THETRINITARIANSM OFFICIAL GAZETTE OF THE ANGLICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH / NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2020 T 6 A A L 4 I D H N T 1 D E G 3 T R T L L E S S E I R . C S E T I N A S L O E A I N R N T T V A , C I I C C R A S E O I T T A R . H E N 8 Q 0 O 1 U L 2 E I 0 S C T E C D H U R C H ASHLEY CARTWRIGHT Survivor: A statue of St. Francis stands amid the ashes and debris. P e U D r N m . P e S o i n . t n A v P N - e o P r I s o r APA PRIEST, , t o D C . a 5 f g O i 3 t e 7 FAMILY LOSE 7 THEIR HOME FR. BRUCE IN WILDFIRE APPOINTED JOHN OMWAKE hen the Rev. William Baker, an EDITOR OF APA priest living in Phoenix in TRINITARIAN southern Oregon, got up on the morning of Sept. 8, he Archbishop Haverland has announced smelled smoke. the appointment of the Rev.Jonah Bruce His first thought was of the as the third editor of THETRINITAR- Wwildfires across the state line in northern California. But The Baker home prior to the wildfire. IAN. when his 10-year-old daughter Elizabeth, known as Lizzy, He follows John Omwake, who is retir- went to play with friends, he went out too. That’s when he ing, effective Dec. 31. Mr. Omwake suc- saw the clouds. ceeded the newspaper’s founding editor, “They were pretty big for coming from California,” he Sue Scofield, on Oct. 1, 1990. recalled during a telephone interview. But he still assumed Father Bruce is a that was where they were from. 1987 graduate of His secular job as a supervisor at a chain grocery in near- the University of Ar- by Medford didn’t begin until 3pm, so he went back inside kansas with a Bach- to join his wife Andrea for coffee. elor of Arts in En- As he drank, he checked a Facebook page called the Jack- glish Literature. He son County Police Scanner. There he saw comments about received a Master of a fire in Ashland, 7 or 8 miles to the south. Arts in English Lit- “That’s where I thought the fire was coming from,” he said. erature from Loui- He turned on the TV to find out more, “but they kept siana State Univer- going back to soap operas.” So he went back to the police sity in 1990 and a scanner. There were reports of houses on fire in Ashland. Juris Doctor degree Fr. Bruce The blaze was getting closer to home. from the University of Georgia in 1993. When Father Bill — as he is known by the church family He has deep expertise in child welfare at St. Andrew’s in Jacksonville, just west of Medford, where he and juvenile justice law, having served as a was part of a team ministry — learned the fire had reached Tal- juvenile court judge, assistant district attor- ent, the next town north from Ashland, and was coming up ney and special assistant attorney general. the Bear River bike path, he phoned his parents, who live along At present he is director of the Court Im- the path, and told them to pack up and come to his house. provement Program for Georgia’s Supreme They did, bringing with them their two dogs. Court Committee on Justice for Children. Meanwhile, Father Bill listened to the scanner, as Andrea He was made a deacon Feb. 18, 2012 by and Lizzy began packing — “just in case.” then-Bishop Haverland, who ordered him As they packed, Father Bill checked with his neighbors. a priest on Sept. 8 of that year. He has been None, including him, expected the fire to reach their neigh- priest-in-charge of St. Francis of Assisi borhood of 60 to 80 homes. (ACC), Gainesville, Georgia since 2014. But he was concerned enough to decide to pack up for “a Father Bruce and his wife, Michele, Father Baker, wife Andrea and daughter Elizabeth on the deck of Please see WILDFIRE/2 Andrea’s father’s home, where they are now staying. Please see EDITOR/2 WWW.ANGLICANCATHOLIC.ORG • FACEBOOK.COM/ANGLICANCATHOLICCHURCH 2 THETRINITARIAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2020 METROPOLITAN’S MESSAGE THETRINITARIANSM VOL. XXXIX, NO. 6 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2020 MUSINGS ON SERMONS THETRINITARIAN, the Official Gazette of the Angli- There is a rule in our church which forbids the younger ing his auditors with the sense of being grossly imposed upon. can Catholic Church, was first published in April 1979 order of our clergymen to perform a certain portion of Most of us, however, are not great preachers. Merely good as the official voice of the Diocese of the Holy Trinity.In the service. The absolution must be read by a minister in preachers, bad preachers, and great preachers on bad days 1982, it became a churchwide publication of The Angli- priest’s orders. If there be no such minister present, the con- do better with shorter sermons. The worst offense in ser- can Catholic Church. In November 2017, news and ad- gregation can have the benefit of no absolution but that mon length ever inflicted on a congregation in my presence vertising coverage was extended to include the Anglican which each may succeed in administering to himself. The was in the 1980s in Florida in a parish that had both a Span- Church in America, the Anglican Province of America rule may be a good one. … But this forbearance on the ish-speaking and an English-speaking congregation. Both and the Diocese of the Holy Cross. part of youth would be much more appreciated if it were groups came together for an ordination. The preacher was extended likewise to sermons. The only danger would be asked by the bishop to say “a few words” in English about PUBLISHERS that congregations would be too anxious to prevent their the Spanish-speaking congregation and a few words in Span- The College of Bishops young clergymen from advancing ish about the English-speaking congregations. The “few themselves in the ranks of the min- words” took 40 minutes in English and then were repeat- EDITOR istry. Clergymen who could not ed in rather exact translation for 40 minutes more in Spanish. (November-December 2020 issue) preach would be such blessings that I was merely the master of ceremonies, so I was forced to John Omwake they would be bribed to adhere to accept George Herbert’s advice when faced with a sermon (January-February 2021 issue) their incompetence. not to my liking. That is, I had to let God take the sermon The Rev. Jonah Bruce as his text and preach me patience. 167 Morgan Lane nthony Trollope’s narra- We are told that the Queen expects a “decent” sermon, Dawsonville, GA 30534 tor in that churchiest by which she means about 20 minutes. But the Queen Phone: (706) 892-8865 and most entertaining grew up thoroughly churched and with her attention span Email: [email protected] Aof Victorian novels, Bar- not reduced by Sesame Street or smart phones or the inter- chester Towers, so opines. A page ear- net or even the i-Pod loaded with American show tunes pre- BUSINESS/CIRCULATION/ lier the same narrator wonders that sented to her by a former American president. For most ADVERTISING MANAGER young clergymen, “just turned twen- THE MOST REV. Americans now, 20 minutes is too long, and it certainly is Paul Holmes ty-three, who have never yet passed MARK for my taste except when I am clearly in the hands of a great 6413 S. Elati St. HAVERLAND Littleton, CO 80120 ten thoughtful days since the power preacher and fine speaker. I like the rule I was given when Phone: (303) 798-6948 of thought first came to” them, none- in seminary: “Preach on one of the lessons, proclaim the gos- FAX: (303) 798-9435 theless “can muster courage to preach” for the first time before pel, and know that each minute you go over ten takes away Email:[email protected] a congregation of their seniors. 10% of the sermon’s effect in the average listener.” I do not Trollope does not seem anti-sermon in general. The novel consider myself a gifted preacher, but I try to follow those SUBSCRIPTION POLICY in question contains a significant portion of a fictional ser- good rules so as to limit the damage. THETRINITARIAN is published in two editions — mon by the Reverend (and odious) Obadiah Slope in the Archbishop William Temple once said that when he print and digital.They are identical in content and ap- chapter called “War.” In fact, Slope’s sermon is the first prayed coincidences happened and that when he did not pray pearance.Annual subscription rates are US$22 for the salvo in the open hostilities of the ecclesiastical war that em- coincidences did not happen. I think a similar point is that digital edition only,US$25 for the print edition only,and broils the story. The narrator, speaking for the novelist we the Holy Spirit speaks more often through preachers who US$28 for both editions. Rates outside the USA are assume, hopes that he “shall not be thought to scoff at the have prepared carefully than through preachers who have slightly higher; for specifics, kindly contact the Circula- pulpit,” though he presents Mr.