The first incident occurred when a group of orthodox and heterodox bishops met in New York City to discuss what future, if any, the orthodox still had in what is still called The Episcopal Church, now loosely thought of as Unitarian for people who say the creed, but really believe that God has willed Millennium goals, not salvation, to save a sin-torn world.

The first tale of duplicity began when the uber-liberal leader of the Anglican Consultative Counsel, Canon Kenneth Kearon turned up to facilitate a meeting, which saw such illustrious orthodox figures as Anglo-Catholic Ft. Worth Bishop Jack Iker, Network Bishop Bob Duncan on one side of the table, face down PB Frank Griswold and PB elect Katharine Jefferts Schori on the other side of the mahogany divide. Wobbly fence sitting bishops Peter Lee (Virginia) and John Lipscomb (Southeast Florida) were there to make sure the table didn't totally collapse.

Now this meeting was called by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, so you might have thought that they players would have come prepared. Some of them did.

When Canon Kearon turned up with an eight-point agenda and sat down to "facilitate" the meeting he had the gall to say that he had never seen the appeal statements calling for Alternative Primatial Oversight by the seven dioceses!

Well it so happens that Bishop Duncan, whom revisionists love to hate, just happened to figure out that Kearon would say something like that (he being closer to liberals than most, and has to put up with more nonsense from them than most) and lo and behold he opened his brief case and produced 20 freshly Xeroxed copies of the documents which he promptly gave to everyone present and, of course, to Canon Kearon.

Clearly taken by surprise, Kearon spluttered and mumbled and gave his standard liberal line about how we all needed to enter the "process as long as it is needed" to continue the dialogue. (He asked for eight years at GC2006)!

This, of course, is a favorite ploy of liberals. Under no circumstances must there be finality or closure, for fear of course that it might be finally be over for him and his London-based office which is kept open largely from the largesse of the Episcopal pot of mortuary dollars at the end of the 815 rainbow.

Needless to say Kearon got an earful from Ft. Worth Bishop Jack Iker who said that he was done dialoguing and "listening" another word much favored by liberals, and never would he attend one of these useless gabfests again. "I'm not interested in process I have had 20 years of process after this it is action," he said.

In one blinding moment of total reality (or was that clarity), Frank Griswold saw his final hopes for reconciliation disappear down a New York City sewer faster than the twin towers tumbling onto Manhattan streets. He is out the door in a matter of weeks. Oh reconciliation they name is ignominy.

THE second incident occurred in Kigali, Rwanda where some 20 African bishops gathered in solemn conclave to debate the future of the Episcopal Church, perhaps even the end of the Anglican Communion as we know it!

Certainly the message they sent was that the only way forward was an alternative structure which they themselves will anoint with holy oil, even if Rowan doesn't. The Africans, schooled in British understatement (many of whom have been trained in the UK) delivered their "English understatement" by saying that not only were they going to set up a new structure and not leave it to the Episcopal Church to make up its mind, they are going to try to collaborate with Lambeth, but may well move beyond Lambeth Palace and forge their own more perfect union if Dr. Williams continues to sit on the fence. They also said they will not recognize Katharine Jefferts Schori as a Primate at the table, not necessarily because she is a woman but that her theology resembled things that crawled on oceanic floors not from Holy Writ. They concluded saying that Primatial oversight should be provided for those American dioceses who want it.

How many more red rags to a liberal de-horned Episcopal bull can you wave?

Well, this got the ire up of the primate of the only truly liberal province on the African continent, Southern African Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town who immediately distanced himself from the communique saying he was not consulted on the document, with parts of it "not consonant with the position of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa". In particular, moaned Ndungane, he didn't like the proposals to develop alternative church structures in America, and sidelining Ms. Schori.

Now you should know that this province also gets a ton of money from The American Episcopal Church, and as a quid pro quo employs an openly gay Episcopal "missionary", the Rev. Ted Karpf, sent from 815, to assist in the AIDS crisis on his staff! Ndungane too, will not bite the hand that feeds him.

But the careful editor of The Christian Challenge magazine, Auburn Traycik smelled a rat and phoned the Argentina-based Southern Cone Archbishop Gregory Venables, who told her that he found it hard to believe that Archbishop Ndungane would not have known about plans to issue the communique because it was noted on the agenda and in early sessions at which the Southern African primate was present! He left early, said Venables.

Moreover, Venables said the communique was the "completely consensual" result of a "very united meeting." It was plainly evident that the participants "were happy and in agreement with what was written."

You can fool some of the bishops some of the time, but you can't fool all of the bishops all of the time, and certainly not a scrappy Internet journalist who might just be savvy enough to figure out what's really going on.

END