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Kentucky Priest Forced to Resign over Gay Marriage Refusal * Anglican Priest Smears Virgin Mary * Irish Bishops Fudge on Gay Marriage * CofE to Fast Track Minority Clergy * Canada/NZ News

Almighty God, you who have given us your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to be born of a pure Virgin: Grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

Glorifying Christ. Christian experience is experience of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There really is no such thing as 'an experience of the Holy Spirit' from which the Father and the Son are excluded. In any case, the Holy Spirit is a reticent Spirit. He does not willingly draw attention to himself. Rather he prompts us to pray 'Abba! Father!' and thus witnesses to our filial relationship to God. And above all he glorifies Christ. He turns the bright beams of his searchlight upon the face of Jesus Christ. He is never more satisfied than when the believer is engrossed in Jesus Christ. --- John R.W. Stott

The societal reorganization that is necessary to allow gay marriage automatically elevates homosexuals to a special class of citizenry. To hoist one class you must demote another, meaning that heterosexual men are by default the enemies and oppressors of homosexuals. It is a foregone conclusion that these oppressors, which includes both straight men and women, must be ordered to give tribute, benefits, and submission to the "victim" class. You will eventually kneel whether you like it or not. --- Roosh Valizadeh

Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) have been rising among gay and bisexual men, with increases in syphilis being seen across the country. In 2013, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men accounted for 75% of primary and secondary syphilis cases in the United States. Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men often get other STDs, including chlamydia and gonorrhea infections. HPV (Human papillomavirus), the most common STD in the United States, is also a concern for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. -- Center for Disease Control in Atlanta

There is a great battle going on for the soul of Anglicanism. The Western industrial nations have pretty well caved to the voice of the times, and it is one of those every 500 year struggles. It is all quickly coming to a head. In January, there will be a gathering of Anglican Primates in Canterbury. There have been many conversations leading up to it. Leaders from GAFCON and the Global South are clear that they know what is at stake. There needs to be clear consensus and commitment to "the faith once delivered" (Jude 1:3) in order for the Communion to survive. --- ACNA Bishop Bill Atwood

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
January 1, 2016

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. The story of the week, and the one that racked up nearly 10,000 hits before it made it into this week's digest, is the story of a rector of a parish in Louisville, KY who was forced to resign because he would not go along with his vestry or his bishop to perform gay marriages. This was despite the fact that General Convention said no priest or bishop had to perform the ceremony if doing so would offend his or her conscience.

The Rev. Jonathan Erdman, Rector of Calvary Church in Louisville, KY, will leave his church January 10, 2016. His organist later announced that he was leaving January 19.

The vestry of his parish had been trying to force him out since the Episcopal Church authorized priests to perform gay weddings, and Fr. Jonathan, a high churchman, said he would not, in conscience, do that. The vestry has the support of Kentucky Episcopal Bishop Terry Allen White, who was complicit in the forced resignation of Erdman from his position as rector of the church.

At last summer's General Convention, The Episcopal Church adopted a resolution allowing gay marriage but also stipulated that it would honor theological diversity and specifically, "that no bishop, priest, deacon or lay person should be coerced or penalized in any manner, nor suffer any canonical disabilities, as a result of his or her theological objection to or support for the 78th General Convention's action contained in this resolution."

It was left to the bishops to enforce this resolution in their respective dioceses. Bishop White not only did not enforce this resolution, he was complicit in forcing the resignation of Fr. Erdman from his position as rector of Calvary Church. He did not have his back. It is a story of the ongoing vilification, hatred, and finally removal of godly priests who won't toe the line on the ordination of women or sodomy. As a result of their objections, they must be removed in the name of inclusivity and theological diversity, which of course is a fiction. One wonders whether there is a difference between suicide bombers who wrap themselves in explosives and priests and bishops who wrap themselves in the sanctity of sodomy and wonder why, when the theological bomb goes off, priests and churches die.

You can read the full story here or in today's digest. http://tinyurl.com/gn5yj6v

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In the Diocese of Albany an Episcopal priest in Delmar was accused of video-taping a woman in a changing room. The Rev. Adam Egan, 35, Episcopal priest of St. Stephen Church in Delmar, faces felony charges after Colonie police say he was caught taking video of a woman changing clothes inside a dressing room at the Salvation Army Thrift Store in Latham.

He has been charged with Unlawful Surveillance and Tampering with Physical Evidence arising from the incident.

Albany Episcopal Bishop William H. Love noted the arrest "with great sadness" and said he had met and prayed with Fr. Egan. "Due to the serious nature of the offense with which he has been charged, as the Bishop Diocesan, I have placed Fr. Egan on indefinite Administrative Leave, during which time he is not to function in any capacity as a Member of the Clergy of this Church, nor is he to wear clerical dress." You can read the full story in today's digest.

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CHURCH OF ENGLAND NEWS. Women clergy will be the death of the Church of England, says Kathy Gyngell in an article in Conservative Woman. "The Church of England tests my loyalty sorely. My local church clergy 'team' is almost entirely feminized. In my neck of the woods, there is literally no escaping them, or their dumbed down approach to their 'calling'. To a woman they appear to be laboring under the impression they are running a Sunday school. That is how we are treated.

"With their predictable pudding basin haircuts these female clergy are, in my experience, particularly graceless. 'Sit down', not please be seated, is how we are addressed at the start of the service. Forget any idea of starting with a priestly procession behind a cross or a choir.

"Regard for any aspect of the liturgy and the conduct of the services is scant and bears virtually no relationship at all to the Book of Common Prayer. Sentences from the scriptures, collects, general confessions, or absolutions are rarity between the Christingles and all the other modern service forms. I sometimes wonder if they know the order of service at all. And when we are treated to this rarity, few of these lady priests seem capable of projecting their voices, let alone able to sing. Sacred music has all but disappeared."

Of course we have seen how this has gone in the Episcopal Church. Women priests have not made churches grow. Women bishops have been liberal and revisionist to the core, with many of them participating in annual gay parades. They too have not made churches grow or brought people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The Church of England will, in time, sadly go the way of the extinct Dodo bird. You can read Gyngell's full account in today's digest.

The Church of England is to fast-track black and ethnic minority clergy into senior positions amid accusations of institutional racism.

A "talent pool" of black, Asian and minority ethnic (Bame) potential leaders will be identified in 2016 for training and mentoring with the aim of increasing representation among bishops, deans, and archdeacons.

The church selected its first talent pool this year, but fewer than 7% of those chosen were from ethnic minorities. A second round is currently being selected. The church is to devote a third group specifically to Bame clergy.

However, only 2.8% of CofE clergy are from ethnic minorities, which limits the numbers available for fast-tracking. At senior levels, the sole Bame bishop is John Sentamu, the archbishop of York; there is one Bame dean and three archdeacons. Only 3% of the members of the last synod -- the church parliament -- were from ethnic minorities; figures are not yet available for the new synod elected in October.

This is all well and good, but if these new minority priests do not have a clear fix on the gospel they will be no better than their white liberal counterparts. Orthodox Anglican African provinces will still keep pushing the AMiE as the alternative to the Church of England. You can read the full story in today's digest.

Anglican priest Fr. Giles Fraser publicly smeared the Virgin Mary and got publicly whipped for it by a Roman Catholic priest (and former Anglican), Fr. Dwight Longenecker.

Longenecker writes, "Just when you thought the Anglicans couldn't stoop much lower, in a disgusting article published, predictably, on Christmas Eve, Anglican priest-journalist Giles Fraser not only publicly denies the Virgin Birth, but he ridicules the idea, proposes that the Blessed Virgin Mary was just another teen fornicator and that it's probably a good thing that Jesus was a bastard conceived when Mary had a romp with a Roman soldier.

"I'm surprised that he didn't title his article, 'That's Why Our Lady is a Tramp.'

"The crass arrogance of Fraser's article in London's The Guardian is only superseded by its ignorance. Fraser writes, 'The earliest polemic against Christianity focused on the circumstances of Jesus's birth. "We have not been born of fornication," says a hostile gathering to Jesus in John's gospel. The implication being: we weren't, but you were. In the second century, the Greek writer Celsus wrote a book about how Jesus was the illegitimate low-birth offspring of a spinner called Mary and a Roman soldier called Panthera. The implication may also have been that she was raped. Various later rabbinic texts refer to him as Jesus ben Pandera. All of which was intended as an insult: Jesus was a bastard. Obviously the son of God couldn't be a bastard. So, the argument goes, Jesus was not the son of God.

"'The idea that Jesus was born of 'pure virgin' could well have been a reaction to these insults.'"

A Church of England priest familiar with Fraser wrote VOL and said Fraser is the best example of a champagne socialist who talks about the poor but craves the hallowed setting of the Oxbridge elite. He is also a very shallow thinker made famous only by his left-wing bluster. You can read the full article in today's digest.

A Church of England report which attacked key policies of Margaret Thatcher's government was denounced as "Marxist" by one of her closest advisers.

The publication of Faith In The City in December 1985 was seen as a landmark event, sparking intense public debate about the role of the Church in society and the impact of Thatcherism at a time of inner-city breakdown and perceived rising inequality.

The report, which had been commissioned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, referred to the Government's "dogmatic and inflexible" economic policies and the "unacceptable" effects of high unemployment.

Brian Griffiths, head of the No. 10 Policy Unit, said it showed "a deep hostility to government policy and the philosophy on which it is based" and accused the Church of adopting a "Marxist analysis" of society.

*****

GLOBAL ANGLICAN NEWS. As we get closer to D-Day in Canterbury, it is interesting to watch the spin by liberals over what they THINK will happen among the Primates based on a false reading of what has already taken place.

I face off with a certain Matt Gardner of the Anglican Church of Canada in an article titled Twenty-first Century Brought Family Disagreement at the Primates Meeting.

He argues that the last four Primates Meetings, which took place every two years between 2005 and 2011, saw major discussions break out revolving around issues of human sexuality, particularly concerning the blessing of same-sex unions. Striving for unity amidst open differences, the differing views among Primates took on the character of a family disagreement within the Anglican Communion.

However, it was much more than just that. The "differences" were fundamental. After the Episcopal Church in the United States consecrated an openly gay bishop and the Anglican diocese of New Westminster in Canada allowed the blessing of same-sex relationships, the issue of sexuality came to the fore at the 2005 Primates Meeting in Dromantine, Ireland.

Mr. Gardner seems to think that other issues like climate change and poverty dominated the conversation. Not true. When the orthodox primates were absent, temporal issues certainly took center stage, but pansexuality is the elephant in the sacristy and the last line in the sand. We will see how this all plays out next month in Canterbury. You can read my take on Mr. Gardner's rant in today's digest.

In a startling revelation in the New York Times, it was revealed that U.S. support of gay rights in Africa may have done more harm than good.

Since an anti-gay law went into effect last year, many gay Nigerians say they have been subjected to new levels of harassment, even violence.

They blame the law, the authorities, and broad social intolerance for their troubles. But they also blame an unwavering supporter whose commitment to their cause has been unquestioned and conspicuous across Africa: the United States government.

"The U.S. support is making matters worse," said Mike, 24, a university student studying biology in Minna, a town in central Nigeria. He asked that his full name not be used for his safety. "There's more resistance now. It's triggered people's defense mechanism."

Since 2012, the American government has put more than $700 million into supporting gay rights groups and causes globally. More than half of that money has focused on sub-Saharan Africa -- just one indication of this continent's importance to the new policy.

America's money and public diplomacy have opened conversations and opportunities in societies where the subject was taboo just a few years ago. But people on both sides of the gay rights issue have contended that American intervention has also made gay men and lesbians more visible -- and more vulnerable to harassment and violence. The American campaign has stirred misgivings among many African activists, who say they must rely on the West's support despite disagreeing with its strategies.

"The Nigerian law was blowback," said Chidi Odinkalu, chairman of Nigeria's National Human Rights Commission and the senior legal officer for the Africa Program of the Open Society Justice Initiative, which supports gay rights on the continent. "You now have situations of gay men being molested on the streets or taunted. That was all avoidable."

Fierce opposition has come from African governments and private organizations, which accuse the United States of cultural imperialism. Pressing gay rights on an unwilling continent, they say, is the latest attempt by Western nations to impose their values on Africa.

"In the same way that we don't try to impose our culture on anyone, we also expect that people should respect our culture in return," said Theresa Okafor, a Nigerian active in lobbying against gay rights.

This was the same message delivered to President Obama by the President of Uganda during his visit.

This of course raises the obvious objections by this writer. What right do Obama and America think they have to push their "values" on another nation when they constantly preach about inclusivity and diversity and multi-culturalism among their own people? Liberals constantly rant about the need to "listen" and have "conversation" with those with whom we disagree, but then they turn around and literally bribe a handful of African gay people with millions of dollars that could be better spent on poverty, housing and a zillion other good causes like clean water and better health care.

Perhaps the Obama administration should read the latest statistics from the Center for Disease Control on STDs among gay men. "Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) have been rising among gay and bisexual men, with increases in syphilis being seen across the country. In 2013, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men accounted for 75% of primary and secondary syphilis cases in the United States. Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men often get other STDs, including chlamydia and gonorrhea infections. HPV (Human papillomavirus), the most common STD in the United States, is also a concern for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men." In 2015 the figures were worse--and to think millions of tax-payer dollars were spent in finding a cure for HIV/AIDS. Apparently nothing has changed. So now society blesses pansexuality and the churches are rolling over to embrace a handful of men who demand full acceptance of behavior that does nothing but shorten their lives and ultimately kill them.

American conservative and Christian groups have also turned to Africa, where the vast majority of people still share their opposition to same-sex relations and marriage. "There is an intentional effort to coordinate with Africa specifically because we don't want them to make the mistakes we've made here in America," said Larry Jacobs, managing director of the World Congress of Families, an umbrella organization of social conservative and religious groups based in Rockford, Illinois.

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ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA. The Diocese of Niagara is in decline, writes Canadian blogger Samizdat. The Anglican Church of Canada is squeamishly shy about publicizing how many people attend its churches. No complete statistics for membership and average Sunday attendance have been published since 2001, although the ACoC did claim a membership of 545,957 in 2007.

The Diocese of Niagara's paper, however, has published some statistics for 2013 and 2014:
Average Sunday attendance fell 7.2 percent in one year. We cannot know, of course, whether this rate of decline will increase or decrease as the years pass but, if it remains the same, in 60 years there will be 91 people left in the diocese or, since there are 89 parishes, around one person per parish -- presumably the priest.

On a less gloomy note, the number of green parishes increased by three, demonstrating, I suppose, that the diocese overestimated the drawing power of its Gaia god.

The historic All Saints Anglican Church in Sandy Hill, Ottawa has been sold and will gradually be developed as a mixed-use building for meetings, weddings, and neighborhood-scale businesses.

The Gothic Revival church on Laurier Avenue between Chapel Street and Blackburn Avenue was listed for sale at $1.7 million. The purchase price hasn't been disclosed.

What makes this interesting is that in 2011, the Diocese of Ottawa moved the congregation of All Saints into St. Alban's, a church that had been vacated by an ANiC congregation as part of a negotiated settlement with the Diocese of Ottawa. The diocese, having ejected the ANiC congregation, was eager to create the impression that they had a use for St. Alban's.

This has left All Saints without a viable congregation. As a result, it has been sold.

The faux-new St. Alban's congregation takes pride in not defining doctrine in a single confession, in encompassing a diversity of views -- other than the diverse view that Christians who set a high value on a diversity of views have lost the thread -- and in Pride itself.

*****

CHURCH OF IRELAND. Church of Ireland bishops issued a report in the form of questions to answers in response to the recent passage of the Marriage Equality Referendum in the Republic of Ireland and the subsequent legislation. It is recognized that in the Church of Ireland there are differing opinions and responses to the outcome of the referendum itself. There will be many new situations of pastoral sensitivity that will arise, the bishops said.

Hitherto the Church and the State in both jurisdictions have substantially overlapped in their definition of marriage. This is no longer the case in the Republic of Ireland.

Under current legislation, involvement of a member of the clergy of the Church of Ireland as a solemniser (Republic of Ireland) or an officiant (Northern Ireland) in a wedding is an expressly legal function.

In a response to the Pastoral Letter from the Church of Ireland's House of Bishops concerning same-sex marriage, Reform Ireland said that the legislation to allow same-sex marriage was passed in the Republic of Ireland earlier this year. "Northern Ireland, being part of the UK, has to date, praise the Lord, not enacted such legislation - it is a devolved matter - the rest of the UK has such legislation but not here in Northern Ireland. Three times such legislation has come before our legislative assembly and three times it has been defeated. It is now before our high court for a judicial review in light of human rights legislation." You can read the bishops report and Reform's response in today's digest.

CHURCH OF AOTEAROA. From Christchurch, NZ comes word that The Anglican Church has agreed to consider "reinstating" the Christ Church Cathedral at a Dec. 23 conference.

The Anglican Church is resisting a full commitment to reinstating Christ Church Cathedral because of concerns over safety and cost.

Bishop Victoria Matthews partially endorsed a plan to reinstate the quake-damaged church, but did not rule out building a new, contemporary cathedral in its place.

A report by Government-appointed mediator Miriam Dean QC found the cathedral could be either reconstructed to be "indistinguishable" from its pre-quake self or replaced.

Matthews said the Church Property Trust (CPT), which owns the cathedral, would look at safety and cost issues of reinstatement. If they were manageable, a working group would lead an effort to revitalize the stricken building. Further announcements were expected in April.

CULTURE WAR NEWS. A Bible museum is coming to a very secular Washington. The National Mall may be the nation's front lawn, but religious displays are prohibited. Even at holiday time the museums that line it are only lightly decorated with Christmas trees and lights, and nothing religious.

But a new museum is going up just a few blocks away -- the Museum of the Bible -- that wants only to celebrate Christian scripture. The $400 million project, located two blocks south of the National Air and Space Museum, doesn't have to worry about laws or rulings that keep religion and state separate.

The museum is the brainchild of Steve Green, president of Hobby Lobby, the privately owned Oklahoma City-based crafts chain that follows its owners' evangelical beliefs, including closing its 600 stores on Sundays.

In 2014 Hobby Lobby won a Supreme Court decision exempting it from Affordable Care Act requirements regarding birth control coverage, which conflicted with the owners' beliefs.

Green has had a vision of a Bible museum for several years -- it was first intended for Dallas -- to make Scripture more accessible. Construction in Washington began in February on the site of a former refrigeration warehouse and design center. It will be one of the largest museums in the city, with eight floors, 430,000 square feet, and a garden on the roof.

"The Bible has had a huge impact on our world today -- from culture and politics, to social and moral justice, to literature, art and music, and more," Green told a group of civic leaders last year at the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. "Our family has a passion for the Bible and we are excited to be part of a museum dedicated to sharing its impact, history and narrative with the world."

SPOTLIGHT -- The movie. This week my wife and I saw the movie Spotlight. It's a gripping drama set in 2001. Editor Marty Baron of The Boston Globe assigns a team of journalists to investigate allegations against John Geoghan, a defrocked Roman Catholic priest accused of molesting more than 80 boys. Led by editor Walter "Robby" Robinson, reporters Michael Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Matt Carroll and Sacha Pfeiffer interview victims and try to unseal sensitive documents. The reporters make it their mission to provide proof of a cover-up of sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church. They trace the cover-up right to the top, reaching Bernard Cardinal Law himself. (He later fled to Rome to escape prosecution. He still resides there.)

As a journalist I found the movie gripping and the interviews with abused boys, many of them now men, sickening. The movie made me very angry. It's a high newsroom drama that reminded me of Watergate, only much better. Celebrities like Robert Redford don't make good reporters. This movie will stick with you for many reasons, chief of which is that this was not just about sexual abuse but spiritual abuse and putting the institution ahead of children. I thought only of the words of Jesus: that it would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. Hundreds of men will never darken the doors of a church again. They will never trust a priest who supposedly speaks for Jesus again. Sadly, they may never trust Jesus, bearing in mind who supposedly spoke for him.

In one scene, a priest is confronted by a reporter and all he could say was to admit he did it but that he got no pleasure from it! The lies go on. Some 269 priests molested over 1000 children in Boston during that period. Most of the priests never went to jail, and those molested were bought off by the Archdiocese. See this movie, but you have been warned. It is not for the faint of heart. You won't come away with nice thoughts about the Roman Catholic Church.

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As we face the New Year, I hope you will consider a tax deductible donation to keep VOL going. The story about the priest who was forced out of his parish by the vestry and bishop because he would not go along with gay marriage has had nearly 10,000 hits! You would not know about this priest or what he suffered at the hands of his "friends" if it was not for VOL. So why did this story catch fire? There are many reasons, but one that comes to mind is that it speaks to what many priests suffer. Sadly, they are too afraid to talk about their objections because they want to keep their jobs and pensions in The Episcopal Church. Secretly, they cheer this priest, but they remain silent. VOL breaks down those silent walls and tells you what no one else will say.

Please make a donation. Of the 10,000 people who read this story, less than 20 made a contribution to keep VOL afloat. That's not right. So please help out.

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Thank you for your support.

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So here's my New Year's gift to Jesus. I'm going to do everything I can to focus on Jesus Christ. I want to get to know him better. I want to introduce others to him better. All the liturgy, all the devotions, all the worship, all the education and catechesis, all the evangelization, all the writing, all the prayer, all the work to help the hungry and homeless, all the work in prison, all the work in school, all that I am and do I want to be focused on him.

A Happy New Year to all VOL's readers in 170 countries.

David

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