The Nigerian primate, who heads the largest Anglican province in the world, ridiculed the policy by asking the Church of England bishops if they were intending to place cameras in the bedrooms of their clergy. He said that Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, and his church should now face disciplinary action.

"I believe that the temporary suspension of the Church of England is the right course of action to take," Archbishop Akinola said. "The church will be subjected to the same procedures and discipline that America and Canada faced".

In a rare personal jibe against Williams, he said: "Lambeth Palace upholds our common historic faith. It will now lose that place of honour in the world. Must I come to Lambeth Palace in order to go to heaven? The answer is no!"

The Most Rev. Bernard Malango, the influential primate of Central Africa, will write to Williams criticizing the pastoral statement. "If Rowan has approved of this, it is very unfortunate," Archbishop Malango said. "It makes me sick. They have to explain what they mean by being married and having no sex. This is the final nail in the coffin of the entire Anglican Communion."

Drexel Gomez, the archbishop of the West Indies, predicted yet another Anglican split. "I don't see how civil partnerships will work," he said. "I will have a difficult time explaining this; my people will take it in a negative way. This is an added threat at this moment of tension within the communion. Two-thirds of the communion will not be able to accept it."

In a final blast, Akinola said he will bring the matter to a meeting of Anglican primates from the global South (Africa, South East Asia and South America) in September.

This blast by the feisty Nigerian primate pretty well guarantees that any good will remaining between the two men has all but evaporated, perhaps forever. Lambeth 2008 will be the greatest Anglican show on earth, a veritable ecclesiastical blood bath. You can read the full story in today's digest.

If you had any doubts about ECUSA's future and the noose that is slowly being drawn around its neck, today's lead story pulls together recent developments in the church that signal continued breakdown.

In the DIOCESE OF CONNECTICUT, the bishop, Andrew Smith, is facing the wrath of nine orthodox bishops who want to lay a presentment on him for inhibiting a godly priest who disagrees with him on sexuality issues and much more. Of course Smith is framing it as an issue of obedience to his will and certain unpaid monies and much more, but these bishops have seen through this charade and are willing to lay a Title IV charge against him. If it happens, it's off to ecclesiastical court we go -- a replay of the Righter Trial.

Smith has broken every conceivable church and civil law principle. Why then are the orthodox bishops still unwilling to cross lines and preach and celebrate in Smith's diocese?

Even if Smith plans to ignore the findings of the Archbishop's Panel of Reference, Fr. Mark Hansen is free to pursue the panel with his own grievances. Furthermore, Smith can still face civil charges as well as ecclesiastical charges in the U.S., and this will tie him up for months with enormous legal costs and wasted time with lawyers fighting off charges and more. On top of the civil charges a number of clergy and laity can also working up charges against him. Smith says he will not revoke his stand. "There's still some shared ground, he insists, given to us by our common belief and trust in Jesus Christ as our savior." Say what bishop? You mean "belief and trust" in the canons and constitution of the ECUSA. And what "shared ground"...there isn't any. Smith says he will not revoke his stand. "There's still some shared ground, he insists, given to us by our common belief and trust in Jesus Christ as our savior." Say what bishop? You mean "belief and trust" in the canons and constitution of the ECUSA. And what "shared ground"...there isn't any.

Smith is in trouble any which way he turns. Now you know why the 19 bishops who met recently in California at the call of Bishop J. Jon Bruno came to the conclusion that there was an unbridgeable divide between them, that compromise was impossible, and that some sort of split is now inevitable. What it will look like is still anybody's guess, but that the two groups can no longer walk together is a given. It would also appear that this is a microcosm of a much larger schism that pits the Global South bishops against the North. Archbishop Akinola's latest blast at Dr. Williams and the C of E has to be interpreted as the opening salvo in the Last Great Battle for the soul of the Anglican Communion. Interesting days lie ahead.

If you are interested in the credentials of Ms. McCone, the new priest at St. John's, Bristol, here is what she believes. McCone is listed as the executive director of "Affirming Anglican Catholicism, N.A.," which "affirms," among other things, that "Genuine catholicism means full inclusion of members of the Church in the threefold ministry, regardless of gender or sexual orientation." She is in league then with Frank Griswold.

The DIOCESE OF PENNSYLVANIA is in deep financial trouble to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and an upcoming "open" meeting in the diocese to talk about diocesan finances is scheduled for Saturday Sept. 10, when questions will be asked about where the money is coming from to run the diocese. Unconfirmed reports say the diocese is in the hole to the tune of $700,000. Furthermore, Bennison has been spending down the unrestricted endowment from $12 million to $1.5 million, said another source.

It will come as no surprise that a task force of the DIOCESE OF CALIFORNIA will recommend three resolutions regarding marriage and the blessing of same-sex gender covenants in church and society. The most important, rites for same-sex blessings, will go forward and be considered in 2007, AFTER General Convention in 2006. Bishop William Swing, no lover of orthodoxy but a blesser of the United Religions Initiative, has permitted clergy to perform same-sex blessings for baptized members of the diocese on a case-by-case basis since 1983. The report at the diocese's Web site said that theology underlying marriage and same-sex blessings should not be an occasion of schism or excommunication, and we should recognize the "diverse center" in the church. Perhaps Swing should send a note to Bishop Smith of Connecticut and suggest that a godly orthodox rector who doesn't agree with him should also not be excommunicated for disagreeing with his bishop and base it on the same argument, namely the "diverse center" of the church. Don't hold your breath.

Word out of the DIOCESE OF FLORIDA is that Bishop John Howard is gearing up for confrontation in his diocese with the "Magnificent Seven" parishes who have requested alternative Episcopal oversight. A VirtueOnline reader wrote this: "I spoke with a member of their Standing Committee about the clergy and parishes that had requested AEO. It doesn't look particularly promising. The member noted accurately that the two priests who were vicars in charge of missions "serve at the pleasure of the bishop." Therefore, he implied that the committee would just as well not get involved in this relationship. As for the other five clergy, he assured me "the bishop is in control." Shades of Connecticut, one fears.

A story I wrote in my last digest had these words: "For the present time it [the ECUSA] is being held together by dead men's money from Trust Funds with several thousand dying congregations on life support."

"Totally, 100 percent accurate," wrote a VirtueOnline reader. "St. Chrysostom's near Chicago where we baptized our daughter -- and where I was welcome to be a lay eucharistic minister for 300 plus services -- has almost nobody coming to church there anymore, maybe 35 percent of the crowd of even a year ago. How are they staying afloat? They just received $375,000 from the insurance of a recently deceased parishioner, a lifelong Episcopalian, who was a member before the revisionist priest and priestess came aboard, and, like an evil larvae, hatched their liberalism in the last 12 months. Without that money they would be shutting its doors quite soon." And you can replicate this around the country.

THE ANGLICAN MISSION IN AMERICA recently observed a milestone -- its fifth anniversary. The Rwanda-based missionary movement that started with just a handful of churches has just added its 80th congregation, a church in West Chicago, Illinois. Other churches continue to be planted in areas around the country as the focus for the future remains the 130 million un-churched, reports Jay Greener, the church's media man.

"This is a thoroughly sovereign work of God, and it's God's purpose that we be participants in what He desires to do, namely, the Great Commission," reflected the Rt. Rev. Chuck Murphy, AMiA's Chairman. Chuck Murphy and Dr. John Rodgers, both American Episcopal clergymen, were consecrated missionary bishops to the United States early in 2000 by African and Asian Archbishops.

"The Anglican Mission's first five years have been filled with the work of planting churches and establishing flexible structures and support to release and strengthen the kind of ministry that will have long-term impact," Greener said. "This includes a commitment to strong affinity-based networks that will be the springboard for the next season of the Mission's growth."

AS if to reinforce that, word out of Beijing last week hailed the fact that the number of Christians in China is greater than the number of communists. Latest figures show the number of Chinese Christians to be between 80 million and 100 million ,while the official Communist Party has 70 million. Leaders at a recent meeting of THE HAGGAI INSTITUTE, the world's premier interdenominational Christian leadership training program with more than 1,000 trained Chinese Christian leaders, were not totally surprised. Leaders of HI say that as many as 35,000 Chinese are confessing Christ on a daily basis. I was invited to attend a meeting of the ministry in Pasadena, California, recently and learned that the 36-year-old organization has trained some 55,000 leaders in 137 countries, and they are busy raising up a whole new generation of leaders for Christ. "I am first and foremost an evangelist" cried Dr. John Haggai, the 82-year founder. Solid Christian leadership is the key to the global church's future spiritual health and growth, he maintains. The organization has training centers in Maui and Singapore with headquarters in Atlanta. Thousands of Two-Thirds-World leaders are taught Christian principles of leadership in a 25-day intensive leadership training program.

JOURNALIST Douglas LeBlanc has become the Anglican Communion Network's communications director. A lifelong Episcopalian, he has reported on the Episcopal Church since General Convention in 1991. He is the former editor of Anglican Voice for Episcopalians United and a contributing editor for Christianity Today magazine and began writing a regular column for Episcopal Life in 2001.

Bishop Robert W. Duncan, the network's founding moderator, said the ACN is building a Pittsburgh-based staff to serve its long-term needs. "We want to be in touch more often with those dioceses and congregations that have joined the network," Bishop Duncan said. "Doug will help the network encourage its affiliated dioceses and congregations and will communicate regularly with mass media regarding the network's vision for orthodox Anglican faith within the Episcopal Church."

As LeBlanc begins contacting religion writers, he also welcomes reporters' e-mail inquiries at news@anglicancommunionnetwork.org. LeBlanc will be based near Richmond, Virginia, where his wife, Monica, works as a research scientist. On a personal, note VirtueOnline is delighted at this appointment. Doug is a first-rate journalist and I welcome him back into the Episcopal fold as he reports on events in the church.

A new Anglican parish has been formed on Cape Cod -- St. Andrews Traditional Anglican Church in Middleboro, Mass. The parish meets at 18 West Grove Street, Route 28. "St. Andrew's Traditional Anglican Church maintains the heritage of the Protestant Reformation as established in the Church of England, and in the American Church in 1789, and the use the 1928 Book of Common Prayer," says a note at its Web site. The DIOCESE OF MASSACHUSETTS is notoriously gay, and its bishop, Tom Shaw, is no lover of orthodoxy.

SAME-SEX AFFECTION, the 64-page booklet examining the ECUSA teaching on same-sex partnerships, written by the brilliant and eminent Dr. Peter Toon as a response to Bishop Frank Griswold and his team's book "To Set Our Hope on Christ" concerning "Same-Sex Affection." is not a repetition of commonly-made arguments against the blessing of homosexual practice made by opponents of active homosexuality and same-sex blessings, but is something different.

What it states is important, worrying and challenging for all Episcopalians and Anglicans, who care about the moral teaching of their church. In presenting its long essay, "To Set our Hope on Christ," in book form in June 2005 to the whole Anglican Communion in late June, Griswold and his team took a dramatic step. Not only did they publicly demonstrate their belief that covenanted same-sex unions of males or females can be examples of Gospel holiness, but they also demonstrated the theological methods by which they reached this conclusion. That is, they revealed how they approach Scripture and how they do theology, and in so doing how they embrace error and heresy.

This booklet by Dr. Toon faces head-on the basic theological methods used by the ECUSA team to come to its conclusions about homosexual partnerships. And, in doing so, it shows just how and why these methods will always produce results that are contrary to received orthodoxy.

"Same-Sex Affection, Holiness & Ordination: A Response to Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold," is published by the Preservation Press of the Prayer Book Society and is available from The Prayer Book Society, P.O. Box 35220, Philadelphia, PA 19128-0220, for $7.50 per copy, postage included. Discounts are available for orders of five or more copies: call 1 800 727 1928.

AN excellent pastoral opportunity in Texas for a godly and Learned minister is open in Meyerland, southwest of downtown Houston, Texas. St Thomas Church is one of the few parishes in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas which uses as its public liturgy the services contained in the authentic American Book of Common Prayer, and the edition of 1928, and reads from the King James Version. The church has an excellent organist and choir and a school with about 650 students. The Rev. Wayland Coe resigned as rector because of severe problems with his eyes/sight, and the Rev. Dr. Peter Toon has been acting as interim rector, working with the Rev. Doug Cadwallader, who is the associate. If you think you might be the person for this flock please visit the Web site -- www.stthomashouston.org –- for more details. This church is urgently looking for a godly and learned man who is deeply rooted in the Scriptures, whose devotion flows within reformed Catholicism and its classic liturgy (BCP 1662 or 1928), who can preach and teach well, who is committed to church growth (both in maturity & numbers). You can also e-mail petertoon@msn.com for more information.

IF you think the problems we have are exclusively Episcopalian, then read this. In Dearborn, Michigan, last week the General Convention of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America voted overwhelmingly to leave the National Council of Churches of Christ. The action was not a temporary "suspension" of membership, but a formal withdrawal from the NCC. Reasons given for the withdrawal include the general liberalism of the NCC, whose general Secretary, Bob Edgar, withdrew his signature from a statement defining marriage as being between a man and a woman. The lines are clearly being drawn across denominations. Might we see a new coalescence of orthodoxy in America that transcends denominational lines as we fight the larger issues in the culture wars? Stay tuned.

POPE Benedict XVI lamented the seemingly "dying" church in Europe and the United States and raised questions about the soaring number of priests in Asia and Africa in a lengthy, off-the-cuff speech to Italian priests recently.

Benedict also expressed sadness at the plight of divorced Roman Catholics who remarry without getting an annulment, reaffirming that they cannot receive Communion but stressing they should feel they still belong to the church.

The pope might just as well have been talking about the Episcopal and Anglican Churches, which are also dying in the West while Anglicanism in the Global South surges, going from strength to strength with each passing day built on a vigorous evangelism.

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