"Today, having a clear faith based on the Creed of the Church is often labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine [Ephesians 4:14], seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times. We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's ego and desires." --- Cardinal Ratzinger (before he became pope)

Reforming the Church. Mature adoration. The Divine Lover still sorrows when his love is unrequited, and pines for our continuing, deepening, maturing adoration. Love, then, is the first mark of a true and living church. Indeed, it is not a living church at all unless it is a loving church. The Christian life is essentially a love-relationship to Jesus Christ. 'Jesus captured me,' wrote Wilson Carlile, founder and 'chief' of the Church Army. 'For me to know Jesus is a love affair.' --- From "What Christ Thinks of the Church" Excerpted from "Authentic Christianity"---John R.W. Stott

The Evangelical Tradition. The historic Christian faith At the risk of oversimplification and of the charge of arrogance, I want to argue that the evangelical faith is nothing other than the historic Christian faith. The evangelical Christian is not a deviationist, but a loyalist who seeks by the grace of God to be faithful to the revelation which God has given of himself in Christ and in Scripture. The evangelical faith is not a peculiar or esoteric version of the Christian faith -- it is the Christian faith. It is not a recent innovation. The evangelical faith is original, biblical, apostolic Christianity. --- From "Make the Truth Known" by John R.W. Stott

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
August 28, 2009

The main news of the week still remains the fallout from the decision by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ECLA) to lift a ban on sexually active, monogamous gays and lesbians. The consequences are far-reaching with deep and dire implications for its 4.7 million members.

The change to gay clergy policy passed with the support of 68 percent of about 1,000 delegates at the ELCA's national assembly. ECLA becomes one of the largest U.S. Protestant denominations yet to take a more gay-friendly stance.

The pushback from ELCA's recent decisions in Minneapolis has already begun. As predicted, the split in the Episcopal Church is being reenacted within the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. One small blessing is that with local ownership of Lutheran church buildings, the Lutheran split is not likely to darken the doors of secular courtrooms, as the Anglican splits have and will for some time to come. Thus, hundreds of thousands of dollars intended for church work will not be wasted in litigation.

Furthermore, conservative congregations will not be forced to hire gay clergy. Opponents nevertheless warned there could be spiritual consequences for a church that strays from Scripture.

The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America are in full Concordat with each other. On a practical level, full communion means that each will recognize the other's ordained ministries. Lutheran pastors can now celebrate the Eucharist in Episcopal Churches and Episcopal priests can celebrate the Eucharist in Lutheran Churches. The implications of ELCA's decision are therefore enormous.

So, what does all this mean? One likely scenario is that within five years, if The Presbyterian Church USA, United Methodists, Church of Christ The Episcopal Church and ELCA were to all go gay, a super denomination could form bringing them altogether forcing remnant orthodox believers in all these denominations to coalesce into something of their own.

Could ACNA, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, The PCA and OCA, orthodox Methodists not form some sort of alliance of their own? Don't laugh, it could happen. When I wrote my first editorial in 1979 for the Virginia Churchman "Gay is Not Okay", I was fired and laughed out of the diocese. Look who is having the last laugh, though I should hastily add who is laughing at all these days.

We are seeing new coalitions of heterodox and orthodox that we have not seen before. There are seismic shifts going on in Christendom especially among Protestants. An interesting sidebar can be seen in the latest issue of 'Christianity Today" magazine displaying a front page picture with a headline screaming, "John Calvin: Comeback Kid. Why the great Reformer just won't go away."

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New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson is putting the best spin he can on the actions of GC2009. He told an audience in Utah this past week that all is well and that TEC and the Anglican Communion will not only survive, but grow stronger because of resolutions D025 and C056. This was too much to take so I wrote a scathing critique of his remarks which can be read in today's digest.

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The Episcopal Church continues to feel the consequences of its actions. In keeping with the break-up of TEC, Forward in Faith consecrated its first bishop this week. Fr. William Ilgenfritz.

Ft. Worth Bishop Jack Iker wrote saying, "This consecration fulfills the vision of the Episcopal Synod of America, formed in 1989 here in Fort Worth, to create a non-geographic diocese or province for congregations upholding the faith and practice of the historic catholic church, including the tradition of an all-male priesthood. It secures a continuing line of apostolic succession for traditional anglo-catholics, which is no longer possible in The Episcopal Church in the United States." FIF-NA is a member of the Anglican Church of North America.

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In Maryland, ten Episcopal nuns have announced they are leaving TEC this week. After seven years of prayer and discernment, sisters from the Society of All Saints' and their Episcopal chaplain, Fr. Warren Tanghe, will be received into the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore Church during a Sept. 3 Mass celebrated by Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien. The archbishop will welcome the ten when he administers the sacrament of confirmation and the sisters renew their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in the chapel of their Catonsville convent. You can read the full story in today's digest.

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Liberal Episcopal bishops cannot seem to stop trying to put the best front on what happened at GC2009. To that end, the BISHOP OF ALABAMA Henry Parsley tried to pour balm on troubled waters by telling his people that Resolution B033 had not be rescinded while trying to defend TEC's actions supporting ordaining homosexuals.

Many observers, both conservative and liberal, say the 2006 moratorium has been essentially overturned by the new resolution. Parsley disagrees. "My view is that it doesn't overturn the resolution from three years ago," Parsley said. "It reminds the larger church where we are in terms of valuing the gifts of all our members."

That's nonsense of course which Durham Bishop N. T. Wright rightly blasted.

Parsley said he hoped the denomination would abide by its previous call to refrain from ordaining any more openly practicing homosexuals as bishops, for the sake of Anglican unity. But what if another gay or lesbian is elected in Minnesota or Los Angeles, what will he say then?

Parsley, like all liberals, wants consensus, but only if liberals get to call the shots and decide what consensus really is. Inclusion, we learned a long time ago does not include faithful orthodox Episcopalians.

Look at the tortured ways the DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA is trying to handle GC2009's resolution actions. Bishop Mark Lawrence says his diocese will withdraw from all bodies of governance of TEC that have assented to actions contrary to Holy Scripture. Now this puts the ball in the court of Mrs. Jefferts Schori. Will she let it pass or will she try to inhibit him? Time will tell.

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Clearly in trouble over her remarks about individual salvation at GC2009, Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori is doing some back tracking and trying to put a different spin on her words. Clearly the word is out that she blew it, so she wrote a letter to Episcopal Life this week called: "Salvation's goal: returning all to right relationship".

"In my opening address at General Convention, I spoke about the "great Western heresy" of individualism. There have been varied reactions from people who weren't there, who heard or read an isolated comment without the context. Apparently I wasn't clear.

"Individualism (the understanding that the interests and independence of the individual necessarily trump the interests of others as well as principles of interdependence) is basically unbiblical and unchristian.

"The spiritual journey, at least in the Judeo-Christian tradition, is about holy living in community. When Jesus was asked to summarize the Torah, he said, "love God and love your neighbor as yourself." That means our task is to be in relationship with God and with our neighbors. If salvation is understood only as "getting right with God" without considering "getting right with (all) our neighbors," then we've got a heresy (an unorthodox belief) on our hands."

There you have it, total clarity...NOT. VOL stands by its original analysis of her remarks.

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The Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus, the bishop of the Episcopal DIOCESE OF CALIPORNIA is one of TEC's most prominent pro-gay bishops pushing for civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from inside and outside of the church. His positions have drawn ire from religious conservatives in the United States and abroad, who say he embodies the wayward path of the Episcopal Church. A local newspaper, "The Chronicle", spoke with Andrus and posed three questions to him about Proposition 8.

Q: What's it like for you that Episcopal bishops from other states are now playing a more high-profile role in the same-sex marriage debate at the convention since California passed Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage?

A: I feel very strongly that the trajectory toward the recognition of the full civil rights for LGBT people, including marriage equality, is plain. We will achieve that in California and across the United States - and globally, I think. Yet it is painful to know that there are people who are suffering the lack of those rights in a state as populous as California, which has a history of being on the forefront on many, many categories.

Q: Do you feel that clergy who support same-sex marriage have a higher obligation to be public about their support?

A: I certainly think that religious people who support LGBT folks and religious people who are LGBT see how important it is to make our voices heard. It's been highlighted by the high-profile involvement of religious bodies for Prop. 8 and how they were then received in the media.

Q: Do you think the media overplay the issue of sexuality and the church?

A: As a Christian in the Episcopal Church, I firmly believe in a God who's transcendent, who encompasses the whole universe. There's a lot of attention paid to human sexuality. But when we frame the question as "Is it too much?" there's almost an implication that there's only so much energy to go around.

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Following the release of terminally-ill Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the "Guardian" asked leading thinkers if a convicted mass murderer should ever be shown compassion? One leader, Richard Holloway, the former Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church said, "While justice is an enormous and important value in a civilised, humane society, I do not believe that it is an absolute value, that, as it were, negates all others. I believe that in ethical terms mercy is of equal value, and sometimes is of higher importance. Mercy to the dying and to the family of the dying has always been considered important, certainly in the western Christian tradition; you adopt a different posture towards them because they are in extremis. So I personally believe that what the Sottish government has done is a good thing; and a brave thing. "I've always wanted to listen to something the great poet and philosopher Geothe said: 'beware of people in whom the sheer urge to punish is strong'. While we do need to punish there is something else in the human heart that should be as strong and that is mercy."

The Rev. Geoffrey Kirk, a London Anglo-Catholic priest and Secretary of Forward in Faith UK, noted that the campaigner for women's ordination who once described opponents as "seeking to sweep back the tide of God" has now taken leave of the deity to whom he once appealed. "Holloway no longer believes in God - but he continues to function as a bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Church, celebrating the sacraments and preaching the word (not, of course of God; but presumably of ...Richard Holloway)."

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Episcopal Priest's lifestyle prompts raid by state, ran a newspaper headline. An official says a healthcare business in Pittson, PA, was raided by state insurance fraud agents because of the lifestyle of its owner, an Episcopal priest. Kevin Harley, spokesman for the attorney general's Insurance Fraud Division, said records and filing cabinets were seized from NewLife Home Care Inc. as part of an investigation into the Rev. Gregory Malia's reported partying lifestyle, The (Allentown, Pa.) Morning Call reported. Malia, 44, came to authorities' attention after the "New York Daily News" reported in December how the priest allegedly was spending thousands of dollars at New York nightclubs. The priest responded to the allegations by saying his nightclub activities were part of church fundraising and entrepreneurial activities. He also accused the "Daily News" of exaggerating his nightclub spending. The "Morning Call" said Malia, who was ordained in 2001 and serves as the priest for a Susquehanna County church, has since been suspended by the Diocese of Bethlehem Episcopal Church.

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If you would like to see and hear what one Episcopalian, Mike Linton of Murfreesboro, TN has to say on the whole Anglican mess in a seven minute video go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZE8BVY7h10 For an inspiring video and on a happier note from Linton, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRWbp6yZzlE

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Another name can now be added to the list of those who signed a moratoria forbidding the consecration of partnered gay clergy as bishops and authorizing rites for the blessing of same-sex unions at GC2009. The Rt. Rev. Harry W. Shipps, retired Bishop of Georgia, has now endorsed the letter bringing the number of dissenting bishops to 36.

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Want a glimpse of how to reach the next generation for Christ? "A Circle of Hope" has just been published by a good friend of mine, the Rev. Rod White. The proceeds go towards the mission of compassion through Circle Venture. Go here: http://outskirtspress.com/webpage.php?ISBN=9781432744205

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In Athens, Texas, a scene is playing out in a parish in the Anglican Church in America that is right out of The Episcopal Church. A parish votes to disassociate from the diocese. The Bishop and chancellor send their representative who threaten "lawsuits and endless depositions." The priest is inhibited. Is this the Episcopal Church chasing after one of its departing congregations?

No, this is the trying to hold on to its former parish in Athens, Texas. In meticulous conformity with its bylaws, the congregation voted to leave the Diocese of the Missouri Valley on Sunday, July 5, 2009. The effort by Bishop Stephen Strawn to seize control of the parish by his non-canonical efforts to force them into mission status was the principle reason the parish voted to disassociate. Had he not so attempted, there would not have been sufficient votes for such action.

Fr. Lewis Berry from Houston, Texas, representing the Bishop and Diocesan Chancellor Tara Keehr, did not help the national church's cause by his outrageous use of threats and non existing canons to attempt to intimidate the members present at the meeting. The Rector, Father Jerry Pardue, MDiv, Nashotah House, is seeking relief from the inhibition through a letter dimissory permanently removing him from the Anglican Church in America. Just like the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, the Rt. Rev. Stephen Strawn is attempting to punish the Rector of the departing parish charging him with abandonment of communion.

Unlike TEC, the constitution of the ACA prohibits suing departing parishes over property rights. The diocese has released the parish, but not the priest. The parish continues to hope and pray that the ACA will eventually heed the call of St. Paul: "Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another." 1Cor. 6:7

The parish will spend the next three to six months in prayerful discernment to determine where it is that the Holy Spirit will direct their affiliation. Most importantly, the congregation will refocus its efforts as a traditional Anglican presence in Athens, Texas, to grow its witness of God's love through prayer, worship, fellowship and outreach. For the parish, the main thing must continue to be the main thing.

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The ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF THE SOUTHEAST is ready to nominate a new bishop. Two excellent and well qualified nominees for the office of bishop of the new diocese, the Rev. Jim Hobby and the Rev. Neil Lebhar have emerged as candidates. These candidates recently held information sessions at St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Jacksonville and St. Peter's Anglican Church in Tallahassee. Their presentations can be seen here: http://www.vimeo.com/6245575 (begins at 15:10): Bishop Candidates Q&A: http://www.vimeo.com/6250798

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The CHURCH OF SWEDEN'S Doctrinal Board has declared that same-sex marriage is consistent with the Church's "faith, confession and doctrine." The Board also found that the proposed gender-neutral wedding service proposed earlier this summer by the Church's Board of Directors could be approved by the General Synod when it meets this Fall. The Doctrinal Board is required to review doctrinally significant proposals before action by the General Synod. The statement was adopted August 19 by a vote of 12 to 8 and published August 26.

The Doctrinal Board consists of the 14 bishops plus 8 laymen selected by the General Synod. The Board wrote that "In this situation we are not neutral, because we previously affirmed homosexual partnerships and declared that church blessings of same sex partnerships are consistent with the Church of Sweden's faith, confession and doctrine."

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Two priests in the DIOCESE OF MINNESOTA have agreed to stand for possible nomination by petition as their diocese seeks a ninth bishop. The Rev. Doyle Turner, rector of Trinity Church, Park Rapids, and the Rev. Doug Sparks, rector of St. Luke's, Rochester, will undergo background checks before the standing committee decides whether to certify them as nominees by petition. The diocese requires that a nominee by petition-which it also calls a nominee from the floor-must be supported by at least 24 clergy or lay delegates in the diocese. If approved by the standing committee, the priests will join a three-person slate announced by the diocese on August 1. The diocese has said it will announce any nominees by petition on Sept. 25. It has scheduled walkabout sessions on Oct. 19-24. A diocesan convention will elect the new bishop on Oct. 31.

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A priest/stockbroker in the DIOCESE OF DALLAS has been suspended. Bishop Suffragan Paul Lambert of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas said August 26 that the Rev. William Warnky, a priest-stockbroker, has been suspended from both vocations -- at least for the time being. Warnky served as a part-time non-stipendiary priest at Good Samaritan Episcopal Church and also worked for First Canterbury Securities, a northeast Dallas firm that offered investment opportunities ranging from corporate stocks to church bonds. Raymond Jennison, the firm's owner, is also a Dallas-area priest. Last week, securities regulators suspended Warnky's registration as a broker, citing his failure to comply with an order to repay $50,000 to a former client, D.R. Marshall, who alleged the priest defrauded him. Diocesan officials inhibited Warnky after learning from an investigative reporter that Warnky failed to disclose a 2006 court sentence of ten years' probation for a $50,000 delinquency in child support payments to his second wife, according to Lambert. "He has been inhibited for a minimum of 90 days, in accordance with the Title IV procedures in the constitutions and the canons of the Episcopal Church" which govern clergy discipline, Lambert said in an August 26 telephone interview from his Dallas office.

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There are unconfirmed reports that Punjabi police have issued warrants for the arrest of the Bishop of Faisalabad and 128 other Christians, charging them with conspiracy in the July 31 assault by Islamic militants on Gojra.

The First Information Reports or FIRs were filed this week by the Punjabi police against the Rt. Rev. John Samuel, the Church of Pakistan's Bishop of Faisalabad and 28 other Christians, in retaliation for complaints of police incompetence in the wake of the attacks on Christians in the town of Gojra that left ten dead and destroyed three churches and over 100 homes.

FIRs have also been registered against 100 unnamed Pakistani Christians charging them as co-conspirators in the attacks. Local human rights activists have denounced the police action telling AsiaNews, "It is a revenge move by agents and district administration against the Christian victims of the accidents in Gojra."

*****

If you thought attendance figures were bad in The Episcopal Church. The Decline and Fall of the ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA seems imminent. An editorial in The Anglican Journal states that there are now around 325,000 people in Canada who attend an ACoC church twice or more per month; hitherto. In 1961, 1.3 million people attended an ACoC church; that means the average yearly number of those exiting the ACoC is around 20,300 people. If one assumes a constant number of people exiting per year, we end up with no-one left by the year 2025. Attendance has halved between 1961 and 2001 - 40 years - and halved again between 2001 and 2009 - 8 years.

But VOL received an email with an attached document which gives official ACoC statistics as of 2001. The ASA for all of Canada is 162,138. The actual figures for 2009 have not been published - presumably because they would be even more shocking than the 2001 numbers - but one thing is clear: the end is nigh. In TEC ASA is now about 700,000.

Do the ASA math:

TEC: 700,000
ACofC: 150,000 (conservatively)
CofE: 1.5 million
TOTAL: 2.35 million.

This is exactly one quarter the attendance of the Anglican PROVINCE OF UGANDA which has 9.2 million ASA members.

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Today's lead story might shock some of you. That is not my desire nor is it by design. I recently interviewed a transgendered person, a man who through surgery is now a woman. We met at her request. She had been reading VOL for a number of years and believed that some things regarding sexuality needed to be clarified. We had lunch, and it was then that she revealed the reason why she wanted to meet me. I have never truly had a face-to-face conversation with a person who has had a sex change operation, a person who was once a man and was now very much a woman. This may well have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me.

You can read the full interview in today's digest.

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