Healthy Examination of the Soul. Occasional retirement, self-inquiry, meditation, and secret communion with God, are absolutely essential to spiritual health. The man who neglects them is in great danger of a fall. To be always preaching, teaching, speaking, writing, and working public works, is, unquestionably, a sign of zeal. But it is not always a sign of zeal according to knowledge. It often leads to adverse consequences. We must make time occasionally for sitting down and calmly looking within, and examining how matters stand between our own selves and Christ. The omission of the practice is the true account of many a backsliding which shocks the Church, and gives occasion to the world to blaspheme --- J.C. Ryle

God's people and God's Word. We can recognize God's Word because God's people listen to it, just as we can recognize God's people because they listen to God's Word. --- From "The Letters of John" by John R.W. Stott

The World is Watching the Christian. Let us often ask ourselves whether we are doing good or harm in the world. We cannot live to ourselves, if we are Christians. The eyes of many will always be upon us. Men will judge by what they see, far more than by what they hear. If they see the Christian contradicting by his practice what he professes to believe, they are justly stumbled and offended. For the world's sake, as well as for our own, let us labor to be eminently holy. Let us endeavor to make our religion beautiful in the eyes of men, and to adorn the doctrine of Christ in all things. --- Bishop J.C. Ryle

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
January 14, 2011

The big news this week is that the Supreme Court of Georgia has agreed to hear the case of Christ Church, Savannah, in its dispute with the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia over who owns their property.

This is a huge breakthrough for this parish that could affect thousands of congregations across the state. If the Georgia Supreme Court views this as a substantial case and takes into account the recent ruling in South Carolina, which positively affected the outcome for the Diocese of South Carolina and its properties, it could well mark the end of the Dennis Canon in the US. "We think the Supreme Court of South Carolina got it right and we hope the court in Georgia gets it right," the Rev. Marc Robertson told VOL.

"We are very pleased and glad to have an opportunity to have our day in court. It is the first bit of good news on the legal front," the Rev. Marc Robertson related by phone today.

It might be too soon to gloat, but it would seem to indicate a slow turnaround in what has long been believed to be a slam-dunk for the Episcopal Church in its fight over property ownership. Could a decision here affect the legal cases in the Diocese of Ft. Worth, San Joaquin and Pittsburgh? Fasten your seat belts. The full story can be read in today's digest.

*****

In the Diocese of Ft. Worth, a court held a Summary Judgment hearing in the original case against the diocese and corporation. Almost 21 months to the day after the initial suit was filed, the parties presented the court with their arguments and claims to the property of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth and its Corporation. In a two-hour hearing of the 141st District Court, Judge John Chupp said the case comes down to the two essential questions he asked at the first hearing in September 2009: Did the Diocese have the right to vote and leave The Episcopal Church (TEC)? and What do the property deeds say about ownership? Throughout the morning, the judge's questions and comments to the attorneys for both sides continued to probe those questions.

The plaintiffs in the suit are TEC and local Episcopal parties who were in the minority when the Diocese voted to separate from TEC in 2008. Their representatives argued that once a parish joins TEC, "you are subject irrevocably to The Episcopal Church" and that the General Convention's canons are "silent" on the subject of a diocese separating from the larger body because "it is inconceivable." Ownership of property, one attorney argued, "is an ecclesiastical question."

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In the case of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont, PA vs their former attorney John H. Lewis Jr., there was good news when David Moyer and The Church of the Good Shepherd finally withdrew with prejudice their malpractice lawsuit against Moyer's former attorney John H Lewis Jr and his law firm.

However, instead of apologizing to Lewis and his firm, Moyer and the Vestry issued a statement making new attacks on Lewis. The statement fails to mention that Moyer withdrew the lawsuit one day after Lewis' lawyers demanded that Moyer appear and give testimony under oath.

The lawsuit has been damaging to both Lewis and his law firm-which has paid $500,000 in legal fees. Lewis first learned of the lawsuit in October 2009 when he was at Children's Hospital in Washington where his infant granddaughter was in critical condition (she was on the prayer list at Good Shepherd). Many times, Lewis, through his lawyers, asked Moyer to withdraw the lawsuit. For example, the lawsuit says that Lewis lost Moyer's pension rights. Lewis pointed out that he and Bishop Robert Duncan were the ones who got Moyer's pension rights restored. After a year, Moyer finally withdrew the pension claim. Now, the whole lawsuit has been withdrawn.

Moyer still faces the wrath of the Standing Committee and Bennison over the property. If they win, it is curtains for Moyer. Perhaps the parish might want to think about getting a new rector. If they did, one feels sure the diocese would drop its lawsuit especially if the parish agreed to stay in the diocese. (The Church of the Good Samaritan in Paoli recently got approval from Bennison to allow an Evangelical rector from England to be its next rector). Who knows, life might then return to normal for Good Shepherd. VOL was told that the vast majority of the parish is not remotely interested in going to Rome under an Ordinariate. The main line is loaded down with catholic parishes for those who wish to convert.

*****

The Episcopal Church has asked all Episcopalians to pray for the political situation in the SUDAN. This is as it should be. According to ENS, people throughout southern Sudan have been "shedding tears and shouting for joy" this week as polls opened to voters in the historic January 9-15 referendum that will determine a likely future of independence for the African nation.

Bishop Alapayo Manyang Kuctiel of the Diocese of Rumbek described January 9, 2011 -- the first of sevens day of voting -- as "the second [most] joyous day in my life," the first being his day of baptism in 1972. He also said that January 9 is the day he wiped away his "tears of sorrow" following the 2005 death of John Garang, first president of southern Sudan.

It is ironic that while this was going on in the Sudan, San Diego Bishop Jim Mathes sent a "Notice of a Sentence of Suspension" to The Rev'd Michael Kiju Paul, the only Sudanese priest in his diocese, and possibly in California. He is a fine man and a devoted pastor to the Sudanese refugees in San Diego, wrote a VOL source in San Diego. "The Sudanese community and church has been suffering here and Mathes goes and does this. Oh, I forgot, the priest is a faithful Christian holding the Apostolic Faith. He is yet another conservative gone from San Diego. Jim is going to get us all." Some nine parishes, fully 25% of the diocese have left their buildings and the diocese in the past couple of years over the faith. Mathes doesn't seem to care. That he has done in a Sudanese rector at the same time the Episcopal Church is encouraging outreach to minorities is positively sinful.

A priest friend of mine, Fr. Patrick Augustine sent the following message from VOL to an Anglican editor in the Sudan. Here is their exchange:

Dear Editor, God is doing a new thing in Sudan. We give thanks to God for referendum for the peaceful division between north and south. For almost two decades I have been involved in the advocacy work for the persecuted church in Sudan. May I share with you my letter to the Archbishop of Sudan:

January 9, 2010
Dear His Grace the Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul Yak,

Greetings to you from Christ Church, La Crosse, Wisconsin. We have been keeping vigil and praying for a peaceful referendum and God's blessings on the people of Sudan. As I look back on my own involvement from 1994 onward with the Province of the Church of Sudan, it started in 1992 when I read an article in the YES magazine of CMS with a picture of Bishop Nathaniel Garang on the cover. From that time I have committed my efforts and voice to speak for the persecuted church in Sudan. We have been praying for this day for God to set the people of Southern Sudan free from the oppression of the Northern Sudan.

*****

The Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina has called a first ever Theological Council to dialogue on human sexuality. It is scheduled for April 8 and 9, 2011, at Christ Church, Greenville.

The Rt. Rev. W. Andrew Waldo has called for the special, non-legislative convention of the diocese to engage in what he calls "substantive biblical and theological dialogue on norms for how we are in relationship with one another and to practice these norms in a dialogue on human sexuality."

If you think that this diocese will suddenly reverse at least four General Convention resolutions on sexuality, you might want to seriously consider changing your drinking habits. The first Jerusalem Council (AD 50) disapproved of fornication. Do you honestly think this diocese will suddenly reject resolution D039, that is, people living in so-called committed relationships without benefit of marriage? Don't hold your breath.

*****

The Diocese of Virginiafaces several critical resolutions on sexuality and property negotiations at its upcoming 216th diocesan convention. When the Diocese of Virginia meets January 20-22, high on the list of resolutions will be one affirming "same-gender unions" along with another relating to current ecclesiastical wars regarding property issues.

Liberals in the diocese want to see the full blessing of same-sex unions. They view it as "providing a generous pastoral response" in keeping with General Convention resolution C056, which allows bishops to bless same-sex unions though not necessarily to marry them. (An exception occurred recently in the Diocese of Massachusetts.) Virginia statutes define marriage as between one man and one woman. Voters in seven states, including Virginia, have approved constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage.

Should this resolution pass at the 216th convention, and there is every likelihood that it will, it will place the Diocese of Virginia firmly in the revisionist camp from which there is no immediate return, if at all. You can read a full report in today's digest.

*****

This month Jon Meacham will become a Random House executive vice president as well as executive editor, reports Julie Bosman. His responsibilities will include acquiring and editing nonfiction titles, focusing on history, religion and biography. How strange. No news organizations wanted Meacham, who ran Sewanee onto the skids and the value of Newsweek down to $1. Now he's editing books. It was Meacham who ripped Bishop Bob Duncan over sexuality issues by accusing him of being narrow-minded about homosexuality in one of Newsweek's issues while defending TEC's immoral positions. Apparently, it wasn't enough to sustain the magazine. It's now defunct.

*****

The Rt. Rev. Wendell N. Gibbs, Jr., Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan, closed the parish of St. Peter's in Tecumseh, Michigan this past week.

The Diocese owns the building. The Rev. Canon Lisa Gray, Canon to the Ordinary (the Bishop) indicated that the Diocese is looking for someone to lease the facility. "There have been some people who have expressed interest," she said, adding that no arrangements have yet been finalized with any group. A VOL reader familiar with the diocese said the diocese "will soon be on life support. The time has come to merge all of the Michigan dioceses into one to cut costs." The Diocese of Michigan has indeed seen some bad times. From 2002 through 2009, membership declined 25%, ASA declined 23.6 percent, and Plate & Pledge (adjusted for inflation) declined 18.9 percent. Of 95 dioceses considered Michigan ranks at 83. Eastern Michigan ranks at 93, Western Michigan at 67, and Northern Michigan at 91. Merging appears to be desperately needed.

*****

Three Episcopal parishes in the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania have announced they are merging into one to be named the Parish of St. Jude. The irony should not be missed. In catholic thought, St. Jude is the Patron Saint of "lost causes" and "cases despaired of." When all other avenues are closed, he is the one to call upon. One wonders if Episcopal Bishop Sean Rowe took his gingko biloba that morning.

*****

In Red Bluff, California, a course on Buddhism is being taught at St. Peter's Episcopal. The 7-week course is designed to introduce students to a religious tradition that has transformed the civilizations of India, Southeast Asia, Tibet, China, Korea and Japan. This study features a DVD lecture series led by Professor Malcolm David Eckel, Associate Professor of Religion at Boston University. His books include To See the Buddha: A Philosopher's Quest for the Meaning of Emptiness and Buddhism: Origins, Beliefs, Practices, Holy Texts, Sacred Places.

VOL is surprised they didn't send for the Rev. Thew Forrester. Perhaps the parish might get around to teaching something related to Christianity that might relieve the "emptiness" and paucity of knowledge about the Christian Faith in Episcopal churches across the country.

*****

Religious Leaders have called for new efforts to lower Manhattan's "chilling" abortion rate this past week. Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York joined other local religious leaders in calling for a new effort to reduce the number of abortions in the city. The annual figure has averaged 90,000 in recent years, or about 40 percent of all pregnancies, twice the national rate. The archbishop, at a news conference in Manhattan, called the citywide statistics "downright chilling."

A local foundation spokesman said it would spend about $1 million this year in New York City to open counseling centers and give financial help to pregnant women. He also indicated that the trend is not downward enough. "These numbers represent a failure," he said.

During the news conference, Archbishop Dolan renewed what he called a standing offer to help pregnant women avoid abortion. The gathering was also attended by Nicholas A. DiMarzio, the Roman Catholic bishop of Brooklyn; the Rev. Michel Faulkner, pastor of the New Horizon Church in Harlem; Rabbi David Zwiebel, vice president of Agudath Israel of America, a national Orthodox Jewish community service organization; and Leslie Díaz, a spokeswoman for Democrats for Life of New York, and the wife of State Senator Rubén Díaz of the Bronx. Notably absent from this line up of religious gliterrati was TEC Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

*****

The 10th Anniversary of the ELCA-ECUSA Concordat has turned out to be a big yawn with virtually no media coverage except for in-house TEC coverage.

The 10th anniversary of the Episcopal-Lutheran Concordat wherein the Episcopal Church USA and the ELCA entered into full Communion was initially greeted with much enthusiasm and idealism in the hope that the two denominations would usher in a new era of inter-denominational cooperation. The 10th Anniversary has gone largely unnoticed in either the Episcopal or Lutheran modes of communication as far as I can discern.

While there's been a lot of ecumenical dialog back and forth at the top levels, the largely hoped for era of cooperation never much panned out as much as was initially hoped.

*****

Dr. Lisa Nolland of Anglican Mainstream, UK, writes that Britain's education system is showing its children the latest in a series of horrific sex "education" programs and material put together by respected (and respectable) sexual "health" specialists.

"It is all the more confusing because this sort of insidious sexual propaganda is being put forward even as mainstream culture has suddenly become alarmed by the almost ubiquitous 'sexualisation of children'. I am thinking of BBC 1's Panorama tonight (8:30) and BBC 3's programme (9:00) on this topic, with a focus on the rise in young people with oral cancers etc.

"There is a group of us (social conservatives, most of whom are people of faith) who feel the need to do more than wring our hands and shake our heads in disbelief. We research these issues and have discovered that there are excellent resources which can be used to challenge the fundamental working assumptions which underpin and legitimise series such as this, assumptions which are now embedded in many schools, youth and community groups, NGOs etc. across the UK. But it is only as ordinary people become aware of the gravity and magnitude of the problem and equipped to respond that change will occur. To do nothing now is to stand by as our children and grandchildren are deceived and damaged by this wave of sexual propaganda."

*****

An Anglican rector from London has been banned from working as a priest for two years after he was found guilty of sexually propositioning two gay servicemen. Fr. David Gilmore, of St Anne's Church, Soho, in the West End of London, has been removed from office and prohibited from exercising ministry as a priest for two years following a hearing of a church disciplinary tribunal, the Diocese of London reported.

The rector was accused of conduct "inappropriate for a clergyman" including making indecent sexual propositions to two men, named only as A and B, who were staying overnight at his rectory in December 2009.

The tribunal was told the rector had asked the men, who were in London for a conference of lesbian and gay members of the Armed Forces, to sleep with him in his bed.

*****

From the department of Ripley's Believe it or Not comes this: A Mass for St. Aelred at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Portland, OR, featured a United Methodist transgendered pastor, the Rev. David Weekley. Integrity USA, the national pansexual organization for LGBTQ Episcopalians held the annual Mass for St. Aelred at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church on January 12. The sermon for this annual event was delivered by Weekley, the first openly transgender pastor in the United Methodist Church, with a special appearance by members of the Portland Gay Men's Chorus.

The event was to commemorate Aelred of Rievaulx-a 12th century English abbot in the Cisterian order who is widely suspected of being a poof. St. Aelred is thought to have been gay by scholars who have studied his essays and letters. He was adopted as Integrity's patron in 1987.

*****

Episcopalians have joined much of the rest of the United States in prayer and remembrance following the January 8 killing of six people and wounding of 14 others outside a Tucson, Arizona-area grocery store where U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was holding a "Congress on Your Corner" gathering.

Among those killed was student council president Christina Taylor Green, 9 (who was born on Sept. 11, 2001); Arizona chief federal Judge John M. Roll, 63; Giffords' aide Gabriel Zimmerman, 30; Church of Christ pastor Dorwin Stoddard, 76 and retirees Dorothy Murray, 76, and Phyllis Scheck, 79.

"We were all deeply saddened by the events in Tucson," Diocese of Arizona Bishop Kirk Smith said in a short statement. Smith also participated in an interfaith prayer service at the state capitol in Phoenix the evening of the shootings.

The Very Rev. Nicholas Knisely, dean of Trinity Cathedral in Phoenix, said during his sermon that "if we are to stand against the flames of violence and hatred that even now are licking at the edges of our state, we are going to have to live into our vocation as members of the Body of Christ."

On the other side of the country, in Washington, D.C., The Very Rev. Samuel Lloyd III, dean of Washington National Cathedral, issued a statement the same evening saying "the prayers and deepest hopes of the entire National Cathedral community are with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the other individuals, their families, and the people of Tucson, Ariz., following this morning's tragic shooting."

*****

There is a new ANiC church - Living Hope Christian Church - in Scarborough Ontario, Canada. It is located in the east end of Toronto, and rents facilities from Miracle Family Temple. The Rev. Andy Leroux is the new rector. This Sunday there will be a joint service at 10am with Bishop Charlie Masters. On Sunday, January 30, an induction service with Bishop Don Harvey will be held at 10am. If you are in the area and looking for a spiritual home, you can drop them a line at: office.livinghope @ymail.com.

*****

Two competing pharmacy businesses want to locate on the corner of a street in Gainesville, Florida. The landscape of the Northwest 43rd Street and 23rd Avenue intersection could look radically different in a few years, with tentative plans to redevelop both western corners with at least one and possibly two pharmacies.

A developer has plans to buy the St. Michael's Episcopal Church property on the southwest corner for a retail development, contingent on city land use approvals. Diocese Bishop Samuel Johnson Howard of Jacksonville told church members in November that a Walgreens pharmacy would be built, but indicated in a recent interview that he should not have named Walgreens.

"I have no idea who the eventual owner of the land might be if the sale closes," he said.

However, a Walgreens would be right in line with the company's pattern of co-locating across from CVS pharmacies.

The owners of Cedar River Seafood and tenants in the strip mall on the northwest corner said their landlord told them CVS has an agreement to buy the land.

Walgreens and CVS officials said they do not comment on pending land deals.

*****

There are a number of important conferences in January and February. The Anglican 1000 Church Planting Summit of last year is being repeated this year and is less than two weeks away. Here is a link to their latest newsletter http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs092/1101929246125/archive/1104233959475.html and a link to a video invitation from Abp Duncan http://anglican1000.org/?/main/page/317.

Some 300 have already registered. The event will be held in Christ Church, Plano, Texas.

You can touch base with:
Rev. Daniel Adkinson
Anglican 1000
4550 Legacy Drive
Plano, Texas 75024
972-489-7803 (cell)
www.Anglican1000.org

*****

Sunday, January, 16 2011, is National Religious Freedom Day. Many people throughout the country are taking this opportunity to give thanks to God for bestowing upon us a nation in which our ability to practice our faith is a legal right, as well as an inherent right. Want to get involved? Prison Fellowship is hosting a Break The Cycle Prayer Group.

This event allows people from all over the country to pray for religious freedom for all Americans--especially prisoners. Too often chaplains, Christian volunteers, counselors, and even Prison Fellowship staff are presented with unnecessary roadblocks in their ministry. Take a look at their volunteer map to see the names and location of their prayer partners.

CLICK HERE to learn more or join Prison Fellowship in prayer. http://www.helpbreakthecyclethroughprayer.org/

*****

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All blessings,

David W. Virtue, DD