Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
7/19/2007

FOUR RETIRED EPISCOPAL BISHOPS stepped up to the plate this week and dared to ask Katharine Jefferts Schori, The Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop and her attorney David Booth Beers, where the money is coming from to litigate all the orthodox parishes across the country wanting to leave the Episcopal Church.

According to a report in The Washington Times, the Episcopal Church (TEC) claims to have $300 million in assets. How much of that can be used for litigation purposes? What Trust Funds are being raided to pay the huge legal fees that could run to well over $10 million in just the Virginia churches lawsuits alone!?

VOL made some inquiries and I have written a story partially answering that. You can read that here: http://tinyurl.com/2o5e3a or in today's digest. One interesting footnote, when I called Mr. Beers at his law firm in Washington DC he said quite bluntly he doesn't talk to the media. A source did tell VOL that the Church Pension Fund could not be raided for to pay for litigation, but many unanswered questions remain.

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A small win for orthodoxy this week occurred in the DIOCESE OF CENTRAL NEW YORK where Fr. David Bollinger, 52, the former rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church has been cleared of allegations that he financially mismanaged his parish by a diocesan ecclesiastical court and restored to "good standing." This is a major black eye for Bishop Gladstone "Skip" Adams as it was his diocese that repudiated the inhibition he had imposed on Bollinger. In losing, Bishop Adams whined that the facts regarding the charges were unable to be heard in an open court.

But attorney Raymond Dague said the case was clear-cut. "The federal rules of evidence govern a case like this as it comes before a Title IV Review Committee. You cannot ambush the other side with your case. There are requirements for full disclosure, which Adams never presented. What happened here was that Bollinger asked the ecclesiastical trial court that he wanted to see the evidence. The other side balked. They could produce no witness lists or the findings of the Schafer Report."

Adams is now doing his best to defrock two other priests and destroy their orthodox parishes in his diocese - The Rev. Tony Seel rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Vestal, NY and, in time, The Rev. Matt Kennedy of Good Shepherd in Binghamton, NY. In a secretive, unpublished move VOL learned that Adams' long time friend Fr. Edward Putnam was temporarily inhibited three weeks ago for unknown reasons. He was the Dean at both Syracuse and Albany cathedrals. He is retired but did serve on the bishop's Executive Committee.

The revisionist agenda of TEC's liberal bishops brook no opposition. Most are on a search and destroy mission to rid the church of the last vestiges of orthodoxy in favor of the new pansexual, anything goes religion of Mrs. Schori and her Millennium Development Goals vision for the church.

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The upcoming ANGLICAN COMMUNION NETWORK meeting in late July in Bedford, Texas, will be an important meeting with some major operational decisions being made. There will also be an important meeting of the Common Cause bishops in late September. All this and the deadline for TEC should provide a glimpse of where things will go. "We are aware that many of the orthodox in the States are confused and disheartened at recent events: the failure of the Tanzanian Communique pastoral plan to be agreed to and implemented; the increase in massive litigation filed by TEC against churches; the stunning announcement out of Lambeth that revisionist TEC bishops are invited while orthodox mission bishops from CANA and AMiA are to be excluded; and the change in direction in California law reversing the favorable view of local church rights. People are asking "where are things going, what is happening?" and in these questions we see disappointment and depression," said Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan.

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In the DIOCESE OF CONNECTICUT, Bishop Drew Smith tried to draw off parishioners from departing Trinity Episcopal Church and the Rev. Donald Helmandollar in Bristol this week, but could only muster 12 people to an alternative site. Seventy attended a service held by Helmandollar. So what will the bishop do? Simple. He announced, to no one's surprise, that he will now turn to the task of taking the parish property away from the congregation. He has already defrocked the priest. Smith announced earlier that the congregation had to vacate the Trinity building by July 8. There will be a court fight over this. Helmandollar will get the same treatment Smith metered out to Fr. Mark Hansen who saw his parish, St. John's, Bristol, torn from him by the revisionist bishop.

In an interesting twist to this ongoing story, a VOL supporter wrote to say that two Lutheran churches in Bristol had offered their facilities to Fr. Helmandollar's congregation as a temporary space to worship. But Bishop Smith contacted the regional Lutheran bishop and told him it would be a very bad idea for any of their parishes to do that. "One of them caved, but Zion Lutheran Church in Bristol, told Fr. Helmandollar that they had said no such thing."

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In the DIOCESE OF NORTHWEST TEXAS Bishop C. Wallis Ohl is about to retire. The Episcopal diocese is in the first stage of choosing another bishop, a process that begins with a survey on what kind of leader the diocese wants. But the diocese faces an uncertain future. Three of its largest parishes, all evangelical, have left the diocese along with their sorely needed income. All told, the homosexuality issue has affected six of the 39 congregations. Hundreds of parishioners have left the church. Ohl believes the greatest threat to the Northwest diocese is a shrinking population base across the rural areas. *****

And from the DIOCESE OF MASSACHUSETTS, comes word that The Rev. William Murdoch, rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in West Newbury and an early and sharp critic of the 2003 ordination of an openly gay man as bishop of New Hampshire, will become a bishop himself. He will be in the conservative Anglican Province of Kenya that is embracing congregations dissatisfied with the Episcopal Church's position on homosexuality and other issues. Of course Massachusetts Bishop Tom Shaw has made Murdoch leave the parish with its million-dollar endowment and depose him in time. It's all been done amicably says the story. When challenged that the Episcopal Church had lost its way morally and theologically Shaw responded with this line, "I don't think morality is simply about what goes on in the lower half of a person's body, and I don't think the New Testament talks about it like that." You can read Michael Paulson's excellent summary of the situation here or in today's digest: http://tinyurl.com/3aen8w

Sacred Heart Church and its rectory may be sold or leased to All Saints Episcopal Church in West Newbury by the end of this summer, parishioners at Holy Family Parish, which owns Sacred Heart Church, have been told. God always provides.

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From the DIOCESE OF CALIFORNIA retired Bishop William E. Swing says that the "power play" being enacted by Global South Primates and newly anointed American bishops for African provinces will fail.

Writing in the July issue of Episcopal Life Swing said that their aim is not to reform the Episcopal Church or to set up a permanent parallel authority. "They intend to become the sole authorized Anglican presence in America. The other side of that coin is that they intend for the Episcopal Church to be cut off from the Anglican Communion and set aside. It's quite a bold American strategy for an Englishman and a Nigerian. In a brief time, they want to undo what it has taken many generations of Americans to build.

"This is way beyond theology or scriptural interpretations. This is a naked power play that is reminiscent of colonial aspiration in other centuries. Instead of England colonizing Nigeria, we are looking at a picture of a Nigerian and an Englishman trying to colonize the United States, with their unique brand of Anglicanism from an evangelical point of view.

"These two people who have not been part of a longstanding American experience smile triumphantly as they embark on a plot to take away our birthright, our heritage, our Anglican connection, our ministries to the poor, our official prayer book tradition, our schools, churches, agencies and our resources.

"These two bishops and their colleagues are enjoying the first spoils that arise from our family struggle over human sexuality. But what they don't realize is that they have touched and trampled on the taproot of our faithfulness to the mission of Jesus Christ in the United States that goes 400 years into the earth of this country. The Episcopal Church will withstand this assault from across the ocean. And our mission will endure, God being our helper."

The huge problem with this argument is that it is Swing and his fellow revisionist bishops who have departed from "the faith once delivered to the saints" and are leading the church down the rocky road to destruction, while the Akinola's, Minns and Murphy's of this world want to restore it! Who can blame them?

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EPISCOPAL CHURCH LOSSES. The latest "official" membership numbers issued by TEC for 2003 and 2005 show that the Episcopal Church is losing an average of 700 members a week! A VOL reader said that some other figures show an even greater loss since '06', but they are not "official" yet.

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In an unsurprising move, the governing body of St. Luke's of the Mountains Anglican Church, La Crescenta, Calif., in the DIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES has voted unanimously to appeal a Los Angeles Superior Court judge's ruling that the parish's property belongs to the diocese. St. Luke's ended its relationship with The Episcopal Church and the diocese in February 2006 and affiliated with a diocese in the Anglican Province of Uganda.

Judge John S. Wiley, Jr., ruled July 3, 2007, that the Diocese of Los Angeles and The Episcopal Church are entitled to the property, citing a June 25, 2007, ruling from a California Court of Appeal as precedent. The Los Angeles Times reported Judge Wiley said he had been leaning toward a decision for St. Luke's, but after the appellate ruling, he was obliged to defer to the higher court and its analysis.

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From the DIOCESE OF ARKANSAS comes word that the Rev. Tom Bradshaw, formerly a deacon of the diocese, has been received into the United Episcopal Church of North America (UECNA) by Bishop Leo Michael at St. Gabriel's in Springdale, AR as a deacon in good standing. Before his reception in the UECNA, Deacon Bradshaw was assigned to the parish of St. Francis Episcopal Church in Rose Bud, Arkansas. He was ordained as a vocational deacon in TEC in 2002. He is being assigned to St. Thomas Anglican Church in Mountain Home, Arkansas during that formation period.

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The Episcopal Church should take note. The nation's largest Catholic archdiocese has settled its abuse cases for $660 million, by far the largest payout in the church's sexual abuse scandal. This story has made the national news, but there is a salutary warning here for Episcopalians. Only the tip of the iceberg has been touched in the TEC, and already stories are beginning to emerge about pedophile priests. The DIOCESE OF TEXAS publicly acknowledged decades-old sexual abuse claims against a retired priest who once served as rector of St. James' Episcopal Church in Houston and founded St. James' School. The Rev. James L. Tucker was a chaplain at St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Austin. Texas Bishop Don Wimberly jumped right onto the case. You can read the story here or in today's digest http://tinyurl.com/2r9om6

VirtueOnline believes that the cover-up by Cardinal Roger Mahoney is so egregious that it warranted further exposure and VOL urges you to read Mike McManus's column here http://tinyurl.com/2m3aot and the powerful story by Gary DeMar titled "Phony Mahoney & the Homosexual Priest Cover-Up." It is a lesson for the Episcopal Church. DeMar makes the point that the sinister cover-up by Mahoney and Cardinal Law (Boston) is not primarily about pedophilia but homosexuality. "The Church must come to grips with reality and admit that the priesthood is so dominated by homosexuals that Paul Wilkes, who studied 600 parishes for his book 'Excellent Catholic Parishes: A Guide to Best Places and Practices,' makes this telling observation, 'If we drove all the gay priests out of the priesthood, our Masses would be on videotape.'

"If the priesthood is made up of such a high percentage of homosexuals, then it stands to reason that at least a high percentage of the church's so-called pedophile problem is really a homosexual problem. The church's unbiblical, illogical, and irrational policy that priests must not marry and remain celibate is being blamed for the sexual scandal. Such an argument is off the mark. Has anyone noticed that the priests aren't, in 95 percent of reported cases, having sex with teenage girls? The male priests are having sex with young male parishioners. The problem of sex abuse is not because of celibacy; it's homosexuality. Homosexual men are becoming priests because that's where young, impressionable, and vulnerable boys are found." Read this article here or in today's digest: http://tinyurl.com/2k87nu

Of course, the idea that priests should remain unmarried is a religious fiction given that priests in the Old Testament were married and had children (Ex. 6:23), and Peter, the supposed first pope, was also married (Matt. 8:14; 1 Cor. 9:5; cf. 1 Tim. 3:4–5). DeMar concludes with this line: "The homosexual lobby is so powerful and intimidating that almost no one wants to suffer from its unbridled wrath. So for cover, the priests are charged with pedophilia in order to hide the fact that homosexuality is the real culprit."

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The ANGLICAN PROVINCE OF CHRIST THE KING (APCK) has now officially responded to the Anglican Catholic Church's (ACC) call for unity. The new archbishop of the APCK The Most Rev. James E. Provence has written a statement applauding the fostering of unity among Continuing Anglo-Catholic jurisdictions.

"As one of the original jurisdictions stemming from the Chambers Consecrations and the Affirmation of St. Louis, the Anglican Province of Christ the King fully agrees with and supports the statement regarding unity issued by The Most Rev. Mark Haverland of the Anglican Catholic Church. The APCK, the ACC and the UECNA represent the three main branches coming from the root of the Chambers Succession. We share a responsibility to the trust that Bishop Chambers placed in us to be a beacon for unity among traditional Anglicans in the United States. The Anglican Province of Christ the King will do all that we can to foster that unity."

The Most Rev. James E. Provence,
Archbishop Anglican Province of Christ the King
July 10, 2007

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CANADIAN ANGLICAN AUTHOR the Rev. Ed Hird has won the Word Guild Award for non-fiction in mid-June for his book "Battle for the Soul of Canada." The priest began writing in the 1980s, through a spiritual column for "The Abbotsford, Sumas and Matsqui News."

Rev. Ed Hird's book has a lot to say about Canada's younger generations: They have developed an anti-marriage culture where they wed later and have difficulty staying married. They lack a vision for the future of Canada. They must not be ashamed of our Christian heritage. Hird combined his concern with Canadian youth culture, the conviction of his faith, personal stories, and his passion for Canadian history in the writing of this book.

"In Battle for the Soul of Canada", Hird points to famous historical figures who shaped Canada, such as Captain George Vancouver and Louis Riel, in order to highlight character traits he hopes will be embodied by Canadian youth.

In other Canadian news, ANGLICAN ESSENTIALS CANADA announced a restructuring. As part of the reorganization the Rev. Canon Charlie Masters assumes the position of National Director of the Anglican Network in Canada. He previously served as National Director of Anglican Essentials Canada. "We are thrilled to have Charlie join us as National Director," says Network Moderator, Bishop Donald Harvey. "He is a man of uncommon integrity, humility and energy. He was a powerful unifying force within Essentials. Much of what Essentials accomplished over the past several years can be attributed to his drive and vision."

AND here's one for the books. The DIOCESE OF NIAGARA, which is slowly coming apart at the seams, has come up with new nomenclature. It's called Quasi-Closing! Services have now been reduced to one a month. You can read it here: http://www.niagara.anglican.ca/parishes/index.cfm?PID=515

We feel sure that TEC will, over time, adopt this new idea. Why should the Canadians have all the fun?

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The DIOCESE OF NEVADA has announced a slate of five nominees to replace Mrs. Schori for Bishop of Nevada. The candidates are: the Rev. Susan Burns, rector, Church of the Redeemer, Bethesda, MD; the Rev. Cathy L. Deats, rector, St. James' Church, Hackettstown, NJ; the Very Rev. Dan Thomas Edwards, rector, St. Francis' Church, Macon, GA; the Rev. Charles Eric Funston, rector, St. Paul's Church, Medina, Ohio; and the Rev. Albert John Keeney, rector, St. John's Church, Canandaigua, NY.

Said a source; "Don't look for any change in the direction of this diocese. All the candidates are liberal." An orthodox candidate in this diocese would be a bit like putting live mice in with a bunch of boa constrictors and hoping the mice could live ten minutes.

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In GRAHAMSTOWN, SOUTH AFRICA, in two separate incidents, thieves smashed three priceless, hand-blown glass masterpieces in the 183-year-old cathedral of St Michael and St George.

A VOL reader wrote to say, "In a perverse and weird kind of way, the smashing of priceless stained glass windows 'mirrors' the way revisionists - of which the Grahamstown cathedral is a hot bed - have smashed up the heritage the Anglican Church and plundered its teachings. As a close reading of scripture reveals, what happens in the physical can highlight a spiritual truth."

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LADY BIRD JOHNSON, the widow of President Lyndon B. Johnson was remembered in Episcopal services this past week. A July 13 private Eucharist at the Lady Bird Wild Flower Center in Austin TX was the first of three commemorations of the life of Lady Bird Johnson. Mrs. Johnson was a longtime member of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Fredericksburg, Texas, in the Diocese of West Texas. She was further remembered at River Bend Baptist Church, overlooking Lake Austin. Johnson died at her home in Austin on Wednesday, July 11, at the age of 94.

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AMONG today's stories you can read the latest happenings at Sewanee: The Episcopal Church's only university in the South and the cost of liberalism in fund-raising efforts as the university heads down that slippery slope. Bishop John W. Howe, Central Florida has again written about his situation in the diocese. You can read his letter to the diocese. He will stay within the canons of TEC, but he realizes many might leave and they can do so without their properties. He does not rule out his own future in the diocese or the national church. Slightly south, in Cocoa, Florida, the Rev. Paul Young weighs in on his future in that diocese. You can read the vestry's letter to the parish.

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All blessings,

David W. Virtue DD