The civil suit follows months of theological dispute and hostile actions by Bishop Smith, who stands in "opposition to traditional Christianity and Anglican teaching," according to the rectors of these churches.

"In light of the serious conflict, the six churches requested alternative episcopal oversight, a request denied by Bishop Smith," the suit said. "Central to the complaint is the contention that Bishop Smith's actions are motivated by a desire to impose his own singular views of canon law, church polity and theology on the congregations and clergy because they reject his revisionist views on theology, particularly on human sexuality."

"We have been left with no choice but to seek intervention by the civil courts in order to protect our constitutional rights and serve our congregations without interference and harassment," said the Rev. Christopher Leighton, rector of St. Paul's, Darien. "We are being punished for upholding Biblical truth as well as Anglican teaching, faith and practice, and our ability to proclaim the Gospel is being dramatically hindered."

This is the single biggest lawsuit filed by a group of clergy against two bishops in modern ECUSA history. It is unprecedented in scope, said AAC spokesperson Cynthia Brust. It could be matched, even outdone, in the Diocese of Florida, but only time will tell. The fight for the soul of the Episcopal Church has begun in earnest. In the past there have been lawsuits involving one, two and three parishes (Los Angeles and Pennsylvania being the latter). This lawsuit by six parishes raises it to new heights. The Episcopal Church is on the road to legal and spiritual self-destruction, and nothing short of repentance can stop it.

A lawsuit by the Rev. David Moyer at Good Shepherd, Rosemont, PA showed that civil litigation is the only answer to the fraudulent use of Canon 10 by revisionist bishops. The complaint in Connecticut (Paragraph 85) refers to Griswold's condemnation of Bishop Charles Bennison's use of Canon 10.

Blame it on V. Gene Robinson's consecration if you will, but he is just the aft end of a once-proud ship that has been taking on water for years. Captain Frank and First Officer Vicki are heading the ECUSA ship towards an iceberg while they clink champagne glasses seemingly unaware of the dangers that lie ahead. As the ECUSA HOB meets in Puerto Rico, Griswold will receive the news. Perhaps he'll have at least one sleepless night. It's Frank's little Katrina, of course, and you can be sure that David Booth Beers, Griswold's personal attorney, will be checking in at $350 an hour at first light with the meter running. Perhaps the sunrises in Puerto Rico will make up for it all.

I spoke to Rick Gonneville, the warden at St. John's, Bristol, in Connecticut, where Fr. Mark Hansen served for 15 years before resigning this week. He said the parish under the new woman priest-in-charge, Mother McCone, only draws about 30 a week, which is not enough to keep the parish afloat financially. The diocese is kicking in money to keep the parish afloat. Some 60 or more now attend Trinity Church in Bristol with the Rev. Don Helmendollar, and another 40 or so have dropped out waiting for the smoke to clear. "This situation is far from resolved," said Gonneville.

You can read that story and a link to the 70-page complaint in today's digest.

PEOPLE POWER. When the laity finally get riled up enough about the moral and theological apostasy in the Episcopal Church and decide to fight back, they might want to take a leaf out of the Roman Catholic Church. A crowd of lay Catholics lashed out at Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali at Villanova University last week following massive newspaper revelations of pedophile and homosexual abuse of young men and boys by priests. The Philadelphia Inquirer devoted seven full pages to the charges, complete with pictures of the priests in question. Rigali gave an hour-long talk on a 40-year-old Vatican social document named "Gaudium et Spes," which translates from Latin as "Joy and Hope." He found little of either during the beginning of the question-and-answer period that followed his speech. Catholic laypeople, angered by last week's grand jury report alleging sexual abuse and coverups by the Philadelphia Archdiocese, unloaded on the cardinal. The first questioner, Judy Gray, noted that Rigali had mentioned "human dignity" 37 times in his speech. She wanted to know how that squared with his support of "criminal cardinals who have protected oral and anal rape." Rigali defended his predecessors, Cardinals Anthony J. Bevilacqua and John Krol, against charges that they orchestrated coverups. "I think I will have to leave this judgment to God," Rigali, who has apologized for the sexual transgressions, responded to Gray's question. "I'm sure you will. I'm sure you will," Gray countered. "You're a phony!"

Now if there were ECUSA laity who would stand up to the moral dissolution of the church, demand accountability and speak up and tell Frank Griswold and his revisionist bishops that they are phonies, perhaps things would change. At the end of the day it is the laity who provide the funds to keep bishops in the style to which they have become accustomed, and they can change that.

The BISHOP OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, V. Gene Robinson, sees schism in the future after all, thereby reversing himself of his position six months ago following a meeting he had with 20 fellow bishops recently. He blames the orthodox for power and property grabbing. Not true, says Bob Duncan, BISHOP OF PITTSBURGH. It's ECUSA's innovations that have caused the problems. You can read an analytical story today on whether schism will ever occur or if realignment will continue.

THE HOUSE OF BISHOPS is meeting in Puerto Rico this week, and they invited Professor Philip Sheldrake of the University of Durham, England, to give some of the talks. He urged them to "consider reconciliation and discernment not as tasks to be accomplished, but as processes in which we suspend pre-judgment of others and ourselves for the sake of learning to embody God's reconciling action in the world. Such processes invite individuals and communities of faith to turn our hearts towards one another in all circumstances, even when our minds may not be in agreement." [ENS report].

TRANSLATION: Stop talking about sodomy and possible schism and reconcile the irreconcilable, and then Griswold should write letters to the 22 provinces that have broken communion with him and whine that they should "suspend pre-judgment." They won't, of course; they have already "judged" the situation and Griswold is toast.

In the DIOCESE OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA, Bishop John Lipscomb is calling for the churches of his diocese to become a Windsor Church and Diocese. At a recent local chapter meeting he tried to explain himself, but the laity seemed quite confused about what all this means, a VirtueOnline reader wrote. Enlightenment will flow at GC2006.

Bishop Leo Frade of the DIOCESE OF SOUTHEAST FLORIDA has gone with the revisionists but is not exactly spelling it out, said a VirtueOnline reader. Recently two priests, one from a Catholic background and one from an Anglican background, who were to become Episcopal priests decided against it. Priests who are being appointed are coming from liberal seminaries only. Parishioners, however, are not aware of what is going on. "They really have their heads in the sand," said the source.

IN Washington National Cathedral at a prayer service for victims of Hurricane Katrina recently, the Rt. Rev. John Bryson Chane welcomed the attendees. telling them that the cathedral is "a house of prayer for all people." This took on new meaning in this service.

He charged members of the audience to recommit themselves to the great work that lies before this nation (rebuilding, apparently). He enjoined prayer for the departed. After making mention of the poor in the South, he focused on "the faces of the poor of the global community who cry out for us to touch and heal them." He then speculated, "Neglect of the poor must surely make the God of Abraham, the prophets, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammed weep bitter tears." Other choice Chane gems: "Prayer without action is simply poetry." The Rev. Samuel Lloyd, the cathedral dean, then opened his prayer, "O almighty God, Lord of the universe, God of Abraham and Muhammed, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ..."

Bishop Charles Jenkins of the DIOCESE OF LOUISIANA led a team, which included Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, into New Orleans recently to visit Episcopal churches previously inaccessible due to the city's flooding. In an interview with Episcopal News Service, Jenkins spoke about his own responsibility in helping to rebuild New Orleans and asked for people's prayers, patience, and continuing gifts as the diocese continues to respond to the aftereffects of Hurricane Katrina.

A video stream and downloadable MP3 of the Jenkins interview are available online at: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_64854_ENG_HTM.htm.

VirtueOnline continues to run frontline reports from the Rev. Jerry Kramer of the Church of the Annunciation in New Orleans. Please support him and his parish with your dollars. He gets his feet wet every day trudging through the sludge ministering to all and sundry. Writes Kramer: "Our need going forward is still for ready cash to assist displaced parishioners, a number of whom were just evacuated again from the Houston area, assist folks in need coming to St. Luke's and Slidell among other relief sites, and keep the parish going. We're so grateful to so many for your incredible generosity. You can check out our website: www.annunciationinexile.homestead.com for an address and to see some pictures of us and the devastation. For volunteers and relief teams, best to contact Fr. Ernie Saik here at St. Luke's: frsaik@stlukesbr.org."

The Rt. Rev. Ted Gulick Jr., BISHOP OF KENTUCKY, recently inhibited a godly orthodox priest in the person of the Rev. Kent Litchfield by using the usual canon used for "abandoning the Communion of the Episcopal Church," a provision reserved for priests who renounce their Episcopal ordination vows. Father Litchfield hadn't done this, of course. He retired from the ECUSA and started an orthodox Anglican parish under the ecclesiastical protection of Bishop Frank Lyons of Bolivia. The Diocese of Bolivia is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion as is the Episcopal Church. How can this possibly qualify as "abandonment of communion," sniffed the AAC. Bishop Gulick also declared Bishop Lyons "out of bounds" for coming to the aid of those who want to remain faithful members of the Communion. Ah, inclusivity.

Bishop Larry Maze, DIOCESE OF ARKANSAS, will retire in 2006. He voted for Robinson's consecration, and his diocese has been going steadily downhill. Its 56 parishes draw less than 5,000 on a weekly basis even though it claims more than 12,000 communicants in good standing.

In the DIOCESE OF OHIO the Women Together Fall retreat will feature such choice theological morsels as "Opening to The Sacred Source, Women Together Going Deeper with Wisdom/Sophia." Says the puff for this feminista gathering; "Is there something stirring in you? Do you long to come home to the depths of your own Sacred Source? Come open to the ancient flow –- that underground stream hidden in your heart and in the heart of all creation. You are invited ... to gather with other women in creating a sacred circle for sanctuary, healing, and transformation with the Divine Feminine. At this retreat we will invite Wisdom/Sophia to take us deeper into the Sacred Source of us all, using Wisdom teachings and practices from Christian, Jewish and other traditions." And you wonder why orthodox Anglicans in the Global South reading this shake their heads in total bewilderment and head for their Bibles.

ANTI-RACISM TRAINING, which has been mandated by the church, came under fire from a laywoman in the DIOCESE OF ATLANTA. "The anti-racism mandatory training is interesting, for it assumes that there are racists among the clergy, staff, and volunteers in the Diocese of Atlanta," the woman said. "If there really are racists, why aren't they just identified and given the opportunity repent and convert to Christianity or leave the church? This appears to be a program based upon the "guilty for being white." Indeed.

ANOTHER milestone was reached this week in an announcement by Archbishop John Hepworth, leader of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), that he was ready to lead his 400,000 laypeople, bishops, and priests to Rome, but on terms one is not sure Rome will necessarily agree upon. He admits there is no road map for this kind of action, but Hepworth is a former RC priest and for him this would be a homecoming.

The American part of the worldwide TAC is the Anglican Church in America, whose leader is Archbishop Louis Falk. He will soon be stepping down as primate of the ACA but will continue as a diocesan bishop of the Missouri Valley. VirtueOnline has learned that the ACA college of Bishops have decided that going forward they would not have an ACA Primate and a TAC Primate. A spokesman said, "We have matured into thinking of our church and her hierarchy on the global rather than national level. This will make more sense to Rome (one primate instead of several)." Instead, the ACA will have a president and vice president of the College of Bishops. These will be elected every three years for a two-consecutive term limit. Falk was elected president, and he agreed to fill that office in three one-year increments. He could step down at the end of any of the three years. He made it clear that he will not run for reelection. Bishop George D. Langberg (Diocese of the Northeast) was elected vice president of the College of Bishops. The ACA also agreed at the General Synod to put a moratorium on increasing the size of the College of Bishops. The ACA college stands at six, which includes Bishop David Moyer of the Armed Forces and Bishop Ruben Rodriguez Molina of the Diocese of Central America and Mexico. The ACA passed a resolution to unanimously endorse Hepworth's work towards intercommunion between the TAC and the Roman Catholic Church. The Diocese of the Northeast Synod unanimously endorsed an identical resolution. You can read the full story today from Portland, Maine.

IN CANADA, the Anglican Church is in financial trouble. General Synod, the Anglican Church of Canada's national office in Toronto, said recently that due to budgetary pressures, six staff members at the Anglican Book Centre have been laid off, and each department is cutting its budget by five percent. "As a voluntary organization, we are presented with a budget year by year. We live within those budgets and we do so effectively, but the church's best guess on budgeting is not always accurate," said Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, the primate, in a brief address to staff. The budget of the national office has been under pressure due to a shortfall of diocesan contributions, said a report.

Another interpretation might be that funds are drying up because people are leaving over the church's moral and theological direction. Dr. Marney Patterson, an Anglican evangelist, keeps whacking the hierarchy on the side of the head with the latest statistics on a denomination in free fall but apparently nobody is getting the message at headquarters. I have posted an article in today's digest by a scientist in Vancouver who has taken Bishop Michael Ingham to task over Ingham's pseudo-scientism that quantum physics makes nonsense of the resurrection. "Quantum Unbelief," by Michael Davenport, is a must read for thoughtful readers.

ARE WE SEEING THE END of the effeminate homosexual? The languid poof is out and the warrior gay is in. Gay heroes are no longer Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward, Piers Gaveston, Harold Nicolson or Cole Porter. They have been replaced by military men through history, says a new report. The National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce in Washington says new role models are more likely to be soldiers, such as Kitchener and Montgomery. Gays are tired of being seen as different and therefore weird. Jude Bennett of the magazine Gay Agenda tells homosexuals to "normalize." He suggests they dress like "straights," reclaim Jesus, and join the military. Athens phallocratic society clearly is on the way out, but someone will need to tell Newark's quean Luttibelle AKA Louie Crew about the changes. Somehow the idea of General Crew appearing with his troops at GC2006 boggles the mind. Perhaps they will keep pink handkerchiefs in their uniform pockets as a reminder of the good old days.

A PROVOCATIVE new report investigating trends within the Muslim community in Britain sees Islam as inherently driven to politically dominate in all societies it finds itself in. "Islam in Britain," a report by the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity (ISIC) says that Sharia - the law that defines Islam - will filter down through the British legal system giving the country a strong Islamist dimension.

The study suggests that the upsurge of a dual legal system, with a drive from Muslims to implement Sharia in British law, could be highly damaging to the domestic legal system. It says: "Integrating Sharia precepts into British law would gradually impose elements of Islamic religious law on non-Muslims in the UK." There are dangers for Muslims as well in accepting Sharia litigation, the report states. Because Islamic law places emphasis on individuals as part of communities rather than people in their own right, power lies more with the community than the individual. The report explains there are "real dangers" of strong communal pressure on Muslims to adhere to Sharia law

DR. ROBERT GAGNON, the intellectual of scourge of homosexual practice, will give a presentation in Michael Ingham's territory in New Westminster, B.C., Oct. 14-15 at the Church of the Good Shepherd, 189 West 11th Ave., Vancouver, British Columbia. Dr. Gagnon will give a presentation on "Uncovering the Myths: Scripture, Culture, and Homosexual Practice." Contact: 604.731.4966. The lectureship is sponsored by the Anglican Communion in New Westminster. You can send e-mails to the Rev. C. Dawn McDonald dunamis@agathos.com or Dr. George Egerton: gegerton@interchange.ubc.ca;

IN AUSTRALIA a new Brisbane community has been launched by Bishop David Chislett, SSC, who was recently consecrated a bishop in the TAC and then deposed by Australian Archbishop Philip Aspinall and tossed out of his parish as rector of All Saints.Their first Patmos House Community Letter said 58 people, including 13 children, attended their first service at a local tavern which was "transformed from a bar into a basilica." In a straight-talk series, Bishop Chislett said, "God is leading our lives. We are Christ-centred, Bible-believing, Gospel-driven Catholic Christians. Without these things 'Anglican tradition' is an empty shell and not even true to its own self." The occasion of the of the community's formation was a crisis of conscience experienced by some parishioners of All Saints' Wickham Terrace with regard to the demands of theologically liberal Archbishop Aspinall.

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