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Liberals Spin Statement from NOLA.More Parishes Flee TEC.Gay Marriages Continue

September was just another installment of "As the Anglican World Turns." More tragedies are sure to follow because God's Word is to never be compromised -- The Rev. Dr. George Naff Gray, Jr.,

The real issue is neither linguistic (whether the word incarnation is mythical, metaphorical, or literal), nor cultural (how far the biblical or Chalcedonian formulations reflect the concepts of their day). The ultimate question is absolutely plain, even to the man in the street to whom semantics, culture, and theology are all closed books. It is this: is Jesus to be worshipped or only to be admired? If he is God, then he is worthy of our worship, faith, and obedience; if he is not God, then to give him such devotion is idolatry. -- From 'Truth, Heresy and Discipline in the Church', "Christianity Today" (10 March 1978).

The authentic Jesus. Which Jesus are we talking about? Even Paul in his day recognized the possibility of teachers proclaiming 'another Jesus' than the Jesus he preached (2 Cor. 11:4). And there are many Jesuses abroad today. There is Jesus the Bultmannian myth and Jesus the revolutionary firebrand, Jesus the failed superstar and Jesus the circus clown. It is over against these human reinterpretations that we need urgently to recover and reinstate the authentic Jesus, the Jesus of history who is the Jesus of Scripture -- From "Christian Mission in the Modern World" (London, Falcon, 1975), p. 48.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
10/5/2007

It was another week of mayhem and madness with more orthodox churches fleeing The Episcopal Church, more spin from the Anglican Consultative Council parsing what happened in New Orleans, and with the usual line-up of liberal Episcopal bishops praising the "compromises" made in New Orleans by The Episcopal Church. Meanwhile orthodox Episcopalians rolled their eyes saying, in so many words, who do you think you're fooling.

A report from the Joint Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates of the Anglican Communion found that the Episcopal Church had "clarified all outstanding questions" relating to its response to the requests of the Windsor Report, and questions on which the Primates sought clarifications by 30 September 2007. Following New Orleans, the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion Office said the Archbishop of Canterbury would now consult all the Primates to discern the way ahead. BUT there will be no Primates' meeting before Lambeth 2008. So it is phone calls and whatever appears on the Internet from various Anglican provinces.

Initial results are proving predictable. Already, Ireland, Wales, Scotland have signaled that The Episcopal Church met the standards for compliance of the Dar es Salaam communique, while a number of orthodox Primates have come out blasting the statement from New Orleans. The Primate of Nigeria, Archbishop Peter Akinola, said the bishops' response fell short. The primates had given The Episcopal Church "one final opportunity for an unequivocal assurance" that it would conform "to the mind and teaching of the Communion," he said. The bishops failed to do that. The primates are unwilling to accept further "ambiguous and misleading statements" from The Episcopal Church, he added.

The one strong orthodox blast out of New Orleans came from the Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer Hanna Anis, President Bishop of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. A Member of the Primates Standing Committee, he said this, "The House of Bishops did not respond or meet the recommendation of Windsor Report and the Dar El Salaam Primates Meeting Communique. Instead they used ambiguous language and contradicted themselves within their own response." You can read his full statement here: http://tinyurl.com/yv85c8

At first the Anglican Consultative Council heavies who came to New Orleans ignored his statement in their 19-page report, but under public pressure it was included in the final draft as a "minority report". As I have said repeatedly the ACC, which now calls itself the Anglican Communion Office, will do and say almost anything to keep The Episcopal Church at the Anglican Communion table, because more than 60% of its budget comes from The Episcopal Church. Should TEC ever be excluded, it would be curtains for them. It is also one of the many reasons why African Archbishops and Bishops won't take TEC's money. It is tainted. Some Africans are getting the picture that Trinity Church Wall Street's money is also tainted with pro-sodomite corruption.

Some orthodox TEC bishops, and at least one Windsor bishop, held out hope that change is possible and that TEC can still be part of the Anglican Communion.

The Bishop of Dallas, the Rt. Rev. James Stanton, was one of eight bishops who accepted the invitation of the Presiding Bishop, Mrs. Jefferts Schori, to serve as episcopal visitors to dioceses that would not accept her ministry. His response credited the Bishops with an "openness and frankness" that he wished had characterized earlier meetings. However, he did not believe that the HOB had moved its position. Bishops have argued ambiguity to be the most honest statement of "where we are", he said. "That is the effectual outcome of this meeting. But 'where we are' is walking apart. True, but so terribly sad."

The Windsor Bishop of Texas, the Rt. Rev. Don Wimberley, said: "We are going to remain in the Episcopal Church, and we are going to remain in the Anglican Communion as a diocese. . . I refuse to see things in a manner that is either/or. I believe our strength and our unity are in our acceptance of a life lived with the both."

The evangelical Bishop of Central Florida, John W. Howe, said he was also staying in The Episcopal Church. He made a brief appearance at the Common Cause meeting in Pittsburgh, but left before the photo op and announcement of a new ecclesial structure in North America by Bishop Robert Duncan. He later wrote to his diocesan clergy saying that he would not allow any parish to leave with its property (some 20 are lined up ready to go). "There has been a great deal of conversation over the past few years about whether or not those who wish to leave The Episcopal Church might "negotiate" with the Diocese of Central Florida to purchase church properties and affiliate with some other Province of the Anglican Communion. It is time to end these discussions. The simple answer is: No. [http://tinyurl.com/2bgvu7] I am going to complete my responsibility," he said.

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IN THE UK there is a gathering momentum among evangelicals to bring in overseas orthodox bishops. REFORM, a network of churches and individuals within the Church of England committed to the reform of congregations and the world by the gospel, says it is committed to bringing foreign archbishops to ordain priests in dioceses where incumbent bishops refuse to disassociate themselves from the American Church. The Church of England is in serious decline, following the bell curve of the American Episcopal Church.

You can read my full report on all this in today's digest or click here: http://tinyurl.com/ypebpl

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OUT THE DOOR THEY GO. The largest and one of the most prestigious parishes in the DIOCESE OF GEORGIA as well as the U.S., announced this week that it is quitting The Episcopal Church. Christ Church in Savannah, Georgia, the 274-year-old "Mother Church of Georgia," has had a long-running dispute with church leaders over scriptural issues and has told Liberal Bishop Henry Louttit that they are gone. The bishop said he will sue to keep the parish in the diocese, which comes as no surprise, but an editorialist in the local newspaper noted that this parish preceded the formation of the diocese by 50 years. It was founded in 1733. Christ Church leaders maintain it predates the formation of the Episcopal Church of America and is one of six such parishes in the diocese. It is ironic. John Wesley was once rector of this parish. The parish braces for an uphill court battle. The rector and vestry of the church have placed themselves under the pastoral care of the Rt. Rev. John Guernsey, a missionary Bishop from the Anglican Province of Uganda. This scenario is strikingly similar to that of Pawley's Island in SC. You can read full stories about this parish in today's digest and here: http://tinyurl.com/yqj2op

A parish in San Antonio, Texas, All Saints Anglican Church, the largest Anglican parish, formerly associated with the Anglican Church in America (ACA,) announced that it has joined the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), a mission outreach under the ecclesiastical authority of the Anglican Church of Nigeria.

At least 20 parishes in the DIOCESE OF CENTRAL FLORIDA have said they will leave as well. CANA says it has some 15 TEC parishes in the pipeline ready to join it.

And the DIOCESE OF FT. WORTH Standing Committee proposes severing Episcopal Church ties and made the announcement this week. It will ask its upcoming diocesan convention to "take the first step needed to dissociate itself from the General Convention of The Episcopal Church and to begin the process of affiliating with another Province of the worldwide Anglican Communion."

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IN ROCHESTER, A New York appellate court upheld a trial court's decision in favor of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester on the issues surrounding All Saints' Protestant Episcopal Church in Irondequoit, New York.

The Irondequoit congregation had been at odds with the diocese over the 2003 ordination of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire. The congregation refused to pay the assessment that it owed the diocese, and continued to use the building after it had voted to leave the Episcopal Church and after the parish had been declared extinct by the 2005 diocesan convention. The diocese filed suit against the departing members.

The civil action sought a court order requiring the Rev. David Harnish, former rector of the parish known as All Saints Protestant Episcopal Church, and other members of the former vestry, who had left the Episcopal Church, to relinquish control of all of the parish's property because that property is held in trust for the Episcopal diocese and the Episcopal Church, as spelled out in numerous national and diocesan canons.

In September 2006, the trial court ruled in favor of the diocese, ordering the leadership of the former All Saints' Church to turn over to the diocese all real and personal property, including church records on baptism, marriage, confirmation, death and membership.

About 10 days after the September 13, 2006 ruling, All Saints Anglican Church vacated its Irondequoit building and turned over the keys to the diocese.

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GAY MARRIAGES continue apace in The Episcopal Church despite protestations by liberal bishops that TEC has never officially authorized such. In the DIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES this past week a "solemn high mass" was celebrated at St. Thomas the Apostle in Hollywood for "Joe & Jeff." Assistant Bishop Sergio Carranza was to have celebrated, but for obvious reasons bowed out after Bishop J. Jon Bruno's disastrous press conference performance in New Orleans. Assisting Bishop Robert Anderson also did not participate. Harold Anderson, a homosexual priest, whom one observer said was chaste, was the homilist. A copy of the liturgy sent to VOL had this line: "I pronounce that they are united in one holy covenant."

*****

NUMBERS, NUMBERS, NUMBERS. Newspaper reports of the crisis in the Anglican Communion regularly state that it has 77 million members. It should be remembered that of these 26 million are counted from the Church of England. There are few who would claim that the Church of England has 26 million adherents. The Church's own statistics put it in the region of 2 million. Would it therefore not be more accurate to report the Anglican Communion as having 53 million members? The Episcopal Church also claims some 2.4 million members. In reality, that figure is closer to 800,000.

Typical is this response from one VOL reader. "My family and I left the Episcopal Church in 2003. We met with the rector of our NC Diocese parish and informed him of our decision. I just discovered this week that we were still on the active roll of the diocese. I wonder how many of those counted among members of TEC have actually left the denomination, like us. I called the diocesan office again to ask that our names be removed and to register my sadness over the direction TEC has taken."

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The vestry of ALL SAINTS' Chevy Chase has called The Rev. Dr. Paul Zahl to be its new rector to succeed the Rev. Al Zadiq. Zahl has accepted the position and starts work Sunday, December 9. Both Bishops Edward Salmon (South Carolina) and John Chane (Washington) approved the call. The Search Committee reviewed the qualifications of some 70 candidates. Zahl's most recent position was as Dean, Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, Pittsburgh, PA, 2004-2007. Before that he was Dean, Cathedral Church of the Advent, Birmingham, AL, 1995-2004. Zahl is a strong Christ-centered, Biblically grounded, orthodox priest. He stands in the tradition of the great Protestant Reformers; his theology is centered on the Grace of God as the only hope for sinners.

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The Principal of Wycliffe College, Oxford, the Rev. Dr Richard Turnbull, has confirmed that three staff members are set to leave as controversy continues to cloud the Oxford theological school since the new Principal was appointed. Dr. Turnbull has come under fire as he has overseen doctrinal change since taking over leadership of the college, CEN has reported. The three senior members set to depart are Dr. Elaine Storkey, formerly senior research fellow in social philosophy, the Rev. Dr. Andrew Goddard, tutor in Christian Ethics, and his wife, the Rev. Lis Goddard, who was tutor in Ministerial Formation. The Principal has told CEN that the college has agreed the departures are in the "best interests of the college". Said Turnbull, "We're in great heart and all looking forward to the year ahead. We have already filled a quarter of our places for next year and the number of women students has increased this year, both in actual number and overall proportion."

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RUSSIA: Gay people are ill, says Russian patriarch. The Telegraph newspaper reported that Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia told MPs at the Council of Europe that a split between Christian morality and human rights, which were being used to excuse declining moral standards, threatens civilization. He said homosexuals are like kleptomaniacs and have an illness. "We can see it in a new generation of rights that contradict morality, and in how human rights are used to justify immoral behavior," he told a meeting of the council's Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg. Earlier this year, Alexy II banned a gay rights parade through Moscow. He said that sinners could be accepted despite their sins, but ignoring the moral teachings of the Bible threatened Europe's standing in the world.

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The CHURCH OF ENGLAND has launched a campaign to make baptisms more popular after it was revealed that the number has halved in 15 years. Fewer than one in six of all infants are now baptized. In major cities, the number has fallen to one in ten. A book of guidance is being sent to clergy asking them to modernize their approach. One suggestion is that they make cohabiting couples feel more welcome, with a view to encouraging them to become regular churchgoers.

Just over 15 per cent of babies were christened into the CofE in 2005. The total of 93,000 Anglican baptisms was just over half the 184,000 performed as recently as 1990, they revealed. In the early 1930s, seven out of ten of all children were baptized into the CofE. More than a third were still christened in the early 1980s. The latest figures show that the popularity of christenings remains high in the countryside and some provincial towns, but that in London and Birmingham fewer than one in ten babies are baptized. The drop in baptisms mirrors a long-term decline in church attendance overall. The CofE saw its figures for Sunday attendance drop below the million mark at around the turn of the millennium. Roman Catholic churches in much of the country have also seen a fall.

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NEW BISHOP OF IRAN installed. A priest from Pakistan was officially installed as Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Iran last Sunday. Bishop Azad Marshall - who had previously served as Episcopal vicar for the Diocese of Iran since 2005 - became the Anglican bishop of the Islamic republic during a three-hour service at St. Paul's Church in Tehran. More than 200 people attended the service which included Anglicans, members of the Assemblies of God, Roman Catholics, Orthodox, and Muslims, according to the Anglican Communion News Service.

Among those attending the installation were Jerusalem Bishop Suheil Dawani; president bishop Mouneer Anis of Jerusalem and the Middle East; Church of England Bishops Michael Nazir Ali of Rochester and Paul Butler of Southampton; Retired Jerusalem Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal; and Archbishop John Chew, primate of South East Asia.

A senior official from the office of the Iranian president, who spoke after the ceremony about religious freedom, also attended the service. Anglican leaders also expressed hope that the church in Iran can facilitate greater understand between Muslims and Christians.

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NIGERIAN ARCHBISHOP the Most Rev. Josiah Idowu-Fearon, Archbishop of Kaduna, has been told to step down as archbishop. Apparently his fellow bishops were fed up with all his running around the world overstating the levels of persecution in his country. He will stay on as a bishop. Fearon is an Islamic scholar and has studied in the U.K.

IN other news, Nigerian leaders were dismayed and angered that the Archbishop of Canterbury did not check reports accusing the bishop of Uyo in Nigeria of uttering homophobic statements that were later shown to be false. On Sept 20, after a meeting earlier in the week with Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola, Lambeth Palace released a statement of clarification. After Archbishop Akinola met with Dr. Williams, the ABC issued a statement from Lambeth Palace saying he was relieved that the stories were false, but offered no apology for his remarks.

Every time a Nigerian evangelical Anglican opens his mouth to say anything about homosexuality, pro-gay forces around the world quickly jump down their throats, usually aided and abetted by weak evangelical Episcopalians in the U.S. who don't want to be thought conspiring to spread homophobia. Dr. Kendall Harmon, canon theologian for the Diocese of South Carolina also blasted the Nigerian bishop.

Dr. Williams at first expressed "deep shock" that the reports were false, but never said anything about his conspiring to spread false information. It's enough to have Colin Coward of Changing Attitudes UK and Davis MacIyalla, director of the Nigerian Anglican gay lobby group Changing Attitude blasting Akinola but why do evangelicals fall all over themselves to support these lies?

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Among today's columnists you can read fine analytical pieces by Dr. Peter Toon and George Naff Gray. Toon takes a hard look at the 19-page document put out by the Joint Committee of the Anglican Communion Office. In a more light-hearted piece, Gray presents "As the Anglican World Turns." Toon's piece has a more understated title, "A Virtually Clean Bill of Health for The Episcopal Church!"

You will also find in today's digest, stories on the Episcopal Church as it fights declining ordinations, clergy loss, dwindling membership and my own take on TEC's definition of repentance. A human interest story on the Church of the Annunciation in New Orleans will, I hope, excite some support for this ongoing ministry, post Katrina.

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