HAPPY NEW YEAR: With thanks and gratitude I send each of you ¨un gran abrazo¨ from the land of the Maya!

The Fuego Volcano, Sacatepequez, Guatemala

Last night there was a little celebration.  It was with a group of friends.   I had the opportunity to share the events of my life over the last 35 years of sobriety.  Now I am 70 years old, 35 years  sober represents half of my life.

My own real life experience has been one of being fortunate in most respects.  My parents were loving, providing, hospitable and kind people.  I come from a whole long line of English people on both sides of my family.  My mothers family go all the way back to the earliest colonists of Conneticut after immigrating from England.  Mom's name is the well known name of many early settlers of that colony who then became noteable citizens of the State of Conneticut.

My father and his family came directly from Yorkshire, in England and I am first generation American on my fathers side.  A name amongst millions of English people named the same name. In Latin America I use all three names.  I like having both my parents names incorporated into my name.

Since my retirement at age 62 I have lived at the foot of the ¨Volcan de Fuego¨ in a small village in the Department of Sacatepequez, near Antigua, Guatemala.  I have an art studio in the living room of my home and all my furniture is painted by me. My life is colorful, it always has been.  I live in a rented/cozy and modest house amongst  birds chirping, four dogs barking and lots of religious processions that go right down the Calle Real which happens to be just outside my front door.  I am one of just a few ¨Norte Americanos¨ who live in this town.  

When I got up early this morning I was already greeted with New Years holiday well-wishers from around the World at facebook and email. Tomorrow will be 2014 and I will have lived to see it. No doubt there will be no confusion about when the New Year arrives in this little tiny of patch of human clustering as there will be lots of fireworks.   Fireworks and ¨bombas¨ (they´ve started already) that will take us through the night. Yes, all night.  Already I hear Mexican Ranchera music playing from concert sized speakers placed in the many ¨plazalitos¨ around town.  The beat goes on and by tomorrow morning, this same time, it will finally stop...exhausted but happy, the folks of San Miguel will have brought the New Year in  with a bang! 

Life around me truly astounds me.  It, life, always has.

I send you my warmest and best greetings from the foot of the volcano. May peace, happiness and good health be with you in the New Year, 2014.  I feel the love from those of you  that have touched my life both now and before now...you have been generous to me and you have made me glad and I love you.

With thanks and gratitude I send each of you ¨un gran abrazo¨ from the land of the Maya on New Years Eve,

Leonardo Ricardo

UPDATE -- ARCHBISHOP STANLEY NTAGALI OF UGANDA and GAFCON: Go jump in Lake Victoria (and clean off your filthy spittle)

GAFCON ¨Obsessed with sex¨ at Nairobi Conference 

http://leonardoricardosanto.blogspot.com/2013/11/acnaanglican-global-south-obsessed-with.html

¨The Church of England is now recommending that same-sex relationships be blessed in the church....¨  Archbishop Stanley/Uganda

From Thinking Anglicans

Friday, 27 December 2013

More on Pilling from Uganda and elsewhere

Archbishop Stanley Ntagali of Uganda has criticised the Pilling report in his Christmas Message:

…We believe the Bible is the authoritative Word of God and trustworthy to tell us the Truth. Unfortunately, some in the Anglican Communion members no longer believe the Bible is the infallible Word of God. That’s why I and other Archbishops from the Global South, Sydney, and the Anglican Church in North America organized the second Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON)* in October in Nairobi. We were altogether 1358 delegates worldwide. These included 169 delegates from Uganda. We are so determined to refuse anything that contradicts the Biblical authority without fear or compromise. I appeal to all Ugandans to join us in this struggle to protect our God given rights.
We are very concerned that our mother Church of England is moving in a very dangerous direction. They are following the path the Americans in the Episcopal Church took that caused us to break communion with them ten years ago.
The Church of England is now recommending that same-sex relationships be blessed in the church. Even though they are our mother, I want you to know that we cannot and we will not go in that direction. We will resist them and, with our other GAFCON brothers and sisters, will stand with those in the Church of England who continue to uphold the Bible as the Word of God and promote Biblical faith and morality…

Thanks to Thinking Anglicans, sidebar 

TO GAFCON:  Stop instigating hate at the Anglican Communion

GAFCONS WELCOME ¨OBSESSED WITH SEX¨ IN NAIROBI:

http://leonardoricardosanto.blogspot.com/2013/11/acnaanglican-global-south-obsessed-with.html

HATE UPDATE: 

Anti-homosexuality legislation in Nigeria and Uganda

http://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/archives/006375.html

FROM FATHER CHRISTIAN TROLL: 

http://gafcon.blogspot.com/2013/12/stanley-ngtali-gafcon-priorities-in.html
FROM THE UNITED NATIONS
http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/faith_and_terror/un_uganda_antigay_law_violates.html

35 YEARS OF CONTINOUS SOBRIETY: ¨Thirty five years of God helping me encounter reality and the authentic in me¨ Leonardo Ricardo´s Christmas Story

My active alcoholism was lifted on December 13, 1978

I just celebrated my 35th year of continous sobriety. I didn't know how to not drink when I got sober at age 35. My life changed. It took a year for me to see better...I hated being sober but I was trapped, I was at the falling off place. I thought I knew I would be better but I didn't know how to live in/with reality. Strangers helped me. Strangers became friends, they were like me. Climbing down from the smoky balcony and sitting in the front row of my own life has been breathtaking and startling to me...I liked spotlights or dark better. At first I just held on, tried to be quiet (never easy for me), knowing that there was something inside of me that I could almost touch...some nights I would touch that place and think it my Soul. It's deep inside...it isn't available always for me to touch with my head or heart as I get busy insisting or demanding life be different than it really is. My Soul likes life as it really is, it likes me touching life (and sometimes even making love to life)...not easy sometimes for a sober, real human being, who I discovered was the real me.

35 Years of clairty:

Fun/not, shy/bold, young/old, love/lust, found/lost, fear/fearless, hate/happy, healthy/ill, buff/fat, rich/not, popular/avoided, talented/restrained, traveled/reclusive, admired/scorned, trusted/maybe...reality just takes some getting used to. 

I still am growing toward Gods will for me but I think God just wants me to be the authentic me and go with it. Go with life. My Soul knows who I am better than me. 

I send you love and I send you my best/sparkly/glittery holiday friendship to family, friends, loved/beloved ones and to all of you I don't even know. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all from the foot of the Fuego Volcano  (and kisses to those whom I love but have gone on before me)

At the foot of the Fuego volcano

Leonardo Ricardo
Sacatepequez, Guatemala, Central America
Christmas Eve, 2013

UGANDAS GIFT OF HATE THAT KEEPS ON GIVING: Ugandan Parliament passes bill that could mean gays face life in prison

Uganda’s Parliament has passed the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

The bill increases the penalty for other acts – including mere sexual touching – from seven years to life imprisonment.

Promoting homosexuality and aiding and abetting others to commit same-sex acts will be punishable by five to seven years in jail.

A person in authority – gay or heterosexual – who fails to report violators to the police within 24 hours will be sentenced to three years behind bars.

A clause which included the death penalty for some offences has been dropped.

The bill was first introduced in 2009 by MP David Bahati

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/12/20/ugandan-parliament-passes-anti-homosexuality-bill/

President Museveni of Uganda

Activists urge Ugandan President not to sign Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law

Campaigners are calling on Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni not to sign the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law, following today’s vote by the Uganda Parliament.

On Friday, MPs passed legislation to toughen the punishment for same-sex sexual activity, including life imprisonment for ‘repeat offenders’.  

The bill increases the penalty for other acts – including mere sexual touching – from seven years to life imprisonment.

Promoting homosexuality and aiding and abetting others to commit same-sex acts will be punishable by five to seven years in jail.

A person in authority – gay or heterosexual – who fails to report violators to the police within 24 hours will be sentenced to three years behind bars.

Ugandan Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi is said to have opposed the parliamentary vote – and attention is now on President Yoweri Museveni to see if he will sign the bill into law...there is more, thanks to Pink News U.K.: 

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/12/20/activists-urge-ugandan-president-not-to-sign-anti-homosexuality-bill-into-law/

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs adopted the recommendation for a roadmap to tackle homophobia and discrimination based on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.

¨A European Parliamentary committee this morning adopted a recommendation for an EU roadmap against homophobia and transphobia.

The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs adopted the recommendation for a roadmap to tackle homophobia and discrimination based on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Today’s report builds on ten previous requests by the European Parliament over three years to roll out an equality strategy for LGBT people.

Similar strategies already exist for Roma integration, gender equality and discrimination.

The report today, which is non-binding, calls on the commission to make proposals for the areas of employment, education, health and access to goods and services.

In May, eleven EU member states expressed support for such a roadmap...please read it all, thanks to Pink News, United Kingdom

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/12/17/european-parliamentary-committee-adopts-roadmap-against-homophobia-and-transphobia/

LGBT BREAKTHROUGH: "For the first time in history, a country will have an openly gay man as both its prime minister and its vice prime minister..."

"

For the first time in history, a country will have an openly gay man as both its prime minister and its vice prime minister. Xavier Bettel was sworn in yesterday as Luxembourg’s prime minister, making the former talk show host Europe’s first openly gay prime minister. (And before you leave me nasty comments, Bettel is Europe’s third openly gay head of state, Iceland has had a gay premier in the past, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, and Belgium’s current premier, Elio Di Rupo, is gay.) Prime Minister Bettel is a member of the Democratic Party, but since the Democrats don’t have enough seats to claim a majority, Bettel has formed a coalition government with the Greens and Socialist parties. In that negotiation, Etienne Schneider, head of the Socialist party, was named deputy prime minister. Schneider (left) has an impressive resume himself. He was serving as Minister of the Economy when he was tapped to be second-in-command, and he was once managing director of the German energy company Enovos. Like Prime Minister Battel, Etienne Schneider is also openly gay. This gives Luxembourg the distinction of being the first county in the world with gay men filling the top two spots in the government. Xavier Bettel, who after his talk show gig served as mayor of Luxembourg City, is often accompanied to official (and unofficial) events by his hunky partner Gauthier Destenay. (Right) “People do not consider the fact of whether someone is gay or not.” Bettel says of Luxembourg. “Sometimes it’s not easy because you have some conservative persons, but there are always less and less and less.’ Bettel said he hoped he hadn’t made his sexuality an issue that people voted for or against. “I think people vote for my character and they vote for my full party,” He said. ‘They’re just happy to see that I’m happy too, because if you’re happy at home, people can feel it and see that you’re doing your job well.”

Thanks to The New Civil Rights Movement, sidebar http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/lets-cheer-our-own-a-world-first-two-openly-gay-men-will-lead-a-country/international/2013/12/05/79714?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheNewCivilRightsMovement+%28The+New+Civil+Rights+Movement%29

FROM THE POPE and ADVENTUS at THANKSGIVING: " The culture of prosperity deadens us..."

Thanksgiving Eve Message from the Pope and RMJ

A bit more of what-the-Pope-said to start your morning: Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a “disposable” culture which is now spreading. It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new. Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live; those excluded are no longer society’s underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised – they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not the “exploited” but the outcast, the “leftovers”. In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting. To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has developed. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own. The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase; and in the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us. Remember tomorrow those who must work just to keep their jobs so Wal-Mart and Target and many other stores can earn another $. "The excluded are not the 'exploited' but the outcast, the 'leftovers...please read it all'"

Thanks to RMJ Thanks to Pope Francis Thanks to Adventus, sidebar http://rmadisonj.blogspot.com/2013/11/thanksgiving-eve-2013.html?showComment=1385583048187#c8664379507293080325

KEEPING MY EYE ON THE PRIZE: Recovering/Thanksgiving from a Retinal Detachment in Northern California

Dear Friends and Blogging pals,

A few years ago I had retinal tears in my left eye.  It was a very frightening situation for me as I am an artist, I paint paintings, furniture and lots of decorative accessories.  I need my eyes.  After five surgeries (and a 8 month silicone behind the eye treatment)  and a brand new lense implanted in my eye, I could see again.  Not as well as before but gradually my vision corrected.  My fear faded and I did have my 'good' right eye which gave me huge reassurance as I painted my art projects in the studio everyday.

Recently I experienced flashes in my right eye.  I knew from my earlier experience that those flashes could be a sign of another retinal problem.  This time my 'good'  eye was vulnerable and I became very nervous as I live quite far away from Guatemala City and up very near the volcanos at a higher elevation than where I would be treated.   Surgery was needed and recovery seemed difficult as there would be lots of back and forth visits to my much trusted and fine Opthamologists, Dr. Luis and Jorge, Guatemala City.  So,  I opted to take a bit of a risk a travel to my nieces home near Sacramento, California (bonus, she is a nurse).   Thanks to Kelsie Reed, Elizabeth Bell, Juan Carlos Castillo Fuentes, Mark Creelman and Burton Pasternak I was swept off, literally door to door, to the airport the very next morning.  I had great flight connections in Houston and then quickly on to Sacramento where my niece had arranged an appointment with a leading Opthamologist.  Relief, happiness and peace of mind immediately came to mind (plus much inspiration from the dozens of prayers from my facebook and blogger friends around the world).

The very next day I had surgery.  I also had the most amazing and updated treatment one could ever hope for.  The surgeon, Dr. Robert Wendel was splendid as was all the support group of pre-op nurses, operating room staff and a really fine anatheisiologist...a giant of straightforward calm and caring.  The surgery, installing a ' buckle '  around my retinal detachment was a success.

I've had one follow up visit with Dr. Robert.  He thinks all is healing especially well and I will have another visit with him next week to review my progress.  It seems that I will actually SEE better than before.  I am relieved, I feel glad to rest and regroup in the home of my niece, Jennifer, who along with her daughter Laura have been marvelous when caring for me.  Room service and every other kindness has been coming my way.

Thanks to all of you, both family and friends.  I am still regrouping but I have so much gratitude for all of you out there in facebook/bloggerlandia. 

Prayers of Thanksgiving,
LeonardoRicardo
Citrus Heights, California on a sunny/chilly day

ACNA/ANGLICAN GLOBAL SOUTH OBSESSED WITH SEX: ¨Gafcon is clearly living in the past. Its opposition to gay rights smacks of an ´ungodly´ departure...

...from the march of history and the inevitability of equality for all.¨

Welcome to Nairobi

Welcome to All Saints Cathedral by the Archbishop of Kenya and Chairman of GAFCON, Archbishop Eliud Wabukala  -  Photographer: Russell Powell, GAFCON

Photo session with the bishops GAFCON 2013 Photographer: Andrew Gross, ACNA

¨Iconic German economic and political philosopher Karl Marx once opined that “religion is the opium of the masses”.

Obedience to faith is blind, and requires the suspension of reason.  That’s why Pope Francis is such a breath of fresh air – the first Latin Sovereign of Vatican City – has lit the Catholic Church on fire. The man born as Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has declared several of the Church’s teachings as “heresies”. The most significant of these is the official Catholic view on homosexuality.You don’t have to be an atheist, or an agnostic, to see the wisdom in Mr Marx’s jarring commentary. Since religion is based on faith – and not science – it’s not always rational.

Strangely, while the Catholic Church appears to be finally “seeing the light,” a benighted group of Anglican Bishops is determined to turn the clock back. Meeting in Nairobi a couple of weeks ago, a rebellious group calling itself the Global Anglican Future Conference, or Gafcon, threatened to overthrow the Archbishop of Canterbury, the overall leader of the global Anglican communion.

The group of 331 of the 871 bishops of the global Anglican clergy – drawn from Africa, Latin America, Caribbean, and Australia – accused Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury of ordaining gay bishops and recognising gay marriage.

Their beef with Canterbury is that the gospel should be taught according to Scripture, not “culture”. They vowed to “re-evangelise” the West, which has “gone astray”....please read it all:

Thanks to Standard Digital News, Kenya

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000097277&story_title=the-ground-has-shifted-on-gay-rights-and-the-church-needs-pope-francis

Thanks to Three Rivers Episcopal, sidebar

COMING OUT OF YOUR CLOSET: ¨Don't keep the truth about yourself a secret.¨

Have the hard conversation (everyone has closets)