologies to Galilei and recently to Darwin. Apologies for the holocaust and apartheid are social examples.
Sexuality as a social construct is forever changing. These changes are not accepted easily by institutional religion. Should the faith community now succeed in acting in a pastoral way for the good of people, the shame of yet another embarrassing apology in future could be avoided. Following in Jesus' footsteps, one of the main tasks of the church is to help heal people's wounds. This should include those wounds caused by outdated social codes that express prejudice against sexual orientation and behaviours that differ from heteronormative conventions.
Some churches have begun to take note of research in the humanities that emphasise how complicated the "histories of sexuality" are. This insight has led to the "moral value" of greater tolerance towards gays. However, this more tolerant approach is conditional. Gays should confess that same-sex behaviour is sinful and should either be "healed" and "become heterosexual" or remain celibate for the duration of their lives. Such an official ecclesial position clearly lacks integrity. Insights from research are only applied partially and superficially. As pastoral care is a response to human experience, pastoral care will have to change as human experience changes. In this respect, Charles Gerkin (1922-2004)5 is especially known for using the expression "the living document" within the context of pastoral care. This emphasizes the changing, dynamic nature of the world in which human beings exist, of the human experience of the world, and of pastoral care as a response to that experience.
How human experience with regard to sexuality has changed, is articulated as follows by Stephen Garton (2004:28-29): "In the second half of the twentieth century the history of sexuality has emerged as a major field of historical inquiry. Sexuality, instead of being something natural, came to be seen by historians as subject to historical change. But how sexuality was made historical, and what might be the motors of historical change, became the object of intense scholarly and theoretical dispute." The family-based marriage arrangement in the premodern era was replaced by modernity's love-based marriage arrangement. Stephanie Coontz (2006:145) describes this "emergence of the love match" as a shift from "yoke mates to soul mates". However, also in this regard, the saying goes that the more things change, the more they remain the same. The "new" arrangement of a "love match of soul mates" still remained a "male provider marriage" (Coontz 2006:145), in other words a patriarchal institution.
Already in the 1920's sociologists observed that the "contradictions and tensions" of the so-called "love-based" marriage "could not be contained indefinitely" (Coontz 2005:214). Coontz (2006:215) refers to the work of the sociologist Samuel Schmallhausen who stated the following in 1929: "The old values are gone. Irrevocably. The new values are feverishly in the making. We live in a state of molten confusion. Instability rides modernity like a crazy sportsman. Civilization is caught in a cluster of contradictions that threaten to strangle it" (Schmallhausen 1929:418-419). With regard to the "histories of sexuality", for Garton (2004:8) "gay liberation" is the revolution. It emerged in the 1960s and 1970s and continues up to the present day. However, this and continues "revolution" has not yet accomplished its goal, namely the "normalizing" of sexuality (Garton 2004:189-209). Normalized sexuality would mean for pastoral care that all people (also irrespective of their sexual orientation) would be approached as "ordinary men and women" (Garton 2004:188), as fellow human beings, fellow believers and creatures of God.
With regard to this ideal of normalizing especially gender and race, the philosopher Charles Taylor uses the expression "ethics of inarticulacy". The question is: How can the ideal of common good be articulated in the present-day culture when ethical codes are forever changing and paradigms are shifting? As revolutions come and go, so hermeneutical conventions are transient and even views on what the Bible teaches on "proper sexual conduct" do not stay the same. According to Taylor (1989:64), many today:
accept as their highest good (or perhaps we should say at this stage, principle of right) a notion of universal justice and/or benevolence, in which all human beings are to be treated equally with respect, regardless of race, class, sex, culture, religion. But we who stand within this framework are aware that it was not always recognized, that this universal ethic replaced earlier ones which were in various respects restricted, and that this was accomplished through a number of hard-fought and painfully won stages.
Referring to Friedrich Nietzsche's notion of "transvaluation of values", Taylor (1989:65) encourages the idea of "superseding earlier views", rather than succumbing to the temptation of "taking what was previously an ideal". The paradox of knowing that progression is the ideal (evolutionary), but still being stuck in the past (naturalist), is, according to Nietzsche, the dilemma of the Enlightenment. This is also the reason for "indecision" as manifested by ecclesial institutions in their resolutions on homosexuality. Taylor (1989:70-71) discusses the "Nietzschean" solution to the problem of the "naturalist epistemology" of the Enlightenment:
Enlightenment naturalism ... frequently portrayed religious moralities of the "higher" not only as the source of self-expression but also as the justification of social oppression, as the supposed carriers of the "higher", be they priests or aristocrats, exercise their natural right to rule the "lower" orders for the latter's own good. Neo-Nietzschean thinkers have extended this critique and tried to show how various forms of social exclusion and domination was built into the very definitions by which a hypergood6 perspective is constituted as certain models of religious order excluded and dominated women, as ideals and disciplines of rational control excluded and dominated the lower classes (as well as women again), as definitions of civilization and fulfilment exclude and marginalize dissidents, as other notions of civilization exclude subject races, and so on.
Christianity, especially, is known for "laying a heavy burden on those in whom it inculcates a sense of sin" in the name of subscribing to the so-called "good", but to "which one cannot really subscribe" (Taylor 1989:81), because one cannot be "guilty" of being a woman, being black or being gay.
The philosophical question, "Why should I be moral?" cannot be answered by a Christian by simply appealing to the Bible. Each generation has the obligation to find the answer to this question anew in terms of its own situation and context. Paradigms create perspectives by means of which people become aware of their context and it values, and by means of which they interpret the Bible. Traditionally the distinction is between the macro-paradigms, premodern, modern and postmodern, and micro-paradigms. The Bible originated in premodern times. Protestant creeds of the sixteenth century were established in a period when a shift was taking place from premodern to modern on account of the influences of the Renaissance and humanism. In his most recent work, Taylor especially focuses on the period of the shift and thereafter. He distiguishes four micro-paradigms, namely the first and second confessionalist ages, the modern "Age of Authenticity" (for Taylor [2007:27] this means a "super-authenticity" where individuals can choose what they regard as meaningful to their lives and what not, be it relationships, the environment, or the transcendent) and a fourth postsecular one which is already experienced today but cannot yet be seen clearly. The present-day context, normally simply referred to as "modern times", is much more complex than that. The roots of these "modern times" can be found in the shift from what Taylor calls the "Second Confessional Age" towards the "Age of Authenticity". The "first" confessionalist paradigm was a product of the sixteenth-century Reformation. The "second" was similar to the third in that "churches managed to organize so much of their members' lives, and hence became the focus of often intense loyalty, a sentiment akin to nationalism" (Taylor 2007:471-472). According to Taylor (2007:472), the "second" confessionalism consists of a network of four strands: spirituality (a sense of the transcendent), discipline (state control), political identity (social nationalism), and the idea of a "higher" civilization order than other societies, for example in the tricontinental world.
Although, according to Taylor, "these four strands had been present in élite religion in the two preceding centuries", this powerful network "had become a mass phenomenon" and it resulted in "tightly organized churches, often suspicious of outsiders, with their strongly puritanical codes, their inherent links of whatever sort, to political identities, and their claims to ground civilization order". However, Taylor (2007:472ff) indicates that these "codes" "were perfectly set up for a precipitate fall in the next age which was beginning to dawn at mid-century." Triggered by the so-called "sexual revolution", especially among the youth, the new, present-day context is referred to by Taylor (2007:473-504) as the "Age of Authenticity". He characterises this "age" in terms of mainly four "strands". The first strand is that sensuality is seen as something "good" - that is a moral value and therefore should not be suppressed. The second strand is a logical consequence of the first, namely the equality of the sexes. The implication of this is that the relationship between man and woman is no longer hierarchal and male dominated, but that of partners who have been freed of their gender roles. In juxtaposition to the second strand, the third is about sexuality gaining a playful element. Some see playful sexuality as a way of demonstrating their freedom, whereas for others it is a transgression of conventional norms. The fourth strand is autonomy. Sexual orientation is seen as part and parcel of an individual's personality and identity. For some this implies that social norms need not necessarily dictate one's life. All of this formed the basis of gay liberation and "the emancipation of a host of previously condemned forms of sexual life" (Taylor 2007:502).
According to Taylor the "sexual revolution" placed some of the most important ethical issues of our time on the agenda. In addition the issue of political integrity was brought to the fore by September 11th, 2001. This influences ethical decisions in a context of global pluralism.7 The ethics brought into play by the "sexual revolution" can be called an "ethics of justice". Justice is interpersonal. Therefore, ethical decisions with an appeal to the Bible as support on what is "good" or "bad" today cannot but take changing contexts from Biblical times up to the present-day into account.
From a hermeneutical point of view not every statement in the Bible can be regarded as relevant for all times. In his work, The relevance and irrelevance of the Christian message, Paul Tillich (1996) alerts us to a particular kind of "kerygmatic theology" which is based on the proposition that the Bible is the "Word from Above". Such a theology expects from believers to submit blindly to the authority of God's Word without taking the ethical impact of such "obedience" into account. When rigid pronouncements from the Bible are harmful, such propositional claims are irrelevant, according to Tillich. Along with Schleiermacher,8 Tillich prefers a "responding-listening" and meditative engagement with the Word to a "kerygmatic-propositional" one. Paul Ricoeur (1998:149) describes the "kerygmatic-propositional" approach as Anspruch. He rather prefers a hermeneutics that emphasizes Andenken, in other words "a call to reflection, meditation" (cf Topping 2007:41). Hermeneutically seen, according to Ricoeur (1980:117), violence cannot be done to others on account of the Bible, even if the Bible itself should endorse this violence. Violence in any form is unethical. It is the "nonviolent appeal" of the Bible which, according to Ricoeur, can positively transform an individual's lifestory. By means of this "ethics of biblical reading" the differences between the contexts of the Bible and today can be overcome.
A similar process of reaching consensus in communication happens between God and human beings, and between human beings among themselves. This dynamics can be seen in Jim Poling's (1991:187; cf Capps 1993:100-101) description of practical theology:
Practical theology is theological interpretation of the unheard voices of personal and community life for the purpose of continual transformation of faith in the true God of love and power toward renewed ministry practice ... Reflection begins with the presence of differences and otherness in experience. Difference provokes thought. When persons or communities become aware of some desire that contrasts with identity, the potential contradiction requires reflection .... Without difference and contrast, there can be no self-conscious experience.
According to Donald Capps (1993) pastoral care with others and respectfully acknowleding their difference, have become possible because of the shift from modernity with its Anspruch approach to postmodernity with its Andenken approach to engagement with the Bible. In other words, postmodernity has brought about a shift in the meaning of biblical traditions and values. The binding and compulsory effect of the Bible has disappeared to a large extent. Theology, practical theology, and pastoral care are hermeneutical activities. They all endeavour to understand how to communicate in such a way that the recipients can best understand what is for their own good. Such an approach to biblical engagement "may well result in a new approach to ministry" (Capps 1984:48). The changes in values, commitments, goals and convictions will change the face of pastoral care. Though the Bible will definitely be used in pastoral care, people will not be harmed by it. Such a pastoral care could overcome "inarticulacy". Those who had lost their voices, could then find language by means of the Bible. They need no longer be silenced by their fear of the Bible and need no longer depart from the faith community.
In a series of previous articles I indicated that the physical, mental and spiritual health of all believers is the concern of pastoral caregivers. Therefore practical theologians should expose all harmful attitudes towards others, including sexual minorities.9 The faith community can no longer condone "indecision" and ambiguity. Empirical studies have made it abundantly clear that "double speak" is harmful to people (cf Onedera 2008:51).
Pastors' personal disposition, which is related to their religious views, affect their pastoral engagement with sexual minorities. Most churches closely connect homosexuality and marriage. Beliefs and attitudes concerning marriage come into play when churches deal with sexual minorities. If therapists' view of marriage affect the way in which they do marriage therapy and religious traditions differ as to how they see marital social values as Worthington et al (2008:21-22) have pointed out, this will also be applicable to counseling with sexual minorities. Pastors have to deal with a host of matters: official church policies concerning homosexuality and marriage, the church's, their own and the counselee's view of Scripture and biblical interpretations, as well as their own and the other's virtue orientation, religious beliefs, personal disposition, fears, prejudices and experiences. This can be quite a daunting task which cannot be fulfilled "out there", "objectively", "from a distance". Engagement and personal involvement are the only way. The advice of Worthington et al (2008:32) to family therapists is applicable to pastors as well: "Because religion is powerful and can affect most of therapy, therapists are cautioned to be thoughtful about their own religious commitments, beliefs, and values and to anticipate the likely effects of their own religion on their practice."
Self-reflection on and an awareness of the pastor's own personal disposition, theological views and values will prepare pastors for engaging openly and respectfully with the other, whose belief system may differ from theirs. According to family therapist Zink (2008:70), "discussion of values is beneficial to the therapeutic process and should not be avoided." In Doherty's (1995:182) opinion, a therapist should be willing to use moral language, and be "willing to engage in moral discussion about what is fair, right, honest or responsible." A therapist should seem to be comfortable to talk to others about their values, beliefs, insights and ideas of what for them is right and wrong. Zink (2008:70-71) finds that it is possible for therapists to work with clients whose beliefs and values differ from theirs and points out that listening well is the most important skill in such an endeavour. It is obviously much easier for a pastoral counsellor to use moral language and speak openly about beliefs and values than it would be for a therapist. On the other hand, listening without making value-judgements and entering into the world of the client's belief systems may be easier for therapists than for pastors. The pastor's main task involves understanding and interpreting the significance of the Bible and Christian tradition for people in their everyday lives. The temptation may be stronger for pastors than for therapists to impose their own beliefs and value systems onto counselees, especially if pastors come from a tradition where religious propositions are presented as undeniable truths, and especially when dealing with sexual minorities where social and religious morality and values are significant issues.
Pastors who are critical theologians may find pastoral care with sexual minorities easier than the more uncritical pastors. Cook (2008:84) observes that "[m]any but not all liberal Protestants take a welcoming and affirming posture toward same-sex relationships, seeing in them reflection of the imago Dei" (see Graham 1997). Whereas the Roman Catholic position on homosexuality is clear and the theology of conservative Protestants is based on fixed propositions, "liberal Protestantism" is characterised by "inherent theological plurality" (Ottati 2006:3). In his book with the rather catchy title, Theology for liberal Presbyterians and other endangered species, Douglas F Ottati (2006:viii) points out that, though "liberal Protestantism" is so diverse that it cannot be described easily, what such critical theologians want to do is to "try to retrieve, restate, rethink, and revise traditional theologies and beliefs in the face of contemporary knowledge and realities." Other characteristics are, for example: being ecumenical, theocentric and worldly, Christ shaped and generous, realistic and hopeful, ecologically inclined and humane (Ottati 2006:308; cf Cook 2008:73). When dealing with the authority of Scripture, critical theology is about "scripture critiquing scripture". It is open to other sources of knowledge, such as the arts and sciences and does not shy away from the tension (not opposition) between faith and reason ("faith-seeking understanding"). It sees sexuality an inherently good and a God-given gift. It sees the self as an individual with agency, but at the same time always as "self-in-relation". It is positive about diversity, rather than feeling threatened by it. It emphasises "contextual awareness; concern for those on the margins and commitment to social justice" (Cook 2008:74).
No tradition or interpretation can be seen as fixed or eternally true. Therefore propositions should be investigated with suspicion. As far as ethics is concerned, Cook (2008:74) describes the "liberal way as follows: "Liberal Protestants would maintain that no infallible and a-contextual moral blueprint of how to handle the complexity of contemporary life exists in the Bible or in any church confession or book of church order." According to this paradigm, Christians cannot escape the responsibility of struggling anew with each and every ethical decision. There are no "easy answers", however comforting people may think a handy set of easy answers derived from the Bible, Christian tradition or the decisions of a specific church to be. In the process of discernment, listening for God's voice speaking to the present time will include "listening to the voices that did not help shape the historical theology, namely women, the marginalized, the powerless, and oftentimes persons of color" (Cook 2008:74). It is an earnest process, not a free for all. It is a critical dialogue guided by a belief in the God of the Old Testament who revealed God-self to human beings in Jesus Christ through the presence of the Holy Spirit and who calls believers to live lives that witness to both justice and love (see Ellison & Thorson-Smith 2003; Cook 2008:74).
Pastors who adopt this kind of theology and philosophy, will have certain advantages when engaging with sexual minorities. Their open and critical view of Scripture will be conducive to finding a way with the Bible that does not damage, reject or condemn individuals. Their openness to other disciplines will take into account what the medical and social sciences have contributed to the present-day understanding of sexual minorities, rather than being stuck within the frame of reference of premodern Scriptures. Their openness to the voices of the marginalized will be conducive to their pastoral and therapeutic task of listening to understand the experience of the other from the inside. Their willingness to struggle with the Bible and with other voices rather than to have a set of ready answers handy, will be an advantage when dealing with the extremely complicated personal, social and religious worlds of sexual minorities. Their positive regard for sexuality as "good" and a "God-given gift" is contrary to the rather sex-phobic legacy of Christian tradition.
As far as marriage is concerned, critical theologians will characteristically not only see marriage in terms of what the Bible says about it, but will include the insights of fields such as sociology, law and economy. The "inherent theological plurality" of "liberal theology" can certainly be seen in the discussion on marriage. Some adhere to the idea of marriage as a covenant (see Anderson, Hogue & McCarthy 1995:2-3), whereas others find covenantal thinking akin to the sacramentalisation of marriage. Since Luther, Reformded theology has desacramentalised marriage and has broken the traditional bond between marriage and procreation. The jury is still out on whether marriage is per definition a heterosexual affair between one male person and one female person or whether there are other possibilities, such as for example same sex marriage (see Myers & Scanzoni 2005). How marriage is defined in our times, will determine whether sexual minorities (and heterosexual persons, for that matter) would be at all interested in it. According to Cook (2008:75), marriage and family therapists are influenced by the theological discussion on marriage and define marriage "primarily in terms of the quality of relational intimacy that exists between persons rather than form of relationship ... It may be that the norm of heterosexual marriage has become an idol of our time."
Though pastoral counsellors within the critical paradigm will probably have quite a few advantages when engaging in pastoral counselling with sexual minorities, there are some pitfalls for which to out. The "liberal" tendency to want to "retrieve, restate, rethink and revise traditional theologies and beliefs" may clash with the traditional beliefs that the counselee has internalised. The counselee may be extremely uncomfortable with a drastic overturning of their belief system - even if this should be "in their best interest". The pastor should proceed with caution and patience, respecting the counselee's values and meanings and listen well. Cook (2008:85) concludes her article on Marriage and family counseling and liberal Protestant Christianity by summarizing the losses and gains:
What is lost in the face of these contemporary challenges are simple answers and the sense of certainty and security that come with the belief that "my family, my church, my religious tradition, my racial group, my gender, and/or my nation knows best". What is gained is the opportunity to exercise our God-given capacities to engage communally the complexity of contemporary life with eyes, minds, and hearts wide open, to work collaboratively rather than in dominating ways with others as therapists and global citizens, to clarify one's convictions while remaining in respectful dialogue with those who disagree, and to take seriously once again - and in fresh ways - the ancient charge to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God and neighbour.
In his book entitled, The unhealed wound: The church and human sexuality, Eugene Kennedy (2001:17) states unequivocally: "In the great myths of the twentieth century, totalitarianism emasculates the male figure through the wars and violent repression that are the institutional agencies of maintaining control." He sees the church as such a controlling agency when it comes to human sexuality. Control of sexuality causes an unhealed wound in the church itself, but the institutional church "continues to look past its own wound as it seeks to maintain the painful division that it imposes on human experience" (Kennedy 2001:36). In trying to control human sexuality, the church wounds not only the people it punishes when they do not conform to its controlling measures, but also itself. By these controlling measures the church as institution succeeds in estranging people form their own human experience. Gay people are who they are, but may not be who they are. The best option open to them is being who they are in restricted form. The restriction is: no sexual love for a sexual being for the duration of his or her life. Celibacy is imposed and no choice is left to these individuals. They have "lived their lives in a sexually handicapped way, trying to follow institutional mandates and interpretations that by a perverse alchemy transform their naive human eroticism into something base and evil" (Kennedy 2001:39).
Doing this to others is the unhealed wound of the church - making individuals feel guilty about being the healthy humans that they are. Those who perpetrate this psychological and spiritual abuse of others, probably do so on account of psychological and spiritual unwholeness in themselves. Kennedy (2001:39) puts it as follows: "They mask what is sexually unhealthy in themselves, denying it while indulging and gratifying it in the actions they carry out complacently in the name of the Church." Only if the church itself recovers from its unhealed wound, can it be an effective healer in its endeavour to heal the world.
When the Roman Catholic Church rationalizes why, in this day and age, it still expects celibacy from its clerics, it demonstrates how it has lost touch with the reality of human beings. Kennedy (2001:142) calls it: "the Institution talking to itself, blinding itself to the unhealed wound, which only bleeds more profusely under the pressure of such strangely asexual argumentation."
Protestant churches supposedly do not expect celibacy from anyone and does not pretend to make something high and holy out of celibacy, the state of withholding oneself from sexual expression. Protestant churches do, however, want to control when and with whom which degree of sexual activity may take place. In principle most Protestant churches expect celibacy (in which they do not believe) from those who have not been created heterosexual. And they expect it for the duration of their lives. Lay members of such churches who belong to sexual minorities will probably "get away with" not being quite celibate. The same goes for lay members of churches and clerics who have sex before marriage - which is against the churches' official prescription. But a gay cleric will not "get away with" having relationship which includes sexual expression. They are punished by the church. They lose their vocation.10
In some churches gay people cannot be ordained at all. In others, as in my Protestant denomination, a gay person can become a minister, elder or deacon, but is then required to remain celibate for life. Kennedy (2001:144) identifies the Roman Catholic discourse on celibacy as "an assertion of power rather than an expression of authority." He distinguishes between exerting power over others with the aim to control, and exercising authority (which he traces back to the root augere which is "to grow", "to increase") which has as its goal the "full human development of the other". Given the fact that, in Protestant tradition, no holiness or state of elevated spirituality is attached to celibacy, and furthermore that the church has already lost control over confining all sexual activity to (heterosexual) marriage (heterosexual believers rarely conform), why this deadly and deadening control over homosexual activity? Is this a sign of its own woundedness with regard to sexuality which is masked by abusive actions towards those who symbolise their fears? Kennedy (2001:147) points out that: "[a]basement of the other ... is a major component of many unhealthy sexual transactions. This is often the invisible agenda item when an inquisitor denigrates the subject of inquiry by the defiling process of inquiry itself."
Wholeness is necessary in order to be a healer of others, albeit as a "wounded healer" or, rather, a "healed healer". The terms "healing", "wholeness" and "holy" are semantically related.11 Kennedy (2001:182) purports that once the wholeness (integrity) of a personality has been compromised, then what is holy has been "transgressed or violated". He asks: "What happens when persons are forced for centuries to accept a distorted model of themselves" (Kennedy 2001:183)? Examples of this are slaves and women. We could add sexual minorities. The church can only bring healing to these and other categories of wounded individuals after it has attended to its own wounds and first healed its own distorted idea of what health and wholeness for others could be.
The aim could never be to convert others to one's own denomination or convictions. It is about contributing together to a better world. Emmanuel Lartey (2006:117) puts it as follows: "God is the God of the other who will remain other in authentic difference .... The otherness of other humans will not be overcome by assimilation into our likeness." On the one hand there should be a respect for difference, whereas on the other hand difference can be overcome in God. According to Larry K Graham (1997:176), God is big enough to allow others to be themselves. The church should do likewise. For him, being the image of God in this world means "to ferociously protect and tenderly cherish the uniqueness of each entity in the world, while seeking the conditions of justice in which each might be fulfilled" (Graham 1997:177).
For Gijs Dingemans ([2000] 2001:280) the unity of the diverse Christian faith community is grounded in its mystical relationship with Christ. A Christian faith community which has lost this mystical union, has lost its own identity and the right to talk to others about Christ (cf De Reuver 2004:229). A dogmatist and literalistic interpretation of Biblical texts can turn people into the victims of rigid canonical prescriptions. Christian ethics does not represent a "checklist of commands and prohibitions" (Reid 1993:286; cf Burridge 2007:283).
It is not language as such that transforms and empowers, but rather the ethical performative attitude which is expressed by means of language. Paul Ricoeur's concept of the "hermeneutical arch" explains how the interpreter aims to identify people's stories - expressed by means of language - in order to come to refiguration or personal transformation. In one of his last interviews before his death in 2005,12 Ricoeur (in Kearney 2004:159-160) agreed with Sigmund Freud's insight that painful experiences often live on in the human psyche even though the physical cause may be long forgotten. Ricoeur cites Freud when he points out that the person "does not reproduce the forgotten fact in the form of remembering but in the form of action; he repeats it, obviously without knowing that he repeats it."
Care by means of narrative therapy13 is a process of "the addition of suffering to acting", "of sorrow to praxis". By means of the narrative we are "making our lives into life-stories" (emphasis by Ricoeur). In his own words: "Does this work of narrative not lie in the transition between what I call in Time and Narrative14 the `configuration' consitutive of emplotment and the `refiguration' of life by the practice of narrative? The work of narrative would thus be the narrative form of `working through'" (Ricoeur, in Kearney 2004:160). The transformation of the self by means of critically engaging with the Bible comes through the imitation of biblical rolemodels of whom Jesus is the most important. Through the configuration of the life stories of biblical characters the refiguration of one's own story takes place. The own life story always includes the "Other on the margins" of society with whom the believer is involved (cf Kearney 2001).
The challenge to Christians in a postmodern world is: understand your world, become involved, prepare for change and learn to develop new strategies for different circumstances. Elaine Graham (1996:50-51) proposes that Christians refrain from confronting people with a set of external moral codes. The problem with such a strategy is that Christianity only posesses what Graham (1996:50) calls "an impoverished vocabulary of moral discernment - in relation to the individual and the collective". James Poling (1995:122) points out that the pastoral task of the Christian faith community has always been to listen to and care for those in need and those who suffer. Postmodern thought challenges pastoral care to include matters such as justice for people of both sexes, for people of all races, for the poor all over the world. Such a strategy calls for "reformed" models of pastoral care:
The pastoral care movement has two choices. Either it is still a reform movement to change church and society, or it is a profession within the established patriarchal church and society concerned mainly with its own financial future, accreditation, and making sure it has a secure place for its members ... If our pastoral care movement decides to return to its earlier reformist goals, it must respond to the present crisis in the area of sexuality by focusing on issues of the liberation of women ... and gays and lesbians from the traditional sexual ethics that support male dominance.
(Poling 1995:122)
Distorted ideas of sexuality in the church should first be healed before the church can heal people who have been wounded in their sexual humanness, in their most vulnerable humanity. To do so, the church will have to let go of power and control (see Kennedy 2001:183) in order to be restored in its authentic authority - an authority that does not want to control by abusing and humiliating others, but that wants them to grow to their fullest human potential and to be the healthy beings that they were created to be. In order to heal the alienation within Christianity, the institutional church should be pastoral in its approach to a broken humanity, attempting to "heal the wound in human sexuality that it has so often exacerbated" (Kennedy 2001:202).
Making the church whole will include bringing together in one created humanity the people that the church has so often separated and polarised: men from women, heterosexuals from sexual minorities, glorifying the one pole and demonising or demeaning the other. Seeing the healed and healing church in a truly pastoral role, Kennedy (2001:206) asks: "What would the Institution lose if, instead of issuing statements such as those about ... homosexuality, it sat, as a good pastor might, and willingly listened to the world and its sexual woes?" Such a church would no longer be controlling (a symptom of psychological unwholeness), but would seek healing for and with the people who are yearning for the healing of their own sexual wounds. Such a church, according to Kennedy (2001:206), could become a "[m]ystery of understanding and reconciliation" and "begin its own healing and begin a new relationship to humankind."
Works consulted
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1 NGK (2007:204-205). See Agenda, Deel III: Handelinge vir die dertiende vergadering van die Algemene Sinode van die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk, Maandag 4 tot Vrydag 8 Junie 2007, Boksburg, pp 204-205.
2 NHKA (2007:45-48). See Besluitebundel van die 68ste Algemene Kerkvergadering van die Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika, Oktober 2007, pp 45-48. Pretoria: NHKA Kerkargief (cf htttp//www.nhk.co.za).
3 According to Karl Barth (in Van Wyk 2007:1574), homosexuality "is the physical, psychological and social sickness, the phenomenon of perversion, decadence and decay, which can emerge when man refuses to admit the validity of the divine command in the sense in which we are now considering it" (KD III/4:184; CD III/4:166). Amie van Wyk's (2007:1576) own ambivalence, however, can be seen in the following remark: "While the theological debate is continuing, nearly all theologians agree that special pastoral care should be taken of homosexual persons and that they should feel welcome as full members of the church of Jesus Christ. I am sure that the Holy Spirit will lead the church of Christ to reach a satisfactory solution to this burning issue, even if it may be a very painful process."
4 See article "(Im-)morele misleiding" by P F Craffert, in Beeld 16 September 2008, p 11.
5 See Gerkin, C 1984. The living human document: Re-visioning pastoral counselling in a hermeneutical mode. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press. Among many other counsellors, the psychologist William Stewart (2005:328) refers as follows to Gerkin's contribution: "The pastoral counsellor and client are likely to use different language systems, symbols and images to interpret the meaning of experiences. The counsellor must strive to understand the client's frame of reference and the personal meanings. Failure to do so will result in the client going away empty-handed. The more the counsellor understands the language of the client and helps the client to understand his [sic] own language age, the more the distance between their worlds will be reduced. Gerkin sees people in crisis as being caught between despair on the one hand and an interpretation of hope and expectation on the other. Much of the problem of the crisis experience is seen as a loss of the sense of continuity, with the accompanying difficulty in moving into the open-ended future of hope and faith."
6 "Most of us not only live with many goods but find that we have to rank them, and in some cases, this ranking makes one of them of supreme importance relative to others ... [I]f I am strongly committed to a highest good in this sense I find the corresponding yes/no question utterly decisive for what I am as a person ... Thus I may see expressive fulfillment as incomparably more worthwhile than the ordinary things we all desire in life; but I see the love of God or the search for justice as itself incommensurably higher than this fulfillment ... Let me call higher-order goods of this kind `hypergoods', i.e., goods which not only are incomparably more important than others but provide the standpoint from which these must be weighed, judged, decided about" (Taylor 1989:62-63; see pp 63-73, 78, 81, 85, 88, 89, 98, 100-102, 104-106).
7 See, among other references, John P Manoussakis (2005), The revelation according to Jacques Derrida, in Sherwood, Y & Hart, K (eds), Derrida and religion: Other testaments, 309-323. New York: Routledge, p 310.
8 With regard to the legacy of Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834), see Pelser & Van Aarde (2007:1350): "Schleiermacher's insight into what was understood under `congeniality' stabilised the use of the concept `hermeneutic circle' (see Warner 2007:24-25). This concept forms part of his insight that human beings only have finite knowledge. Human beings have only relative certainty about things. In the process of understanding there is always a polar tension between familiarity and strangeness. Reproduction is therefore not identical with production (cf Stiver 2007:147-150).
9 See, among others Dreyer (2005), Sexuality and shifting paradigms - setting the scene; (2006a), Prejudice, homophobia and the Christian faith community; (2006b), Heteronormatiwiteit, homofobie en homoseksualiteit - 'n roetekaart vir 'n inklusiewe kerk; (2007), Hegemony and the internalization of homophobia caused by heteronormativity; (2008a), The "sanctity" of marriage - an archaeology of a socio-religious construct: Mythological origins, forms and models; (2008b), "De-centre-ing" sexual difference in public and ecclesial discourses on marriage; (2008c), Pastoral care and gays against the background of same-sex relationships in the Umwelt of the New Testament.
10 See, e.g., with regard to the Dutch Reformed Church, the case of Reverend Laurie Gaum (See Agenda, Deel III: Handelinge vir die dertiende vergadering van die Algemene Sinode van die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk, Maandag 4 tot Vrydag 8 Junie 2007, Boksburg, pp 205ff).
11 See Gerben Heitink (1990), Pastoraat en ander vormen van hulp, in Heitink, G et al (reds), Heil, heling, gezondheid, pp 117-130). 's-Gravenhage: Meinema.
12 Paul Ricoeur in conversation with Richard and Anne Bernhard Kearney and Frabrizio Turoldo, recorded and written in Paris, 2001-2003, published as "Dialogue 5: On life stories (2003)", in Kearney (2004:157-169).
13 Cf R Ruard Ganzevoort's & Jan Visser's (2007:49-57) Dutch expression: "een self worden, zichzelf worden" (= becoming a self, becoming yourself) happens through the "transcendentie in het levensverhaal" (= transcendence in the lifestory).
14 See Ricoeur, P 1984. Time and narrative, Volume 1. Chicago: Chigago University Press; Ricoeur, P [1989] 1995. Pastoral praxeology, hermeneutics, and identity, in Ricoeur, P 1995, Figuring the sacred: Religion, narrative and imagination, tr by D Pellauer, edited by M I Wallace, 303-315. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress.


text:
CITY HALL SLAYINGS / 25 Years Later / Revisiting the horror of that day of death / For those who are old enough, the memory is searing
When University of San Francisco Professor Peter Novak proposed to his students that they produce a series of events commemorating the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, he got a shock -- most of his students had not heard of Moscone or Milk.
They are 18, 19 and 20, young people from a newer time. To them, Moscone is the Moscone Center, Harvey Milk is the name of a plaza in the Castro. "They didn't know the story at all," Novak said.
Those who have no memory of that day -- Nov. 27, 1978 -- are the lucky ones. Many of those who were at San Francisco City Hall when Dan White killed the two men can never forget it. The slayings happened 25 years ago Thursday, and the memory is searing.
Rudy Nothenberg was a deputy mayor. He can still see Moscone's body lying on the floor of his private office, can still see the smoke from the mayor's cigarette curling up. "It was awful," he said. "It was shock and panic. You don't know what you can do for him. You scream for the cops, which is what I did."
Dianne Feinstein was president of the Board of Supervisors. Her office was on the other side of City Hall. She heard a door slam in Milk's office, heard shots, saw the killer run out, went in herself and found Harvey Milk's body. "I put my finger to see if there was any pulse, and it went in a bullet hole in his chest," she said the other day. "I think of it as if it were yesterday. I remember Harvey's body, his blood on me. I see it all."
Christopher Moscone was then a high school student. Even now, a quarter of a century later, the son can see his father as he was, his sleeves rolled up, working. "The family remembers him -- good memories, good stories, at Christmas, holidays, birthdays," the younger Moscone said. "Sometimes I dream of him, and when I do, I can talk to him.
"I love the city," he said, "and I hate the city for that."
That autumn was a terrible time anyway in San Francisco, the worst of times. The years when people wore flowers in their hair were long gone.
There were serial slayings -- a killer named Zodiac who taunted the police, another named Zebra who shot down people on the street. Ten days before Moscone and Milk were killed, a mad San Francisco preacher named Jim Jones and 914 of his followers perished in a South American jungle. The city was rocked to its roots. "What a bizarre period," Feinstein said.
And then, out of the blue on a beautiful Monday morning, the mayor of San Francisco was killed in his own office, and the killer then walked through the classic City Hall and shot down the most important gay political figure in the country. The killer was not a stranger, either. He was San Francisco born and bred, a former cop, former fireman, former member of the Board of Supervisors.
And that wasn't all. White was tried a few months later and in May was found guilty, not of murder but only of voluntary manslaughter. A peaceful march to protest the verdict turned into a riot, and the mob attacked City Hall. "The hatred in the city was just enormous," Feinstein said. "It was a terrible, terrible time."
Even that wasn't all. White served time in prison, got out, couldn't face life and in October 1985 killed himself. He left a wife and two children.
"People are not as bound by the story as they were," said Novak, who is an assistant professor of performing arts and social justice at USF. "When they learn the story, they are amazed. They say, 'My God, how can this happen?' It is really a civic lesson in memory, how the city sees itself."
"It is important to remember them," said Tommi Avicolli Mecca who organized a candlelight parade in honor of Milk and Moscone last Sunday. "Twenty-five years is an important marker, a quarter of a century."
Twenty-five years ago, George Moscone, mayor of the city, former majority leader in the state Senate, was clearly the better known of the two men. Milk was the first up-front gay elected official, but he was only one of 11 supervisors. He had been in office less than a year, and the supervisors had passed only two of his ordinances. One was on gay rights. The other required dog owners to clean up after their pets.
Milk had been elected to the board in the fall of 1977, when San Francisco switched from citywide elections for supervisors to district elections. Milk represented the Castro and nearby neighborhoods, and his election drew a lot of attention.
But in another district -- the old-line working-class Excelsior, well south of Market -- another newcomer was elected. He was Dan White, a fireman,
who opposed all the changes in the city. Once elected, White proved to be not much of a politician. He didn't understand the give-and-take of City Hall politics. "He was one of the least likely people to have been elected a supervisor," Feinstein recalled.
White also was shocked to discover that once he took his seat as a supervisor, he had to give up his job as a firefighter. And he also found he couldn't support a family on a supervisor's salary, then $9,600 year.
On Nov. 10, he resigned from the board. But then, as Feinstein remembers, "The pressures from the police union and the firefighters union to get his job back were terrible." The mayor had the power to name a supervisor to replace White, and White asked to be reappointed.
Apparently, he got the impression that Moscone would give him the job back. And he also thought that Milk would back his reappointment. He was mistaken; Moscone had decided not to put White back on the job.
On Friday, White went into a rage. "The gloves are off," he said.
By Monday, unknown to White, Moscone had made his final decision. He was going to name businessman Don Horanzy to replace White. White went to City Hall for a showdown. He had bitterness in his heart, and he carried a .38- caliber handgun.
Normally, everyone who entered City Hall passed through a metal detector at the main entrance. But supervisors and some others often used a side entrance on McAllister Street. They had private keys to open the door. White persuaded guards to let him in the window. He headed for Moscone's office. The rest is history: White shot Moscone four times; he then reloaded his pistol and, minutes later, shot Milk five times.
Twenty-five years later, Milk's name is the one more remembered, at least among the generation that was alive in 1978. He is the subject of books, a film, even an opera. An elementary school in San Francisco and a high school in New York are named for him.
"He has gone from being a person into an icon, a martyr for gay rights," said Professor Novak.
"What Harvey did was of national importance, the first openly gay elected official. It had to happen in San Francisco first, but it took courage to do it," said Corey Busch, who was Moscone's press secretary and a good friend.
Milk was a street organizer who'd lost twice in runs for elected office.
Moscone named Milk to the city Board of Permit Appeals, a commission with high political visibility.
"It was George who gave Harvey Milk the platform," said Busch. When Milk ran again, he got a lot of mainstream endorsements, including The Chronicle's.
Moscone was also a pivotal figure in the city's political history. He had two major opponents when he ran for mayor in 1975: John Barbagelata, a conservative West Portal real estate man, and Dianne Feinstein, a moderate Democrat and rising star. Feinstein came in third in the primary, and the liberal Moscone faced the conservative Barbagelata in the final. Moscone barely won.
"The Chronicle said his victory party was the greatest cross section of San Franciscans ever assembled under one roof," Busch said. "That was sure true."
Moscone's backers were black, white, gay, straight, Chinese, Filipino, Mexican, Guatemalan, Pacific Islander, Maltese, Afghan, Vietnamese -- a cross section of a new San Francisco. "He opened the city government up to new people, and different people," said Nothenberg. "There was a pent up demand for participation by those excluded. George opened the doors."
In previous city regimes, the civil service, the police, the Fire Department, the city boards and commissions all had the same look about them: The good jobs were held down by a local establishment, native San Franciscans for the most part, Irish and Italians, most of them men, most of them Catholics. The all knew each other, and San Francisco was their city.
Instead of businessmen and their friends, Moscone appointed different people to the top jobs, to the boards and commissions. "He changed the face of city service," said Busch.
Moscone was perhaps the only one who could have made the kind of changes he made.
Milk was from New York, but Moscone was a San Franciscan. He'd gone to St.
Ignatius High, had been a playground director, had been a lawyer and a member of the Board of Supervisors.
"George was a son of the city," Nothenberg said. "You have to realize how much this guy was really inside the fabric of the city. Being mayor was a childhood dream come true.
"People really trusted him. They knew he was a good guy, not some outsider come to tell them what to do.
"History has caught up with what he did," Nothenberg said. "You can't go back. It will never be the same."
"I am 41 now," said Christopher Moscone, "As you get older, they say you turn into your father a little bit. I'm like him. I'm Italian. I am a lawyer. I'm getting to that age where he was.
"Family was important to him. The painful thing is, I have five children, and they never knew their grandfather."
Moscone's son lives in Marin County but works in San Francisco. "I come in to the city every day," he said. "This is my home. There are things named for my dad, but what gives me great pride is to see the old Funston Playground in the Marina is now Moscone Playground. It's an old-time playground in an old- time part of the city. I like that.
"He loved the city," Christopher Moscone said. "My dad gave his life for the city."
Both Moscone and Milk changed their world. Stuart Milk, Harvey's nephew, came to San Francisco twice in the last few weeks, once to speak at USF and once to participate in Sunday's candlelight march.
On his first visit, he said that by chance he had met a very old, very dignified San Francisco woman. He helped her carry her groceries. Grateful and formal, she introduced herself and asked his name. "I'm Stuart Milk," he said.
"Are you any relation to Harvey Milk?" she asked. "I'm his nephew," he said. "You know," the woman said, "your uncle changed my thinking. He opened my mind. He changed the way I viewed life.".
Thursday: Harvey Milk's legacy in the gay community in San Francisco and nationwide.

subset: commoncrawl


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This is NOT my code, but I'm supposed to use it to help me with completing the final thing. The problem is, when I compile it, I get an error saying that method calcGravity in class Gravity1 cannot be applied to given types; required: double[] found: double[],double[] reason: actual and formal argument lists differ in length. I haven't edited it yet, but I wanted to get this part fixed before I do so. Here's the whole starter code:
import java.io.IOException; public class Gravity1 { public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException { String[] names = {"Mercury", "Venus", "Earth", "Mars", "Jupiter", "Saturn", "Uranus", "Neptune", "Pluto"}; double[] radii = {2439.7, 6051.9, 6378, 3402.5, 71492, 60270, 25562, 24774, 1195}; double[] masses = {3.3022 * Math.pow(10,23), 4.8685 * Math.pow(10,24), 5.9736 * Math.pow(10,24), 6.4185 * Math.pow(10,23), 1.8986 * Math.pow(10,27), 5.6846 * Math.pow(10,26), 8.6810 * Math.pow(10,25), 1.0243 * Math.pow(10,26), 1.312 * Math.pow(10,22)}; // alternate //double [] mass = {3.30E23, 4.87E24, 5.97E24, 6.42E23, 1.90E27, 5.68E26, 8.68E25, 1.02E26, 1.27E22}; double[] gravities = calcGravity(radii, masses); printResults(names, radii, masses, gravities); printToFile(gravities); } //The return type for printResults is void because you are not returning anything. //The return type for calcGravity is an array of doubles: public static double [] calcGravity (double[] arrayDoubles){ double earthGravity = 6.67 * Math.pow(10, -17) * massOfPlanet/ Math.pow(radiusOfPlanet, 2); //The general formula to find gravity: } //where massOfPlanet and radiusOfPlanet are replaced in the above formula by array values. }
The line is pointing to double[] gravities = calcGravity(radii, masses);


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Welcome to Prague!
A medieval cultural capital located in the heart of Europe, yet for decades locked seemingly far away behind the Iron Curtain, Prague has a magical flair like no other. Relatively spared from natural disasters and war, Prague boasts magnificent architecture preserved from its distant past, and is the home to world class theatres (think Mozart), labyrinthine cobble-stoned streets (think Kafka), and tucked-away bars, gardens and cafés where you can contemplate the meaning of it all. One of the things that makes Prague special is its contradictions: it's both big as well as cozy, it's rich as well as poor, both "Eastern" and "Western", quiet and wild, and really old yet unmistakably reconfigured by the communist regime (1948-1989) as well as the capitalist system that replaced it.
The Prague Program, which is the oldest CHID study abroad program at UW (since 1996), is all about immersing yourself in Prague and the other great Central European cities – Vienna, Krakow, Budapest and Berlin, where we will go on 4 or 5-day trips each – in order to develop a complex understanding of the dynamic historical, cultural and political life of Central Europe as a whole. The program itself is strongly anchored in the philosophy of CHID: it combines academically rigorous seminar-style courses, international field trips aimed at provoking personal reflection and exploration, and cultural events that transform our program into a living community. We focus on key issues that resonate well beyond Central Europe: the tragedy of the Holocaust, the nature and impact of the communist system, the hopes and tensions of the European Union, and how coming to terms with the past is reflected in the cultural and art scene we witness today.
We also reflect on the very meaning of Central Europe. Does Central Europe even exist? The question has for over a century occupied European intellectuals like Walter Benjamin or Milan Kundera, and continued to be reframed by the World Wars, a divided Europe during the Cold War, and the contemporary European integration. We travel to Vienna, Krakow, Budapest and Berlin to explore the commonality and diversity of Central Europe and to see how, as Christa Wolf expressed it, today is the last day of the past.
The Prague program is intensive both academically and experientially, often at the same time. The classes directly connect, for example, with our talks with journalists at Radio Free Europe in Prague or diplomats at the U.S. mission to the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) in Vienna. We discuss class readings with activists at the European Roma Rights Center in Budapest as well as with lawyers from the Transparency International in Prague. We visit women's rights activists in Krakow, local artists in Prague, and "green" squatters in the famous wagon commune Schwarzerkanal in Berlin. What might seem abstract at one moment becomes crystal clear the next when we walk through Auschwitz, visit a Stasi prison, witness street demonstrations, or explore the remnants of the Berlin wall.
Thus, to a large degree, the site, or rather the sites ARE the academic content of the program. But we do all of this with a heavy dose of fun: we go biking in Berlin and Krakow (possibly elsewhere), experience Budapest's Turkish baths, explore Vienna's Habsburg palaces, and see opera and ballet in Prague's beautiful theaters. We also encourage students to go on short-term trips to other wonderful places in the Czech Republic during the three-day weekends. Through this immersion, we hope that students in the program not only critically explore the intersections of rich and complex Central European history, society, and politics, but also, in the process, become themselves transformed by the places, people and ideas they encounter.
We believe for this immersion experience it's absolutely crucial that the students don't feel like tourists but instead live the same way regular Prague residents do. During the Prague program our students thus live in rented private residential apartments, centrally located in the heart of Prague. 4-5 students share two-bedroom apartments, all with fully equipped kitchens, bathrooms with showers or bathtubs, washing machines, living rooms with TV/SAT, and free internet. (The location of our classroom is within 20 minutes by walk or a short tram ride from all student apartments.)
The program fee covers most expenses connected with the international field
trips (travel, housing, museums and other entrance fees, all breakfasts and
a few group meals, etc.), student accommodation in the above-described apartments,
3-month public transportation pass in Prague, tickets to selected cultural
events (opera, ballet, concerts, museums), and reading packs for all three


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TAAFI, Toronto's Animation Fest is excited to announce that the 3rd annual TAAFI Call for Submissions 2014 has officially opened and submissions remain free of cost now until December 15 via taafi.com/submit. TAAFI will be back at TIFF Bell Lightbox and Corus Quay next Spring 2014!
TAAFI celebrates and explores the world of animation arts across a wide range of styles from all across the globe. The 2012 festival showcased over 100 short films from all over the world, including Grand Prix winner dir. Rony Hotin (Le Vagabond De Saint Marcel – France, 2013), and welcomed almost 100 speakers over the course of the three day festival. TAAFI 2014 will be held Mid June, 2014 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox and Corus Quay in spectacular downtown Toronto.


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1. Hometown
Costa Rica
2. Do you have any kids/pets?
I have a strong seven-year-old boy and a beautiful five-year-old girl.
3. What do you like most about working for Steal Network?
What I like the most about Steal Network is that there is always room for improvement. No matter how well we do the first time, we strive to do better the next.
4. What is your favorite vacation spot?
My favorite spot to go on vacation is Park City, Utah...but, only during the summer! Costa Ricans are not used to cold weather so, it is a bit hard for me to get used to the snow. Taking a hike in the mountains or swimming at Jordanelle are part of my dream vacation.


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PYONGYANG, North Korea - North Korea's official news agency says former NBA star Dennis Rodman has met leader Kim Jong Un on his second visit to the country.
The brief report by KCNA on Friday says the two had 'a cordial talk,' and Kim invited Rodman back again 'any time.'
The report says the two watched a basketball game together, and Kim hosted a dinner for the sports star.
The report does not say when they met or whether Rodman had left the country.
Rodman first met Kim - a basketball fan - during a visit in February to promote the sport and make a film. Rodman has suggested 'basketball diplomacy' could warm relations and has called Kim an 'awesome guy.'
The KCNA report has no mention of Kenneth Bae, an American missionary jailed there. Before arriving in North Korea on Tuesday, Rodman did not say whether he would seek Bae's release.
Rodman once asked on his Twitter account for Kim to 'do me a solid' and release Bae.
Bae was arrested in November and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for what Pyongyang described as hostile acts against the state. Kim has the power to grant special pardons under the North's constitution.
Rodman told reporters in Beijing before his flight to Pyongyang, 'I just want to meet my friend Kim, the marshal, and start a basketball league over there or something like that.'
North Korea did not confirm in advance whether the basketball star and Kim would meet. Meetings between senior North Korean officials and foreigners are normally not officially confirmed or announced in advance.


text: Glass Drop resembles a white-hot drop of glass before it takes shape. Its blown glass body is coated with chromed aluminium giving it a double life. When it is switched off it is the decorative effect of its mirrored surfaces which dominates, when it is switched on a warm light filters through its iridescent diffuser. The gently undulating shape of the upper part harmoniously accentuates its droplet effect. Glass Drop is particularly striking in a multiple installation, like a jewel made up of many pendants. Linear or round, Foscarini's multiple ceiling flange allows you put up to nine suspension lamps together, combining functionality with a harmonious look.


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Hello everyone!
What a weekend I have had….actually make that a week! My youngest has come down with a middle ear infection, poor little thing, he was crying so hard and was inconsolable. I HATE that. You feel so useless and you cannot take their pain away. We are just super lucky our Doctor opens at 8am on a Sunday and we can come in without appointment. We got in straight away without waiting and it was our Doctor that was rostered on that weekend too. Extra bonus!! I love our Doctor! It is so hard to find a good one, especially one so good with kids…….Gee I can go on can't I?!
Anyway, I have this super cute card to share. I made this a little while ago, I actually made a few of them I liked it so much. My new love is the Framelits Dies and matching Stamp Set Apothecary Art. I just wish I had more time to play! LOL!
I used colours Blushing Bride, Regal Rose and Crumb Cake to colour in the Image using a Aqua Painter. I used Water Colour paper for the image and Very Vanilla for the base and textured section. I also used some of the lusciousness that is Blushing Bride Pleated Stain Ribbon. Love these ribbons.


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I decided to try out this new fad of engineering prints for myself. A lot of design and craft blogs have been featuring these prints lately and raving about them. It's an inexpensive way to get large scale photos made. Engineering prints are usually just used for building plans and such. I tested one out with one of my photos from Lighthouse beach.
I have been thinking of using this as an idea for my friend's upcoming shower as inexpensive decorations, but I wanted to test it out first. I ordered a 24″ x 36″ from Staples and picked it up in store. It cost me a total of $3.19. The quality isn't perfect but the contrast and impact is excellent. It's very lightweight paper so it can crinkle easily and really made for one time use, unless you mount it to foam board or plywood.
I have heard rumors, that printers don't really like doing photos as engineering prints because it's uses more ink and wears out the printers. I didn't seem to have a problem, but I'm sure as this gets more popular some places may crack down and not do photos.
I plan on ordering more and mounting them to foam board to hang from the ceiling for party decorations.They would make great inexpensive decor for theme parties, weddings, or as dorm room posters.


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There was no need for Labrinth to make a solo album. As the man behind Tinie Tempah's electro-grime swagger, Timothy McKenzie could well have dined out on 'Pass Out' and 'Frisky' until Kiss FM finally got bored of sending him obscene PRS cheques. He could have sat on his contract with Simon Cowell's Syco label, producing hits for a succession of talent show finalists desperate to lace their near-certain #1 with some urban credibility. No doubt this supremely talented young chap will do all of this anyway; but in the meantime there's Electronic Earth to contend with.
As easygoing as this debut album sounds, don't be fooled into thinking it has been tossed out on a whim. 'Let The Sun Shine', the record's UV-glossed first single, hit #3 in September 2010 which in pop terms is practically a lifetime ago. It took until October last year for Labrinth to have another crack at the Top 40 with the giddy bass-gurgling 'Earthquake' in hand and Tinie Tempah by his side again. To merely proclaim it was worth the wait is an underestimation on the scale of calling Gotye a tad overplayed. A rip-snorting blast of cocksure fissures and instantly memorable lyrical nonsense, "Labrinth come in", 2011 rarely had it better.
Mercifully, Electronic Earth doesn't just crib wholeheartedly from its creator's past formula sheet for pop glory. The opening piano shuffle of 'Climb On Board' proves Britain's less mopey version of Drake has more than enough ideas left in the bank to make a properly good stab at decent LP. Most recent single 'Last Time' may feature run of the mill shout outs to "Ibiza", "Paris" and "Tokyo" but a whopping great singalong makes up for its over-earnest shortfalls.
That's Labrinth through and through: he's a master of creating eminently catchy tunes. The booming synth woes of 'Treatment' and "moshpit generation" antics of 'Sweet Riot' aren't at all revolutionary. They are however, guaranteed to bless you with an ear to ear grin. In fact, the biggest chink in the armour of this former Yasmin, Ms.Dynamite and Devlin collaborator is that he sometimes rubs off as a child going a bit nuts in a sweet shop.
'Can I re-imagine Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band's "Express Yourself" so it wouldn't seem out of place in a student nightclub brimming with cheap booze?' Absatively. 'Can I get Emeli Sandé to feature on a tender ballad that isn't outstandingly boring?' Why the hell not! 'Can I nick the chorus to 'Big Yellow Taxi' and splice it into a song about sexy times?' At a severe push. 'Can I make them all fit together under the same roof?' Erm, just about.
In the end, Electronic Earth comes off more as a greatest hits collection than an album proper but that's no bad thing. It just goes to show Labrinth has plenty of room left with which to stretch his wings. By the sounds of this, he's only just getting started.
7Robert Leedham's Score


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Founded in 1867, Passier was first established under the name G. Passier & Sohn as a German regimental saddler. Impressed with the quality of Passier saddles, Passier quickly became the official saddler to the last German Emperor, a huge honor at the time. Passier stands for the highest level of craftsmanship and Passier products of today are the result of more than 125 years of experience deeply rooted in quality and tradition. All Passier saddles, bridles, stirrup leathers, girths, etc. are handmade and made from the highest quality materials from selected suppliers. Shop our Passier collection for the popular Passier Grand Gilbert Dressage Saddle, Passier Relevant Dressage Saddle, and Passier Aquarius Snaffle Bridle and don't forget to pick up some Passier Lederbalsam to protect and preserve your favorite tack!
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From Waring Blenders - Big Stix™ Immersion Blender, heavy duty, 100 qt. capacity, 16" s/s removable shaft, variable speed motor, continuous ON feature, rubberized comfort grip, 1 HP, 120V, 750W, 6.25amps, ETL, NSF - Your Source for Quality Restaurant Equipment and Supplies.
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Patronages by the AIJP for International Events
It isn't a really new idea of introducing a patronage of the AIJP because there were patronages many years ago. It is such patronages that offer the Executive Board the possibility of honouring outstanding national and international events and also promoting the AIJP, the name and its existence worldwide. Why these patronages fell into oblivion is not known.
Not any event can be awarded a patronage. It should not be misused to make profit but promote philately by good press work for high-class events which serve the claims and aims of the AIJP. The patronage is to be seen as a special kind of partnership that serves both partners.
So patronages can correspondingly be awarded for all events which have to be assigned to the title 'international' even if they are only national exhibitions. Applications have to be addressed to the president who assigns the approval in agreement with the Executive Board.
Patronage by the AIJP for International Events
Since many years the AIJP patronises events that on one hand support the idea of internationality on the other hand promote philately effectively. After the examination of the event concerned, its rules and conception the patronage will be awarded. Due to its high class the AIJP will make sure it is well represented in the press and recommended to visitors.
For the AIJP it means to look after the compliances with standards for journalists. The AIJP herself will publish multilingual press releases in order to promote the respective event.
Basically every important philatelic exhibition but also stamp fairs, salons and special philatelic activities can apply for patronage as long as they comply with the standards of internatioality and high-class philately.
Awarded Patronages
The following events applied for and were awarded patronages:
|31. Internationale Briefmarken-Börse Sindelfingen
|IPHLA 2012 Internationale Philatelistische Literaturausstellung
Rules for Patronages by the AIJP
The AIJP unites the authors and philatelic journalists of international philately. The AIJP tries to support literature and current reporting to the media. The Association contributes to the support of the reputation and receipt of the philately at home and abroad.
The AIJP introduced "AIJP Patronage" within the first years of its existence awarded exclusively to important philatelic events. During the sixties and seventies of the last century mainly philatelic world exhibitions were awarded a patronage. Later on stamp fairs and modern forms of exhibitions developed international importance and high class so that they, too, must be considered worthwile for patronage. They became a valuable supplement and thus contribute to the promotion of philately across borders.
The AIJP now takes on this good tradition with view to offering patronage to international exhibitions, stamp fairs and special events which help develop the promotion of the philately and will support such events actively. The following performance features are scheduled:
a) Obligations of the AIJP
- dispatch of the information to all members
- details of the event on the Internet
- report in selected well-known professional journals worldwide before and after the event
- presentation of the event during the AIJP yearly convention (beforhand) and arrangement of an AIJP meeting during the event.
- link on the AIJP home page to the the organiser's home page
- arrangement of contacts, if necessary advice
- advertising use of the AIJP logo as support of the event
b) Obligations of the organiser
- liberal admission for AIJP members
- availability of a press room with free drinks/little catering
- one free 1/1 side advertisement or appropriate place for an editorial presentation of the AIJP (provided that a catalogue is produced for the event)
- link on the organiser's home page to the the AIJP home page
- at completion of a contract payment of patronage charges
Patronage Charges
- 350 Euro for national events (fairs, stock exchanges, rank 1 exhibitions, salons)
- 400 Euro for FEPA exhibitions
plus invitation for a 1 board member (Hotel, meals, free admission included)
- 600 Euro for international events (FIP exhibitions and the like)
plus invitation for a 1 board member (Hotel, meals, free admission included)
A formless application for patronage can be made at any time. The award will be sent to applicants with an invoice. By payment of the patronage charges the obligations mentioned above are regarded as agreed.
Deviations or changes have duly to be agreed in writing. - Effective from January 2012


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She has coped with the Iranian authorities, the NHS and Richard Branson.
Now new CIPR president Sue Wolstenholme is using her powers of persuasion to address an arguably bigger challenge - helping the industry achieve professional respectability.
'PR can be used for all kinds of things,' she says, 'whether it's starting wars or selling bars of soap. But when it is professionally done it usually changes something for the better. It is such a powerful tool it must be done ethically.'
Wolstenholme sets out her presidential stall to remove the 'ducking and diving' image that, she argues, remains attached to the industry. And for the 60-year-old this quest boils down to one thing - accreditation that deserves to bear the name.
There are a range of training options at the CIPR, and Wolstenholme can call herself a chartered practitioner, but she says these schemes are 'only really bedding in now'.
'I would like a lot more people to become chartered. I'd like to see companies only inviting agencies to pitch if their staff have chartered status.'
The aim is laudable, but could such a system not restrict the breadth of talent and diversity of those entering the industry?
'It won't do that. It is a marker of how far this industry has come and a celebration of where the individual has got to.'
The CIPR's move last week (PRWeek, 1 February) to open up its presidential election process can be seen as a nod towards encouraging diversity, though this inevitably leads to another question.
How does the organisation account for the embarrassing presidential election process in November, which meant president-elect Lionel Zetter had to stand down because his nomination had been accepted post-deadline?
Wolstenholme answers the question in the same self-certain but unaggressive way she answers all the others - she later claims to be someone who does not feel stress and it is a believable claim.
'It was genuinely a mistake and I don't think there's any more to it than that. It's not the end of the world and I defy people, especially people in PR, to say they've never made a wrong decision. We came clean, said a mistake had been made and put it right.'
When it comes to the wider impact on an organisation charged with defending the reputation of the reputation defenders, she answers with as much conviction.
'Has it damaged our reputation? Not at all. They're still coming (to the CIPR) and we're still leading in professional development.'
Wolstenholme has been teaching CIPR courses since 1998. She has also taught alongside the Association of Colleges director of comms Ben Verinder, who says that formal education on PR is 'very important' to her.
'She has demonstrated her dedication to raising standards by matching her rhetoric with the time she spends on the issue. She's passionate about it, and is helped by a strong sense of empathy.'
Though keen to help create benchmarks for progress and achievement in PR, the gardening enthusiast's entry into the industry was not a smooth one.
From working in an insurance company by day and agitprop theatre in the evening - 'shoring up the system during the day and trying to smash it during the night' as she puts it - her early career encompassed a furniture business, organising a festival and a stint as local news hack.
But it was upon approaching Amnesty International, her confidence boosted by her festival work, that she got her break.
It enabled her to launch her own agency, working on resurrecting the benefit show the Secret Policeman's Ball in 1986 - a project that brought her into contact with the event's benefactor Richard Branson. Asked about the PR savvy CEO, she hesitates before, one senses, playing the diplomat: 'He can recognise good people and delegate very cleverly to them.'
Following her agency launch she dipped a toe into academia, lecturing on PR at the University of Exeter. She loved the teaching, if not the snobbery towards a subject not taken entirely seriously.
Since then, as well as helping establish training at the CIPR, her work has included heading up comms at Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, speaking in Iran on public engagement and handling her own agency Ashley Public Relations. She has been president of the European Public Relations Education and Research Association twice, and a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of PR.
A thread of moral judgement runs through her work - she pulled out of work for an estate agent because 'it didn't feel right'.
As with Zetter in his brief stint as president, her vision involves closer work with the PRCA, a body with which the CIPR has had a number of differences of opinion. 'It doesn't make sense to me to be competing over a large industry. We need to have more ways of working jointly,' she asserts.
But while a collaborative hand is extended to the PRCA, the same cannot be said for someone known for their ability to manipulate the news.
Max Clifford may be the quintessential PR man in the minds of some outside the industry. But Wolstenholme sees little space for his ilk in the industry stable.
'He is not a PR person, he is a publicist ... if they're ducking and diving and not worrying if the facts are straight as long as the copy is good, they're publicists.'
Not a conventional way of defining PR, perhaps, and likely to ruffle a few feathers. But certainly a statement of intent.
2013 President, CIPR
2012 Fellow, Nigerian Institute of PR
2005 Chairwoman, CIPR Professional Development Committee
1998 Director of comms, Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust
1997 Owner, Ashley Public Relations
1994-2008 President, EUPRERA
1992-2008 Chairwoman, PR educators' forum UK
1991 Lecturer and course leader, University of Exeter
1986 Owner, Service Public Relations
1981 Commercial and PR lead, Elephant Arts Co-op
What was your biggest career break?
The 25th anniversary of Amnesty International launched my consultancy nationally. My campaigns, for which the fees were paid by Richard Branson, saved it from bankruptcy and relaunched the Secret Policeman's Ball, both of which I am proud.
Have you had a notable mentor?
Wendy Laister, who was Richard Branson's PR lead. She had a talent for creative angles but never failed to fact check and risk assess.
What advice would you give people climbing the career ladder?
Never stop listening, especially when you think your ideas are more important. Keep on learning because sometimes old approaches might be the best but you must know why and how they will work. And never stop questioning.
What qualities do you look for in new recruits?
Inquisitiveness, idealism, optimism, openness to new ideas and a real hunger for development.


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XT Vs. D-lor Rap Battle [Grind Time West]
Drect from Grind Time reports "Tight battle that went down August 30th for GT West. "
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Crystal Pearl Baguette NecklacePrevious Product Next Product
- The Pearl & Crystal Collection
- Measurements: 12"L, 1.5"
- Metal: Silver-tone Metal
- Swarovski Crystals
- Czech Glass Pearls
- Lobster Claw Clasp
- Made in the USA
Editor's Note: The classic Pearl & Crystal Collection continues to be a Ben-Amun staple. Swarovski crystals and Czech glass pearls in different shades of ivory provide the foundation for a variety of timeless pieces that are just as wearable today as when the brand began over 30 years ago. "A well crafted luxury piece of jewelry truly makes a woman feel feminine and elegant – that's why I continue to design for her. Every woman deserves to feel special and beautiful," says Isaac of the inspiration behind this signature collection.
We hand pack all our shipments securely to insure a safe delivery. If you receive a shipment that has obvious damage, please contact us immediately in order to receive a return label which you will need to include in your return package. You can then send the product back to us wrapped in its original packaging and we will be happy to replace the damaged item.
Processing of orders and merchandise development are suspended on the following Holiday schedules to allow our employees to spend time with their family. Production and order processing continues accordingly.
Holiday Dates:
Christmas / New Year: December 20th to January 1st.


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CHOOSE CARATAGEnull gm
Twisted Tales Gold Pendant - High polish yellow gold pendant that has a dangling stylised acanthus motif attached to a chain link pattern.
Our jewellery is super fashionable, affordable, easy to wear, made of quality that you'd love and is a perfect match for your everyday outfit. Delivered to your doorstep, with certifications and hallmarks for proof, plus a lifetime exchange policy to top it all off, you gotta check us out!


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Thoughts And Prayers For Newtown, Connecticut!!
Do you all need to talk about the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut?
I could barely sleep last night thinking about it and how much everyone is suffering there and everywhere. What an awful, senseless tragedy. 🙁 🙁 🙁
Maybe we could use this post as a way to send Newtown, Connecticut our love, thoughts, and prayers. They need us more than ever and will for a long time to come.
Much love to them and all of you as we all grieve and work through this sad, sad tragedy!xxxx