Submission to Christ. Our primary authority is Jesus Christ our Teacher and our Lord, and our submission to Scripture is only the logical outcome and necessary expression of our submission to him. It is to Christ that we come; but Christ sends us to a book. Not that the book to which he sends us is a dead and wooden letter, or an authoritarian ogre. He bids us listen rather to his own voice as he speaks to our particular situation by his Spirit and through his written Word. --- From 'Jesus Christ Our Teacher and Lord', in "Guidelines", ed. J. I. Packer

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
5/30/2008

Five bishops and their Diocesan Councils have come out critically blasting Katharine Jefferts Schori and David Booth Beers, her attorney, for abuse of power in deposing two godly bishops - John-David Schofield and William Cox. These bishops have the full support of their dioceses in their criticism of the Presiding Bishop's' actions.

They have uniformly said that the vote taken in the HOB does not reflect the thinking of the entire HOB, that is it does not include those who were not present. To depose them on just those who were present is wrong and violates the canons. Therefore the depositions should not be heeded. All five dioceses do not recognize the deposition of these two bishops. A battle is shaping up in September when Mrs. Jefferts Schori along with the HOB attempts to depose the Bishop of Pittsburgh, Robert Duncan without a trial and without substantive charges.

Not to be caught off guard, the Standing Committee of the DIOCESE OF PITTSBURGH issued a statement this week saying that it is saddened to learn that the Presiding Bishop and her chancellor will continue to press for the deposition of Diocesan Bishop, Robert W. Duncan, Jr. for the Abandonment of Communion. "We believe Canon IV.9, Sec.1 has been misapplied and Canon IV.9, Sec.2 has been misinterpreted in this instance. Should our Diocesan Bishop be validly deposed pursuant to the requirements set forth in the canons, the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is prepared to exercise its role as the Ecclesiastical Authority of this diocese."

Not to be outdone, the BISHOP OF LEXINGTON, Stacy Sauls retaliated this week with a memorandum defending the actions of Jefferts Schori and David Booth Beers. Bloggers immediately began to take it apart. A full analysis can be read in today's digest.

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IN WISCONSIN this past week, Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan made an appearance at the Southeastern Wisconsin chapter of the American Anglican Council, which draws people in and beyond the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee and from nearby Nashotah House Episcopal seminary.

Duncan said that the Church will separate. Traditionalists could soon split to form a new North American structure, he said. The Pittsburgh bishop got a standing ovation from about 75 people when he said that a new North American church is arising for traditionalists opposed to same-sex blessings and gay, partnered bishops. Duncan is chairman of the Common Cause Partnership, a federation of Anglican jurisdictions and partnerships in the United States and Canada. He hosted a meeting of like-minded bishops in May in Pittsburgh. "What I can tell you about a meeting of the lead bishops was that there was unanimity among us, that all of the efforts that are swelling up from the ground around the country are to be encouraged, and that we actually anticipate that we will be in a situation within 24 to 36 months in which . . . a separate ecclesiastical structure in North America within the Anglican Communion will exist as a united reality. And that I think is very good news." Duncan did not mince his words.

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In the DIOCESE OF CONNECTICUT, Bishop Andrew Smith took title to Trinity Church, Bristol, with the parishioners and rector, the Rev. Don Helmandollar concluding that it wasn't worth the fight. The parishioners settled their legal dispute with the Episcopal Diocese by agreeing to relinquish their historic church home. In return, both the diocese and the national Episcopal Church will withdraw their lawsuit against Trinity's priest and its leaders. It's a pyrrhic victory for the diocese. They will have to close the church doors as there will not enough members stay to keep it open.

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In Fairfax, Virginia, this week a judge heard oral arguments in the case of a dozen parishes, which have left the DIOCESE OF VIRGINIA to join with CANA. What is at stake is a Virginia law that allows certain church congregations to vote to separate themselves from their parent denominations. Is it constitutional? Eleven conservative church congregations have invoked the law and voted to disaffiliate from the U.S. Episcopal Church. The diocese argues that the law infringes on the denomination's right to settle its own religious affairs. Judge Randy Bellows, who is presiding over the case, has already ruled that the law applies to the dispute, but has not yet made a ruling on the law's constitutionality. He has also yet to hear evidence on whether the congregations' votes to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church were conducted properly. A final resolution of the case is not expected for several months.

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In the DIOCESE OF UPPER SOUTH CAROLINA, the priest of St. Christopher's in Spartanburg, SC, The Rev. George Naff Gray Jr., resigned this week, making it official that he and the majority of his congregation are out the door, leaving the remnant to Bishop Dorsey Henderson. Henderson is so fearful that this story might reach the media in an uncontrolled fashion that he clamped down on anybody talking to the media asking that all calls be directed to him so he can spin it to make him, the diocese and TEC look good. The bachelor bishop, who would not answer VOL's request if he was in fact one of Mrs. Schori's unnamed bishops living in a partnered relationship, bemoaned the loss of the parish bleating that this was the only parish in his diocese to leave. Henderson promptly returned the parish into "mission status." He suspended Gray from the priesthood. Gray, "a lifelong Episcopalian of 52 years," considers St. Christopher's a "microcosm" of what's occurring across the United States in the Episcopal Church. In a phone interview, Gray said St. Christopher's elected in 2004 to affiliate with the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes, which "seeks to unite faithful, orthodox congregations and dioceses for Great Commission ministry," according to its Web site, www.acn-us.org.

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In the DIOCESE OF TEXAS, they elected a new Bishop Coadjutor this week. Hs name is the Rev. C. Andrew Doyle, chief operating officer of the Diocese of Texas. He succeeds Bishop Don A. Wimberly. Doyle described himself as a moderate in the church controversy over homosexuality. Translation. He will not rock the boat. Sooner or later, his diocese will come unglued with fleeing parishes. Then you will see his true colors. A VOL reader wrote to say this, "I see several red flags including the buzzword 'Diversity.' This does not look good for the Diocese of Texas." Wrote another orthodox parishioner who lives in the diocese; "Ben Benitez was an excellent Bishop. Claude Payne followed him, he was a lesser Bishop, then Don Wimberly followed Payne, and Wimberly was a lesser Bishop than Payne. It looks as if this Doyle fellow will be lesser of a Bishop than Wimberly." If all his talk of diversity is true, then he will fit comfortably in with the HOB and Mrs. Jefferts Schori, which should tell you everything you need to know. One thing's for sure, he won't be joining the Anglican Communion Network or Common Cause Partnership.

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In the DIOCESE OF PENNSYLVANIA, this week, the deep thinkers decided to have a prayer meeting prior to the hearing on the lawsuits against inhibited Bishop Charles E. Bennison. So some of the diocese got together and prayed for Bennsion!!! Yup, you got it. The bishop who faces fraud in a civil court and ecclesiastical charges that he covered up his brother's sexual abuse of a minor got all the prayers. At least one layman thought this was way over the top and wrote, "While Charles is named in this prayer, no specific reference is made to the 14-year-old victim, her family, or Maggie Thompson, then the wife of (the Rev.) John Bennison." Nor, he said, was there any request made for courage for those who will be testifying! Remember, this is not an "alleged" crime. Both John Bennison and Charles have confessed to it. "What on earth were the framers of this prayer thinking when they wrote this?" wrote Ray Kraftson, a concerned orthodox layman in the diocese. VOL did not obtain the quote directly from Kraftson. It was obtained from other sources. VOL had not spoken or communicated with Kraftson prior to publication.

"They are not victims. The appropriate prayer for Charles would be a prayer for discernment about how best to resign his leadership in a graceful manner so that the Diocese may move forward with healing and rebuilding" said the Rev. Marek P. Zabriskie, St Thomas, Whitemarsh near Philadelphia. "Charles must be regarded as something other than a victim. He is more accurately to be depicted as a perpetuator of a coverup, but not a victim needing prayer. There were dozens of opportunities for him to address this in various different ways", he said.

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Just when you thought that one of The Episcopal Church's dioceses might abide by Lambeth Resolution 1:10 and obey the Windsor Report, word this week came from the DIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES that All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, will, in response to a California Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay "marriage", perform same-sex weddings. The 125-year-old congregation "will treat equally all couples presenting themselves for the rite of marriage," said the Rev. Canon J. Edwin Bacon Jr. in an announcement. No word on what Bishop Jon Bruno will do in defiance of the fact that TEC has not authorized such "weddings" or rites. But then this IS the Episcopal Church where only those who stand by the faith are punished and those who disobey the rules are free to exercise "local option".

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Score one for orthodox Episcopalians. In the DIOCESE OF NORTH DAKOTA, Bishop Michael Smith apparently played by the Canonical rules. He was well within his rights not to hire a lesbian priest despite shrill cries from pansexualists that he was in violation of some canon or other. Not true. An investigation ensued. On May 7, the Presiding Bishop wrote to Smith stating that she had caused an investigation to be made of the charges. Both she and her chancellor agreed that he did have the canonical right to license or not license this priest, and had acted appropriately in the matter. "We find no canonical violation."

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In some truly good news, THE EPISCOPAL MAJORITY announced this week that it was closing down its blog. "It is clear that the heart of Anglicanism is under attack in America and it is time for a broad coalition of faithful Episcopalians to defend it. Though we do not intend to continue publishing, we will keep the blog online so that our friends may access the many fine articles to be found here. The Episcopal News Service and other offices of The Episcopal Church are speaking out clearly on the issues confronting us." They did have a parting shot however. They took a swipe at orthodox Episcopalians saying, "Though the 'strife is not o'er,' it is becoming clearer that theirs is a dying cause; there is no groundswell for schism, and their numbers are not growing. We are no longer fearful, and certainly not fearful of a rightwing takeover of our Church." There is at least one fiction in this statement. The orthodox ARE growing with each successive week. 1,000 Episcopalians leave TEC each week. By the end of the year, as many as four whole dioceses will have left TEC. VOL predicts that there will be fewer than 700,000 practicing Episcopalians by year's end. Within 5 years, barely half a million middle age Episcopalians will be ready for their columbarium head stones.

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If you think things are bad in The Episcopal Church, things are even worse in the UK. Dozens of churches have been selected for imminent closure under radical plans to merge parishes and save money, The Telegraph has learned. Both Church of England and Roman Catholic dioceses have drawn up plans that will see some of their most historic buildings made redundant. In one area, buildings with fewer than 100 worshippers are under threat. More than a third of Anglican churches could be lost in just one city. The disclosure comes as more church leaders, celebrities and heritage groups give their support to The Telegraph's Save Our Churches campaign. Earlier this month, The Telegraph disclosed that one in five of Britain's churches faces closure by 2030.

The BISHOP OF ROCHESTER, the Rt. Rev. Michael Nazi Ali went into attack mode and saying that radical Islam is filling the void left by the collapse of Christianity in the UK. He said the decline of Christian values is destroying Britishness and has created a "moral vacuum" which radical Islam is filling. He said the "social and sexual" revolution of the 1960s has led to a steep decline in the influence of Christianity over society, which church leaders have failed to overcome. He said that in place of the church, Britishers have become gripped by the doctrine of "endless self-indulgence" which has led to the destruction of family life, rising levels of drug abuse and drunkenness and mindless violence on the streets. Now you know why Global South leaders aren't taking anything the Archbishop of Canterbury says very seriously. The C of E is in free fall while Global South dioceses grow by leaps and bounds. It's hard to take an Affirming Catholic archbishop seriously in the face of the worldwide Evangelical renaissance we are seeing in the Anglican Communion.

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From the Church of England Newspaper comes this.
Religious trends and our religious future

If recent reports of trends in religious observance prove to be correct, then in some 30 years the mosque will be able to claim that, religiously speaking, the UK is an Islamic nation, and therefore needs a share in any religious establishment to reflect this. The progress of conservative Islam in the UK has been amazing, and it has come at a time of prolonged decline in church attendance that seems likely to continue.

This progress has been enthusiastically assisted by this government, in particular with its hard-line multi-cultural dogma and willingness to concede to virtually every demand made by Muslims. Perhaps most importantly the government has chosen to allow hard-liners to act as representing all Muslims, and more liberal Muslims have almost completely failed to produce any leadership voices to compete, leading many Britons to wonder if there are indeed many liberal Muslims at all, surely a mistake.

At all levels of national life Islam has gained state funding, protection from any criticism, and the insertion of advisors and experts in government departs national and local. A Muslim Home Office adviser, for example, was responsible for Baroness Scotland's aborting of the legislation against honour killings, arguing that informal methods would be better. In the police we hear of girls under police protection having the addresses of their safe houses disclosed to their parents by Muslim officers who think they are doing their religious duty.

While men-only gentlemen's clubs are now being dubbed unlawful, we hear of municipal swimming baths encouraging 'Muslim women only' sessions and in Dewsbury Hospitals staff waste time by turning beds to face Mecca five times a day - a Monty Pythonesque scenario of lunacy, but astonishingly true. Prisons are replete with imams who are keen to inculcate conservative Islam in any inmates who are deemed to be culturally 'Muslim': the Prison service in effect treats such prisoners as a cultural block to be preached to by imams at will. Would the Prison service send all those with 'C of E' on their papers to confirmation classes with the chaplain?! We could go on.

The point is that Islam is being institutionalised, incarnated, into national structures amazingly fast, at the same time as demography is showing very high birthrates. Charles Taylor's new and classic work on the Secular Age charts the rise of the secular mindset and what he calls the 'excarnation' of Christianity as it is levered out of state policy and structures. Christianity is now regarded as bad news. The liberal elite's attack, developed in the 1960s, took root in the educationalist empire, and to some extent even in areas of the church.

Today the Christian story is fading from public imagination, while Islam grows apace. There needs to be some fresh thinking in this area where the claims of Christ are sensitively explained. Our church leaders must develop ways of explaining this, as our feature on mission and evangelism this week demonstrates.

*****

It was another bumpy week for the ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA. Things just don't seem to be going right for TEC's neighbor to the north. It was announced this week that the Anglican province faces a deficit of $777,000 with only the residential school scandals refund check preventing a much larger loss. General Synod treasurer Peter Blachford reported that it was the fifth straight year in overall income decline. You don't think that a lack of sound theology to base the church upon is causing the downward drift in church attendance and the attendant decline in giving, do you? The deficit would have been $1.97 million had General Synod not received a refund last year of $1.17 million from the federal government as part of the revised Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the financial statements showed. "I'm calling it (2007) a transition year. It was a year of shifting into a new year with a new primate; it was a year to clean up the ABC," said Mr. Blachford. Really.

That didn't stop Archbishop Fred Hiltz from reflecting upon his first year in office. He praised MDG's (Mrs. Jefferts Schori's mantra) and then went on to say that he made a trip in February to the diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, which he described as a "pastoral visit in light of developments in that diocese." (This was Bishop Don Harvey's diocese). Harvey left the Anglican Church of Canada to become a bishop in the South American province of the Southern Cone, saying the ACC was morally and spiritually bankrupt. Hiltz undoubtedly felt the need to shore up the troops out there, fearing more might leave his liberal side. Hiltz conveniently omitted any talk about his visit to the ultra liberal Diocese of New Westminster, its heretical Bishop Michael Ingham, or the orthodox bloodbath over which he officiated. How convenient. Archbishop Hiltz was in the West Coast diocese in March to publicize the forthcoming work of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In other Canadian news, the DIOCESE OF HURON gave its approval to same-sex blessings, but Bishop Bruce Howe said he will not act on the decision. The diocese, at its annual synod, asked the bishop to give clergy permission to bless same-sex marriages. The margin in favor was 72 per cent in both clergy and lay houses (97 clergy in favor, 36 against; 227 lay people in favor, 87 against). Howe said he intended to consult with other bishops before acting on the vote. His ruling is in line with the bishops of the dioceses of Niagara, Montreal and Ottawa, that have held similar votes since the June 2007 meeting of General Synod.

In the DIOCESE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA B.C. a B.C. Supreme Court judge, has ordered the congregation of St. Mary of the Incarnation in Metchosin (St. Mary's), to hand over their church building to the Diocese of B.C. in the Anglican Church of Canada, pending the resolution of a trial over who is entitled to ownership of the building. It's a pyrrhic victory the two church buildings in the parish of St. Mary's, houses up to 230 people and the smaller heritage building that houses 90 people has a parish hall. St. Mary's congregation, which has a membership roll of 225 people, voted overwhelmingly (105 for / 14 against) to realign with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, something the judge acknowledged was "unprecedented in the history of the Church". Fourteen people will inherit the lot. The bishop will be forced to close it down. And they call that victory!

Ten years ago this month, on Friday, May 8th, 1998, the DIOCESE OF NEW WESTMINSTER passed (52% yes (179 people) and 48% no (170 people) its motion to perform same-sex blessings. It was not a coincidence that this happened just before the last Lambeth Conference which passed Lambeth 1:10 forbidding the blessing of same-sex unions. Lambeth 1:10 has been successfully ignored for a decade. Thank God for GAFCON.

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On the plus side of the Canadian Anglican Church ledger, the Church of the Redeemer, an ANiC parish in Dauphin, Manitoba, celebrated its inaugural service last Sunday. "It was a joyful service, bringing together Anglicans who had scattered to several different denominations in Dauphin over the past year. Many had been meeting together in a House Church/Bible study for several months. This was an opportunity to Worship and have Communion together for the first time in a while," said a communicant. ANiC Suffragan Bishop Malcolm Harding preached and celebrated the Eucharist with 35 enthusiastic people. In a letter, Moderator Bishop Don Harvey officially welcomed the Church of the Redeemer into the ANiC.

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POLITICAL CORRECTNESS is slowly destroying England. Mandated homosexual adoptions forced the Roman Catholic Church to quit adoption agencies. Cormac Cardinal Murphy O'Connor recently disaffiliated itself from three of the country's largest adoption agencies. The Church stated that its adoption agencies "'cannot remain Catholic and conform to the Sexual Orientation Regulations." As one VOL reader wrote, "Totalitarian governments will never countenance freedom of conscience in these matters. 'Exemption for religious institutions' is a bald-faced lie. The tragedy is that people within the Church support the very same sexual innovations that are Satanic instruments designed to cripple and eviscerate Christ's Church."

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The Bishop of the DIOCESE OF HONDURAS Lloyd Allen paid a visit to the Episcopal Church Center in New York and spoke of a "new dawn in our diocese". He described a flourishing diocese that is teaching its congregants to be "independent."

"Since we established that we would do evangelism head-over-heels, it's a new dawn in our diocese," said Allen, president of Province IX and a member of the Presiding Bishop's Council of Advice. The growth, according to Allen, has the diocese "studying the possibility of having an assisting or suffragan bishop." Allen said that Honduras is "the epicenter of AIDS in Central America." But then Allen said that 'being a good steward' meant he would not be attending the Lambeth Conference in England. Allen will be one less bishop in attendance.

"The reason I'm not going to Lambeth is because I think it's extremely expensive and I'm coming from a very poor country," he explained. "It will cost me almost $1,300 to go to Lambeth and with that amount of money I can build a church in Honduras where I think the money would be better spent. It has nothing to do with any theological position but more about being a good steward," he said. "I think that the Lord will grant me an opportunity for another Lambeth to come by and by that time, maybe things will change."

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The consecration of a woman priest to the episcopacy in PERTH, Australia is drawing all kinds of fire. Homosexual bishops in Australia will be "as night follows day," wrote one irate parishioner. Women's Ordination is predicated on "justice" and "anti-discrimination," the same template used by V. Gene Robinson and his fellow travelers. The full story can be read in today's digest.

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LOOKING for a new spiritual home? Archbishop Stephan Petrovich of the U.A.O.C. Autocephalous Orthodox Church would like to talk to you. If Rome or any of the Evangelical Anglican breakaways are not to your taste, give the archbishop a call. You can reach him at 419-433-9211 and he will answer any of your questions.

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My lead story on Zulu words - ubuntu and indaba - that seek deeper conversation among all Anglicans provoked one funny response. "Indaba might be just a whole lot of abadabadoo."

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VOL is still looking for a few supporters who will consider making a tax deductible donation to help defray costs to attend GAFCON in the Middle East and LAMBETH in Canterbury. Our promise to you is we will receipt ALL donations. We pay all our bills in 30 days. We are an annually audited 501(c)3 ministry. We believe VIRTUEONLINE has been raised up for such a time as this. We have been repeatedly told that VOL's reports have enabled new jurisdictions to form, parishes to leave TEC (though we do not necessarily advocate that). We aim to objectively report the news and let you make the decision. Thank you for your support. You may help by sending a donation through PAYPAL at www.virtueonline.org or by sending a snail mail check to:

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