Invited for the occasion was the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Dr Rowan Williams who, according to various reports, argued strenuously for sides to continue talking and listening to one another.

Now this is a much favored theme of ECUSA's Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold....listen, listen and listen some more till the orthodox grow weary of the fight and cave into the revisionists on sodomy, at which time God's new "prophetic truth" is officially installed and enshrined in a General Convention resolution, only to be hauled out again at the Last Judgment, where, presumably, listening will end and true justice metered out.

Billing itself "A Third Trumpet from the South", The Third Anglican Global South to South Encounter delegates blasted The US Episcopal Church saying, that the Anglican Communion sadly continues to be weakened by unchecked revisionist teaching and practices which undermine the divine authority of the Holy Scripture. "The Anglican Communion is severely wounded by the witness of errant principles of faith and practice which in many parts of our Communion have adversely affected our efforts to take the Gospel to those in need of God's redeeming and saving love."

The delegates also gave a back handed slap at those who would put institutional loyalty above loyalty to Christ and Holy Scripture. They said this: "While our unity may be expressed in institutional life, our unity is grounded in our living relationship with the Christ of Scripture. Unity is ever so much more than sharing institutionally. When we are "in Christ," we find that we are in fellowship with others who are also in Him. The fruit of that unity is that we faithfully manifest the life and love of Christ to a hurting and groaning world (Romans 8:18-22)."

Theological education also took a big hit. "Far too many Western theological education institutions have become compromised and are no longer suitable for training leaders for our provinces. We call for the re-alignment of our priorities in such a way as to hasten the full establishment of adequate theological education institutions across the Global South so that our leaders can be appropriately trained and equipped in our own context. We aim to develop our leaders in biblical and theological training, and seek to nurture indigenous theologians."

Interpretation: EDS, GTS, VTS, ETSS are out, as is Cuttington University College, Liberia, and many more inspired by Western bishops, theologians and ECUSA's money. You can also count out the new "Global Center" being promoted by Central American Anglican liberals funded by the American Episcopal Church.

Then the Global South leaders took the gloves off and lit into what they called "the current crisis provoked by North American Intransigence." Here is what they said: "The unscriptural innovations of North American and some western provinces on issues of human sexuality undermine the basic message of redemption and the power of the Cross to transform lives. These departures are a symptom of a deeper problem, which is the diminution of the authority of Holy Scripture. The leaders of these provinces disregard the plain teaching of Scripture and reject the traditional interpretation of tenets in the historical Creeds." It was TKO for Frank Griswold. He's toast.

They ripped the Americans and Canadians for not obeying the findings of the Windsor Report as well as the slow and inadequate response of the Panel of Reference. There was no talk of open schism but the distancing of biblically faithful Anglicans from mostly western liberals just got wider. In all, it was another bad week for ECUSA. You can read the statements from Egypt in today's digest.

BUT PRESIDING BISHOP FRANK GRISWOLD told The Living Church magazine that Archbishop Robin Eames' remarks contributed to a climate of "trust" and helped to prevent the Windsor Report from becoming a "focal point" of division within the Episcopal Church.

"I particularly appreciated the way he talked about the Windsor Report as a process rather than as scripture or a Papal document," he told The Living Church. "The Windsor Report is a tool to help us live more deeply with each other. It's about patterns of relationships and mutual understanding, not a litmus test." Really.

ONE EFFORT to get the Primates to move from statements to actions did not, regrettably, get a hearing. A petition to rehabilitate or form a new global communion through the Society for the Propagation of Reformed Evangelical Anglican Doctrine (S.P.R.E.A.D.) argued for the exclusion of those provinces and bishops who do not follow the faith or, if that is not possible, to withdraw to form a new Communion.

This was the brainchild of AMIA Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Dr. John H. Rodgers. The purpose of S.P.R.E.A.D.'s petition was to persuade those provinces and bishops attending the Meeting of the Global South Provinces of the Anglican Communion in Egypt, who wish to follow the Anglican reformed catholic faith, to take the following actions to preserve the faith and to assure that the Church gladly submits to the sovereign authority of the Holy Scriptures. Rodgers argued that the Anglican Communion become truly united in the Anglican reformed catholic faith; Rehabilitate the Anglican Communion to carry the Anglican reformed catholic faith by separating from the Communion those provinces and bishops who do not follow the faith; and if it is not possible to so rehabilitate the Anglican Communion, leave the Communion and form a new global Communion to carry the Anglican reformed catholic faith.

The primary thrust of his argument was that the debate has revealed that the Communion is divided not only over the issue of whether the Church should approve of same-gender sexual relations, but also over the more profound issue of whether the Church is subordinate to Scripture. Bullseye.

Any effort to perpetuate the Anglican reformed catholic faith by a group that includes persons committed to a different kind of faith is doomed to failure: "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand," he cried.

S.P.R.E.A.D. recognizes that there are those in the Communion, powerful and wealthy, who so reject the Anglican reformed catholic faith that it might not be possible to rehabilitate the Communion to carry the faith as it once did, said Rodgers. He then called for the formation of a new worldwide Communion to carry on the Anglican reformed catholic faith and its mission to the world. The Primates and bishops did not heed his call.

THE ANGLICAN PANEL OF REFERENCE set up by the Archbishop of Canterbury has no authority to enforce its views or adjudications on parties, said panel chairman Peter Carnley. In an interview with The Anglican Communion News Service he said there was a very real sense that if the Panel can produce a serious and fairly objective assessment of a situation and a clear recommendation of a way forward so as to move a situation from one of conflict to one of fairness, then that very recommendation will itself carry an implicit authority which will be hard to resist. "I hope the Panel might be able to get to the heart of a matter, to the truth of a situation, and that, as a third party arbitrating between two conflicting sides, it may be able to discern a positive and helpful way forward. So, yes, I really do believe that the Panel could achieve a great deal."

The truth of the matter is that Carnley, former Australian Primate, is one of the most liberal of the Primates who has no interest in helping cases such as Recife in Brazil. He would take the side of the equally liberal Archbishop of Brazil against Bishop Robinson Cavilcanti of Recife. The panel, with no canonical power, is impotent to help the orthodox anywhere in the world. It's still every rector and every diocese for itself at this late stage in the disintegration of Western Anglicanism.

When asked "Do you think the Panel is going to prove effective? Carnley answered: "Well, if there is to be reconciliation, and if there is to be a space in which the proclamation of the Gospel and the mission of the Church may flourish, then it does need good will from all parties." Tell that to Archbishop Oliveira.

ON THE HOME FRONT, A HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL E-MAIL NOTE was sent to VirtueOnline regarding a private, secretive conference call over property disputes from the DIOCESE OF CALIFORNIA. The Steering Committee Conference Call was set in motion by Bishop William E. Swing and included, among its recipients, the Presiding Bishop and his attorney David Booth Beers and some 28 bishops. This is an outgrowth of the HOB meeting in Puerto Rico. Clearly liberal bishops are running scared and they fear a massive loss of parishes, properties and priests now and beyond GC2006. Gene Robinson's consecration has come home to roost and revisionist bishops are circling the wagons fearful for their pending losses. You can read the full story in today's digest.

The Rt. Rev. Thomas Clark Ely, BISHOP OF VERMONT has a proposed resolution (75) for GC2006 in which he calls upon "the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church to support all international efforts to free the church from the slavery of Biblical Literalism, especially as it is used to marginalize persons different from us: persons of color, women, and gay and lesbian persons; . . ."

So what he wants you to do is take out a big black felt tipped pen and every time you see the words "Thou shalt NOT, erase the word NOT immediately. There now doesn't that make you feel much better? But don't bank on biblically faithful global South Primates going for this. They just spent a week on the Red Sea blasting this sort of nonsense.

Rev. Gene Koprowski of Christ the Victor Episcopal Church in Chicago wrote to the bishop requesting he withdraw his so-called "slavery of Biblical Literalism" resolution from General Convention saying that the authority of the church is based solely upon its role as a custodian of the Word of God.

"The emphasis of the church should be on teaching what the Word of God means to people today -- not telling them that the Word of God is somehow incorrect."

"The conjuring trick by Mainline Protestantism is designed to make white liberals feel guilty for things that they never did as individuals -- and that the Bible itself does not endorse. We must return to preaching the Word of God -- not to destroying the credibility of the Bible. That is Satan's work, not the Lord's work."

As theologian Karl Rahner wrote, the Bible anticipates our questions and our needs as human beings. The Bible does not make us slaves -- it frees us to be fully human.

In the DIOCESE OF FLORIDA another parish, Calvary Episcopal fled Bishop John Howard and the Episcopal Church and another church, Christ The King Anglican Fellowship announced it was opening for business under the AMIA.

The Rev. David Sandifer, Vicar of Calvary Episcopal made an amicable departure from the diocese with his congregation with a gracious nod from Howard who was willing to allow them to take some of their effects to a new location. They will hold their first service as the "new" Calvary Anglican Church will be on Nov. 6th, at the UNF University Center. "I must confess this is the dominant one-a tremendous sense of relief and hopefulness about moving forward in ministry without the cloud of a continued identification with an apostate church," he wrote his congregation.

Regarding church property Sandifer had this to say: "We are certainly not willing to litigate for it, even if we thought we had a strong claim: we are ready and willing to fight for the Gospel; we are not willing to fight for our property." You can read his letters and statements in today's digest.

Across town, Christ The King Anglican Fellowship, a new church plant that has been meeting for Bible Study and fellowship for the past several years, and was ready to emerge into regular weekly worship services under the leadership and sacramental authority of The Rev. Dr. Robert J. Sanders and The Anglican Mission in America (AMiA). They met last Sunday for their first service and 125 showed up. Dr. Sanders is VirtueOnline's official cyber theologian. You can read his powerful apologetic paper, "Should One Remain an Episcopalian" in today's digest or here: http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3190

Now there are five other Florida parishes (but there will be more) who are working on separation plans from the diocese and the Episcopal Church. When all the parishes that plan to flee ultimately do, one estimate is that the diocese will lose as much as one third of all its parishioners, a loss that Bishop Howard cannot possibly recoup. This would reduce the diocese from about 11,000 to less than 8,000 members!

And in the DIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES the court ruled in favor of three breakaway Episcopal Churches allowing them to leave the ECUSA while retaining their properties. The judge also awarded court costs of $61,107.60 to the defendants.

Orange County Superior Court Judge David Velasquez ruled that the national denomination did not have a valid claim of ownership to the local parishes' land and buildings. He said the Episcopal Church staked its claim on the property "solely on Canonical law," and found it insufficient.

Now this overturning of the Dennis Canon in California is a move in the right direction and it could influence how other state courts might rule in parishes trying to flee the Episcopal Church. It's no surprise that Bishop J. Jon Bruno is appealing the decision. Clearly 'go in peace to love and serve the Lord' is not on his agenda.

And from the DIOCESE OF HAWAII VirtueOnline has learned that revisionist Bishop Richard SO Chang will retire. The diocese is in serious financial trouble, a source wrote VirtueOnline. A committee that dealt with clergy compensation called for a 10 percent increase across the board. A resolution to that effect passed their recent convention. But will folks act on the resolution, and just what are the consequences for not following through. "If they can't sustain themselves, they'll have to close down! Watch for a lot of closures in Hawaii!"

In the DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA a sex scandal that VirtueOnline briefly touched on in the last VIEWPOINTS has come to light and a full report can be found in today's digest.

A 2004 Audited Report from The Episcopal Church reveals declines in nearly all areas of the church's life. From 2003 to 2004 the ECUSA dropped 20 parishes while baptized members dropped 36,414. The 2005 figures should be a blast when they come out.

ON THE INTERNATIONAL ANGLICAN SCENE, Bishop V. Gene Robinson met with the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams for talks. Lambeth Palace said Williams met the bishop of New Hampshire as he wanted to listen to all the voices in the Church.

The Bishop of London Richard Chartres refused to bow to lobbying from evangelicals who asked him to disinvite Bishop Robinson from visiting London or attending a church service there. Evangelicals also failed in a plea to the Archbishop of Canterbury that Bishop Robinson not be permitted to set foot in the capital or attend a scheduled service for gay and lesbian Christians at St Martin-in-the Fields church in Trafalgar Square.

Bishop Robinson spoke at an Oxford Union debate last Thursday on whether gay men could become bishops. Of course he said it should. No surprise there.

Speaking to BBC News, Bishop Robinson said it was inevitable the Church would have impassioned debate over moral issues and even differences but did not need to split. "From time to time the Church has always attempted to define itself and, if you will, find its soul yet again as it faces each new issue that presents itself," he said.

Now it is interesting that Robinson has had three separate epiphanies over his homoerotic ordination. When he was first ordained he said the church would get over it as it did women's ordination, then a few months ago he opined that the Church would split, after he met in a clandestine meeting with 20 other bishops in California, and now he says it does not need to split. Go figure.

CENTRAL AFRICA archbishop Bernard Malango said that HIV hasn't spared some of his clergy and several were dying from the disease. "Unfortunately, with the advent of HIV and AIDS, the Church has suffered immensely by loss of clergy and laity," he said. Archbishop Malango said the pandemic had impacted negatively on the Church's financial resource base as well as loss of talents and trained personnel. The orthodox archbishop said the Church had also seen the loss of income from tithe as those contributing have died or are dying.

Lusaka Bishop David Njovu said the Church would continue to preach the message of abstinence among its members. He said the Church did not condemn those who advocated condom use, but did not support the supply of condoms to the youth. "We are not condemning those who are advocating for the use of the condom, just as long as they do don't distribute them to the young children," Bishop Njovu said. "And to those who are married and one is infected, they should use a condom to prevent infecting of the partner."

And in LONDON a group of thriving young Anglican churches in South-West London which are part of the Reform network announced that three of its staff were ordained by a visiting bishop from South Africa at a special service conducted in south London. This historic move breaks with church tradition but was supported by a resolution passed by yesterday's Reform National Conference of evangelical churches. You can read the full story in today's digest.

AND JUST WHEN YOU THINK it couldn't get much worse, the nation's largest gay church, The Metropolitan Community Church inducted the Rev. Nancy Wilson as moderator of the MCC at Washington National Cathedral last week. She succeeds Rev. Troy Perry who founded the church in California in 1968. Will there ever be an end to this sort of blasphemy? Oh for a modern day Samson. Church officials said holding the ceremony at the cathedral was especially symbolic of the increasing acceptance of gay and lesbian people of faith. The church's previous leader had been kept out of a ceremony at the National Cathedral 30 years ago.

AND TO COMPLETE the week's blasphemy V. Gene Robinson preached at Grace Cathedral where Bishop William Swing presided at the tenth anniversary of serving LGBT people. In his sermon Robinson predicted it is only a matter of time before lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual people are fully incorporated into the life and ministry of the Episcopal Church. "When the dust finally settles, lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual people will be fully included at every level of our church," the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church said. "We know what the end looks like and our enemies do too," he added. "What we are really arguing about is timing, not the final outcome. I may not live to see it, you may not live to see it, but this church of ours will see the day when all of God's children are equal." Oasis President the Rev. John Kirkley said Swing had ordained more gay and lesbian clergy during his 27 years of episcopacy than probably any other bishop in history. "That may be his most enduring legacy to the church," he said. Some legacy.

INTERNET SCUTTLBUTT has it that two dioceses could elect gay bishops the next time around. The two are Newark where Croneberger has resigned and the other is California where Swing is retiring. How much more in your face can you get than that? The irony of it all is that the ECUSA still wants to stay as part of the Anglican Communion! But by its actions it has chosen to walk apart.

PERSONAL NOTE. Many of you write to me with news tips and story leads and you ask if your name will be protected. The answer is yes, we will protect the confidentiality of the source. VirtueOnline has a mole in nearly every diocese. If you hear of a potential story please don't hesitate to let me know. You can write to me at david@virtueonline.org.

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