"Be assured that those who go against the will of the Holy Spirit will be relentlessly destroyed by the same Spirit." --- Bishop Terwilliger

'It is not at all easy (humanly speaking) to wind up an Englishman to a dogmatic level' ---- Newman's Apologia,

There is an electric generator and in the room there is a lamp. If, however, we don't flip the switch, we will remain in darkness. Similarly, there is Christ and there is our soul. If, however, we don't flip the switch of prayer, our soul will not see the light of Christ and will remain in the darkness of the devil. --- -Elder Porphyrios, +1991

Let the leading orthodox bishops not model their response to the Presiding Bishop after Elijah's sojourn in the cave. I would say if you need rest, take it quickly, if you need sustenance, take it on the march, but run to the sound of battle - for the very life of the Christian church is at stake, and the battle lines cross the Anglican churchyard. Pray that those who apprehend the critical hour of this battle will fully engage in this contest for the future of the Anglican Communion. ----The Rt. Rev. David C. Anderson, Sr. President and CEO, American Anglican Council

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
July 24, 2009

The governance of The Episcopal Church is now completely in the hands of revisionists - men and women who have abandoned the historic gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and sold it for a pottage of pansexual depravity, inclusivity, diversity and a definition of mission that is not The Great Commission.

Southern California already had its hands full with an invasion of giant squid when another squishy invertebrate washed ashore in the person of Katharine Jefferts Schori (she has a Ph.D. in squid habits). She proceeded to wrap her amoral tentacles around the House of Bishops and within a week managed to tell us all that personal salvation was a Western heresy, thus alienating The Episcopal Church from most of Christendom. After that, Jefferts Schori chaired the HOB to pass two resolutions allowing lesbitransgays to be ordained to all orders of ministry with rites for same sex marriages to boot.

It was a triumph of spectacular proportions that brought clarity with a finality to the entire Anglican Communion. Doubt is gone. We all know where The Episcopal Church stands and why we have a new North American Anglican province in ACNA.

The Presiding Bishop did her best to put a spin on the resolutions, writing letters to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the primates of the communion and The Episcopal Church saying the actions of GC2009 were descriptive not proscriptive, that B0233 had not been overturned and that D025 and C056 changed nothing that was not already being practiced. We've heard that one before. Women's ordination was supposed to be optional for bishops of conscience, especially Anglo-Catholics, but in time it became mandatory thus forcing three Anglo-Catholic dioceses out of TEC all together.

But pansexuality comes at a price, a very steep price. The budget was cut by $23 million with a number of staff being fired on the spot in Anaheim, an event that was hailed as "a significant curtailment of church-wide ministry efforts, in recognition of the economic realities of many dioceses and church endowments." So be it.

The entire Evangelism program was among those who got pink slips due to the drastically reduced budget approved by General Convention. They also eliminated Worship and Spirituality, Women's Ministries and Lay Ministry. All together, 37 positions at the Episcopal Church Center were cut. No explanation has been offered as to why these programs were chosen for elimination.

The eliminated evangelism officer opined that evangelism events along with TEC's ecumenical partners to create an innovative evangelism "toolkit," and develop training programs for evangelists, among other things, is now history.

Despite the reduced budget, the church body still decided to commit 0.7 percent of its budget to the Millennium Development Goals on top of the 15 percent already committed to international development work, said Jefferts Schori. The dollar pinch has yet to be felt on the home front as parishioners in remaining orthodox parishes decide now to walk out the door believing TEC has floated over the cliff.

Scattered throughout the Episcopal body called TEC are dioceses, parishes, and individuals who are endeavoring to remain faithful to the life giving Word. They are a diminishing and dying breed. Most have left to become part of the Anglican Church of North America. One decidedly brave diocesan bishop, James Stanton of Dallas wrote his people to say, "It is imperative that we as a Diocese commit ourselves to one another and work together for the building up of God's kingdom. At no time in the life of this Church has it been so critical for the community to stand together to carry the message of the Good News of Christ to a broken world. We cannot live in isolation from one another but must find ways to work with and support one another in our common mission and ministry. Now is not the time to "run for cover" but to step out in the name of Jesus Christ and continue to worship, work and witness for the glory of God."

However a third great wave of departures from The Episcopal Church has begun and you can read that story here on in today's digest. http://tinyurl.com/m6horp

This conflict in TEC now moves into its next phase where there is apparently no solution, no provision, which takes orthodox brothers and sisters into loving consideration or where hope can prosper. This is echoed in a letter to his diocese by the Bishop of South Carolina, Mark Lawrence. He writes ominously, "There is an increasingly aggressive displacement within this Church of the gospel of Jesus Christ's transforming power by the "new" gospel of indiscriminate inclusivity which seeks to subsume all in its wake. It is marked by an increased evangelistic zeal and mission that hints at imperialistic plans to spread throughout the Communion. This calls for a bold response. It is of the utmost importance that we find more than just a place to stand. Indeed, it is imperative that we find a place to thrive; a place that is faithful, relational and structural-and so we shall."

No doubt we shall hear more from him ere long about his plans for that diocese.

The Rev. John Sheehan, who leads the Church of Our Redeemer in Loudoun County, said his congregation decided three years ago not to leave the Episcopal Church even as several other similarly conservative churches in Northern Virginia decided to split. "Now that the convention is over, we need to see what impact all this will have on us as a parish. This is something we'll talk over."

Will we see a joint statement by Church of England Traditionalists about this time of crisis in the Anglican Communion? No, there isn't one yet. But shouldn't there be? And shouldn't it be signed by Traditionalist Anglican Bishops, representatives of Anglican Mainstream, the Church of England Evangelical Council, FCA, Forward in Faith, Fulcrum, New Wine and Reform, patronage bodies and Principals of Theological Colleges?

But clearly the decisions of GC2009 are having an impact. A VOL reporter at the Convention Center ran into The Rev. Ellen Neufeld of the Diocese of Albany with her sandals in her hand.

She said she had just left the HOD as a Deputy. She took her sandals off, shook off the dust from the soles, and walked out.

Fr. Phillip Ashey, a deeply thoughtful man, writing for the American Anglican Council, now says that there are TWO Anglican Communions in the USA - broken communion (TEC) and the Confession Communion (ACNA).

I have posted a number of stories and analysis pieces by thoughtful Anglicans and Episcopalians in today's digest, including a United Methodist pastor who wondered aloud if TEC had lost its collective mind. That particular remark about individual salvation, he said, would wipe out the Baptists of the world, as well as almost all of the United Methodists. Indeed, it declares as unacceptable almost all the rest of Christianity.

Some 35 bishops did sign a minority report declaring their loyalty to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Moratoria and the Covenant, but one wonders what good that will do at this late stage in TEC's decline.

One revisionist signer, Bishop David Alvarez of Puerto Rico got stiffly rebuffed and accused of hypocrisy by a number of former priests he had deposed. They accused him of creating the schism and then ducking for cover in case the schism fell on his head. You can read that story here or in today's digest. http://tinyurl.com/kuzw2v

But there was one thing that all the bishops Bishops did agree on and that was Mary's Virginity. In a debate that bordered on the humorous, the bishops amended resolution A099 Lesser Feasts and Fasts, adding the word "virgin" before the name of the Mother of God in collects offered for the use by the church. The Rt. Rev. Wayne Smith, Bishop of Missouri, presented the resolution, noting that there had been some concerns expressed in committee hearings about the commons used for the Mother of God. There were "three ways to refer to her: Mary the God-bearer, the theotokos; Mary of Nazareth; and the Blessed Virgin Mary," he said. Bishop Smith said using these varied terms underscores the theological diversity of views held within the Episcopal Church on the person and charism of Mary. Bishop Michael Smith of North Dakota stood and said "I rise in defense of our Lady," eliciting guffaws from the house. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori noted, "I don't think she needs it," to more laughter from the bishops. Smith then offered an amendment inserting the word "virgin" before Mary's name where used in the new collects, stating that the church's teaching on the virginity of the Mother of God should be underscored in the new rites. The Bishop of Albany, the Rt. Rev. William Love, rose to support the amended resolution saying he could "imagine all the spin that would come out of this convention" if the resolution was rejected. He said the headline "Episcopal Church Denies the Virginity of Mary" was one he did not wish to read, eliciting cries of shame from the bishops present. The pansexualists were, of course triumphant, because of the two resolutions D025 and C056 passed at GC2009. They threw a party at the Courtyard Marriott on Saturday night that included an Integrity Wedding.

One wag who witnessed the convention resolutions sent VOL a summary of principles of the Unitarian Universalist Church. One has to ask oneself: Does this sound like TEC or the Anglican Church of Canada? It could of course. Read to the end and then see who really believes this.

1. The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
2. Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations;
3. Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
4. A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
5. The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
6. The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
7. Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

The real dilemma of what happened in Anaheim now falls on the head of the Archbishop of Canterbury. To date he has been silent, but he cannot remain so for much longer. His options grow fewer by the day. If he stays silent in Lambeth Palace, he will be seen as acquiescing to the left. If he believes the letters put out by Jefferts Schori to himself and to the wider Anglican Communion that nothing really changed at GC2009, he is deluding himself. No one in the Global South is buying the snake oil Jefferts Schori is selling. The scandals, lawsuits and the hemorrhaging of members from TEC will not suddenly cease because of the actions of GC2009. You can read "Rowan among the Ruins" here or in today's digest. http://tinyurl.com/lbmnpv

*****

If you want to see how the HOB and HOD voted on the major resolutions and the minority report bishops, you can click here: http://tinyurl.com/n49u5u

*****

Events in the UK are just going from bad to worse. A church in decline is one thing, but a well- established event called GREENBELT, which gathers 20,000 people for a Christian festival of the arts and culture on August 28-31, has Gene Robinson as its main speaker. This has drawn huge fire. A debate is taking place on the pages of www.anglican-mainstream.net. Anglican Mainstream is calling for Christians to boycott the Greenbelt Christian arts festival. The annual event will also feature eight gay groups exhibiting there.

*****

For an orthodox overview, listen to this priest who had a conversation with Jefferts Schori and what became of it. Here is an excerpt: "We met for three hours in the Houston airport, about a year and a half ago, in which we just laid it on the table. I found her, at least at that meeting, to be very nice, very open, very responsive. And I said, "Katherine, how do you feel about original sin?'" And won't go into how all these conversations went. We disagreed on that. So I said, "Ok, next point. How do you think about individual salvation and atonement?" We disagreed about that. So this kinda went on and I finally looked at her and I said, "Katherine, do you see why our divisions in the church right now are not so much about human sexuality as they are about key issues of theology? If you and I don't understand sin in the same way, or salvation in the same way, or redemption in the same way, we're gonna have to find a new way to do business.'"

http://files.getdropbox.com/u/1594648/St%20Martins%20Parish%20Meeting.wav

*****

On more mundane matters, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have written to Bishops in the Church of England recommending the suspension of the sharing of the chalice at communion. The Archbishops' letter follows advice from the Department of Health not to share "common vessels" for food or drink. For those who still wish to offer both bread and wine, the Archbishops have recommended use of "personal intinction by the presiding minister" allowing the priest to dip communion wafers in the chalice before handing them out to communicants. The Church of England's worship is taking into account the interests of public health during the current phase of the swine flu pandemic

****

A second child abuse uproar is engulfing the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. A VOL reader writes to say that it is the final hammer blow for the RC Church in Ireland and, he fears, in anglophone Europe. Still nothing from Benedict XVI, only a report that he was "saddened" to hear the news. "He should summon the entire hierarchy, bishops and religious superiors, to come to Rome for an inquiry and sack every last one who is in any way culpable. But of course he won't - his track record with Bernard Cardinal Law provides more than a clue."

****

If you think TEC has problems and is in increasingly terrible shape, then you might want to consider what is going on in the Swedish church. A VOL reader sent the following report: The Swedish church has a Lutheran confessional background and is a member of the Porvoo agreement. It is a former state church that cut its ties with the state in 2000 but now is completely governed by the political parties in Sweden by the make-up of Church Assembly (the decision making body of the Church). The Assembly consists of members who have to be elected by "nomination groups" that in reality means the different political parties. A few of these "nomination groups" are "non-political", but they are in a very small minority and consist of people who go to church. The politicians you rarely see darken a church door. Of the political parties, the Prime minister (conservative) and the Opposition leader (social democrat) are not members of the Swedish church but are strongly engaged in dictating what their political parties should do for the church through their members in the Church Assembly that will meet now in September. In the month of May this year, the government passed a new gender neutral marriage law, by merging the previous partnership law - giving registered partnerships the same rights as married couples - with the marriage law. From now on you cannot be a registered partnership in Sweden, only married couples. They did not make civil registration of marriages mandatory but left the system as it was, i.e. leaving the churches and other religious institutions to perform most of the legally binding marriages. There were a lot of protests against the new law and its implications among responsible people in the church community but no protests at all from Archbishop Anders Wejryd in Uppsala. That was not surprising as he was elected archbishop because he for a long time accepted the pro-gay agenda and agreed with the policies of the government. One of the leaders for the opposition in the Swedish church, Rev. Yngve Kalin, Chairman of the Coalition for the Bible and the Confession, published a statement from his organization in June 2009. You can read that here: http://kyrkligsamling.se/marriagestatement09.pdf

Recently the situation in the Swedish church has caught the attention of the Church of England.. There has been an exchange of letters between Archbishop Anders Wejryd in Sweden and bishop Christopher Hill, Chairman of the Council for Christian Unity of the Church of England, and bishop John Hind, Chairman of Faith and Order Advisory Group of the Church of England dated June 26, 2009. Their letter can be read at:

http://www.cofe.anglican.org/info/ccu/europe/notices/replytoabsweeden.pdf

*****

Eminent newsman Walter Cronkite was an Episcopalian. His funeral was held at St. Bartholomew's in New York City. The homily was delivered by the Rev. William Tully, St. Bartholomew's rector and a former Los Angeles Times reporter. He said: "We simply thank God for this good man." In an interview with ENS two days before the funeral, Tully related the story of how the Cronkites came to attend "St. Bart's," as it is often known. "When Cronkite was tapped to leave Washington and come to New York, CBS put them up in the Waldorf [-Astoria Hotel]," Tully said. "Betsy looked out the window and said, 'There's a church.'" The two buildings sit on adjacent blocks. VOL was told that Cronkite was a liberal on religious issues, but never entered the culture wars. Cronkite's family was Protestant and changed their denomination three times while he was a child. Cronkite himself joined the Episcopal church as a youth explaining in a 1994 interview: "I got into a Boy Scout troop that met in an Episcopal church. The church had a wonderful minister who was also the scoutmaster. And I suppose you can say he proselytized me. At any rate, I was much involved with the church, and became Episcopalian - and an acolyte. Later, when I worked for a paper in Houston, I was church editor for a while. The Episcopal House of Bishops met in Houston one year, and I became intrigued by the leaders of the church - fascinated by their discussions and their erudition."

*****

BREAKING NEWS...The following announcement is released by Bishop John-David Schofield of the DIOCESE OF SAN JOAQUIN. "After months of deliberation, the Fresno Superior Court has finally ruled on a material issue in the pending lawsuit. On July 21, 2009, the trial court granted plaintiff Episcopal Church's and Bishop Lamb's motion for summary adjudication of the issue of entitlement to the incumbency of corporation sole and the presidency of Episcopal Foundation and Investment Trust. While these rulings are significant, they do not end the case at this juncture and many more issues remain to be resolved at the trial scheduled for February 1, 2010. While we appreciate the time and effort the trial court devoted to its ruling, nevertheless, we believe it cannot be sustained under a true "neutral principles" analysis that is now required by our state supreme court. We will ask the Fifth District Court of Appeal to review the trial court's ruling and we will be filing the appropriate papers with the appellate court on or before August 17, 2009. In the meantime, we will continue to vigorously defend the case in the trial court. For additional details about the trial court's ruling, you may wish to visit the Anglican Curmudgeon's website at: http://accurmudgeon.blogspot.com/ This has been posted to VOL's website http://tinyurl.com/lqg62u

Prayers are specifically requested for wisdom and discernment for our Chancellors, especially Mr. Rusty Van Rozeboom, and for the legal team that they work with across the nation.

Faithfully,

The Rev. Canon Bill Gandenberger
Canon to the Ordinary
Diocese of San Joaquin

*****

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