Like everyone else, I receive many, many, many emails from wealthy women dying of cancer in the Ivory Coast, who, not wanting to marry outside of their paternal home (which the Bible is against) want to send me all their money. Why they don't want to share this money with the poor and destitute of the Ivory Coast is beyond me. I pop their emails into the spam file.
Today I received an email from the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church asking for funds for an orphanage in Uganda. I'm thinking it's not real. The email text is in italics Let's take a look at the text:
Dear ,
As an Appointed Missionary of TEC, I'm figuring the PB might actually address the email to me, not to "Dear , Blank ." Heck, even the Cancerous Widows of the Ivory Coast address me as "Dear Beloved of the Lord"!
Holy blessings and greetings to you. Hope you are okay and everything is going on well. I will keep you in my prayers. Thanks for your prayers while we were at the Lambeth. So, in everything you've ever read, or any video you've seen of the Presiding Bishop, you know she speaks exactly in this manner-or, perhaps, not.
At short notice, in the wake of events, we are making a humble appeal for a few dollars you can towards the treatment of Orphans in Uganda who survived a fire that gutted their residence killing 18 and wounding several of them. Your little contribution can be of help and change life! You too pray for the survivors who are struggling to get funds for surgery as we advocate for the MDGs. I will be very grateful for your assistance and consideration extended to us. Stay blessed always. I have attached a photo for you.This paragraph certainly sounds like the Presiding Bishop, doesn't it? Most people with doctorates have trouble using proper grammar and sentence structure when writing. Let's compare it to a paragraph from the Introduction to her book A Wing And A Prayer: A Message Of Faith And Hope: "Flying depends both on the physical wind and on the inventive spirit that led the Wright brothers and others to figure out how to harness that wind. And in the early Church, those folks we read about in Acts began to speak not only in other languages, but boldly, so much so that the onlookers thought they were drunk. They began to tell good news to people who weren't sure what it meant at first." Yeah, it certainly reads like the same author! /snark
Shalom,
Katharine
Katharine Jefferts Schori
Emeritus Bishop of Nevada
Presiding Bishop and Bishop of The Convocation of American Churches in Europe
815 Second Avenue
New York City, NY 10017
kjefferts@aol.com
pb@episcopalchurch.org
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/paging/index.php?id=2 Well, we all know that "shalom" is the Presiding Bishop's catch phrase, but, somehow, I find the email addresses to be suspect, as well as the fact that she is linking to David Virtue's House of Pain. Yeah, that could happen! The Office of the Presiding Bishop always works with hate-filled reasserters! How could she not?
So, I dunno. . . should I "a few dollars you can towards the treatment of Orphans in Uganda" or not? OCICBW. . .
UPDATE: Rev. Kurt post the following in the comments at Padre Mickey's Dance Party:
From episcope:
False emails
In the past two days, we've heard from many who have received an email claiming to be from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.
It is called, “Hello and thanks for your prayers.” If you have received such an email, please be alert that this is false information and is a scam.
Scams of this nature have been circulating for awhile (we sent a similar notice in June). Suspect emails may come (or appear to come) from any number of addresses, such as kjefferts@aol.com, pbksjefferts@aol.com, xjefferts@aol.com – these are false addresses. These scam emails are being investigated. If you have any questions or wish to report an email, contact abusereport@episcopalchurch.org.
Thanks, Faddah Kurt!
7 comments:
Most people with doctorates have trouble using proper grammar and sentence structure when writing.
Oh the stories I could tell....
Pax,
Doxy
(Who got her start as an editor by editing dissertations)
I wouldn't send one centavo...Orombi is busy waging war on LGBT at ALL levels of SCHOOLLIFE and from his little smear campaign one senses the BLAME for the deadly school fires is related to sexual orientation...real or not, phony or not...it may be just another one of Father Rev. Erich Kasirye/Uganda fund raising campains...rember Fr. Kasirye/Uganda who underhandedly
"solicited" $$$ at a LGBT Anglican "list" a few years ago (and unfortunately received contributions
from LGBT members with his compelling stories and
lies)? Fr. Erich has NOW moved up to bigger and
better ministry "opportunities" and is NOW *offering*
"ecclesiastical protection" to U.S. Parishes from the
Diocese of Namirembe and Bishop Samuel
Ssekkadde...meanwhile, the ever-pious/
sometimes-present and always unpleasant Archbishop
Orombi is sturring up some potential "business" by
reminding us in the ECUSA about the "poisonous efforts
of the revisionist forces!"
Ole'
Earlier at David Vitues "Viewpoint":
"LOOKING FOR A DIOCESE OR PROVINCE THAT WILL GIVE YOU
COVER. I got a note this week from the Rev. Erich
Kasirye, Diocesan Mission Coordinator for Bishop
Samuel Ssekkadde, in the Diocese of Namirembe. This
was the first Diocese in East and Central Africa which
now has over 5 million membership.
Kasirye wrote saying: "This is to inform you that my
Diocese would like to adopt a parish in the States
which is orthodox and lacks ecclesiastical protection.
Kindly let us know those churches which might need
some pastoral and personal support. We are very much
aware of the poisonous efforts of the revisionist
forces which face orthodox churches in ECUSA-and we do
not want them to be vulnerable. The Diocese of
Namirembe recently celebrated its 150 years. Of course
the question that springs to mind is why not ask why
an orthodox US bishop to do this?
IN THE U.S. THIS WEEK was Ugandan Archbishop Henry
Luke Orombi. He came to my parish, the Church of the
Good Samaritan in Paoli, PA in the DIOCESE OF
PENNSYLVANIA briefly but did not preach or administer
Holy Communion. I talked with him briefly. He has no
intention of refusing any ECUSA parish that wants
protection from the church's marauding revisionist
bishops. Why should he stop, after all they come to
him he does not seek them out. It is their call not
his."
Wormwood - I have my doubts about KJS; she is a biology major talked about "seagulls" in her post. There are no seagulls -- there are various types of gulls, but no "seagulls." So, perahps .... :)
A couple of week ago the Lead posted on the bogus emails and point out to us any offical email has @episcopalchurch.org as the address.
In a word, um, NO.
We've all read her stellar writing. This ain't it.
And let's not forget her title under the signature...it should be something along the lines of Presiding Biship, Episcopal church of the USA.
I don't think this particular scam was perpetrated by David Virtue and his "official" associates on Virtue Online, even though the email links to his page listing the addresses of bishops (outdated), and of course, the infamous link to donate to VO by PayPal!
It does look like every email you get from Africa though, doesn't it?
I have received 5 of these in the last 72 hours - and the biggest clue is the grammar and spelling. (Many Ph.D.'s can - and do! - use proper grammar and spelling - regardless of their academic discipline.) Plus - I have received a couple of emails from her in the past, and her grammar is always impeccable.
The other clue is a lot of the spelling and usage issues are obviously from someone who learned their English in a British school system (eg: "in hospital").
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