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www.virtueonline.org
5/17/2007

The burning question is this: who will go to Lambeth in 2008? Informed sources tell VirtueOnline that it will be all (rather than a partial) invitation.

The openly homosexual Bishop of New Hampshire V. Gene Robinson will be invited to the next Lambeth Conference, together with all TEC bishops, (revisionists, liberals, Windsor and Network) together with some of the "more respectable" extra-mural Continuing Anglican bishops in CANA and AMiA.

Apparently Bishop Duncan Gray III, DIOCESE OF MISSISSIPPI told a small group of people at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Jackson, Mississippi, recently, that he had it "on solid authority" that the Episcopal Church will be invited to Lambeth 2008. He may be right.

If that is the case, "Global South" archbishops led by Nigerian Primate Peter Akinola will be faced with the choice of boycotting it and staging their own counter-conference, (which he has threatened to do). This would split the Communion, but leave the liberals in charge of the "original communion." The GS could also show up in force and try to seize control of the conference and expel The Episcopal Church. These are the options. None of them will bring peace, love, joy and reconciliation. Of course a lot hangs on what will happen after Sept. 30 of this year. Things could come unraveled quite seriously after that date. It is possible, though unlikely, that Lambeth 2008 might become irrelevant. Everything hinges on who the players will be and who will be calling the shots. Invitations, from the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, go out at the end of the year. http://www.lambethconference.org/2008/index.cfm VOL will keep you informed.

TEC MAKES DESPERATE MOVE. The Episcopal Church took out a third of a page ad in the "New York Times" last Saturday on the Op-Ed page touting the Episcopal Church as a place to worship. It also extolled the virtues of becoming an Episcopalian. The Episcopal Church dropped $51,000 for the ad which ran a headline: "The Episcopal Church, Marking a Milestone, Moving Forward".Somewhere near you, there's a blue-and-white sign bearing the familiar slogan: The Episcopal Church Welcomes You. It represents some 7,400 congregations that trace their beginnings in North America to a small but hopeful group of English Christians who arrived May 14, 1607 at a place they called Jamestown - the first permanent English settlement in the New World." I have written an analysis of this in today's digest or you can click here: http://tinyurl.com/2585cs

A VOL reader challenged TEC's statement that the first English Christians were Episcopalians saying that The Episcopal Church is re-writing history. "This is misleading. The Puritans founded Jamestown in 1603. Not the Episcopal Church/Church of England. This is an intentional misrepresentation of fact by TEC's propaganda arm." You be the judge: http://tinyurl.com/27jwam

Wrote another VOL reader: "The Church of England was established and attendance was enforced in 1607. Most of the American CE clergy, as they were established in some of the colonies, supported England in the Revolution. The church split, though not formally, in the Civil War. The history and theology of this advertisement are equally fraudulent" TEC's response: It was a group of separatists not to be confused with the Puritans.

ARCHBISHOP DREXEL GOMEZ (West Indies) was in Orlando, Florida, this week and had some direct things to say about Mrs. Schori and what went on in Dar es Salaam at the Primates meeting. At a forum for the clergy and some laity in the DIOCESE OF CENTRAL FLORIDA, he walked through what actually happened. A number of VOL readers said he walked through the Anglican Covenant explaining it in some detail. He said that in Tanzania Dr. Williams went around the room at the conclusion of the meeting and had each primate affirm their support for the communique. Up to this point the Primates had worked on consensus, but not this time. Dr. Williams wanted every person to say, "Yes, I affirm what has been written." Mrs. Schori did this and then added that it would be a tough sell to her House of Bishops. When she returned to the U.S. and spoke to the House of Bishops, she spun it to say that her "yes" was to bring the communique back to the HOB - a point that Bishop John W. Howe tried to make in coming to her defense. Archbishop Gomez responded to Howe saying, "Sir, that was not the question she was asked by the +ABC." You can read a full report on this meeting written by Canon Gary L'Hommedieu in today's digest or click here: http://tinyurl.com/3bjkdq It is a brilliant piece of analysis.

THE DIOCESE OF FT. WORTH turned up the heat on Mrs. Schori and TEC this week. The story first broke in "The London Times" and was repeated on a conservative American Blog, which said this diocese and the DIOCESE OF QUINCY, were getting ready to leave TEC for an overseas primate. It was not true. While the Diocese of Ft. Worth reaffirmed its pursuit of APO, there are no immediate plans to depart TEC. For the full story go here or read it in today's digest http://tinyurl.com/ynsn6b Be sure to read the Diocese's own take which follows my story.

THE EPISCOPAL DIVINITY SCHOOL in Cambridge, Mass is offering some interesting summer courses including Feminist Perspectives on the New Testament; Christology and Cultural Imagination; Developing Spiritual Communities; Liturgical Preaching; Understanding QUEER Christian Theologies; Leading Congregational Change: A Systems Perspective. The "Queer Christian Theologies" is designed to have homosexuals running to their local queer Episcopal congregation for spiritual enlightenment or perhaps a queer bishop for the laying on of hands.

Not to be outdone, the Episcopal News Service reports that two Northwestern University campus groups -- a Christian campus ministry and an undergraduate Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Transgendered (LGBT) group -- plan to hold a unique discussion and forum to explore the Church's stance on sexuality. Sex is apparently on everybody's mind. It is not necessarily the straight stuff. The Episcopal Campus Ministry and the Rainbow Alliance at Northwestern University will co-sponsor "Beyond Us and Them: How the Episcopal Church's Embrace of LGBT People is Invigorating its Proclamation of the Gospel." The Rev. Liz Stedman, chaplain to Canterbury Northwestern, the Episcopal ministry on the Evanston, Illinois campus, said in the release that in the Episcopal Church there is a "growing clarity and conviction that we are on the right path -- that God is calling us here, and that our actions stem from an authentic reading of the Bible." That's odd. The entire Anglican Communion is coming apart at the seams over sodomy and they think that TEC's "right path" is clearly the wrong path. Perhaps on Sept. 30 the message will finally hit home.

EVER WONDERED how deeply infected the Episcopal Church's leadership is by homosexuals and lesbians? Of the forty members of The Episcopal Church's Executive Council, eight are lesbian or homosexual. So, twenty percent of TEC's top leadership is practicing sexual sin. Twenty percent of the elected leaders of the Church's most important governing body in between General Conventions are behaving inappropriately. They disproportionately represent the vast majority of some 800,000 practicing Episcopalians, most of whom are straight and married. Now you know why the TEC is in the mess it is, and who are really pulling the strings. Source: Meditatio Blog, San Francisco.

In the DIOCESE OF COLORADO, the ongoing battle between Bishop Rob O'Neill and the Rev. Don Armstrong, who he accuses of alleged financial wrongdoings, took a new twist this week. The diocese now alleges that Armstrong was shredding documents and records so furiously that a shredding machine broke down, according to a countersuit filed in El Paso County District Court. Not true, Armstrong told VOL. "Interestingly, when they were closing in, they had all the documents in their possession, so we had nothing to shred if we even wanted to, which we wouldn't do because we had done nothing wrong and to shred papers relevant to this would have been wrong itself--we are all Martha Stewart fans and learned a little something from all she endured at the hands of similar sort of vicious people."

In the DIOCESE OF OLYMPIA they elected the Rev. Dr. Gregory Rickel to be the eighth Bishop of Olympia at St. Mark's Cathedral, Seattle. The Episcopal Church in Western Washington is comprised of 32,000 members in 96 congregations stretching between the Canadian and Oregon borders and from the Pacific coast to the Cascade foothills. Rickel, 43, currently rector of St. James' Episcopal Church, Austin, Texas, was elected on the third ballot from a slate of five nominees. Rickel raised fundamentalist eyebrows in Austin, by staging an Episcopal-Buddhist dialogue, and as an Al Gore-trained lecturer on global warming in the state capital where George Bush once reigned as governor. Rickel has been rector of St. James', which he describes as "an inclusive, multicultural community" and historically African-American Church that started in east Austin in 1941. He's a liberal who won't rock the boat. He succeeds the Rt. Rev. Vincent W. Warner, 66, who will retire at the time of the consecration after 18 years as bishop diocesan. The Rt. Rev. Nedi Rivera, bishop suffragan and second-ranking prelate in the diocese, ran a distant third after two ballots and withdrew her candidacy. It was Nedi who once said she would never marry any more straight folks until the church gave the green light to marry sodomites. The diocese is struggling financially. It will be interesting to see what he does with a couple of parishes that have left TEC but are still on their properties. Stay tuned.

Another person who knows Rickel and who worshipped at his church said about him: "Greg is VERY personable and some would say very handsome - in a word, charming (as a snake). The congregation is VERY tolerant, open minded, and just plain lost. Many same sex couples and some with infants and children. One **couple** had their infant baptized. Greg will be one of those who will think KJS hung the moon and will most certainly be at Lambeth."

THE EPISCOPAL BOOK RESOURCE CENTER, an agency of the Episcopal Church (USA), in New York City is selling a book of spells by a British witch. Terese Moorey is the author of "Love Spells," which offers a host of tried and tested spells, potions, and rituals that will help you find out just how to bring love into your life. This little volume is filled with spells to find your perfect match, become irresistible, keep a love that's true, or when Cupid's arrow has gone astray, mend a broken heart. Anglicanism is a broad church, but this is absurdly broad and clearly outside the pale. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2006/06/anglican_witches.html. Don't look for any books by John Stott or J.I. Packer in the bookstore.

INTERNET SCUTTLEBUTT has it that the Anglo-Catholic DIOCESE OF SAN JOAQUIN and its Bishop, John-David Schofield, are talking to Traditional Anglican Communion Archbishop John Hepworth about their future after their next Diocesan Convention in October should the diocese vote to leave TEC. Not true. I called the diocese where a spokesman said no such conversations were, or are, taking place.

ON WOMEN'S ORDINATION comes this note from the Rev. Ron Gauss, priest at Bishop Seabury Church, Groton, Ct. "Back in 1974 General Convention held that there are to be two allowable theological positions in the Church concerning the ordination of women - one, no women, and the other to allow women. The two were to be considered valid. No one could take vengeance on another. So for some, "Bishop" Jefferts Schori cannot be the Presiding Bishop because she couldn't be a Bishop. She couldn't be a Bishop because she couldn't be a Priest, and she couldn't be a Priest because she is a woman." In 2000 those who disagreed with the ordination of Women were made heretics. QED.

GAY PRIDE EUCHARIST. Integrity Atlanta's Annual Gay Pride Eucharist for Human Rights will take place at All Saints' Episcopal Church in Atlanta. The preacher for this year's service is Dr. Louie Crew, founder of Integrity. Crew is an elected deputy to General Convention from the Diocese of Newark and recently completed a term on Executive Council. The Rev. William "Mac" Thigpen, rector of St. Bartholomew's, Atlanta, will preside at the Eucharist. So much for Atlanta's compliance with the Windsor Report given that Bishop Neil Alexander is a Trustee and Regent at Sewanee University it makes one wonder what plans he must have for Sewanee - a Sewanee honorary degree for Crew perhaps?

VIRGINIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY names new Dean. The Board of Trustees of Virginia Theological Seminary announced May 16 that the Rev. Dr. Ian Markham has been appointed dean and president effective Aug. 1. Dr. Markham will succeed the Very Rev. Martha Horne, who is retiring after 13 years as dean and president. Dr. Markham has been dean of Hartford Seminary, and professor of theology and ethics, since August 2001. Prior to moving to Connecticut, he was foundation dean and Liverpool professor of theology and public life at Liverpool Hope University in Liverpool, England.

EPISCOPALIANS have begun responding to questions in a study guide aimed at helping the Episcopal Church consider the draft version of a proposed Anglican Covenant. Congregations, diocesan deputations to General Convention and individuals can all submit comments between now and the June 4 deadline. House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson said May 14 that some General Convention deputations have already met and formulated responses with the help of the study guide. Responses can be e-mailed to gcsecretary@episcopalchurch.org, faxed to 212-972-9322 or mailed to Draft Anglican Covenant, The Office of the General Convention, The Episcopal Church Center, 815 Second Ave, New York, NY 10017. The covenant study guide is not the only such tool that members of the Episcopal Church can expect to receive. At their March meeting in Texas, the House of Bishops asked its Theology Committee to develop a study document for consideration of the Primates' Communique. The bishops anticipate this guide will be available by early June for use by bishops and dioceses in preparation for the September meeting of the House of Bishops.

IN KAMPALA, Uganda, The Anglican Primate of Uganda warned Christians against practicing homosexual acts saying that they violate God's purpose for marriage and attract His wrath. "The New Vision," a Ugandan online journal, reports Rt. Rev. Henry Luke Orombi made his comments while preaching during his one-week tour of the Bukedi Diocese. You can read that here or in today's digest. http://tinyurl.com/2yuojg

A READER UPSET at my story on former NJ Governor Jim McGreevey's priest says that my interpretation of events might be a tad premature. http://tinyurl.com/27m8lx

"As a (conservative) clergy member of the Commission on Ministry in the diocese I serve, I would obviously have tremendous reservations about McGreevy being made a priest. But while I won't be surprised if it comes about, it is not the slam-dunk you make it out to be, and the staff at St. Bart's is not so enamored of him as your article would suggest. With the discernment process at St. Bart's, you'd find that, at best, McGreevy might be an aspirant. But that would be up to Bp Sisk to determine, and not St. Bart's or GTS. And McGreevy's process will not contain any shortcuts, at least from St. Bart's end. He's only been an Episcopalian for a matter of several weeks. He won't be eligible to be a postulant until he undergoes an in-house discernment process, psychological testing, physical testing and interviews with the Commission on Ministry, the diocesan Standing Commission, and the Diocesan Bishop. That will probably take at least a year. Until then, he isn't able to register at General, or any other Episcopal Seminary, as an ordination track student. He can only register for non-ordination track. And seminaries do accept people who are non-ordination, although some try to use their presence there as an end run around the discernment process: "I'm already in seminary...wouldn't it be easier if you just went ahead and let me be a candidate?" But if he (McGreevey) is trying to do an end-run around the process, I can assure you that, even if he's liberal and gay and an ex-governor, the clergy over his discernment (who have paid their dues, so to speak) will not appreciate the attempt to use his notoriety/power for cutting corners, and will, no doubt, squawk loudly to the bishop. Bishop Sisk has the final word on whether or not McGreevy is ever ordained...and he's the only one who can let McGreevy cut corners, because at the end of the day, he's the one who has to lay hands on him."

IN CANADA, an open letter to the National House of Bishops from the Zacchaeus Fellowship, a group of former, healed homosexuals and lesbians, released a statement saying they ignored the pastoral needs of people trying to live chastely with same-sex attraction even as it bent over backwards to placate those who have been demanding that the church affirm same-sex relationships. "We have written to the bishops to protest how the constituency that the Zacchaeus Fellowship represents has been marginalized once again, and to plead for the church to fulfill its pastoral responsibilities to the whole of its flock." Their letter can be found at www.zacchaeus.ca/HOB2007May.html

IN OTHER CANADIAN NEWS CANADA'S BISHOPS have rejected blessings of same-sex unions, hinting they will veto moves to regularize gay blessings at the June meeting of General Synod in Winnipeg. "It is the discernment of the majority of the House of Bishops that as of today the doctrine and discipline of our church does not clearly permit [blessing of same-sex unions]," the Bishops wrote in a May 1 pastoral letter to the Church.

To soften the blow, the bishops couched their letter with expressions of support for the gay community, stating they sought to give them "most generous pastoral response possible." It was their "hope", the bishops wrote, that same-sex couples and their children were not being denied baptism, communion, or confirmation in Anglican parishes. The bishops also reaffirmed their 1997 statement of support for the ministry of gay clergy. It'll come as no surprise that Michael Ingham, Bishop of the Diocese of New Westminster, says he plans to continue to carry on performing these blessings.

THE REV. ED HIRD'S book "Battle for the Soul of Canada" is short listed for an award. The Word Guild is an association of Canadian writers and editors who recognize great Canadian writers. They include such illustrious names as Dr. J. I. Packer and Mark Buchanan. This year "Battle for the Soul of Canada" has been added to the list of finalists. The association, which was founded in January 2002, has grown to 270 members across Canada, including 90 professional members. http://tinyurl.com/28hff3

1.5 MILLION ITALIANS from across that country poured into Rome May 12 to join in a demonstration against a law that would give legal recognition to homosexual couples. Organizers initially expected to draw about 100,000. The proposed legislation would give homosexual couples--and unmarried heterosexual couples--similar rights to those of married couples, stopping just short of legalizing homosexual marriage. While the Vatican and Italy's Catholic bishops backed the pro-family demonstration, lay people independent of the Church organized it. The "mind-blowing" success of the event is an outstanding example of the power held by ordinary citizens when sufficiently mobilized in support of traditional values, said Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, a priest in Rome who is the moderator of the Catholic Online Forum (see blogsite: http://tinyurl.com/2nuyv5). Who said Italians were only interested in food and sex?

TWO ARCHBISHOPS - Ndungane of Southern Africa and Baxley of the Southern Cone have gotten into a lather about what actually went on at Lambeth '98 in the formation of Lambeth resolution 1:10. The Primate of the Anglican Church of South Africa delivered a long and thorough address at St. Saviours Church this past week and said, "the Lambeth Conference arose as a response to a messy situation. It was established with a less than satisfactory basis, to meet the particular agendas of particular participants at a particular time - and today we are left with the legacy of that fudge." Not true said Baxley who wrote countering Ndungane. I wrote to Archbishop Moses Tay in Singapore who was also present at Lambeth '98 and this is what he had to say: "Colin Bazley's recollection is true, but Ndungane's current attempt seems strange, jarring, distant from reality, and a biased and slanted re-writing of history! I am just saddened and disgusted to read what he has written/spoken. The Lord is ultimately the judge, and 'for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment'" (Matt 12:36) you can read that story here or in today's digest: http://tinyurl.com/37k6ny

JERRY FALWELL DIES. An icon of the religious right died this past week. The 73-year-old Falwell was found unconscious in his office at Liberty University, but later died. Falwell founded the Moral Majority, building the religious right into a political force. Falwell had a history of heart problems. I had one run in with Falwell many years ago when he accused me of being less than evangelical on some issue or other and threatened me with all manner of things. Nothing came of it. I forgave him, but I always kept an eye over one shoulder in case his Fundie friends were looking for an excuse. You can read what Mike McManus has to say about him here. He is very generous towards the man. http://tinyurl.com/36qp2u

CORRECTION: THE DIOCESE OF NEWARK is having a problem with inclusivity. VOL incorrectly said it was the Diocese of New Jersey. The Rt. Rev. Carol Gallagher, who got dumped as bishop suffragan of Southern Virginia, just got the heave ho as Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Newark.

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All blessings,

David W. Virtue DD

IN PASSING. This past week Catherine Beatrice Virtue, 89, passed peacefully into the presence of the Lord. She was a consummate evangelist who loved Jesus with her whole heart, soul and mind. She was my mother. I shall miss her.

Requiem im pace, mother