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ACN announces "7th Convocation"...Rowan "The Caterpillar Man", More on Robinson

"Experience cannot be allowed to have the final word –- it must be judged and shown up as deceptive and misleading. The theology of the cross draws our attention to the sheer unreliability of experience as a guide to the presence and activity of God. God is active and present in his world, quite independently of whether we experience him as being so. Experience declared that God was absent from Calvary, only to have its verdict humiliatingly overturned on the third day." -Alister McGrath in MYSTERY OF THE CROSS (Zondervan, 1990)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org

Three major events rocked The Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion this past week.

The first was the revelation that V. Gene Robinson, the bishop of New Hampshire was an alcoholic. The news left many unanswered questions about why this did not come up on the radar screen years before, when he was a priest and in charge of the Wellness Program of the Episcopal Church!

The Episcopal Church may have thought it was getting an openly gay bishop, but what the church didn't know was that it was also getting a closeted alcoholic.

One insightful person wrote that Robinson has no intention of doing the right thing. The bishop indicated he plans to return to work after his 28-day recovery period is over.

"I eagerly look forward to continuing my recovery in your midst," he wrote. "Once again, God is proving his desire and ability to bring an Easter out of Good Friday." So Robinson compares himself and his problem with booze to the passion of Christ and then notes he wants it to be "totally public." But only after years of secrecy! It's as though he wants his crucifixion to be publicly noted, his nail-pierced hands penetrated with shafts of broken Scotch bottles, and his side pierced with a shard from a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild '69, but only after years of secrecy, of course! Well, we all deserve much better than this.

A psychotherapist who understands alcoholism well wrote VirtueOnline with this choice analysis: "There is also the chance that Addiction Disease is being used as a cop-out and a cover (attorneys have gotten juries to justify all sorts of nonsense). I will guarantee you one thing regarding a worthwhile prognosis: A lack of values clarification is detrimental to a sound therapeutic response in treatment. Also bear in mind that there is an infallible way to tell when a practicing alcoholic is lying -- his lips are moving. This is why recovery programs make such an absolute issue of rigorous honesty."

An evangelical ECUSA bishop wrote to VirtueOnline saying: "We can only pray for VGR. My prayer is that in his recovery he will see the parallels between alcoholism and homosexism (if that's a word) and the need for homosexuals (who have no known genetic dispositions) to exhibit the same disciplines as alcoholics (who do have demonstrated genetic dispositions) if they wish to live full and happy lives under Christ Jesus. If VGR wishes to be a hero for his Lord, he could lead this charge when he leaves treatment and begins recovery for the rest of his life."

The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, the distinguished Roman Catholic writer and editor of First Things, wrote: "One has the greatest empathy for people afflicted with alcoholism, but the logic is intriguing. It is not a matter of will or discipline but a disease of his particular body over which he has no control. One might imagine a person severely afflicted with same-sex desires writing something like this: "I thought of it as a failure of will or discipline on my part, rather than a disease over which my particular body simply has no control, except to stop having sex altogether and live a chaste life.' The self-exculpating dismissal of will and discipline as irrelevant to disordered desires is always a morally dubious step. Bishop Robinson will now be a recovering alcoholic. Good. If only he were also a recovering gay," wrote Neuhaus.

Neuhaus nailed it nicely and precisely.

And while all this is going on, from across the Atlantic comes word that the dean of a Cambridge college has said he will consider offering blessings for same-sex couples, in the first breach of the Church of England's ban on clergy offering services after civil partnership ceremonies. The Rev. Jeremy Caddick, dean of Emmanuel College, has written to the bishop of Ely telling him that the college does not see itself as falling under his jurisdiction. Stephen Bates, the ultra-liberal, pro-gay religious affairs correspondent for the Guardian, broke the story (which is not surprising). He noted that Caddick's letter says that although no requests have yet been made "We would not wish to close the door to having services for members of the college community who requested them. In a community such as this one, people know there is considerable diversity in human sexual relationships and, in general, see the importance of affirming and celebrating those that are faithful and life affirming." The Church of England is now running neck in neck with the ECUSA for first place in the sodomy sweepstakes.

THE SECOND major news event was the announcement this past week by Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan that the Anglican Communion Network will offer a new structure for parishes forced out of the Episcopal Church and that representatives of more than 70 of the Anglican Communion Network's 1,000-plus congregations will meet together in Kansas next month to form a new "seventh convocation". You can read my story on this in today's digest. If you are impatient click here: http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3636

THE THIRD major news event came from London, where the archbishop of Canterbury, known unaffectionately by Jews as "The Caterpillar Man" because of his call for disinvestment, got an earful from London's Chief rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks. The rabbi warned the Church of England that it had seriously jeopardised its relations with British Jews by adopting an "ill-judged" policy on Israel. He said the timing of last week's vote by the General Synod to disinvest in companies profiting from the "illegal occupation" of Palestinian lands "could not have been more inappropriate." Sir Jonathan said that the church must have known that its stand on Middle East politics, over which it had "no influence," would have "the most adverse repercussions" in Britain. One can only feel pity for the poor archbishop, what with the whole gay fiasco, which is causing major ructions in the C of E, civil partnerships, women bishops, and now this. Is there no end to the Church of England's woes?

You can also read an insightful article by the Rev. Patrick Sookhdeo on why appeasement with Islam does not ultimately bring peace. The head of the Barnabas Fund is clearly warning the West that it may ultimately have to face the reality that it cannot live with Islam.

SEWANEE UNIVERSITY. The search committee for the board of trustees is looking for a new university chaplain. Vice Chancellor Joel Cunningham will make his selection of a nominee after the campus visits, and this name will be forwarded to the board of trustees for consideration, probably at the meeting scheduled for May 2006. The Rev. Tom Ward, the current university chaplain, is retiring.

One of the candidates is none other than the Rev. Winston B. Charles, rector of Christ Church, Raleigh, N.C., and the only wanna-be liberal candidate for bishop of Tennessee! A VirtueOnline reader who lives and works in Raleigh wrote to say that Charles is indeed a revisionist and has gays teaching in his church. "Many of his people have left in disgust and are going over to the newly formed startup parish of Holy Trinity. We have collected literally dozens of the leading people from his church," wrote the source. So if Charles gets either post he'll empty the university or empty the diocese. Really, they should elect this guy pronto and guarantee the demise of at least one institution.

RUSSELL AND VIRTUE FACE OFF ON TALK RADIO. This past week ECUSA's leading lesbian, Integrity President Susan Russell, and I faced off on a radio station in South Florida with Steve Kane in a live Point/Counterpoint exchange. Russell later wrote on her blog, "I ended up on the Steve Kane Show...with pseudo-journalist David Virtue –- arguably the most polemic voice of the radical schismatic reactionary fringe of the Anglican Religious Right."

But who are the true heretics? She and the schismatics, of course. What kind of total spin and arrogance has Russell accumulated accusing VirtueOnline and the orthodox of being schismatic when it is her crowd that has caused the schism, and who have been asked to "walk apart" by the Anglican Consultative Council?

I'm not sure, in all my 30-plus years in journalism, that I have ever seen a string of adjectives strung together that describes me in this way. That I have been a journalist with major secular dailies, contributed to Christianity Today, Touchstone, Eternity magazines, to name but a few, and was even an Episcopal Diocesan newspaper editor, and now own and operate a recognized Anglican Online News Service with 2 million readers in 45 countries, seems to have escaped her! Oh well, so much for the price of infamy. As soon as VirtueOnline obtains a copy of the tape of that radio face-off we will post it on the Web site.

IN PHILADELPHIA there was the final Evensong for the grand congregation of St. James the Less last Sunday. Many friends turned out from across the city. "It was a touching and poignant service in a gorgeous setting where even the tombstones added their snowy support," wrote one outsider. Many left sad, but they are not without hope, she wrote. Ousted rector Fr. David Ousley gave a moving sermon on the adversity of God, and how, out of adversity and faith comes the miracle. He and his congregation will now worship at the chapel of Bringhurst Funeral Home in West Laurel Hill, in Bala Cynwyd. Bishop Bennison has dragged in Fr. Robert Offerle (pronounced awful) from retirement in Florida. He was once the rector of St. Clement's in Philadelphia. He will have a tiny remnant along with a handful of Bennison's ringers and a few souls in the church's graveyard who have promised to rise from the dead for the kickoff next Sunday. The name of the new congregation which Fr. Ousley will lead is St. Michael the Archangel. Very Appropriate. The Evensong saw the presence of Bishop David Moyer (TAC), rector of Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont; Fr. Eddy Rix of All Saints', Wynnewood; and representatives from St. John's Anglican Church led by Fr. Phil Lyman. Here is their new Web site, www.orthodoxanglican.org/archangel

AT A DIOCESAN MEETING in Philadelphia recently, Bishop Bennison tried to put a positive spin on the diocesan finances, even after being asked by the Standing Committee to step down as bishop. In the company of some 70 diocesan leaders he and his chancellor Bill Bullitt tag teamed the evening away, telling everyone that all was well. The diocesan campground Camp Wapiti (an albatross that could have been mothballed) is now selling wedding weekends for $28,000 a pop, and Bennison has sold off more than $2.6 million worth of church properties. A resolution calling for a full audit of the diocesan books by orthodox layman Jeff Moretzsohn was amended to death and sank without trace and a stern lecture from Concerned Episcopalians (the diocese's loyal opposition) attorney Mr. Spencer Franck about non profit corporations, attorney general's and accountability got a polite hearing. But one doubts if the Standing Committee will be able to withstand the onslaught from Bennison, Bullitt and Griswold's consigliore for bad-boy bishops Clayton Matthews, which means Bennison will probably keep his job. Bennison whined about the need for "listening and action leading towards healing and growth," but no culpability about his spendthrift ways and heretical theological utterances. It was ironic that in three hours of discussion not a single cleric raised the issues of Bennison's theological heresies; living proof that it's always about the money.

FIGHTING BACK. The rector of St. Luke's Anglican Church in La Crescenta, California, who left ECUSA and started an Anglican parish under a Ugandan bishop. got a letter from Bishop J. Jon Bruno inhibiting him. But the Rev. Ronald W. Jackson refused to take that lying down and wrote back to the bishop (VirtueOnline obtained the letter) and said this:

"I have received your letter and notice of February 14, 2006, purporting to temporarily inhibit me from exercising the office of a priest in the Episcopal Church. As I informed you by letter on February 14, 2006, I am canonically resident and a priest in good standing in the Diocese of Luweero in the Anglican Church of Uganda, under the Rt. Rev. Evans M. Kisekka, Bishop. I am not an Episcopal priest under your authority. Accordingly your letters and notice of purported inhibition (are) void and of no effect."

Take that Bishop Bruno. Orthodox priests like this man and Mr. Phil Ashey (who also relocated to Uganda) and got his papers pulled by Virginia Bishop Peter Lee are not taking their inhibitions and depositions lying down. They are arguing, quite rightly, that while they may have ceased to be Episcopal priests, they have NOT ceased to be validly ordained priests in God's one holy catholic and apostolic church. Expect more of this over time.

At the DIOCESE OF SAN DIEGO'S recent convention, they voted to endorse the Windsor Report, but you gotta see what they did with the resolution. Talk about spin. This was the original resolution offered by the vestry of St. Dustan's Episcopal Church... it was gutted and watered down by delegates to the San Diego Episcopal Diocesan Convention February 10-11. But notice that it was a "friendly" amendment that allowed its passage.

RESOLVED: That this 32nd Convention of the Episcopal Church of San Diego receives, accepts, and endorses and submits to the Windsor Report and pledges to comply fully with its proposals and expectations.

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That this Convention expresses its collective desire for the Episcopal Church USA to remain with the Anglican Communion.

Amended text in brackets. RESOLVED: That this 32nd Convention of the Episcopal Church of San Diego receives, accepts, and (added) endorses and submits to (was deleted), the Windsor Report (and pledges to comply fully with its proposals and expectations.) also deleted. You wonder why they bother. Clearly they have no intention of obeying the Windsor Report. They are killing the Windsor Report recommendations with a thousand cuts.

FIFTEEN ECUSA BISHOPS met in Orlando, Florida, recently. This is the third time that this group has met. This is the same group that met in LA and Chicago at the request of Bishop Bruno. The group, however, keeps shrinking. An orthodox bishop told VirtueOnline that there was nothing else really new. "The revisionist types seem to be aware of the seriousness of the situation but what they plan to do about it I do not know." The HOB meets next month so perhaps more will emerge from this. For bishops who spend thousands of dollars traveling around the country to meet, talk and come up with nothing, repeatedly, is an expensive sham. The last time they met in Chicago they felt an apology was due Forward in Faith. What, they couldn't come up with an apology for calling evangelicals fundamentalists and for not allowing graduates from TESM into their revisionist dioceses! This group did have a couple of token orthodox bishops, which is more than can be said for the four nominees for presiding bishop, not one of whom was remotely orthodox.

LIVE FROM WEDDING CENTRAL. Susan Russell, ECUSA's leading lesbian and Integrity president (who recently debated this writer on talk radio), "married" her partner last weekend, at All Saints Church in Pasadena, California. A VirtueOnline reader attended the ceremony up to and including the Rev. Ed Bacon's homily and the exchanging of vows and rings. No diocesan clergy were in attendance other than Malcolm Boyd and his partner (they served as witnesses). Bacon alluded to Russell's blog site and some of the negative reaction to her "Wedding Central" post. He predictably described such reactions as despicable! There were no words of congratulation from Nigerian Primate Peter Akinola or the Archbishop of Canterbury. Oh dear.

"THE THIRD AUSTIN C.S. Lewis CONFERENCE: Goodness, Truth and Beauty: Apologetics and the Winsome Christ" will be held April 29, 2006 at St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas. The occasion will commemorate the 75th Anniversary of C.S. Lewis' conversion. Featured plenary speakers are William Lane Craig, Peter Kreeft and Frederica Mathewes Green. David Payne is the featured performer for the evening play. All Narnians are welcome!

The registration fee will be $60 through February 28, $75 through April 25, and $85 after that date. The registration fee includes the full day with three plenary speakers, lunch and dinner (an old fashioned Texas barbeque) outdoors under a tent with live music, artistic interludes, a lively panel discussion and the play "An Evening with C.S. Lewis." For additional details and to register, please visit the Web site, www.hillcountryinstitute.org

THE DIOCESE OF CALIFORNIA announced four candidates for bishop. The search committee came up with the much-anticipated list of candidates for the eighth bishop of California. The list was presented at a press conference in the Chapel of Grace at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral on Monday. And two of them are openly gay - one is a homosexual and the other is a lesbian. To no one's surprise not a single candidate was remotely orthodox. The ECUSA GLBT organization Integrity was ecstatic at the announcement. Susan Russell, Integrity president said this: "We realize that some of our brothers and sisters in other provinces of the Anglican Communion will be dismayed by Robert Taylor and Bonnie Perry's nomination and, perhaps, regard it as deliberate disregard for the Windsor Report." Oh she's got that right. We'll report the Global South wrath in due course. Does the Global South need any more evidence of ECUSA's inability to change course? Of course not.

IN THE DIOCESE OF LAKE MALAWI, where British cleric Nicky Henderson is visiting and where he had hoped to be made bishop by now, he was met by supporters and members of the Mothers Union, women clad in their uniforms. Three clergy were also present, although the Venerable Emmanuel Makalande, Archdeacon of Nkhotakota was nowhere to be seen. Fr. Henderson met his supporters behind the archdeacon's office. Archbishop Bernard Malango had warned the archdeacon and Henderson not to meddle in diocesan affairs and not to preach or perform any sacramental duties.

However Henderson, in a speech to his supporters promised that he will write to the archbishop and say that Canon Hunter and Fr. Dennis Kayamba were not supposed to block his election as the former is a retired and the latter is on suspension.

However a VirtueOnline reader in the Diocese of Lake Malawi said the canons say nothing about retired or suspended priests rejecting an election of a bishop and that this can be challenged very easily. Henderson told the gathering that the issue of who the bishop of Lake Malawi should be is in the hands of the "Christians in this diocese, and he will be waiting for whatever the Christians do."

"Clearly he still regards himself as a legitimate heir apparent bishop of the Diocese of Lake Malawi," the source said. "He is expected to return the UK next week." The source said that the recent meeting in Lusaka did not change anything and that Bishop Mwenda (an interim bishop chosen by Apb. Malango) would be coming in March.

SUFFRAGAN BISHOP Pete Broadbent of Willesden (DIOCESE OF LONDON) had this to say on the women bishops' debate in England's General Synod: "We need to recognise the ecclesial realities that are creeping up on us. It is the case that we cannot compel people these days in this climate to accept our episcopacy. That is just how it is in this area of choice and volition. Those who are more Catholic find this deeply unpalatable, Donatist, and unCatholic. But actually it is a reality. You cannot compel people to accept you as a bishop whether you like it or not. We want to find ways as a church of accepting that reality. A one-clause measure does not help us. It will not provide the safeguards others are looking for. That word 'safeguards' is important. Just look across the Atlantic and see what happens when a church has the power of bishops to be able to compel people to do what they want. Some of our brothers in ECUSA are behaving intolerably, intolerantly, and arbitrarily towards parishes that don't agree with them because they have the power to do so, and they are not covered by any kind of legislation. They are forcing people out of ECUSA. That is the reality. A one clause measure will be suspected by many people of being in that same ilk."

From the DIOCESE OF NEW WESTMINSTER, British Columbia, comes this word. "I believe there's a growing resentment against Bishop Michael Ingham's dictatorship. Ingham is getting 'expensive.' and people start reacting when their pocketbooks take hit after hit. But I think it's important to remember that there are a lot of Anglicans in the diocese who feel trapped and aren't sure what to do about it. This is especially true of older folks. I think it's also important to remember that there is in fact a slow but steady erosion taking place within the diocese of people who are simply slipping away, to who knows where (but these people are never discussed)."

Perhaps they will call it the Trickle Down Loss Theory (TDLT). It's going on in the ECUSA and seems to be working well in the Anglican Church of Canada.

URGENT PRAYER FOR BENAJMIN KWASHI AND HIS FAMILY. The bishop of Jos' family was attacked at his home and office in Jos, Nigeria. VirtueOnline received this report: "Last night (February 17), a group of men armed with clubs, knives and guns descended on the Bishopscourt in Jos. They injured Morris, the gatekeeper, broke down the door and burst in. Demanding to know where Bishop Kwashi was, they overpowered his sons -- Rinji (who was knocked unconscious) and young Nanminen (who is in hospital now for injuries suffered to his mouth). They then took Mama Gloria and tortured her for information on the Bishop's whereabouts. Unable to find him, they then proceeded to humiliate her and violate her personally; causing much damage to her head, back, hips, and other areas (she is currently in intensive care at Jos University Teaching Hospital). They then robbed the house and marched Gloria by foot some 3km to the Diocesan offices, where staff including Miss Susan Essam, Administrative Chaplain to the Bishop, suffered minor injuries as well. After some theft there, they departed and Deaconess Susan was able to rally help. At this time, it is not known who the attackers were. Bishop Ben recently took over as Chairman of SOMA International [Sharing of Ministries Abroad]. He has had several attempts on his life in the past two or three years, the previous ones by Islamic extremists. He was in London at the time of the attacks." Material relief can be sent to SOMA International Fund (Kwashi) in care of SOMA USA, 5290 Saratoga Lane, Woodbridge, VA 22193.

This writer has visited the compound of Bishop Kwashi. It is very vulnerable to attacks by Islamic militants. Occasional rioting results in hundreds of Christians being slaughtered in the streets.

IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, evangelicals are catching it big time. "Sydney extremism threatens Anglican unity" wrote Sydney Morning Herald writer Linda Morris. She wrote: "Sydney Anglicans have become the new face of 16th century puritanism and are so radically conservative they pose a threat to the unity of the Anglican church, a leading religious commentator warns. Religious extremism characterises the diocese's position on the ordination of gays and women and the blessing of same-sex partnerships, according to a Melbourne Anglican, Muriel Porter, in her new book. The title of her book, 'The New Puritans,' suggests 'energetic growth' in religious fundamentalism in the Anglican and Catholic churches." Well she has the growth part right, but she is going to have to figure out how 70 million Global South Anglicans, who are not fundamentalists, find the gospel so attractive and she doesn't. When the last liberal Anglican provincial or diocesan ship keels over, and she is on it, perhaps the penny will drop.

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All Blessings,

David W. Virtue, DD

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