The consequences for a national church, used to operating among people and institutions on the assumptions of Christendom, are acute. The Church of England bases a significant part of its identity on its physical presence in every community, and on a 'come to us' strategy. But as community becomes more complex, mere geographical presence is no longer a guarantee that we can connect. The reality is that mainstream culture no longer brings people to the church door. We can no longer assume that we can automatically reproduce ourselves, because the pool of people who regard church as relevant or important is decreasing with every generation. --- Rev. Gordon Bates (then Bishop of Whitby in the Church of England) as quoted from the Church Army News.

I am convinced that, if given a warm and openhearted welcome, such [Anglican] groups will be a blessing for the entire Church. --- Pope Benedict XVI

"One of the difficulties in dealing with the Church of England is that it tends to work out the theology before acting; the American church tends to work out the theology as it goes along." --- Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori in Charlottesville, VA

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
February 5, 2010

The Church has got to realize its missionary responsibilities. We live in a society, whether it be urban or rural, which is now basically second or even third generation pagan once again. We cannot simply work on the premise that all we have to do to bring people to Christ is to ask them to remember their long-held, but dormant faith. Very many people have no residue of Christian faith at all; it's not just dormant, it's nonexistent. In so many instances, we have to go back to basics. We are in a critical missionary situation.

*****

The bombshell dropped late Sunday night. The Archbishop of Egypt, the Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer Anis announced his resignation from the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion saying that his presence has "no value whatsoever" and that his voice is "like a useless cry in the wilderness."

He said he had "come to the sad realization" that the Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council, the communion's main policy-making body, has "no desire ... to follow through on recommendations that have been taken by other instruments of communion to sort out the problems which face the Anglican Communion and which are tearing its fabric apart." Naturally, he pointed his finger at The Episcopal Church.

His letter shook up the Anglican Communion, provoking a response from the Archbishop of Canterbury, chair of the Standing Committee, who expressed his regret at the decision, saying that Anis "has made an important contribution to the work of the Standing Committee, for which I am deeply grateful. I regret his decision to stand down but will continue to welcome his active engagement with the life of the communion and the challenges we face together."

Anis said in his letter that the committee "unfortunately was unable to respond firmly and effectively" to two resolutions passed by the Episcopal Church's General Convention last summer. Those resolutions are D025 that affirms "that God has called and may call" gay and lesbian people "to any ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church," and C056 that calls for the collection and development of theological resources for the blessing of same-gender unions and allows bishops to provide "a generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of this church." To date Mrs. Jefferts Schori has said nothing. You can read his full letter in today's digest or here: http://tinyurl.com/yfrfvyf

*****

Later in the week, the Rt. Rev. David C. Anderson, President and CEO of the American Anglican Council threw a bomb of his own into the church by producing a 29-page document outlining the Episcopal Church's canonical abuse and the plight of orthodox Anglicans. It is a blockbuster report. He said The Episcopal Church (TEC) has spent millions of dollars in over 50 lawsuits, deposed or inhibited 12 bishops and more than 400 other clergy, and has violated its own canons numerous times. The paper, titled "The Episcopal Church: Overbearing and Unjust Episcopal Acts," chronicles each of these subjects and a number of other abuses or injustices committed against faithful Anglicans in the U.S.

"The Episcopal Church is systematically targeting, intimidating, suing, and ultimately persecuting orthodox Anglicans throughout the U.S. This paper illustrates the lengths to which TEC leaders will go to silence the voices of orthodox Christians in the Anglican Communion - Anglicans whose only offense was to stand for the uniqueness of Jesus Christ and Anglican Communion teaching." The Rev. Philip Ashey, AAC Chief Operating Officer and a practicing attorney, mainly did the work for the paper. It comes at a time when the the Synod of the Church of England will vote on the nature of its communion with the AC-NA next week in London. The AC-NA, of which the American Anglican Council is a member group, formed in 2009 and includes many former Episcopalians who left that church over deep theological differences.

Writes Fr. Ashey: "I don't think there has ever been a period of time in the Anglican Communion where one church has deposed such a huge number of clergy. It is my hope that Anglicans around the world will read this paper and do something to halt these unjust and un-Christian actions." Read the AAC's paper here.

www.americananglican.org/assets/Resources/TEC-Canonical-Abuses.pdf

*****

While attending the Anglican Mission in the America's annual winter conference in Greensboro I had the good fortune to meet Dr. Ross "Buddy" Lindsay, 59, a trust attorney and canon lawyer, who told me that the recent South Carolina Supreme Court decision in favor of All Saints Pawleys insures, once and for all, that neither TEC nor the Diocese of South Carolina have any claim to their property or to the property of any other Episcopal Churches in South Carolina. More importantly it could liberate church property for the entire country. You can read my SPECIAL REPORT in today's digest or here. http://tinyurl.com/yc75yj4

*****

The Diocese of Central Florida held its annual convention in Lakeland this past week and signaled its intent to remain an orthodox voice within The Episcopal Church, even as the national denomination moves ahead to liberalize its policies towards pansexuality.

About 380 clergy and lay delegates representing the diocese's 88 parishes including eleven in Polk County, gathered for the convention. There was little tension and sharp debate during votes on resolutions that marked the diocese's conventions between 2004 and last year, mostly because a strongly conservative wing of clergy and lay persons who advocated that the diocese withdraw from The Episcopal Church have left to form independent churches or join a traditionalist Anglican denomination.

The diocese is "committed to being faithful (and) orthodox" and to holding traditionalist views within The Episcopal Church, said Bishop John Howe in his address to the convention.

The diocese approved without discussion a resolution supporting a covenant that may establish guidelines for future participation in the international Anglican Communion. The diocese also approved a resolution tacitly disapproving of the election of the Rev. Mary Glasspool, an openly lesbian priest, as assistant bishop of Los Angeles. The resolution passed in a close vote, 174 to 152. A VOL reader sent this word about Resolution R-6. "The following resolution was presented at 2:15 pm during the convention where it was narrowly passed. This close vote shows that even in an allegedly conservative and orthodox diocese there is evidently many theological revisionists and progressivists who deny the authority of Holy Scripture. Scripture clearly condemns homosexual behavior (Romans 1:18-32). Yet 152 voted to uphold the election and consecration of Mary Glaspool as a suffragan bishop in Los Angeles, which is contrary to Scripture because Glasspool is openly lesbian and living in sexual immorality."

*****

John Bryson Chane, 65, the Episcopal bishop of Washington and one of the mainline denomination's most prominent advocates of gay and lesbian marriage, announced at the diocese's annual convention that he will retire next year. He has led the diocese since 2002.

He told the delegates he is not "burned out or bored," but believes it is time for someone younger to take over. He did admit that he was stepping down during a time of flagging growth and stagnant giving in the 42,000-member diocese. "Parochial reports filed by the parishes of our diocese for the most part tell a story of no real measurable growth in membership within the last 12 years," he said. "Financial giving has been stagnant."

Chane has no discernible gospel to proclaim and has bought into all the gay and liberal agit-prop of his time. Chane stood in direction opposition to the gospel, promoting non-Biblical sexual practices and a whole lot more. The only one decent thing he ever did was to allow All Saints' Chevy Chase to have a flying bishop in the person of Ed Salmon (SC. Ret.) Now we'll have to see how that stands up with a new bishop. Don't hold your breath. There is not a prayer the diocese will elect an orthodox replacement for Chane. Such a person would never get consents if, God forbid, they said sex should be practiced ONLY between a man and a woman.

Chane's exit from the diocese, which includes 89 congregations in the District and suburban Maryland, follows that of his counterpart in Northern Virginia, Peter James Lee, who retired in October as bishop of the diocese that includes eastern Virginia. That diocese is in the midst of a major legal fight over a dozen or so properties.

*****

A Bill proposed in California to protect clergy from having to perform same-sex marriages was introduced in the California legislature this week by proponents of same-sex marriage in an effort to make the prospect more appealing to opponents. The Civil Marriage Religious Freedom Act (SB 906) emphasizes the distinction between religious and civil marriage by changing language in state statutes relating to marriage to refer to "civil marriage." The bill goes on to add to the section which permits clergy to perform marriage ceremonies: No person authorized by this subdivision shall be required to solemnize a marriage that is contrary to the tenets of his or her faith. Any refusal to solemnize a marriage under this subdivision shall not affect the tax exempt status of any entity. Both Equality California and the California Council of Churches back the measure. http://religionclause.blogspot.com/2010/01/bill-proposed-in-california-to-protect.html

*****

The Anglican Church of Canada is sinking beneath waves of debt, dying parishes, and dropping dollars. As a result the Primate's World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) cut its 2010-2011 operating budget by 26 per cent. In 2012, another 10 per cent will be cut in a bid to end deficit budgeting and replenish its monetary reserve. Seven positions were eliminated.

"As a result of the budget reductions, program delivery costs must be reduced," said Cheryl Curtis, PWRDF executive director, in an email to staff at the Anglican Church of Canada's national office in Toronto. Then Curtis herself got the boot. She is out the door effective at the end of February, according to Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada. Last year, PWRDF cut its budget by about $700,000, reducing it from $7.1 million to $6.3 million.

One wonders when the Archbishop himself will announce that there isn't enough money in the kitty to pay his salary and have to resign. No gospel, no people, no money, it's a trajectory to die for or of. If you want to read a good book on how the Anglican Church of Canada has failed to defend its king, read Ron Corcoran's book THE BISHOP OR THE KING. Dr. J.I. Packer writes of this book, "Three forces (Scriptural neglect, homosexual activity and responsible pastoral ministry) combined are progressively disintegrating the ACofC....this honest, restrained, somber narrative illustrates all three."

*****

Just how bad are things in the Diocese of Quebec? Bishop Dennis Drainville told the House of Bishops that 60 per cent of Quebec congregations have few or no children. In 35 congregations, the average age is 75 years with only 8 to 10 people attending Sunday services. "We used to have 25,000 Anglicans in 82 churches," says Archdeacon Myers. "Now it's closer to 8,000. We need to face this new reality." Indeed.

*****

My story on the evangelical former TSM president Dr. Paul Zahl, preaching at the consecration of the new Georgia Bishop Scott Benhase, brought this response from a reader. "The homosexual priest on Benhase's staff that you refer to was not at St. Alban's (Washington DC) when he arrived there. Instead Benhase hired him, introducing him to the congregation as a partnered homosexual. I know this from being still on the St. Alban's mailing list many years after I was last there." So again, we must ask what was a well-known evangelical leader doing endorsing a known sexual revisionist? Inquiring minds want to know. Talk about sending mixed signals...

*****

The National Secular Society has announced a "large-scale campaign" to protest against Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Britain in September. NSS president Terry Sanderson said he is seeking to bring together gay groups, feminist groups, family planning organizations, pro-choice groups and victim support groups to join the campaign. Similar demonstrations were held when Pope John Paul II visited Britain in 1982.

Sanderson stated, "The taxpayer in this country is going to be faced with a bill of some £20 million for the visit of the Pope. A visit in which he has already indicated, he will attack equal rights and promote discrimination. "If the Catholic Church wishes its leader to come here, it should pay for the visit itself. I am sure many others feel the same resentment as we do at the NSS at funding the presence of someone who wishes to impose a reactionary agenda of social change on us."

*****

Religious Leaders Mark Roe v. Wade Anniversary. It was a night of hors d'oeuvre, history, and the health care bill. The Santa Barbara Pro-Choice Coalition hosted an event on January 25 to listen to two Santa Barbara religious leaders, Reverend Mark Asman and Rabbi Arthur Gross-Schaefer, discuss abortion, along with Kathy Kneer, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California.

Rev. Asman, of Santa Barbara's Trinity Episcopal Church, and Rabbi Gross-Schaefer, of the Community Shul of Montecito and Santa Barbara, annunciated their support for women's rights and asserted that being religious and being pro-choice are not always mutually exclusive.

Declaring himself a "progressive religious activist," Asman critiqued the health care bill's anti-abortion amendment. "God is grieved by this amendment," he said. Asman went on to say that he feared the "tragic consequences of a pre-Roe world."

*****

The Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) will celebrate Nigerian Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola's primacy on March 25, 2010. To honor his service, CANA will host a Festal Eucharist at Truro Church in Fairfax, VA, on February 10, at Truro Church Main Sanctuary, 10520 Main Street, Fairfax, VA. Those participating in the celebration include CANA Missionary Bishop Martyn Minns, Archbishop Robert Duncan of the Anglican Church in North America, Presiding Bishop Leonard Riches of the Reformed Episcopal Church, Canon John Yates of The Falls Church, and many others. The Archbishop was chosen as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people who have the "clout" and "power" to move the world both in 2006 and 2007.

*****

Should Canadian Anglicans be able to break through the impasse on sexuality, "it could well become a vibrant model of the kind of renewed Christian community that has much to teach the wider church," say two Canterbury-appointed U.K. pastoral visitors.

Bishop Chad Gandiya of Harare, Zimbabwe, and Bishop Colin Bennetts, the retired bishop of Coventry, were deputized by the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to accept an invitation to attend the Canadian House of Bishops last November in Niagara, Ont. Archbishop Williams is seeking ways to heal divisions across the Anglican Communion.

The visitors said they were "very encouraged" by the general desire that the church be more mission focused. They noted "...a very positive approach to church growth, a strong commitment to ministry among indigenous people and a determination to deliver better, more integrated forms of theological education both for ordinands and for laity."

They called Archbishop Fred Hiltz one of the church's "greatest assets" saying that the Anglican Church of Canada "punches way above its numerical weight when it comes to involvement in affairs of the Communion," a commitment that the visitors found "deeply moving."

*****

There is a proposed amendment to the lay woman's motion to recognize AC-NA at the Church of England's General Synod next week. The Rt. Rev. Mike Hill, Bishop of Bristol, is to move as an amendment the following:

Leave out everything after "That this Synod" and insert:

"(a) recognise and affirm the desire of those who have formed the Anglican Church in North America to remain within the Anglican family;

(b) acknowledge that this aspiration, in respect both of relations with the Church of England and membership of the Anglican Communion, raises issues which the relevant authorities of each need to explore further; and

(c) invite the Archbishops to report further to the Synod in 2011".

A source told VOL that the HoB would come up with an amendment, but it can itself be the subject of an amendment. "I think the HoB is being half-friendly - but also wanting to take over the direction of the future of the motion."

*****

From the dying Diocese of British Columbia which recently announced massive closures and layoffs comes this word from a VOL reader. "The Rev. Chris Page, rector of St. Philip's Oak Bay, Diocese of British Columbia parish is being sacrificed so that its resources can be used to shore up the dying St. Mary's, Oak Bay. His church is financially solid, whereas St. Mary's is not. St. Philip's was in the vanguard of the Evangelical renewal of the diocese in the 1970s. What is happening is that healthy Evangelical parishes are being cannibalized to shore up the spiritually dead congregations in the diocese. New Westminster is also on the same path."

*****

Bishop John-David Schofield of the is having a heart catheterization procedure today. He's scheduled for a valve replacement (open heart surgery). VOL was told that he's in good spirits. Prayers for him will be much appreciated. He won't be allowed visitors until further notice, but cards and notes can be sent to the Diocesan office in Fresno, and they'll reach him quickly.

*****

The Traditional Anglican Communion faces a crisis in the Congo with the Archbishop of the TAC John Hepworth accused of being "a mercenary and not a shepherd" by Fr. Steven Ayule-Milenge, the leader of the Église Catholique Anglicane du Congo (ECAC). He has pulled his church body out of TAC and aligned his group with the Anglican Catholic Church and its U.S. Archbishop Mark Haverland.

In a letter to all churches from Bukavu, dated 25 January 2010, Ayule-Milenge wrote that serious reasons provoked the change including Archbishop Hepworth's refusal to visit in five years; that he discouraged priests and lay faithful in Canada from financially supporting the Francophone church in Africa; removed a Fr. David Marriott from the position of Primate's chaplain to French speaking churches in Africa; and because he sought to gain financial support for the TAC group when the office of the primate lacked funding.

Archbishop Hepworth phoned this writer from Australia saying that a counter response to these charges is on the way. We will publish them as soon as we receive them.

Another source told VOL that the Congo province is actually larger than the TAC English province. The Congo is claiming something on the order of 3,000 communicants. "The TAC has a tiny number of congregations in England, roughly 18. The clergy include several retired CofE priests, some very elderly, and a sprinkling of people. The TAC has very amply demonstrated that breakaway churches do not flourish in England."

*****

Episcopal bishops support death penalty repeal. A measure being considered by the Kansas Senate Judiciary Committee to repeal the state's death penalty picked up eight supporters recently. In a letter to the Kansas Legislature, eight bishops of the Episcopal Church, Roman Catholic Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church and United Methodist Church in Kansas signed a letter asking for reconsideration and repeal of the Kansas death penalty.

Signing the letter, dated Jan. 28, were Bishops James M. Adams Jr., Episcopal Diocese of Western Kansas; Paul S. Coakley, Catholic Diocese of Salina; Ronald M. Gilmore, Catholic Diocese of Dodge City; Michael O. Jackels, Catholic Diocese of Wichita; Scott J. Jones, Kansas Area United Methodist Church; Gerald L. Mansholt, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Joseph F. Naumann, Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City; and Dean Wolfe, Episcopal Diocese of Kansas.

"As bishops leading the Episcopal Church, Roman Catholic Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church and United Methodist Church in Kansas, we write to share our deep concern about the continuing practice of condemning persons to death in Kansas," the letter said. Last week the Senate Judiciary Committee opened four days of hearings on the bill.

*****

Federal Lawsuit Challenges Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. A federal lawsuit was filed yesterday challenging the constitutionality of the recently-enacted Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. The complaint (full text) in Glenn v. Holder, (ED MI, filed 2/2/2010), claims that the provisions of the act, which criminalizes bias crimes motivated by the victim's actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, "elevates those engaged in certain deviant sexual behaviors to a special, protected class of persons under federal law." After quoting a number of Biblical verses on homosexuality, the complaint argues that the Act violates the 1st, 5th and 10th Amendments and exceeds Congress' power under the Commerce Clause.

Brought on behalf of three Christian pastors and the head of the American Family Association of Michigan, the complaint asserts that the Act "is an effort to eradicate religious beliefs opposing the homosexual agenda from the marketplace of ideas by demonizing, vilifying, and criminalizing such beliefs as a matter of federal law and policy." It claims that the federal aiding and abetting statute, along with the substantive provisions of the Hate Crimes Act, will subject plaintiffs to federal questioning, investigation and prosecution for preaching God's word.

The Thomas Moore Law Center, which represents the plaintiffs, issued a long press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit. The lawsuit raises arguments that were debated at length during Congress' consideration of the bill. Proponents argued then that several provisions included in the bill adequately protect freedom of speech and religion. (See prior posting.)

*****

The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Los Angeles has an update on the bishop election consent process. In its weekly update on receiving consents from counterpart standing committees in 109 other dioceses of the Episcopal Church, 56 Standing Commitees have given their consents - 29 have been received for the Rev. Canon Mary Douglas Glasspool, and 34 for the Rev. Canon Diane Jardine Bruce, according to the Rev. Canon Cindy Evans Voorhees, president of the Los Angeles diocesan Standing Committee.

*****

In the lawsuit brought by Anglo-Catholic priest Fr. David Moyer and the vestry of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, PA against John H. Lewis Jr. and his law firm, Moyer's lawyers have tried twice to keep the case out of the Commerce Court, a program that provides the parties with the same judge from the beginning to the end of the case. Commerce Court judges are among the best on the Court of Common Pleas, VOL has been told. On February 4, the Court denied the second motion by Moyer's lawyers to keep the case out of the Commerce Court.

*****

Just how insidious is the gay agenda in TEC? A VOL reader from a southern Episcopal diocese told the following story. "They put spies in my parish. Two guys would come in and take notes and never take communion. We traced the car tags and they were Integrity members." Why are we not surprised?

*****

The next time I write to you, it will be from Church House, London, where the Church of England Synod meets this coming week. A very serious motion is on the floor to recognize the new North American Anglican province. As soon as we know how the voting goes it will be posted to VOL's website: www.virtueonline.org

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In Christ,

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