Historians and others have noticed the link between personality types and political tendencies.

Some people are natural followers.  Others are natural leaders.  Some are born rebels.  And others may simply enjoy “taking a walk” without anyone following them.  More than one of these descriptions may apply to the same person.

My personality includes a rebellious streak.  I will never join a religious cult or a cult of personality.  I have unlimited disdain for authoritarian figures, those with those tendencies, and those who enable them.  I enjoy poking my proverbial fingers into the equally proverbial eyes of authority figures.  Yet I also strive to keep a balance, for one must follow the chain of command sometimes.  Knowing when to obey and when to tell authority figures to fly a kite is a mark of wisdom.  When I follow my own interests, I find that I am frequently a natural contrarian.  If I am simply “doing my own thing” or “taking a walk” without anyone following me, so be it.  And I am a citizen of a nation-state born in a rebellion against the British Empire.  As such, I am a natural anti-imperialist.

I also oppose theocracy consistently.

All politicians and political parties at all times and places should be small-D democratic and stand firmly within objective reality.  Those who are not disqualify themselves morally.  I can engage politically and positively with those who disagree with me regarding policies and affirm representative government but not with those who oppose representative government.

I also understand that creating and maintaining the common good requires balancing individual and collective rights and responsibilities.  Mutuality defines the common good.  Mutuality teaches that we all belong to and depend upon each other.  I cannot be my best self if the system prevents you from being your best self, for example.  I cannot be as healthy as I should be within a sick community.  Mutuality recognizes that we are accountable to each other and have no right to exploit each other.  Rampant individualism works against the common good, just as mutuality forbids trampling individuals.  This is a Biblical vision consistent with the Law of Moses and the ethics of the New Testament.

Simply put, my rights stop at the edge of your nose, just as your rights stop at the edge of my nose.  I have no absolute right to do whatever I want to do, for my actions affect others.

I also understand that gray areas exist, that not everything is black or white.  For example, as much as I detest abortion in most circumstances, I also understand that anti-abortion laws frequently have negative effects upon women’s health care.  Anti-abortion ideologues may not want to acknowledge this fact, but journalists have documented these consequences.  I also recall that, in Georgia years ago, one anti-abortion law had the unintended consequence of interfering with doctors’ malpractice insurance.  The legislator who sponsored that bill doubled down instead of apologizing and working to correct that issue.  Governance without principles is nihilistic, but governance that disregards the reality on the ground is bad, too.

Left, right, or center (whatever those terms mean in any given circumstance), my political bias takes the reality on the ground into consideration.  A good idea taken too far becomes a bad idea.  And some ideas are always bad.  Tactics matter; how one seeks to make a good idea reality is crucial.  People may go about it in a productive or a counter-productive manner.  And laws may be necessary and proper sometimes and not others.

I stand in the middle, I suppose.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 3, 2024 COMMON ERA

I, as a student and teacher of history, grasp the concepts of violent speech, defamation, libel, and free speech over time.  I know, for example, that for a long time in this country’s past, courts did not consider the veracity of printed statements in libel trials.  Finally, though, the standard that the truth was not libelous entered legal precedent.  Alexander Hamilton argued this point in People v. Croswell (1804), and the New York legislature wrote the truth defense into law the following year.

In an age of rising autocracy and “alternative facts,” with many people living in alternative universes and embracing fascism, understanding both objective reality and the limitations of free speech matter more than ever.  If I were to slander or libel someone, I would not enjoy the protection of the First Amendment.  If I were to write or say something unflattering yet true about someone, I would not commit libel, slander, or defamation.  If I were to incite people to perpetrate violence, I would commit a crime.

We live in dangerous times.  Prominent politicians incite their followers to violence frequently.  People ranging from election workers to would-be witnesses in court cases to other politicians receive threats, including death threats.  In such cases, the free speech defense is garbage.  I concede, that those who threaten or incite to violence may, in their minds, imagine themselves to be justified in their actions.  They may also think that 2 + 2 = 5.  They are wrong.  They are also criminals.  The courts should treat them accordingly, regardless of who they are.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 1, 2024 COMMON ERA

I have completed the drafting of the history (complete with endnotes) of Calvary Episcopal Church, Americus, Georgia. I feel as if a great burden has lifted from my shoulders.

My personality type is such that I commit to a project and stay with it to the end, regardless of how long that takes. I pushed hard to finish the drafting this weekend, and accomplished that goal on Good Friday, between the Noon and 7:00 p.m. services. I have organized the parish archives, preserved materials, researched the parish’s past, and written nearly 300 pages.

Now the processes of revising and editing the text will continue.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 31, 2024 COMMON ERA

EASTER DAY

 

I have stepped away from my weblogs for a while.  I have entered into a contract with the vestry of Calvary Episcopal Church, Americus, Georgia, to research and write a book–the updated the parish history.  The previous published parish history in book form, which spanned 1858-1912, debuted in 1912.

I am enjoying this process.  Hours pass and I barely notice them doing so.

I will revisit my weblogs occasionally for the next two months or so.  Meanwhile, I hope that everyone will not take offense when I do not answer comments immediately.  One task occupies my mind most of each day.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 21, 2023 COMMON ERA

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I know how you feel.

Above:  Bonny Thomas (January 17, 1965-October 14, 2019)

Bonny, my beloved, died via suicide four years ago today.

Grief is a topic which many people handle with awkwardness at best and with insensitivity at worst.  Good intentions frequently lead to words and actions which cause additional pain to those who grieve.  The most egregious example may be the infamous,

I know how I feel.  Yet I do not know how anybody else feels.

My father and all my grandparents have died.  Friends have died.  Yet those deaths were different.  That grief has faded.  When Bonny died, part of me died with her.  And grief after a suicide differs from other forms of grief–in my experience, at least.  Survivor’s guilt settles in.

The relationship Bonny and I had was tumultuous, wonderful, loving, maddening, and heartbreaking.  We took care of each other.  When she was away in a mental hospital, she was on my mind.  When she did not take her medications, I could tell.  Finally, Bonny lost her struggle with mental illness.

This is a variation on a story with which many people can identify.

Four years later, I live in a different county and in the opposite corner of Georgia.  The change of scenery has helped me, as has proximity to family.  Yet the pain which is four years old remains potent.  I could not keep the woman I loved alive.  So, I mourn her.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 14, 2023 COMMON ERA

Or, You Know Where You Can Shove Your Advertisements

I would say, but this is a PG-rated weblog.

I adore ad blockers and despise advertisements.  I hate them with a passion most people reserve for beets and okra.  I have already expressed my unapologetic contempt for relentless advertising and its dehumanizing effects at this weblog, so I will not tread that ground more in this post.

As I was writing, I adore ad blockers.  They do make the Internet experience more pleasant.  Gone are the moments when, for example, I am enjoying a sublime artistic experience by watching a performance of a sacred work at a video website, only to bemoan the tacky advertisement which interrupts the holy moment.  On the other hand, some websites do not permit me view content because I use an ad blocker.  Usually, a box appears on my screen.  The text tells me that “we” do not like advertisements either, but they are an economic necessity.  Would I please permit advertisements at this website?  I say, en français, “Non!”  Such websites are not necessities in my life.

Ad blockers can accomplish only so much, though.  Advertisements are built-in aspects of many podcasts, for example.  Hosts read the advertising copy.  I move the progress bar forward to get past such commercial announcements.

You, O reader, may see an advertisement beneath these words.  I have nothing to do with that.  But you can remove it by using an ad blocker.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 3, 2023 COMMON ERA

This week, a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, indicted Donald Trump and eighteen other people.  Based on news reports, the District Attorney’s office has a plethora of evidence, including incriminating text messages.

The names of the grand jurors are public information, according to law.  Today, the names of and information about the grand jurors are circulating in far-right wing corners of the Internet.  Much of the online chatter in these dark online corners refers to this list as a “hit list.”  These are threats of violence and even murder.  Nobody should excuse this disturbing fact.

Free speech is not absolute.  I am a fact-based and peace-loving person who abhors violence, so the following scenarios are improbable and hypothetical, O reader.  If I were to encourage someone to commit murder, I would not enjoy free speech protections.  If I were to urge people to commit arson, I would lack free speech protections.  If I were to commit libel or otherwise to defame the reputation of an innocent person, I would be liable in a court of law.  If, by my words, I were to endanger any innocent human being, I would be a criminal.  Free speech is not absolute, nor should it be.  My rights stop at the edge another person’s nose, so to speak.

Words have power.  They can help or harm.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 17, 2023 COMMON ERA

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According to the State of Florida, slavery provided slaves with skills that benefited them in life.  This educational standard has justifiably received the scorn of many people from across the political spectrum, from liberals (such as me) to some prominent African-American Republicans with strong social conservative credentials.  Nevertheless, the Governor of Florida continues to argue that rejecting this educational standard constitutes accepting a “false narrative” and wokeness.

Jon Stewart said in reference to George Santos that it takes shameless people to commit truly shameful deeds.  The tribe of shameless racists–who may not even resort to coded language–has increased exponentially during the last few years.  They are shameless online.  They are shameless in person.  Many of them seem to live in a parallel universe in which 2 = 2 does not equal 4.

I, as a student of history, understand what Koheleth, the author of Ecclesiastes, knew in antiquity:  There is nothing new under the sun.  The circumstances, technology, and issues vary according to time and space, but the course of human events rhymes–often depressingly.  The cult of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy is a demon which minimizes or denies the role of slavery in the Civil War and the founding of the Confederate States of America.  Attempts to whitewash the past are old news.  Racism continues to rear its ugly head–often in the name of nostalgia for a White Christian America which was never what many people think it was.

Painting a smiling face on slavery does not change the facts of that Peculiar Institution.  Denying the truth of the traumas of the past is no way to learn from them and to move into the future with justice in mind.  So, may we all face the past, the present, and the future with an unflinching recognition of objective reality.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 1, 2023 COMMON ERA

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Mr. Tuttiett’s hymns are characterized by smoothness of rhythm, directness of aim, simplicity of language, and deep earnestness. Those for special services and seasons are of great merit.

Above:  Lawrence Tuttiett

Image in the Public Domain

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LAWRENCE TUTTIETT (BAPTIZED OCTOBER 31, 1825-DIED MAY 21, 1897)

Anglican and Scottish Episcopal Priest and Hymn Writer

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—John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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Lawrence Tuttiett comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via The Hymnal (1941), of the old Evangelical and Reformed Church.

Tuttiett, born in Coylton, Devonshire, England, and baptized on October 31, 1825, was a son of a surgeon in the Royal Navy.  Our saint initially planned to become a naval surgeon, too.  Yet Tuttiett changed course and studied theology instead.  After graduating from King’s College, London, he became a deacon (1848) then a priest (1849) in The Church of England.

Tuttiett embarked upon a faithful career.  After serving as the Perpetual Curate of Lea Marston, Warwickshire (1854-1870), our saint moved to Scotland and transferred into the Scottish Episcopal Church.  He served in St Andrews (1870f) then became the Prebendary of St. Ninian’s Cathedral, Perth (1880).  Eventually our saint retired to Pitlochry.

Tuttiett left a written legacy.  Published works included:

1. Hymns for Churchmen (1854);
2. Counsels for a Godfather (1861);
3. Hymns for the Children of the Church (1862);
4. Gems of Thought on the Sunday Special Services:  Being the Harmonized Teaching of the Collect, Epistle, Gospel, and the First Lessons, Easter to the End of Trinity (1864); and
5. Through the Clouds:  Thoughts in Plain Verse (1866).

As of 1907, thirteen of Tuttiett’s hymns were in common use in England and Scotland.  Fewer of these hymns were in common use in the United States of America.  The Episcopal, Lutheran, and German Reformed traditions have been most likely to retain any of Tuttiett’s hymns in their authorized hymnals.  Two of these hymns have been “Father, Let Me Dedicate” and “O, Grant Us Light, That We May Know.”

Tuttiett, aged 71 years, died in St Andrews, Scotland, on May 21, 1897.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 11, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE THIRTY-THIRD DAY OF EASTER

THE FEAST OF HENRY KNOX SHERRILL, PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

THE FEAST OF BARBARA ANDREWS, FIRST FEMALE MINISTER IN THE AMERICAN LUTHERAN CHURCH, 1970

THE FEAST OF SAINT GJON KODA, ALBANIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1947

THE FEAST OF JOHN JAMES MOMENT, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT MATTEO RICCI, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY

THE FEAST OF SAINT MATTHÊÔ LÊ VAN GAM, VIETNAMESE ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, 1847

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Dear God of beauty,

you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to

Lawrence Tuttiett and others, who have composed hymn texts.

May we, as you guide us,

find worthy hymn texts to be icons,

through which we see you.

In the Name of God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 44:1-3a, 5-15

Psalm 147

Revelation 5:11-14

Luke 2:8-20

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 20, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS AMATOR OF AUXERRE AND GERMANUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT MAMERTINUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT MARCIAN OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

THE FEAST OF JOHANNES BUGENHAGEN, GERMAN LUTHERAN PASTOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARCELLINUS OF EMBRUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF OLAVUS AND LAURENTIUS PETRI, RENEWERS OF THE CHURCH

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Above:  The Flag of England

Image in the Public Domain

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BLESSED PETER WRIGHT (1603-MAY 19, 1651)

English Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1651

Blessed Peter Wright comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.

Wright, born in Slipton, Northamptonshire, England, in 1603, came from a Roman Catholic family with twelve children.  Our saint’s father died when Wright was young.  Therefore, our saint had to work in the local solicitor’s office.  He did this for a decade.  Then our saint enlisted in the English Army in the Low Countries in 1627 or 1628.  Wright quickly realized that military life did not suit him.  So, he deserted after one month, and traveled to Brabant.

Wright had drifted from his Roman Catholic roots over the years.  He returned to those roots at Liège, where some English Jesuits lived.  After studying at the Jesuit college in that city, our saint became a Jesuit novitiate at Watten in 1629.  Wright, having studied theology and philosophy at Liège, joined the ranks of priests in 1639.

Wright eventually found his proper role within the Society of Jesus.  He, assigned to supervise boys at the English College of Saint Omer, proved useless in that assignment.  So, the order transferred hour saint to serve as the chaplain to Colonel Sir Henry Gage’s English regiment, based in Ghent.  Gage was in the service of the House of Hapsburg.  Wright returned to England with Gage’s regiment in the spring of 1644.  The English Civil Wars were raging, and Gage’s forces fought under the banner of King Charles I.  When Gage died on January 11, 1645, our saint administered the last rites.

Next, Wright served as the chaplain to John Paulet, the Marquess of Winchester.  Our saint was about to say Mass in London on Candlemas/the Feast of the Presentation (February 2, 1650), when he became a prisoner.  The charge was treason–being a Roman Catholic priest.  Thomas Gage, a former Dominican priest and a brother of the late Sir Henry Gage, had betrayed Wright.

By this time, England had become a commonwealth.  Parliament had abolished the monarchy and Charles I had gone to his execution in 1649.  Roman Catholics, unpopular with the old Anglican establishment (which had martyred its share of Roman Catholic priests), were the targets of more official ire under the new Puritan establishment.

Wright, imprisoned at Newgate, received the sentence of hanging, drawing, and quartering on May 16, 1651.  Three days later, before a crowd exceeding 20,000 people, our saint died by hanging.  The executioner took relative mercy on Wright by sparing him the drawing and quartering.  Then the deputies permitted our saint’s friends to claim the corpse and to bury it in Liège, at the Jesuit college.

Pope Pius XI declared Wright a Venerable then beatified him in 1929.

MAY 10, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE THIRTY-SECOND DAY OF EASTER

THE FEAST OF SAINT ENRICO REBUSCHINI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND SERVANT OF THE SICK; AND HIS MENTOR, SAINT LUIGI GUANELLA, FOUNDER OF THE DAUGHTERS OF SAINT MARY OF PROVIDENCE, THE SERVANTS OF CHARITY, AND THE CONFRATERNITY OF SAINT JOSEPH

THE FEAST OF ANNA LAETITIA WARING, HUMANITARIAN AND HYMN WRITER; AND HER UNCLE, SAMUEL MILLER WARING, HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT IVAN MERZ, CROATIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC INTELLECTUAL

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN OF ÁVILA, SPANISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, MYSTIC, AND SPIRITUAL WRITER; THE “APOSTLE OF ANDALUSIA”

THE FEAST OF JOHN GOSS, ANGLICAN CHURCH COMPOSER AND ORGANIST; AND WILLIAM MERCER, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT VASILE AFTENIE, ROMANIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND MARTYR, 1950

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Almighty God, by whose grace and power your holy martyr Blessed Peter Wright

triumphed over suffering and was faithful even to death:

Grant us, who now remember him in thanksgiving,

to be so faithful in our witness to you in the world,

that we may receive with him the crown of life;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 51:1-12

Psalm 116 or 116:1-8

Revelation 7:13-17

Luke 12:2-12

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 714

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