New is For All the Saints, though perhaps it would better be described as a "renewal" or even "resurrection," albeit in a slightly different guise. This For All the Saints blog (not to be confused with the Lutheran breviary [daily prayer books] For All the Saints) -- subtitled "encouraged by their examples, aided by their prayers, strengthened by their fellowship" -- is a new effort by an old blogosphere "friend," Todd Granger. In starting it last November 28, he wrote:
One of the features of my near-defunct weblog, The Confessing Reader, was the posting of the commemorations of the saints in the sanctoral (saints’ days) calendars of the Churches of the Anglican Communion, along with some commemorations from the Lutheran Book of Worship.Read more of his (re-) introduction here.
This weblog will continue that function of The Confessing Reader. For each commemoration, or “lesser feast” as The Episcopal Church’s sanctoral supplement to the Book of Common Prayer described them, I will post a brief biographical sketch, the collect for the commemoration, and the propers for the day (or a link to the Lectionary Page’s propers for the day). For most of the posts, there will also be an icon, or an iconographic depiction, of the saint whom we are commemorating and for whom we are giving thanks that day.
The Confessing Reader itself has been on my blog roll for as long as I've had one, but (as Todd notes) it is nearly defunct. In its heyday it not only featured the calendar of saints, but regular theological reflection on current matters (including the controversies within the Episcopal Church, most of which were quickly immersing the ELCA) and news from the Nordic (Lutheran) churches -- something notoriously difficult to find in English. Now, there's still plenty of good things in The Confessing Reader's Word Press archives (though much more got lost in the fall of CANNet), but apart from occasional posts of the calendar of the saints, which is now on Todd's newer blog, it's been pretty quiet the last couple of years.
Pontifications has also been on my blog roll forever, another must-read CANNet-hosted blog written by Fr. Alvin Kimel, started when he was a reasserter Episcopal priest. What one finds on the current Word Press iteration is but a shadow of the wonderful reflections and discussions that were lost (at least to the blogosphere) in CANNet's fall. Fr. Kimel's blog quieted down when he gave up the struggles of being faithful in the Episcopal Church and was received into the Roman Catholic Church and ordained a priest under the Pastoral Provision. He is, I suspect, much more content -- at least that's what I read between the lines of a blog whose last post was a year-and-a-half ago.
