"Hey kids! I got an idea! Let's put on a first class Broadway show in the barn!"
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Isn't that the storyline from White Christmas? Pastor Ted Haggard seems to have followed suit - he and his wife "Gayle recently launched a new church in their backyard barn, a few miles from the enormous campus of his old congregation.
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In two months of preaching with sacks of fence-post concrete at his feet, Mr. Haggard, who is 54 years old, has built a congregation of nearly 200 people. His church, St. James, has outgrown the barn and this Sunday moves to a rented community center.
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Ebullient as ever, bouncing with energy, Mr. Haggard said he is back doing what he was born to do.
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"Tiger Woods needs to golf. Michael Vick needs to be playing football," Mr. Haggard said as his new congregation joined him and Gayle in their backyard for a post-worship picnic. Little kids, shrieking with joy, splashed in the pool. Men grilled burgers. Women set out chicken salad.
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"Ted Haggard," Mr. Haggard said, "needs to be leading a church."
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He acknowledged grave lapses of judgment in the episode he refers to as "my crisis." But Mr. Haggard also said that in his sorrow and shame, he accepted too much guilt after the scandal broke.
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"I over-repented," he said.
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Haggard portrays his encounter with a gay prostitute as "a massage that went awry" and said he doesn't have same-sex attractions. - Source
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"Over-repented" - interesting concept.
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I wonder if Christopher Guest wrote Haggard's responses? Anyway - Christopher Guest, if you're reading this, there is a film here.
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That's all.
Riiiight..."went awry." OK then. Next.
ReplyDeleteHow a massage turns into bumbled naked leapfrog I'll never know.
ReplyDelete"Tiger Woods needs to golf. Michael Vick needs to be playing football,"
ReplyDeleteNow there's a couple of real moral giants to keep company with...
Adrienne~ Too funny! I thought the same thing!
ReplyDeleteTiger Woods may have screwed up philandering, but he's still good at golf. Michael Vick may have screwed up killing dogs, but he's still good at football. Haggard screws up with a homosexual prostitute but he's still good at preaching? Hm. Indeed!
Hee. Word verification is brznbar. Brazen Barn?
LOL @ Adrienne's comment -- so true!
ReplyDeleteKM, very appropo!
Terry, this is off topic, but I think you can help me. I have been asked by a desperate mother if I know if there is a Saint/Blessed/Servant of God who is more contemporary (from the last couple centuries to the present) who is a Fallen-Woman/prostitute-turned-Saint? There seems to be many men who were once very hedonistic, and such examples of many alive now and preaching about it, but I can't think of any such women. Can you help? I can't even think of any contemporary prostestant repentant prostitutes.
Gette - I actually do not know! I'm thinking of a courtesean, mistress of one of the Louis' of France - can't recall his number or her name - but I think she later entered Carmel. Then there is Dorothy Day of course - no prostitute but she did have an abortion. There is also a former hippie who entered Carmel in India - name escapes me right now.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless I think of St. Therese of the Child Jesus who said that if given the opportunity she would have liked to live in a brothel to show the love and mercy of God to the women employed there - to be love in the midst of such sin as it were - or something to that effect. And remember how she said that if her soul was covered with mortal sin she would plunge herself with confidence into the Heart of Jesus. Anyway - that is why I think Therese is a good saint for prostitutes and sinners. (I think she likes that idea too.)
Georgette
ReplyDeleteWhat about Saint Josephine Bakhita ? She was not a fallen woman or prostitute but she was a slave. Many prostitutes are slaves - to a pimp, addiction (heroin etc), money, or are the subject of trafficking, etc.
Thanks, TN. I found a Margaret of Cortona, who was a nobleman's mistress, some time in the Renaissance period, I think..is that the one you meant? A hippie in India who entered Carmel...that sounds promising. Let me know when you think of her name.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, The Little Flower is certainly a great one. But my sister was looking for hope in an example that a woman who has fallen into prostitution can get out and even become a saint. She said it seems that there are no such female examples in our age, which is very very sad, and we are wondering why this is so. Is prostitution in this day and age so awful that it cannot be overcome? (Please pray for my niece, who has fallen very, very low; and it breaks all our hearts.)
terry, St Josephine Bakhita is also a good suggestion. You are indeed very perceptive to link prostituion and addiction as the horrible slaveries that they are.
Thom,sfo--
ReplyDeleteAdd in a few shots of tequila and ANYTHING can happen..:)
Sara
You had me at the opening Mickey Rooney homage!
ReplyDeleteDear Terry,
ReplyDeleteThanks for recommending St Therese. I passed your reply along to my sister and she sent this reply:
wow .
i brought m. two saints cards. one was st francis and the other was st therese. her friend wanted one so mandy gave her the st francis one.
so the only card she has (plastic coated of course) is the little flower.
awww.
<3
she remembered that st terese is her confirmation saint too!
wow.
reading this is actually a great comfort and gift gette. thank you so much for it. and thank you to terry nelson too. god bless him/her LOL
i need a hanky.
sniff sniff.
i am praying that st therese appears to her in a dream and tells her how loved and precious she is. and how much god loves her so much just as she is.........
wheres that tissue?