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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
11/9/2006

Two events occurred this week in the life of The Episcopal Church that highlights the strange conflicting world of liberal Protestant Christianity.

The first was the elevation of the first Episcopal woman, Mrs. Katharine Jefferts-Schori to the office of Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church in a pomp and ceremony show in Washington's national cathedral, hoping perhaps, that as a woman, she might fix the mess her two predecessors, Ed Browning and Frank Griswold had created.

The second event was a series of forums on the revisionist Bishop of Pennsylvania, Charles E. Bennison who covered up his brother John's (statutory) rape of a 14-year old girl when he was a priest in the Diocese of California, and his brother was an ordinand for the priesthood. In three forums held across Philadelphia, Bennison was forced to face the families, his accusers (even thought he never showed up) but hundreds of clergy and laity did. It was a defining moment that even Bennison's lawyers could not help but notice. By the beginning of this week Bennison found himself facing presentment charges filed with the national church by the Diocesan Standing Committee. The Standing Committee sent a series of complaints around financial issues to the Presiding Bishop. She has 60 days to review the complaints and either dismiss them or present them for trial. This Saturday Bennison must face his entire diocese where, VOL has been told, he will again be asked to resign. Bennison is a sociopath. He has had more bad press from this writer and the local newspapers than any Episcopal bishop in recent history, and it will continue till he has gone. He is blinded by his own contempt for anybody who does not agree with him, and blithely carries on, believing that those who don't agree with him just want power and money. Great will be his fall. VOL will let you know the moment it happens. A recent meeting of his Deans revealed that the diocese is not doing well financially either. A list of 2005 non-payment of assessment and 2006 non-payments were distributed and showed that only 42% of the pledges for 2006 have been received. They hope that that will double in the next six weeks. Hope springs eternal.

I have posted a number of stories on the investiture of Mrs. Schori, including one by Auburn Faber Traycik, the eminent reporter/editor of The Christian Challenge. Dr. Peter Toon has provided excellent commentary on the event as has Canon Gary L'Hommedieu. Your scribe has written extensively on Bennison's sins as well as a farewell piece on Frank Griswold, the outgoing Presiding Bishop.

No Network bishop turned up for the investiture, nor were there any bishops looking for Commissary status there either. A VOL observer at the investiture service did note that there was one quasi-conservative bishop at Saturday's service - Don Wimberly of Texas (who was spied by ENS reporter Bob Williams). Wimberly claims to be in compliance the 2004 Windsor Report, but showed up to support a PB not exactly in sync with it.

AND, in light of the fact that the new P.B. is a pilot, the press packets at the cathedral all contained lightweight wooden toy planes to assemble - real cute, right? One reporter with mischief on her mind lamented that the whole press corps hadn't assembled them all and sent them flying from the balcony over the south transcept (where the media was sequestered) onto the investiture proceeding below. Under the circumstances, though, it would probably have been welcomed by the ebullient congregation as a planned part of the service!

The usual line-up of liberal glitterati were present - Hutchison (Canada), Ingham (New Westminster), Kearon (ACC), Ndungane (Southern Africa) and unnumbered toadies who draw from the ebullient financial teats of The Episcopal Church's Trust Funds.

These two events this week highlight the ambiguity of a Church gone wildly astray. One is a Socialist the other is a sociopath.

A MEETING took place in Washington, DC this past week, following the Schori investiture, by a group calling themselves the "Episcopal Majority". They met to defend the TEC. Their spokesman, Bishop J. Jon Bruno (Los Angeles) called for "Waging Reconciliation," and retaining inclusiveness. He also said that the new P.B. "damn well better" have a place at the Primatial table next year. The Nov. 3 meeting still believes their church might be "overtaken" by reforming forces. You can read Christian Challenge editor, Auburn Faber Traycik's take on this in today's digest.

In the DIOCESE OF PITTSBURGH, they voted at its annual diocesan convention to withdraw from the national church province and seek alternative oversight. The overwhelming vote, which was expected, does not change the diocese's standing in the Episcopal Church. Nor will it have any immediate impact on the Pittsburgh diocese's 20,000 members. The resolution underscores the Pittsburgh diocese's distancing from the national church's new presiding bishop, Mrs. Jefferts-Schori.

The convention passed a 2007 budget that continues the diocese's refusal to monetarily support the Episcopal Church and newly directs its Province III dues to the Network of Anglican Communion Diocese and Parishes. The budget is not posted on the diocese's website. The diocese sends nothing to the National Church. Quote Duncan: "I will do my part as your bishop and as Moderator of the Network [of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes] to work with Mrs. Schori to come to some mediated disengagement that will allow all of us to get on with the mission as we understand it," he said.

Question: What is the meaning of 'disengagement' and what is the 'time frame'? We wait in breathless anticipation.

In the DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA a second group of Episcopalians has called on bishops and standing committees to consider seriously not consecrating the new Bishop-elect the Very Rev. Mark J. Lawrence. A small liberal group calling themselves Episcopal Forum of South Carolina wrote a letter to diocesan bishops and members of diocesan standing committees but stopped short of calling for rejection of Lawrence's September 16 election. They stand with another so-called moderate group of Episcopalians, Via Media USA who also would like to see Lawrence's election overturned because the diocese wants out of The Episcopal Church and aligned with some body that believes in gospel transformation.

Both South Carolina and San Joaquin are part of a group of seven dioceses that have requested a relationship with a primate of the Anglican Communion other than the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, citing 2003 and 2006 General Convention actions. Under the canons of the Episcopal Church (III.16.4(a)) a majority of the bishops exercising jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees must consent to Lawrence's ordination as bishop within 120 days of receiving notice of his election. (Episcopal elections that occur within 120 days before the start of General Convention require consents from the houses of Bishops and Deputies during Convention.) Lawrence's consecration is planned for February 24, 2007.

In the DIOCESE OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA where the Rt. Rev. John B. Lipscomb presides, and is shortly to retire, they are in the process of electing a new Bishop Coadjutor. Clearly this diocese is not about to throw in the sponge to the Lesbigay crowd and give them carte blanche to destroy it. Perhaps Bishop Lipscomb's sober hand on the diocese might have something to do with it as well.

Well, the official gay Episcopal organization, Integrity Naples doesn't like the three current candidates for election and have said some nasty things about them. They have accused the three candidates put up by the diocesan search committee as "embracing heterosexism, homophobia, and exclusion of our Christian values..." which probably means they are good guys who happen to believe in something more than sodomy.

Integrity noted with anger that the Rev. Robert S. Dannals voted against the election of Bishop Gene Robinson at General Convention, 2003 and that while the Rev. Jacob W. Owensby said he would be "pastoral" to gay couples, he does not believe the church should bless their relationships. He and Dannals oppose ordaining non-celibate Gay or Lesbian clergy. Furthermore they think the Rev. Dabney T. Smith does not address at all the issue of full inclusion of LGBT persons in the church in his statement. He is, however, on record as having submitted a resolution to the Diocese of Central Florida in 2003 upholding the "biblical standard" for sexual expression as only in marriage between a man and a woman.

So because these three gentlemen abhor sodomy, "this slate is unacceptable to LGBT Episcopalians and their friends." They would like "more enlightened" types that embrace a killer behavior and those who accept "the full inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) persons in the life of the church." They said all three candidates would appear to take the diocese back in time. Back to the Bible perhaps? Integrity would like the search process be reopened to permit a more inclusive candidate who would ultimately take the diocese down the primrose path and exclude orthodox folk. You have been warned.

And in the DIOCESE OF SAN DIEGO the Rev. Michael Nee has resigned from TEC and as Vicar of Holy Cross Episcopal Church, Carlsbad, CA and has become a priest of the Diocese of Bolivia. His new bishop is the Rt. Rev. Francis Lyons.

Fr. Nee accepted the call to pastor a new church, Good Shepherd Anglican Church (www.gsachurch.org --not completely constructed, but it is up and running. The new congregation has been invited by Fr. Nee's dear friend, Rabbi Mel Libman, to worship at his synagogue, Congregation Shir Ami. Rabbi Libman and Fr. Nee are inspired by what they believe is God's call for Shir Ami and Good Shepherd to provide a living witness of the brotherhood that our Father calls us to. Newcomers can find them at 2210 Encinitas Blvd., Encinitas, CA Phone: 760.481.3252. Said Nee; "We have just begun. This is the beginning of a new church, new hope, and a fresh start. Please come join us on this journey."

This is the 7th priest and congregation to leave the Diocese. At least three deacons have also left the diocese. In another diocesan matter Bishop James Mathes and the diocese was told by a judge that it had "not met their burden" in its legal action against St. John's, Fallbrook. Watch for more fireworks in the coming weeks and months. A year ago VOL wrote that nine parishes would leave this diocese. We are now up to seven.

Bishop Mathes was out of town this time celebrating Mrs. Schori's "holy new thing". Howard Smith on behalf of the bishop said these events were not a "setback" for the diocese. As Lenny said, "Which way did they go George, which way did they go."

And from the DIOCESE OF CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA comes word that the Rev. Daren Williams who left the Episcopal Church unable to tolerate any longer the liberal and revisionist agenda of ECUSA and his then bishop Michael Creighton joined the ACA in November 2004, coming under the jurisdiction of Archbishop Louis Falk of the ACA and Bishop Louis Campese of the Diocese of the Eastern United States. After leaving the TEC he established the Church of the Incarnation in Williamsport, Pennsylvania with its charter members being those who had left Christ Church (Episcopal). Well at the Annual Synod of the ACA on October 27 in Phoenix, Arizona, Fr. Williams was elected successor to The Rt Rev'd James G. Stewart as Bishop of the Diocese of the West, Anglican Church in America. He was received on the first ballot with votes of 2/3 from the House of the Clergy and 2/3 from the House of the Laity. In addition to his election, Bishop-Elect Williams has accepted a call to become the rector of All Saints' Anglican Church, Fountain Valley, California. He and his wife, Joy, will reside in Orange County. Pending the necessary consents, episcopal consecration is expected early in the New Year. This is living proof that God can and does bring good out of evil.

IN a transcript of the interview of the Archbishop of Canterbury by atheist John Humphreys, the Archbishop appears to speak of a place beyond death for people to decide for Christ. Here it is:
RW: What I would love to think, of course, is that after death possibly a rather unusual experience might happen in which you would say 'Good God I got it all wrong?'
JH: Too late then?
RW: No.
JH: After death?
RW: I think we continually have the choice of saying yes or no.
JH: So that death is not the end of us?
RW: Death is not the end of us. Oh well, that's rather axiomatic for a religious believer.
JH: Quite so, but I said us meaning us, un-believers.
RW: Unbelievers?
JH: Yes
RW: God alone can judge how much of your resistance to God is culpable, is to do with selfishness, laziness of spirit, bloody-mindedness. And how much is just due to whatever it is that gets in the way. God alone can judge that. The willingness, the openness of the heart, even the wish to believe, God can work with that. Does this make the ABC a universalist? Is there really a Hell? Look for chapter two next weeks in the ongoing saga of, "What the ABC Believes".

AND from the "Anglican Episcopal World - the official magazine of the Anglican communion" produced by the Anglican Communion Office comes this: On almost the final page of the latest edition (Michaelmas 2006, Issue 123, p58) there's a page called 'Reflections', the place for theological and devotional reflection, and it contains an article by The Revd Dr John Shepherd, taken from 'The Melbourne Anglican', called 'Can we speak of a bible-based morality?' The standard pro-gay theological argument appears throughout (individual texts may say one thing, the trajectory of mercy and justice points in another), but the subject of homosexuality never breaks cover until the final three paragraphs:

"It is consistent with the compassion and love enjoyed by biblical teaching, and with the freedom from injustice and discrimination which the new life of the spirit (sic) offers, to affirm equality for all in Christ. And it is this fundamental principle which will lead us to an informed, enlightened and just appreciation of racial affirmation, the equal place of men and women in church and society, same sex relationships, societal responsibility, and so on. The church was founded presumably to embody the love and charity of God. Paul declares us to be discharged from rules which demean and thwart the flourishing of human nature. He urges us to serve God in a new way. Thanks to St Paul, and to his example of extending the range of God's acceptance and generosity. We can now be more appreciative of the extent to which God's love can inform and shape our lives, and how we can offer justice and compassion to all."

Wrote an orthodox British theologian, "On one level, same old stuff. On another, I'm furious that that a magazine which goes out globally to every diocese, theological institution should be carrying this, with no editorial distance from it. It's a complete abuse of power and wealth by the Anglican Communion Office."

IN other UK news, OAK HILL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY is looking for a new principal. Oak Hill, London, is a recognized Anglican Theological College, which equips pastor-teachers, evangelists, youth workers and cross-cultural workers for evangelical ministry in today's world. Over the last ten years the College has grown significantly in numbers of ordinands and independent students. The current Principal, David Peterson, is moving back to Australia next summer. Candidates must be ordained members of the Anglican Communion (or a church whose orders are recognized by the Church of England) and have the academic ability and leadership qualities to lead the staff team and develop the work of the College. An application pack is available from Peter Wood, Development Manager, Oak Hill College, Chase Side, London N14 4PS, Tel: 020 8449 0467 ext. 227. Email: peterw@oakhill.ac.uk

CONFUSION reigned briefly about the forthcoming visit of four overseas primates who will meet in northern Virginia as part of the annual meeting of the Anglican Relief and Development Fund (ARDF) Trustees on Nov 12-15 at The Falls Church in Falls Church, Va. The four primates include the Most Rev. Peter Akinola, Primate of Nigeria; the Most Rev. Drexel Gomez, Primate of the West Indies; the Most Rev. Benjamin Nzimbi, Primate of Kenya; and the Most Rev. Justice Akrofi, Primate of West Africa.

VOL was given conflicting stories from two orthodox bishops about the nature of this meeting and what its intended purpose was. Evangelical leaders were furious when it was made known that the primates might also meet later to hold a consultation with the leadership of those Episcopal dioceses requesting Alternative Primatial Oversight (APO) vigorously denying to this reporter that such a meeting would ever take place. Well the truth is they are meeting later at a separate location and the media is not invited. That word came from no less a person than the new archbishop of Southeast Asia, the Most Rev. John Chew.

When word leaked out a number of American bishops went ballistic and there was an immediate scurrying around in New York leading to Mrs. Schori asking for a meeting with these primates, hoping perhaps she could razzle dazzle them with her masculine charm. By all accounts that is not going to happen. The four primates will meet as part of the Global South Steering Committee on Consultations with bishops requesting APO As indicated in the recent (Sept.) Kigali Communique. Mrs. Schori is not on the schedule.

Now if she shows up, all bets are that they will treat her like they treated Pa. Bishop Charles Bennison when he turned up at a country club outside Philadelphia a year ago for the same meeting. They sat in another room and refused to see him. Why would they not do the same again? The only difference between Mrs. Schori and Bennison is gender, the rest is all the same.

DOWN UNDER we learned this week that the Anglican Church in New Zealand may split over same-sex civil unions being allowed in the North Island and the ordination of a gay man in the South Island.

Latimer Fellowship, a group of orthodox Anglicans in NZ reports that according to a New Zealand newspaper, the Bishop of Auckland, the Rt Revd John Paterson (a former Primate) has licensed a former priest of the diocese who is not only a celebrant for same-sex Civil Unions, but who is also about to be "married" in a civil union himself.

It is little surprise to conservatives in the Anglican Church that such a story should appear on the very weekend that the Bishop of Dunedin ordained a man who he openly admitted was in a same-sex union. "There are already signs that an orchestrated campaign is beginning to emerge which seeks to take the New Zealand church out of the Anglican Communion and align itself instead with the radical American Episcopal church," they report.

The case reported here will only deepen the crisis into which the New Zealand Anglican has been plunged by the Dunedin ordinations and will have further international ramifications. Bishop John Paterson is currently serving as General Secretary of the Anglican Consultative Council (one of the international "instruments of unity" within the Anglican Communion), and was on the commission that produced the Windsor Report (2004) and was the New Zealand Archbishop who was part of the Dromantine Statement (2005) produced by the Primates of the Anglican Communion.

Clearly the realignment is not just in the U.S. but going on worldwide, and the actions of liberals in NZ ties in with what VOL exposed at GC2006 about the name change of ECUSA to TEC and 16 flags representing the Episcopal Church's global outreach. Church of England liberals have also expressed interest in aligning with the American Episcopal Church. The times they are a changing.

Now if you thought that only Anglicans were crazy consider this: The United Church of Canada in a bid to boost its ailing and aging membership, is initiating a $10.5-million project that includes advertisements for magazines, community newspapers and on the Internet featuring a bobble-head Jesus doll, and references to gay "marriage." One ad shows a wedding cake statuette with two grooms and the caption, "Does anyone object?" Another ad features a photo of a bible filled with colored post-it notes labeled, "agree" and "disagree"... Now that should really draw the crowds in.

LEAC conference is expected to draw hundreds. The Pan-Anglican Renewal and Restoration Conference to be held Nov. 20-21 at the Marriott Orlando World in Orlando, Florida is going to be winner. One fearless layman, Jim Ince has worked overtime to make this conference possible. There will be line up of the brightest and best in Anglican orthodox thinkers to listen too. Your scribe will act as moderator. Please come. E-mail info@layepiscopalians.org or go to their website: http://www.layepiscopalians.org and sign up. The expense is minimal, the information could inform you about how you should respond to the present crisis.

A RETIRED priest committed suicide by setting himself on fire in a German monastery in protest at the spread of Islam and the Protestant Church's inability to contain it, said an article in the London Times. Roland Weisselberg, 73, poured a can of petrol over his head and set light to himself in the grounds of the Augustine monastery in the eastern city of Erfurt, where Martin Luther spent six years as a monk at the beginning of the 16th century. Witnesses said that Weisselberg climbed into a building site next to the monastery church, where a Reformation Day service was being held. He shouted "Jesus and Oskar" before the flames engulfed him. The latter name was an apparent reference to Oskar Brüsewitz, a priest who burnt himself in 1976 in protest against the Communist regime in East Germany. He died a day later.

TWO CONTRARY VIEWS about how orthodox Episcopalians should move forward have emerged in recent weeks. Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan said he is working hard to establish a 10th Province, while Quincy Bishop Keith Ackerman told Forward in Faith folk in London recently that he wants a 39th Province.

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