For 5,000 years, every culture and every religion -- not just Christianity -- has defined marriage as a contract between men and women. There is no reason to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population." - Rick Warren, Saddleback Pastor and author

In three dimensions. An integrated Christian is growing in faith, life, and mission as a three-dimensional responsibility. --- From 'Seminarians are not Tadpoles', "Christianity Today" (6 February 1981).

Bad times are good for evangelical churches---Laurie Goodstein in the New York Times.

"I've long argued that if the conservatives truly wanted to "proof text" their case against Gene Robinson, they should quote Titus 1:6, where St. Paul mandated that church leaders should be "the husband of one wife." Gene Robinson, a divorced man, presumably would not qualify (nor would some other bishops). Although Jesus said nothing explicit about homosexuality, he did, however, have something to say about divorce - and none of it good." ----Randall Balmer, Columbia University professor, author

The bread you do not use is the bread of the hungry. The garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of the person who is naked. The shoes you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot. The money you keep locked away is the money of the poor. The acts of charity you do not perform are the injustices you commit. --- St. Basil the Great (4th century)

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
12/22/2008

The Episcopal Church took another beating this week. This time it was in the DIOCESE OF VIRGINIA. Nearly a dozen conservative church congregations in Virginia won a lawsuit involving their split from the U.S. Episcopal Church because of differences concerning theology and homosexuality. The last court ruling in the long-running case was issued Friday. A Fairfax County judge said the departing congregations are allowed under Virginia law to leave, and that they can keep their property as they realign under the authority of conservative Anglican bishops from Africa. The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia argued that it was the true owner of the church property and that the congregations' votes to leave the Episcopal Church were invalid. It plans to appeal the rulings. The diocese put their spin on things saying that the judge did not immediately grant the endowment of Truro Church. They plan to appeal. You can read the full story in today's digest.

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Presiding Bishop KATHARINE JEFFERTS SCHORI spoke to the National Press Club this past week. VOL was there to hear her speak or misspeak. What she had to say about Religion in the Public Square left much to be desired, but what she had to say about the current state of The Episcopal Church was filled with flat out lies and half truths. VOL documented her tall tales of just how wonderful everything is in TEC and "the worst is behind" us scenario. Here is a choice snippet. National Press Club President Sylvia Smith asked her, "Why has the Episcopal Church failed to follow the path of negotiation in light of the biblical injunction to avoid litigation?"

JEFFERTS SCHORI: Well, we tried for a very long time to negotiate and came to a place where there was no willingness for negotiation. So at that point, you ask the courts to enforce the law of the land. This is a flat out lie. You can read my full report here or in today's digest. http://tinyurl.com/9lmgtv I have posted a more general story of her comments about Religion in the Public Square.

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The formation of a NEW ANGLICAN PROVINCE IN NORTH AMERICA continues to draw both praise and criticism. I have written a round up story on this continuing Anglican saga. You can read it here or in today's digest. http://tinyurl.com/66guu7

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TWO EPISCOPAL bishops and a lesbian priest are angry that President-elect Barack Obama has chosen the evangelical preacher and popular author Rev. Dr. Rick Warren to give the Inauguration invocation. They believe he is unqualified to be "America's Pastor." Washington Episcopal Bishop John Bryson Chane said he was "profoundly disappointed" by Obama's choice, accusing Warren of being "homophobic, xenophobic, and willing to use the machinery of the state to enforce his prejudices-even going so far as to support the assassination of foreign leaders." It goes downhill from there with Gene Robinson, the homogenital bishop of New Hampshire describing Dr. Warren's selection as "like a slap in the face." Susan Russell, lesbian leader of Integrity - the official Episcopal pansexual organization promoting sodomy in the church -- wrote an "Open Letter to Barack Obama" saying "Rick Warren is not only a vocal opponent of LGBT equality who does not believe in evolution, he has compared abortion to the Holocaust and backed the assassination of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. His views are far outside the religious mainstream and his credentials are steeped in an 'Old Time Religion' of narrow exclusionism that ill prepares us for the challenges of the 21st century." You can my full analysis here or in today's digest. http://tinyurl.com/836zo5

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LONDON. In a Christmas greeting to 55-million Anglicans, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams included a decidedly pro-life message. While his ambivalence on homosexuality has contributed to the near-collapse of the Communion, Williams' pro-life stance was welcomed at his installation as head of the Anglican Communion. "God chose to show himself to us in a complete human life, telling us that every stage in human existence, from conception to maturity and even death, was in principle capable of telling us something about God," reads the 2008 Christmas message.

"Hence the reverence which as Christians we ought to show to human beings in every condition, at every stage of existence. This is why we cannot regard unborn children as less than members of the human family, why those with disabilities or deprivations have no less claim upon us than anyone else, why we try to makes loving sense of human life even when it is near its end and we can hardly see any signs left of freedom or thought." See the full Christmas message here: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/dec/08121708.html

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The DIOCESE OF LONG ISLAND is looking for a new bishop coadjutor. This is none too soon. Orris Walker has been a total disaster, one of the most hateful of bishops against orthodox priests in the history of Christendom. He has sold off a hospital, ransacked and sold off a nunnery, and accumulated a war chest of $11 million for the diocese even as it slowly sinks into the sunset. His most notorious act was trying to rehabilitate to the priesthood a priest accused of "marrying" a Brazilian young man and sodomizing other men on a church altar. This priest was featured in a Penthouse article, "The Boys from Brazil." The New York Times once publicly asked if the bishop himself had AIDS. They never got a straight answer.

Candidates up for consideration are: The Rev. Ronald G. Abrams, Rector, St. James, Wilmington, NC; The Very Rev. Peter Eaton, Dean, St. John's Cathedral, Denver, CO; The Rev. Dr. Titus Presler, Sub-Dean, The General Theological Seminary, NYC; The Rev. Lawrence Provenzano, Rector, St. Andrew's, Longmeadow, MA; The Rev. Canon Petero Sabune, Episcopal Chaplain, Sing Sing Correctional Facility, Ossining, NY; and The Rev. Caroline Stacey, Rector, St. Luke in the Fields, NYC a true phalanx of liberals.

A VOL reader told this reporter that what VOL reported some months ago might be coming true. It seems that Johncy Itty's resignation as Bishop of Oregon and his move to Long Island was to allow him to run for the Long Island seat. My source tells me he's seeking signatures for a petition having avoided the search committee. So what really happened in Oregon?

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The LIVING CHURCH FOUNDATION has appointed a new executive director, Dr. Christopher Wells to replace the outgoing David Kalvelage who is retiring as executive editor of The Living Church. Wells holds a Ph.D. in theology from the University of Notre Dame. His appointment was announced by the Rev. Thomas A. Fraser, president of the board of directors of the foundation, and is part of a restructure of the foundation's staff. "Dr. Christopher Wells is one of the most gifted and enthusiastic young Episcopalians in the church," Fr. Fraser said. "I am delighted to have him now at The Living Church, and enormously excited about the ways in which he will be able to lead the foundation in serving all Anglicans everywhere." He is presently a "scholar-in-mission" in the Diocese of Dallas. In the spring, he will teach at the Anglican seminary in Grahamstown, South Africa, College of the Transfiguration.

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The Rt. Rev. Dorsey F. Henderson, Jr., Bishop of UPPER SOUTH CAROLINA since 1995 is resigning and recently called for the election of his successor at a meeting of the diocesan council. Bishop Henderson said he will resign effective on either the day the new bishop is consecrated or on Dec. 31, 2009, whichever comes first. In a pastoral letter sent to members of the diocese and published on the diocesan website, Bishop Henderson said he has come to the conclusion that he has done about all he knows how to do and that it is time for someone else to lead the diocese into the next level of Christian discipleship.

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Where is the AMERICAN ANGLICAN COUNCIL going in 2009? "In 2009, we will have an AAC group present at the TEC General Convention to gather information and get the truth out to the world, to be an advocate for orthodoxy in that setting, and to provide a strategic retreat for orthodox deputies. A large number of our members are still in TEC. They have not been abandoned or forgotten, and the AAC will be there for them," says Bishop David Anderson. "One of our new projects for 2009 for those both in and out of TEC is called "Blueprint for a New Church." It will be a series of regional conferences designed to cast a vision for a new type of church, utilizing plenary presentations, small table discussions and prayer times to build deeper relationships across jurisdictions, and to provide 'nuts and bolts' help in the workshops."

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It seems The Episcopal Church has money to spare. The EPISCOPAL CHURCH FOUNDATION is offering Fellowship Partners Program of $15,000 a year for three years to anyone who has the potential to impact congregations, or where there is a need to address a recognized shortage area, or in an area where the Episcopal Church needs to develop expertise. Examples include, but are not limited to, interfaith and Christian-Muslim relations, multicultural ministry development, and Anglican theology in the context of global reconciliation. Nothing about evangelism and discipleship, not inclusive enough apparently, but it is called "transformational ministry." You have till 3/15/2009 to apply. Perhaps some genius will come up with a program to make the failed 20/20 program, designed to double the church in 12 years, work. At $45,000. he/she comes in cheap, if a formula can be found.

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OBBY JINDAL is Governor of Louisiana and a serious Catholic. Newsweek magazine reported that the Indian-born Jindal's adaptive instincts and intellectual drive fueled his conversion to Catholicism at age 12. An evangelical friend named Kent gave him a paperback Bible for Christmas. Raised in a "strong Hindu culture," Jindal considered himself "anti-Christian" and stashed it in a closet. While watching a Passion film, he was suddenly "convicted" of his "sinfulness and [his] need for a savior." Most conversion narratives end there. Jindal's doesn't. His deeply Catholic views, including a "100 percent" opposition to abortion "with no exceptions" for rape, incest or health of the mother, undoubtedly anger more voters than they attract. "If I wanted the aesthetics without the inconvenient morality," he wrote in 1998, "I could become Episcopalian." Indeed.

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The Episcopal bishop of Baltimore, the Rt. Rev. John L. Rabb, and the Bishop of Easton, the Rt. Rev. James J. Shand want to end the DEATH PENALTY. "As Christians, church leaders and bishops in the Episcopal Church, we urge the General Assembly to act to abolish the death penalty. As Christians, we are guided by the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Here he specifically rejects retribution by stating that even the teaching in the Old Testament of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth " is to be rejected in favor of the teaching that calls for reconciliation (Matthew, 6:38)." They say that the uneven application of the death penalty also points to its fundamental unfairness. They believe the reality that, as a result of prosecutorial discretion, the death penalty is most often used against people of color and poorer people.

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No bishop for The Episcopal DIOCESE OF ALASKA, apparently. A search for the 8th Bishop for Alaska's 48 Episcopal congregations is drawing a blank. In October, the Search Committee brought two names to the Standing Committee intending to nominate both of these persons to the Diocese. However, one of the candidates withdrew, leaving only one potential nominee. With only one candidate remaining, the Standing Committee suspended the search.

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ENGLAND'S Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Archbishop of Canterbury engaged in a bizarre and biblical war of words this week over the best way to help the poorest in society through the recession. Dr. Rowan Williams suggested the current difficulties in obtaining personal credit would provide a welcome "reality check" for a society driven by greed. He questioned whether Mr. Brown's plans to revitalize the economy through a "fiscal stimulus" of higher public debt and VAT (tax) cuts is the right approach. "It seems a little bit like the addict returning to the drug," said Dr. Williams. "When the bible uses the word 'repentance', it doesn't just mean beating your breast, it means getting a new perspective, and that is perhaps what we are shrinking away from." Downing Street tried to play down the Archbishop's comments, with Mr. Brown's official spokesman simply saying, "The Archbishop of Canterbury has expressed his views on this and a number of other subjects over the course of the years."

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Strange bed fellows. The DIOCESE OF MISSOURI will send a mission team to spend Christmas in the Sudan, the Episcopal News Service reports. A team of eight missioners, including the wife of Bishop Wayne Smith, arrived in Lui on December 18.The Dioceses of Lui and Missouri entered into a companion relationship in 2006. Perhaps Bishop Smith forgets that it was the Archbishop of the Sudan who roared into the Lambeth Conference Press room and gave an impromptu press conference saying homosexual Bishop Gene Robinson should step aside as a bishop to preserve the Anglican Communion. The Missouri diocese is as a liberal as the day is long. Perhaps the news hasn't filtered down to the Diocese of Lui.

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More people SHOP ONLINE ON CHRISTMAS DAY than go to a church service in England, according to news reports in the Telegraph. More people will shop online on Christmas Day than will attend a church service, a leading retail trade body has predicted. Marks & Spencer is among firms that will offer online sales on Christmas Day. Some 5.24 million people will log on to shop for bargains over the internet on Christmas Day, according to the online retail trade group IMRG. It calculates that people will spend a total of £104 million, averaging nearly £20 per person. This compares to an estimated 4.5 million people who attend an Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, Baptist or Pentecostal church service on Christmas Day.

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Bishop John-David Schofield of the DIOCESE OF SAN JOAQUIN, an Anglican diocese that voted to break off with the Episcopal Church almost a year ago, ordained Deacon Roger Riggsby as a priest recently at Zion Reformed Church, in Lodi. The diocese created St. Anselm of Canterbury Anglican Church in June. Since that time, Riggsby, as a deacon, has conducted services at the new Lodi church. In a week, he will become a priest. St. John's Episcopal Church in Lodi has remained an Episcopal Church. The San Joaquin Diocese broke off with Episcopal Church USA because of the national church's supportive position regarding homosexuality. The diocese affiliated itself with the conservative Southern Cone, based in Argentina, early this year.

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THOSE UNSTOPPABLE CANADIANS. Two Canadian Anglican big guns turned into Canons this week. Distinguished theologian J.I. Packer and David Short, rector of St. John's Shaughnessy Church in Vancouver, the largest Anglican Church in Canada, have been appointed honorary clerical canons of St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney, Australia. Both Packer and Short left the Anglican Church of Canada to align themselves with theologically conservative Anglicans from around the world. Archbishop Jensen of the Diocese of Sydney said he appointed the pair as honorary clerical canons as a symbolic tribute to their ministry and to the fact that Sydney still recognizes their holy orders. Both accepted the offer, with Packer calling it an "unexpected honor."

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Just two years ago, by this time in December in CANADA, most of the radio stations were playing carols and Christmas songs, reports a VOL reader. "This year I can't find one local radio station even playing secular Christmas songs, like "Frosty the Snowman," or "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas." It's just the same old regular rock and soft rock -- sans Christmas.

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From Nairobi comes this news. The head of the ANGLICAN CHURCH OF TANZANIA, Archbishop Valentine Mokiwa, was elected the new President of the All Africa Conference of Churches. His election occurred at the just concluded AACC 9th General Assembly held in Maputo, Mozambique. He succeeds the Rt. Rev. Dr. Nyansako-ni-Nku of the Presbyterian Church of Cameroon, who has been at the helm of Africa's largest ecumenical grouping for the last five years. Also elected at the assembly were five vice-presidents, drawn from Western Africa (Bishop A. Mensah), Central (Bishop D. Yemba), South (Mrs. F. Cherinda), North (Mrs. J. Kwaje) and Bishop Paul, a representative of the Orthodox Church. Archbishop Mokiwa was inducted into office on December 12, 2008 in Maputo, Mozambique, at a ceremony attended by former South African president Thabo Mbeki. Other members of the governing body who were also inducted, include Rev. Dr. André Karamaga, the new AACC General Secretary. Archbishop Mokiwa is the fifth primate of the Anglican Church of Tanzania, elected in February for a five-year term. He will continue service to his church while president of the AACC. The AACC is a pan-African Christian organisation founded in 1963 in Kampala, Uganda. It brings together in fellowship 173 churches and Christian councils from 40 African countries.

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PROPOSITION 8 sponsors seek to nullify 18,000 gay marriages. The sponsors of Proposition 8 have asked the California Supreme Court to nullify the marriages of the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who exchanged vows before voters approved the ballot initiative that outlawed gay unions. The Yes on 8 campaign filed a brief arguing that because the new law holds that only marriages between a man and a woman are recognized or valid in California, the state can no longer recognize the existing same-sex unions. "Proposition 8's brevity is matched by its clarity. There are no conditional clauses, exceptions, exemptions or exclusions," reads the brief co-written by Pepperdine University law school dean Kenneth Starr, the former independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton. "We are confident that the will of the voters and Proposition 8 will ultimately be upheld," said Andrew Pugno, General Counsel for ProtectMarriage.com and the Proposition 8 Legal Defense Fund.

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WESTMINSTER ABBEY unveiled a Hindu snowman this week. The seven children were from the London Sivan Kovil temple in Lewisham, the council reports. The Hindu snowman and snow-woman were decorated with brightly coloured rangoli style rice patterns inspired by Christmas and spices in the College Garden at the Abbey. Dressed in traditional Indian clothing, the snowmen illustrated how the festivals of both East and West can be enjoyed by everyone in Britain, whether they hold a religious belief or not.

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CHRISTMAS IN MOLDOVA... From a VOL reader in the former Soviet-occupied country of Moldova comes this. You just can't make these things up. In last year's eye-poking approach to Christmas trees, the Government (led by the Party of Communists) moved the Chisinau City Hall (opposition-led) Christmas tree to a less conspicuous place. This year, the authorities have forestalled problems by arresting the tree before it got to Chisinau. A rough-and-ready translation of the City hall news release said this. I am not making any of this up. I have been able to discover what the police said to the tree. "Limbs up, boy. You in a heap o' root rot, son." Perhaps the tree had a deciduous lawyer who said "Leaf him alone." (In conifer terms, that would be "Don't needle him.")

Press Release: Traffic Police Arrest Chisinau City Hall Christmas Tree

Employees of the Traffic Police Service stopped the vehicle which was carrying the fir tree purchased by the Chisinau Municipality, which was about to be installed in the Grand National Assembly Square. After they stopped the vehicle on its departure from the Cojusna Commune, where the tree was obtained from the Green Areas Caretakers Association, the police requested the driver to proceed to the Straseni Forest Grounds, and announced that the tree was arrested. At first, the police requested a copy of the purchase contract for the tree and the driver's documents, including the route map and a permit from the State Ecological Inspectorate. Even though the responsible official for the Green Areas Caretakers Association maintained that no environmental permit was necessary in this case, the vehicle was stopped for more than an hour, after which it was announced that the tree was arrested. Chisinau City hall had announced later that it was going to install the Christmas tree in the Grand National Assembly Square.

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FOR a truly beautiful rendition of O Holy Night accompanied by a superb video of the birth of our Lord watch this: http://tinyurl.com/86sohd

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Advent Blessings

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VIRTUEONLINE WISHES ALL ITS READERS IN 212 COUNTRIES A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS