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Pittsburgh Plans Separation...Bennison to Trial...Global Sth Bishops nix Lambeth

In the long run, we serve our country best by remembering that we're citizens of heaven first ---Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver

The gospel is Christ crucified, his finished work on the cross. And to preach the gospel is publicly to portray Christ as crucified. The gospel is not good news primarily of a baby in a manger, a young man at a carpenter's bench, a preacher in the fields of Galilee, or even an empty tomb. The gospel concerns Christ upon his cross. Only when Christ is 'openly displayed upon his cross' (Gal. 3:1) is the gospel preached---From The Message of Galatians (The Bible Speaks Today series) - John R. W. Stott

Thus we find ourselves - back against the ropes - in a fight we did not pick, struggling in a culture war we did not ask for. It's a clash of world views in a zero-sum-game. Make no mistake; the sin of homosexuality is the bunker-buster bomb in this war against morality. The very firm response by defenders of Biblical truth to the homosexual lobby's relentless assault on our nation's Judeo-Christian tradition is indeed a defensive reaction, not an act of aggression. The sheer mechanics of homosexual conduct very naturally elicits revulsion in most rational folk. Therefore, most of us would prefer not to even imagine it, much less struggle to defend against its wholesale promotion. But regrettably, our hand has been forced---Matt Barber is with Concerned Women for America and serves as CWA's policy director for cultural issues.

It is recognized that liberal Protestant Churches have been in decline for decades and this has prompted all manner of schemes to reverse the trend. It is also recognized that most of these schemes have failed. No amount of talk about the Church being in mission has helped. We may blame the environment and say that the culture has turned against us or that the language of the Church is foreign to the man in the street but this does not touch the underlying problem. Liberal Protestant Churches have lost their way, they have conformed to the culture of modernity to the extent that they have become irrelevant --- Peter Sellick is Senior Research Officer at the Department of Physiology, University of Western Australia and Deacon Associate at St Andrew's Anglican Church,

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
11/9/2007

The long march out of the Episcopal Church has begun now at a diocesan level.

On Nov. 2 the DIOCESE OF PITTSBURGH at its diocesan convention this past week chose the path of separation from the national church. "As a diocese we have come to a fork in the road," Pittsburgh's Bishop Robert Duncan set the tone for the 142nd annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. The bishop continued, "This is not a place we would wish to stay, even if we could. The convention majority agreed with the bishop, voting in favor of amendments to eliminate the diocese's accession to the constitution and canons of TEC and allowing it to designate by canon the Anglican province to which it will belong. The resolution also eliminated the requirement that parishes have similar accession clauses in their bylaws or articles of incorporation. The vote, by secret ballot, favored passage by 118 to 59 lay votes, with one abstention, and 109 to 24 clergy votes. On the way to the final vote, the convention defeated an attempt to substitute an amendment that would have restored the accession clause to its pre-2004 condition."

Quoting Martin Luther in a brief reply to Mrs. Jefferts Schori's threatening letter, "Here I stand, I can do no other. I will neither compromise the Faith once delivered to the saints, nor will I abandon the sheep who elected me to protect them" Bishop Duncan defiantly rejected Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's request that he urge the convention to reject the resolution he has hitherto strongly supported. The bishop's actions and his continuing advocacy of realignment will undoubtedly bring out the big legal guns at 815 ready to dispense disciplinary action against the bishop.

The Rev. Rebecca Conrad Spanos wrote VOL with her thoughts on what happened. "Sitting here reflecting on our just completed Pittsburgh convention and reading the webs about what happened. I am weeping out of joy AND pain. Joy, because this was my 32nd convention and the tables have turned. Pro lifers were routinely mocked and pilloried at those early conventions. It has been a long and hard battle, but the battle is the Lord's. I am in pain because I am watching priests like my priest at Shepherds Heart, the homeless ministry, take a stand that could cost them pretty much everything for which they have labored, all for the sake of the Gospel. The reason that the vote to realign was so lopsided is that Pittsburgh has a great Bishop and a great seminary among other things, and people who were forged in the fire of molten steel."

You can read a number of stories on their coming departure in today's digest.

*****

The DIOCESE OF PENNSYLVANIA held a subdued diocesan convention which saw the end of outgoing Bishop Charles Bennison. The whole event was surreal. Bennison behaved as though nothing was wrong, like it was all a big misunderstanding. He handed out large, engraved certificates of appreciation to departing staff members, victims of his own financial stupidity. Bennison is now formally inhibited and cannot function as a bishop. The inhibition remains in force until a church court rules on charges brought against Bishop Bennison by the Title IV Review Committee, the ecclesiastical equivalent of a grand jury. Bennison will fight the charges, VOL has learned. The review committee will not be the members of the court to try Bennison.

The irony of this should not be missed. Bennison is going down not because of his fiscal mismanagement of the diocese wherein as much as $11 million has been squandered on Camp Wapiti for 125 kids who went there this summer, or that his theological views would have seen him tossed out by the Council of Nicea, but because when he was a rector in California in the mid-1970s, his brother, John, an employee at the parish, became sexually involved with a 14-year-old female parishioner. His brother resigned from the ministry in June 2006. Bennison saw what was going on and did nothing about it. Now 30 years later it has caught up with him and he is out the door awaiting trial.

Bennison referred to his inhibition only indirectly during convention. In a sermon during the Eucharist, which doubled as his annual address, he concentrated on the lessons of Richard Hooker, whom he called an apologist for Queen Elizabeth I's vision of making peace between the church's catholic and protestant wings. "I'm so glad that Richard Hooker won the day," Bishop Bennison said in a steady voice. "I'm so glad that this is not a Puritan church."

Bennison and the Standing Committee have been at odds for years, with the Standing Committee claiming that Bennison has not provided them with full access to financial and other diocesan information. Eventually the Standing Committee hired its own lawyer and launched a website to make public their concerns. Last year, the Standing Committee filed its own presentment complaint against Bennison, alleging financial mismanagement. Those charges, which do not include malfeasance, are still under review.

You can read several stories about all this in today's digest. One by Westley Byrne, "Sexual Abuse Is a Crime, Not an Affair" gets to the heart of the matter. You can read that story here: http://tinyurl.com/2m4u4r

It is this writer's belief that when Bennison goes to trial he will be found guilty. Why? Three of the persons on the Review Committee are women. Mrs. Jefferts Schori and Bonnie Anderson are both women. Three writers for the Episcopal News Service, Mary Frances Schjonberg, Jan Nunley and Nan Cobbey are women. Women dominate. Women will NEVER EVER tolerate the sexual abuse of a minor especially a girl. They will tolerate millions of dollars being wasted (Mexico is a case in point). They will wink and nod at theological heresies. They will turn a blind eye to adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior and much more, but if you touch a child, you're toast. Bennison is toast.

Another question is this, why has Jefferts Schori waited until now to inhibit Bennison and start his trial process? The most probable answer is to convey a picture of evenhandedness. After having signed the Bennison papers, she wrote Bishop Duncan of Pittsburgh a threatening letter, letting him know that unless he stopped his diocese from passing a change in their canon law allowing Pittsburgh's departure, she would inhibit and depose him (although she says it in formal language.) "If your course does not change, I shall regrettably be compelled to see that appropriate canonical steps are promptly taken to consider whether you have abandoned the Communion of this Church. By actions and substantive statements, however they may be phrased - and whether you have committed canonical offenses that warrant disciplinary action."This threat to Bishop Duncan, on the eve of his diocesan convention was, says Canon David Anderson (AAC) a way to assert her authority. The reason Bennison was inhibited at THIS time is so she can say, "See, I am fair - I discipline the bad boys on both sides equally." What this actually says is fairly horrendous, however. What she is actually saying is that there is parity between being an orthodox, faithful bishop and being involved in child molestation.

*****

GLOBAL SOUTH Archbishops have called for a postponement of Lambeth. Nine evangelical Archbishops, who head the Global South, called on the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, to postpone next year's Lambeth Conference. Several senior bishops, including the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, have already warned they may boycott the conference, the ten-yearly gathering of Anglican Communion bishops from across the globe, because of the row over gays.

Their call came just days after the 490th anniversary of the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Cathedral in Wittenberg, prompting the Reformation. This week, organizers of the Lambeth Conference are meeting to agree on the agenda and other matters regarding the July meeting at Kent University. Dr Williams has previously indicated that he has no intention of acceding to calls to postpone it.

In a letter to all the Church's Primates, Dr Akinola said, "The world needs to understand that the situation that we now confront is not primarily about structure or conferences but about irreconcilable truth claims. It is worth remembering that in the Biblical narratives religious structures have often been the enemy of revealed truth."

*****

NIGERIANS might boycott Lambeth. The Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Reverend Peter Akinola, says he and his HOB are not fully decided on whether they will attend Lambeth next year. "There is so much distrust and disrespect. Even basic courtesies are lacking among the bishops. What kind of communion do you have when you have bishops from all over the world coming together and you cannot even have fellowship or share the Lord's Supper?" he asked. Akinola wants certain conditions met before he and his HOB decide to attend. He says that the cost of sponsoring Nigeria's 130 bishops and their wives to London for the one-month conference is enormous. Akinola indicated there was no need to go there for a jamboree.

*****

SOME 40 EVANGELICAL and Anglo-Catholic members of the Church of England's General Synod pledged their support to the Bishop of Pittsburgh, the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan in his dispute with the US Presiding Bishop over the proposed secession of his diocese from The Episcopal Church.

In a letter published in The Church of England Newspaper, the members of General Synod, along with a number of leaders of Forward and Faith and the Church Society, stated they were 'outraged' by the threats of litigation against Pittsburgh by the 'current leadership' of the Episcopal Church, who 'appear to be unitarian and universalist in theology, and coercively utopian in social practice.'

Last week, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori warned Bishop Duncan that she would file a presentment against him, seeking to summon him for trial before the House of Bishops, if he permitted his diocese to change its bylaws.

"I call upon you to recede from this direction and to lead your diocese on a new course that recognizes the interdependent and hierarchical relationship between the national Church and its dioceses and parishes," she wrote.

*****

Nationally, the recent convention of the DIOCESE OF SOUTHEAST FLORIDA, in a moment of sanity, defeated a proposed resolution calling for the full and equal participation of gay and lesbian persons in all aspects of the Church's ministry including ordination as deacons, priests and bishops. The resolution was proposed by Integrity, the Episcopal Church's official pansexual organization. Praise the Lord, wrote a VOL reader.

*****

Fort Worth bishop warned by Presiding Bishop. Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori has made public another letter of warning sent to a bishop actively seeking to withdraw his diocese from the Episcopal Church. The letter to Bishop Jack Leo Iker of the Diocese of Fort Worth notified him that such a step would force her to take action to bring the diocese and its leadership into line with the mandates of the national Church. The Rev. Dr. Peter Toon said the reasoning of the Presiding Bishop and her legal advisers appears to be that the Episcopal Church is like the USA wherein no state can withdraw; thus if a Diocese attempts to leave the Episcopal Church then it is brought before the central court and the rebels are punished and new officers installed! Certainly the Polity of the Episcopal Church from 1785 has been modeled loosely on Congress, but this present claim is a big stretch. You can read Mrs. Schori's threat and the letter she wrote to Iker here or in today's digest. http://tinyurl.com/3ccnpe

*****

The DIOCESE OF DALLAS approved the second reading of a constitutional amendment that makes accession to the constitution and canons of The Episcopal Church conditional on TEC remaining a full, constituent member of the Anglican Communion. The amendment was one of several issues passed at their recent diocesan convention, which also included Bishop James Stanton's call for the election of a suffragan bishop. The resolution approving the second reading of the constitutional change passed overwhelmingly on a voice vote by orders. Convention also approved resolutions affirming evangelism, the way that Bishop Stanton has pastorally dealt with those congregations wishing to leave The Episcopal Church, and affirming the primates' Feb. 19 communique from Dar es Salaam which states that the diocese does not believe that The Episcopal Church has complied with those requests.

Convention rejected resolutions affirming the Millennium Development Goals and another calling on the diocese to return to its previous policy of contributing 15 percent of diocesan income toward the program budget of the General Convention. Since 2003, the diocese has left donations to the program budget to the responsibility of those parishes that wish to contribute. No provision is made in the budget. During the past year, the diocese has suffered the defection of some of its largest parishes, including Christ Church, Plano, the largest attended Episcopal parish in the U.S.

*****

Convention delegates to the DIOCESE OF OLYMPIA said they are leery of the presentation of an exclusionary Anglican Covenant at the 2008 Lambeth Conference and approved a resolution calling for postponement of next year's conference of bishops. By a vote of 299-79, clergy and lay delegates voted to approve an amended resolution calling for the 2008 Lambeth Conference to be postponed until the listening process is more complete. A text approved by the convention said, "We are leery about using the occasion of the [2008 Lambeth] Conference to present a Covenant that is exclusionary, that centralizes authority, or that adds to the core doctrine of our faith. The cost of holding the Lambeth Conference under the present circumstances is disproportionate to its benefits, and the good we can do elsewhere in the mission of the church."

WATCH for possible action against majorities at St. Stephen's, Oak Harbor, and St. Charles', Poulsbo, which both voted to disaffiliate from The Episcopal Church in 2004. Bishop Greg Rickel's predecessor, Bishop Vincent Warner, worked out a covenant agreement with the leadership of those two parishes enabling the congregations to continue using the church property for worship rent free for a specified period of time. "Negotiations'"smells like a buzzword for my way or the highway when it comes to liberal bishops like Rickel. We'll keep you informed.

*****

BOY BISHOP. The Rt. Rev. Sean W. Rowe, 32, knocked three times on the door of the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Erie, PA in the DIOCESE OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA last Sunday and became the youngest member of the HOB. This guy must be very special to be elected on the first ballot from a slate of four candidates. He was ordained a deacon in May 2000 and as apriest in the same year. The diocese has all of 4,800 members, about the size of Christ Church, Plano. Word is he will play ball with Mrs. Jefferts Schori, or she and David Booth Beers will eat him for breakfast, if he gets out of line. He's far too impressionable and in awe of the HOB and Mrs. Jefferts Schori to have a mind of his own. Gosh he's barely out of short pants. Who will a liberal diocese elect next? We have gay, straight, single, married, young and old. I know, how about a bisexual or transgendered bishop? In the meantime we have a lesbian, Tracy Lind on a slate in the DIOCESE OF CHICAGO who, if she gets elected, will present a major headache for Mrs. Jefferts Schori. If she does, perhaps she will do a Jeffrey John on her.

*****

SEWANEE EPISCOPAL UNIVERSITY announced on its website a homecoming reception for gay Sewanee students and alumni. This is being paid for with University money, VOL was told. The Rainbow Ribbon Society party will be held at Brooks Hall http://ur.sewanee.edu/alumni/hc/hcschedule Sewanee, in the South has certainly gone south over this issue. One wonders if parents are aware of the tolerance towards this deadly behavior, a behavior that now threatens the very foundations of the Anglican Communion.

*****

BEERS BILLS. An informed source in New York told VOL this week that David Booth Beers, Mrs. Jefferts Schori attorney, now bills out at $600 an hour, but because it is the Episcopal Church he gives a 15% discount - $510. This is the tip of the iceberg. The real cost does not include teams of assistants, partners and more. One can only assume the figure will run to hundreds of thousands of dollars in billing fees.

*****

MRS JEFFERTS SCHORI TO HOMOPHOBES: Move on. Mrs. Jefferts Schori was in Burlington, Vermont, recently to attend a convention of Vermont's Episcopal diocese and hit out at homophobic members of the church still upset over the ordination of New Hampshire's Gene Robinson. Said Jefferts Schori, "Obviously a handful of our church leaders are still upset and would like to see the church never ordain and never baptize a gay or lesbian person. We need to refocus on more life-and-death issues like starvation, education, medical care." Schori and the Episcopal House of Bishops announced in September that a decision had been made by the church to exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion. The decision, which included a halt to blessings of same-sex unions, was seen by many as caving to the international Anglican church's more conservative policies. Said Schori at the time, "This resolution really is the result of finding common ground to stand on." Translation: Move on or get out.

*****

ACKERMAN ILL. The Rt. Rev. Keith L. Ackerman has been suffering from severe hypertension and is being treated medically for that condition along with sleep deprivation due to sleep apnea. His blood pressure levels have begun to increase dramatically in the last few weeks and peaked at his Diocesan Synod, VOL was told. The conclusions are very favorable for long term health, and new medications have been prescribed that should soon be able to regulate the presenting problems. Please pray for this godly bishop. The diocese recently voted to take no immediate action on their future in The Episcopal Church.

*****

Leaders from the ANGLICAN MISSION IN THE AMERICAS, the Anglican Coalition in Canada and the Convocation of Anglican Churches in North America gathered for a time of spiritual refreshing and mutual encouragement recently at St. John's Retreat Center in Plymouth, MI. The leaders focused on prayer and spiritual warfare. Bob Mekus told the conferees that warfare often requires sacrifice in order to secure victory. The time together also consisted of praying for the churches and emerging works represented by the leadership gathered from the AMIA, ACIC and CANA.

*****

The ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF CHILE at its recent convention re-elected the Most Rev. Gregory Venables as Archbishop of the Southern Cone. Javier Garcia, communications officer of Iglesia Anglicana de Chile wrote VOL with the news. We are very happy about this, he said.

IN other news Archbishop Venables told the London Telegraph he will allow conservative dioceses that are defecting from the pro-gay American branch of Anglicanism to affiliate with his South American province. This raised the specter of a new worldwide split. You can read that story here or in today's digest: http://tinyurl.com/2kmfo6

FOOTNOTE: The Province of the Southern Cone ordains women to the diaconate but not as priests or bishops. A resolution at their Diocesan convention will keep the subject on the agenda for ongoing study and dialogue.

*****

The South American Mission Society (SAMS) and the Church Mission Society (CMS) have announced that they are in talks about the possibility of merging or collaborating more closely. The two long-established Anglican mission societies are looking at an approach that would maintain the integrity and focus of SAMS, while bringing it into the global network operated by CMS. Canon Patrick Coghlan, Chair of Trustees at SAMS, said, "Mission has a lot to gain from closer relationship between SAMS and CMS. The roots and vision of both Societies mirror each other. SAMS will gain from the experience and expertise available from a larger agency and wider global network. South Americans are already being called to mission in other continents where CMS has a presence." The Rt. Rev. David Urquhart, Chair of Trustees at CMS, agreed, "We are excited by the possibility of working more closely with SAMS. The two Societies have much in common, not least a similar theological stance. CMS has much to learn from the South American Church. We hope we can reach full agreement on the way forward in a few months' time."

*****

ALL SAINTS, CONCORD NH INSTALLS NEW RECTOR. The Rt. Rev. George D. Langberg, Bishop of the Diocese of the Northeast, Anglican Church in America installed the Rev. Christian Tutor, OSA, as rector at All Saints Anglican Church in Concord, New Hampshire on November 4th. The Rt. Rev. Brian Marsh, Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of the Northeast was celebrant at the installation Mass. All Saints Anglican Church is a Parish of the Anglican Church in America, a member of the worldwide Traditional Anglican Communion. They worship according to the formularies of the Traditional Book of Common Prayer.

*****

THE PARABLE OF BISHOP ROB O'NEILL. Once upon a time in the far off land of Colorado there was a President of a company who had three employees living on the other side of the street from him. Two of those neighbors, neighbor B and neighbor C, he had never liked. One day neighbor A came to him and said, "Neighbor B has stolen Neighbor C's lawn mower! I saw it yesterday with my own eyes! Neighbor B was mowing his lawn with Neighbor C's lawnmower!" "We can't allow that," said the President and called the police, charging Neighbor B with theft. Neighbor B called the President and said, "You're mistaken; you don't understand the facts. Call Neighbor C and he and I will explain everything to you." But the President said, "What neighbor A told me is good enough for me; I don't need to know anymore." Neighbors B and C then went to the local newspaper and said come interview us during which Neighbor C told the reporter, "I lent my lawnmower to my neighbor, who's been very kind to me over they years; and he cut his grass with it, and then returned it to my garage, refilled with gas, where it now rests." The newspaper published the account of all these facts, but the President chose not to read the newspaper and decided, "I'm firing Neighbor B; where is he, neighbor A?" Neighbor A turns to the President and says, "Oh, several days ago neighbors B and C moved away to take another job in Africa; so it seems you won't be able to fire them because they no longer work for you." "Uh-oh," said the President, "I just spent $800,000 of the company's money charging them with the theft of a lawn mower. What are my stockholders going to say? Especially when sales are declining and we have excess plant capacity."

Written by Another Person in the Neighborhood

*****

The Archbishop of Canterbury is calling on the British Government to stop jailing mothers and young children. In an interview with "The Sunday Telegraph," he says he is concerned that the current rules are ruining families and harming children. The archbishop attacked the law on the age of criminal responsibility as a tragedy and said that children should be given care and attention rather than treated like criminals. He backed calls for the age to be raised from 10 and said that offenders as old as 16 should be regarded as children. He also expressed his concern at the breakdown of society, which had left families increasingly fragmented and children vulnerable to crime and street gangs.

In a wide-ranging critique on the pressures facing children in modern Britain, Dr Williams also said:

* Teenage gun crime is likely to rise as more children turn to gang culture in search of a sense of belonging.
* Levels of violence in films are too high.
* Families need to spend more time together over meals and watching TV.
* Children are suffering from mental health problems because they are under too much pressure at school and are not given enough time to reflect on their own.

*****

In CANADA this past week, The Anglican Church of Canada's bishops continued a moratorium on same-sex blessings. Canada's Anglican bishops, at their regular fall meeting, decided to leave in place a set of pastoral guidelines concerning church services for gay couples that stops short of blessings or marriage. They also expressed serious concern about Canadian participation in activities widening the schism in the Anglican Communion.

*****

IN THE DIOCESE OF NEW WESTMINSTER, the pressure is on for four orthodox parishes at odds with Bishop Michael Ingham and Chancellor George Cadman. Talks between the diocese and four protesting parishes will resume after Diocesan Council last month agreed to extend the provision of payroll services to their clergy till April 30 of next year. The Diocesan Council's vote enables clergy at St. Johns Shaughnessy, St. Matthias and St. Luke, St. Matthew, Abbotsford, and Good Shepherd to remain in the Anglican Church of Canada's pension and benefits plan for the present. Clergy and lay people from these four protesting parishes were among those who walked out of the 2002 Diocesan Synod after a majority voted to ask the bishop to create a blessing for same-sex unions. Since then, none of these four parishes have paid their diocesan assessments. A diocesan regulation (Regulation 12) insists that before a parish receives payroll services, it must pay its diocesan assessment. To avoid paying money to the diocese, the group set up their own payroll system at St. Johns. The four parishes continue a payroll system for staff who are not clergy.

*****

From the EPISCOPAL MISSIONARY CHURCH and its Bishop, William Millsaps, comes news that he will hold a special service at Christ Church, Monteagle, TN on Nov. 1. He will interview Richard Wurmbrand's grandson, a leader in the International Day of Prayer for persecuted Christians. The narrator will tell how Richard Wurmbrand met Corrie Ten Boom and how the work of speaking up for all persecuted people no matter what their faith community must continue. On November 18th, Bishop Millsaps will be in McMinnville, Oregon, to encourage the idea of a Week of Prayer for the Persecuted Church in the pattern of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18-25) so that more churches than ever will be involved.

*****

The Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA) leaders will host a gathering for Anglicans from the Rocky Mountain West region this weekend at Mission Hills Church in south metro Denver, Colorado. Anglican Mission Bishop Sandy Greene and Network Leader Phil Eberhart are hosting the Common Cause / Mountain West Anglican Convocation featuring the Rt. Rev. John Guernsey, Bishop in the Province of Uganda; the Rev. D. O. Smart, Dean of the Anglican Communion Network's (ACN) Mid-Continent Convocation; and the Rev. Canon Doc Loomis, AMiA Canon Missioner. The event is designed to explore opportunities for common cause mission initiatives in the Rocky Mountain West. Information Brochure and registration is available at: www.rockymountainamia.net (click on the Conference tab).

*****

Anglican leaders praise religion decision by CHINESE COMMUNISTS. A group of Asian and African Anglican leaders, recently returned from a visit to China, praised a decision by the country's ruling Communist Party to include the word religion in its constitution. This is a recognition of the increasing role that the Church plays in the nation's economic and social development, the Anglican leaders said in a statement issued after their 21-30 October visit. State media said the change had been made to meet the demands posed by the new situation and new tasks. The Communist Party, for a long time, discouraged religion, because the country was officially atheist. In recent years, however, Chinese leaders have said that religion can play an important role in creating a harmonious society. The term is used by the Chinese leaders to refer to the need for economic growth to be accompanied by social cohesion. Source ENI

*****

IN today's lead story, "Sexual Schizophrenia In The Episcopal Church" I try to capture what has been going on for the past 40 years. It is not a pretty story. In fact it is a horror show. Read, learn and inwardly digest and send to all your friends. They should know the truth. You can read that here or in today's digest: http://tinyurl.com/36m7ns

Other "exclusive" stories include "Mirage in the Diplomat's Mind: the Myth of the Vibrant Western Anglican Church". The Rev. Frederick Quinn, an American diplomat and Episcopal priest, believes that the current fractious nature of the Anglican Communion can be blamed on a narrow group of Global South primates including Peter Akinola (Nigeria) and Drexel Gomez (West Indies), who do not represent the breadth and depth of religion in Africa. Scripturally and structurally, it mirrors the remnants of a colonial church tradition, one where African bishops rigidly follow in the footsteps of a departed generation of autocratic British mentors, he said. Not true. You can read that story here or in today's digest: http://tinyurl.com/22z6uv

*****

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