Thus both our repudiation of the flesh and our surrender to the Spirit need to be repeated daily, however decisive our original repudiation and surrender may have been. In Jesus' words, we are to 'take up (our) cross daily' and follow him (Lk 9:23). We are also to go on being filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18), as we open our personality to him daily. Both our repudiation and our surrender are also to be worked out in disciplined habits of life. It is those who 'sow to the Spirit' (Gal. 6:8) who reap the fruit of the Spirit. And to 'sow to the Spirit' means to cultivate the things of the Spirit, for example, by our wise use of the Lord's Day, the discipline of our daily prayer and Bible reading, our regular worship and attendance at the Lord's Supper, our Christian friendships and our involvement in Christian service. An inflexible principle of all God's dealings, both in the material and in the moral realm, is that we reap what we sow. The rule is invariable. It cannot be changed, for 'God cannot be mocked' (Gal. 6:7). We must not therefore be surprised if we do not reap the fruit of the Spirit when all the time we are sowing to the flesh. Did we think we could cheat or fool God? --- From "The Contemporary Christian" by John R.W. Stott

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
September 24, 2010

It was a topsy-turvy week in the life of both the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church.

It started with the Pope's visit to the UK, his meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the multiple interpretations by the British press about how it all went. By all accounts, the general consensus was that it was an enormous success with Benedict stifling his critics, somewhat embarrassing Dr. Rowan Williams, and apologizing to those personally affected by priestly abuse and beatifying Cardinal Newman. Above all, he called a liberal, pluralist, agnostic society back to the uniqueness of Christ, words not to be heard coming from the mouth of Dr. Rowan Williams. We will have to wait and see how it all shakes out. Needless to say, two issues remain intractable for unity between Rome and Canterbury - women's ordination and actively homosexual clergy. Both are non-starters for the Pontiff.

A VOL observer and CoE insider wrote, "I can confidently say of Benedict's visit to England: Veni, Vidi, Vici (in the words of a previous visitor from Rome). The effect on the country has been electrifying, and its effects will, I think, be as great for Anglicans as for anyone else. Members of the CoE (accustomed to many ancient slogans and lies about the papal bogeyman) have seen something they never imagined existed: a living Apostle for Jesus Christ, confident in the incarnation, Cross and Resurrection, and prepared to proclaim it in the Areopagus of central London, the capital of decadent atheism in Western Europe. Benedict has been a pilgrim, as he stated in Westminster Abbey, but so much more than a pilgrim: an evangelist of the highest order, capturing the full attention of the doubting liberal media, and confounding his critics whose planned protests have been reduced to the dampest of squibs. The Christian faith is now firmly back on the national agenda, and with such power."

Perhaps the most telling story was this in the Daily Mail titled, "If only the Archbishop of Canterbury dared to speak with a fraction of Benedict's authority. Courage: The Pope was brave enough to say things the Archbishop probably agrees with but does not speak publicly about." You can read it all in today's digest.

Theologically, I disagree with the Pope. The reason I am an Anglican is because I distance myself from his theology in our core formularies: the Book of Common Prayer, the Thirty-nine Articles and the Ordinal.

In the meantime, Rome is growing closer to the great Orthodox churches of the East where prayer and much talk are taking place between the two historic churches. They certainly have much more common ground than Rome and Canterbury. Meanwhile, Global South Anglicanism continues to grow, as does the Anglican Church in North America as it continues to sweep more orthodox Episcopal churches into its embrace, confounding its critics and infuriating the liberal appartiks of The Episcopal Church.

*****

The Episcopal Church's House of Bishops met in Phoenix this week and spent most of their time talking about immigration. The 115 or so bishops made a sortie to the US/Mexican border and their bewailed the deaths of 4,000 Mexicans who have died in the desert crossing the border.

Of course, the US Govt. is naturally to blame with its immigration policies, according to TEC bishops. Nothing was said about the fact that most of those who died did so at the hands of unscrupulous Mexican entrepreneurs who shovel them across the border and dump them in the desert leaving them to die after these poor folk have paid thousands of dollars for safe transport to the US. U.S. border officials who carry water usually save those who are found in time. They are at least sent back to their country alive.

IRD President Mark Tooley commented on the bishops' venture observing, "Christians and others of good will may disagree over the political specifics of a complicated issue like immigration. The Scriptures and Christian tradition offer no direct political guidance here. But the Episcopal Church's bishops, so divided on Christian doctrine, exceed their mandate when they demand adherence to a rigid political agenda.

"Their seeming affirmation of unrestricted immigration as an intrinsic right seems more Utopian than rooted in Christian understandings of a fallen world.

"These bishops would better devote themselves to reviving their own troubled denomination, especially by evangelistically reaching out to America's growing immigrant population with a robust Gospel message appealing to more than just liberal, upper middle class Anglo-Americans."

The HOB did, however, ask PA Bishop Charles Bennison to resign. In a stern letter, they rebuked him for returning to his job with "conduct unbecoming a bishop" charges still hanging over his head. They asked him to reconsider and walk away.

Bishop Stephen Lane of Maine wrote in his blog, "We then turned our attention to the complex pastoral crisis created by the return of Bishop Charles Bennison to the Diocese of Pennsylvania. Several bishops had raised a call for some sort of response. The Presiding Bishop created a small ad-hoc task group of senior bishops to address this concern, and the group presented a mind of the House resolution calling for Bishop Bennison to resign. The House gave the letter intense and prayerful consideration. There were several minor amendments. Although the bishops recognized that the situation in Pennsylvania goes beyond the matters addressed in Bishop Bennison's trial, we felt compelled to assert the primacy of the church's care for the vulnerable and to confess our participation in a disciplinary system that still needs work."

To no one's surprise, the sociopathic bishop of PA said no. A member of the Standing Committee opined, "He has made it crystal-clear to us that he will not resign or retire. The only hope we have is that when he reaches the mandatory age of 72, he will resign or retire." NOTE. By then it will be too late for the diocese. "This diocese is facing major issues of finances, property, and declining church membership. Under his leadership, it is a just matter of time before we are facing serious financial problems. His continued presence among us will further divide the diocese." SNAP, an organization that outs sexually abusive priests, weighed in again saying Bennison should leave and excoriated TEC for not doing enough to force him out. Would the last priest leaving the diocese please turn out the lights? This is only a matter of when, not if.

*****

In the Diocese of Colorado the orthodox Anglican priest, Fr. Don Armstrong got a reprieve after 5 years of litigation walking away from 20 felony counts initiated by the diocese and, later, civil authorities. Armstrong pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor thus ending $5 million in litigation costs. It has been a nightmare for the priest, but his vestry and his Anglican bishop stood by him to the end. He appears to have been vindicated and can go back to preaching and evangelizing in Colorado Springs. VOL's story can be read in today's digest along with an analysis of just how badly Episcopal Bishop Robert O'Neill is doing running his diocese. It is a shambles of lost parishes, some 36 to date, declining fortunes, poor or non-existent leadership and much more.

*****

In the Diocese of South Carolina members of an Episcopal Church advocacy group calling themselves The Episcopal Forum of South Carolina in the Diocese of South Carolina have asked the church's leadership to "investigate" a series of actions they say "are accelerating the process of alienation and disassociation" of the diocese from the Episcopal Church.

They wrote a letter accusing Bishop Mark Lawrence of taking no disciplinary measures or legal action against the leaders of St. Andrew's Church, Mt. Pleasant, since that parish left the Episcopal Church. The letter also said that the diocese and more than half of its 44 parishes have removed references to the Episcopal Church from their names and websites, while some list links to breakaway Anglican organizations.

The letter also lists past diocesan convention actions as well as the six proposed resolutions the diocese will consider on Oct. 15 that have to do with the recent canonical changes TEC has made to its canons.

The diocese has said that each of the six proposed resolutions "represents an essential element of how we protect the diocese from any attempt at un-constitutional intrusions into our corporate life in South Carolina."

The fun-n-games here have only just begun, but I can tell you how it will all end. It will go like this. Sooner or later, the heavy hitters in New York, aided and abetted by the "Forum" folk and David Booth Beers, Jefferts Schori's personal attorney, as well as a bunch of ecclesiastical legal experts, will formulate canonical charges against Bishop Lawrence. A kangaroo court will hurriedly be put together (which is better than what Pittsburgh Bishop Bob Duncan got). Lawrence will be found guilty, inhibited and deposed. The diocese will then have to make a decision whether it will stay and fight or leave and join ACNA. As the Dennis Canon has been destroyed in this state, the odds are better than not that Lawrence will come out of this ahead of the game. Of course, those parishes that do not want to stay under his leadership will form a rump diocese and invite Mrs. Jefferts Schori to send them a bishop. It will be a repeat of Quincy, San Joaquin, Pittsburgh and Ft. Worth. Stay tuned.

PS. Unlike Charles Bennison, they won't just ask him politely to go. They will sue and sue and sue again until one of them wins.

*****

An ecclesiastical bombshell was dropped on The Continuum this week when it was announced by the The Anglican Church in America (ACA) that they have rejected the Anglicanorum Coetibus. Bishop Daren K. Williams, Diocese of The West, wrote a letter saying that after a long waiting period following the TAC Petition to Rome (October 2007), and the eager desire to move toward an Ordinariate, "I am not led to request application to enter the Ordinariate. My priorities in ministry must include the care of the people of this jurisdiction, whether or not they desire to enter an Ordinariate. We have spent so much time and energy dealing with this issue, that we are losing our focus."

Cries of betrayal ran around the Internet. "Thirty Pieces of Silver" screamed the Anglo-Catholic blog, but all to no avail. The Continuum, already split into 58 pieces, can't make up its mind what it wants or where it wants to go. And they expect people to take them seriously? The ACA's three bishops now say they want unity talks with the Anglican Province of America (APA). You can read more in today's digest.

My source in the UK wrote, "The TAC in England (21 minuscule congregations, shepherded mostly by untrained and unqualified clergy ordained by Archbishop John Hepworth) is hoping that either Bishop Moyer or Mercer will be appointed as the English Ordinary. Despite the simple facts that Moyer is married and Mercer is 77. "The few who are leaving the CofE are probably expecting Ebbsfleet to be the Ordinary - but again, both he and Richborough are married. It could happen, under the terms of AC, but far more likely is that former CofE cleric, Alan Hopes, who is now a RC auxiliary bishop in London will get the post."

*****

SEWANEE Muslims speak out. Some in the Muslim community point to fringe elements within the Republican Party and the Tea Party movement as being responsible for the recent wave of anti-Islamic sentiment nationwide. Hani Al-Twaijri, President of the Muslim Student Association at Sewanee, said he feels that some Republicans and Tea Partiers are using anti-Islamic talking points to rally voters for the upcoming November elections.

"There's a lot of animosity and dislike towards Muslims, but people keep it to themselves and they don't say anything about it," said Al-Twaijri. "But then they see other people protesting it and they think, 'I can protest this too.' I don't know when it became okay to be openly bigoted."

The "other" is clearly upset.

*****

The election of the Rev. Dan Martins to be the next bishop of the Diocese of Springfield brought out the worst from revisionist Episcopal blogs. Episcopal Café ripped into Martins. All of this is designed to make sure Martins does not get consents from the HOB and Diocesan Standing Committees. This, of course, happened to Mark Lawrence who got the job as Bishop of South Carolina on a second vote/count. Will Martins survive the onslaught? Stay tuned.

*****

Florida Bishop John Howard is seriously ill. He is having neurological surgery in California for some undeclared ailment. Pray for him. Howard is best known for inhibiting and deposing more clergy than any bishop in the history of The Episcopal Church. http://library.constantcontact.com/doc209/1102213337583/doc/sylzWM2SeLt07h6z.pdf

*****

Bishop Gene Robinson is never far from the forefront of media attention. Recently, he gave an interview with the Blade newspaper in Washington DC. Here is a choice morsel of spin.

Blade: Is there some sort of schism taking place?

Robinson: Well you know, if you just read the headlines, you would think that it was virtually a 50-50 split in our church. The fact of the matter is out of a little better than two million members, only about a hundred thousand have left. And that's their count, that's how many they claim have left the Episcopal Church.

Blade: Is it the U.S. Episcopal Church you're talking about?

Robinson: Yeah, the U.S. church. And so we've seen the departure of some 100,000 people who just can't believe this is God's will. But for the most part, the U.S. Episcopal Church is alive and well and moving forward. And so I think at the end of the day, we're going to be just fine, both internally in the Episcopal Church and the worldwide community. That doesn't mean there won't still be controversy. People will still be uncomfortable. But that's O.K. It's going to take a little while to get used to it.

NONSENSE. First of all, there are not two million Episcopalians. There are less than 700,000 practicing Episcopalians...the 2 million number is a fiction TEC puts out to blindside people. Furthermore, every year the church loses more and more people. I have written an article (in today's digest) showing that between 2002 and 2009 TEC lost 877 of its male clergy (18.6%) and in 2009 The Episcopal Church lost 181 or 3% of its clergy...and they were not all retiring gracefully to country clubs and golf carts. And as far as "getting used to it," that will never happen in the Global South. NEVER.

*****

To no one's surprise on Monday (Sept. 27) the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee is expected to hand down a sentence of Deposition on the Ordained Ministry of the Rev. James Guill, the orthodox priest at St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Nashville. Fr. Guill has been found guilty in failing, refusing or neglecting to follow a pastoral direction from Tennessee Bishop John Bauerschmidt to file yearly pastoral reports with the Diocese of Tennessee about the status of his congregation. He hasn't filed annual paperwork with the Diocese of Tennessee because has been a aggregate part of the Anglican Diocese of Quincy. In 2006 he made the move to a more traditional diocese following the election of Katharine Jefferts Schori as TEC's first female primate. He has been filing annual reports with the Diocese of Quincy. Fr. Guill has been found guilty of violating Title III.9.5(a)(l) of The Episcopal Church's 2006 version of canons and he is being sentenced under Title IV.4.16 as it is currently written, well before next year's implementation of the revamped Title IV Canons are in place.

*****

The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia met in Melbourne. A motion relating to the Anglican Communion put up by The Rev. Gavin Poole with Mr. Robert Tong seconding, stated, "Synod receives the communiqué from the Fourth Anglican Global South-to- South Encounter held in Singapore during April 2010 and:

(a) Joins with the Global South in grieving over the life of The Episcopal Church USA (TEC) and the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) and all those churches that have rejected the way of the Lord as expressed in Holy Scripture, and

(b) Affirms those in the Communion who remain true to the way of the Lord as expressed in Holy Scripture and have found it necessary to either walk apart from the TEC or ACC or to distance themselves from the innovations of their provinces, and assures them of our loving and prayerful support. It passed.

*****

The Anglican Primate of Australia, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall has given his blessing and endorsement to have the works of Britain's most celebrated author and playwright, William Shakespeare, re- written and "massaged" so that they meet the gender inclusive and feminist friendly standards of today. Speaking from the Anglican Cathedral in Brisbane recently, Archbishop Aspinall stated, "for too long now the women in our society have been subjected to the most awful sexual stereotypes while reading Shakespeare. This has to stop."

Endorsing these remarks was St Francis lecturer, Dr Gregory Jenks who stated categorically that the historical record of Shakespeare and his works have had a diabolical effect on feminist theology in the Church. He quoted some obscure, post Christian theologian to back up his stance. A number of enthusiastic Anglican priestesses are looking forward to the rewriting of Shakespeare. An unnamed Priestess was quoted as saying, "Look, we did it to the Book of Common Prayer, and now the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, so Shakespeare is our next logical step".

Said one parishioner on hearing this, "The shear temerity of the man. It is a load of bollocks". Indeed.

*****

The Synod of the Diocese of Algoma in Canada was the target of a lawsuit filed by five women who, as children, were molested by Kenneth Gibbs when he was an Anglican priest in Elliot Lake and Chapleau.

The action, filed earlier this summer, also names Gibbs, the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Diocese of Moosonee.

The victims, as well as one other woman, are each seeking $2.5 million.

Gibbs was convicted in November 2009 of eight counts of indecent assault following a trial in Sault Ste. Marie. At the age of 77, he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison.

*****

The number of people who self-identify using the long-popular phrase "spiritual but not religious" is still growing. In 1998, 9 percent of American adults told the General Social Survey they were spiritual but not religious. By 2008, it had risen to 14 percent. Among those ages 18 to 39, the increase was even more dramatic, and 18 percent now say they are spiritual but not religious.

The growth is not because people are less likely to identify as religious, but because nonreligious people are more likely to say they are spiritual, says Duke sociologist Mark Chaves.

Part of the phrase's popularity can be attributed to its sex appeal. No, really. A social psychologist at Britain's Southampton University looked at 57 studies covering 15,000 experiment subjects, and reported in Personality and Social Psychology Review that North Americans find "intrinsically religious" people desirable-but that the desirability decreases if people portray themselves as extrinsically religious.

*****

Here is a bit of commentary on same-sex blessings from a Canadian Anglican perspective. "What I do not understand is this: There is hardly anyone going to church now, for example 60 or 100 people in a building that seats 1100 people, so when full-fledged same-sex weddings come in, will there be anyone left in the church? The average age in the pews now must be 70 years old, so how much longer will the church go on?"

VOL: Don't ask, don't tell.

*****

A survey of 450,000 UK adults has found that 1.5 percent are willing to identify themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual. The Integrated Household Survey, carried out by the Office for National Statistics, is the second largest after the census.

This is the first time the survey has asked about sexual identity. The ONS stressed that the question was "experimental".

Nearly four per cent of those asked refused to answer, said they did not know or described themselves as "other". Some 71% of Brits described themselves as Christians.

****

The Prayer Book Society has launched a new website ahead of yearlong celebrations in 2012 to mark the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

The website, www.bcp350.org.uk, details the history of the liturgy and national and regional events marking its anniversary.

It has been endorsed by politicians, Church leaders and commentators, including Tory MP Mark Pritchard, the Bishop of Lincoln, the Rt Rev John Saxbee, Lord Waddington QC and Joanna Lumley.

A spokesman for the Prayer Book Society said the website would also feature a new online version of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. "The website will become the centerpiece of all that 2012 means," he said. The website was launched during the Prayer Book Society's annual conference last week.

Several high profile speakers, including newspaper columnist Peter Hitchens, who said the Book of Common Prayer was "the very stuff of inspiration", joined the conference.

*****

President Barack Obama and family attended church services at St. John's Episcopal Church Lafayette Square this past Sunday, September 19, 2010. There was a special speaker at that service, Dr. Ziad Asali, M.D., a Muslim, founder and president of the American Task Force on Palestine. Asali was there to speak on the subject of "Prospects of the two-state solution in the Middle-East" according to the Post and Mail. Dr. Ziad J. Asali is described as "a long-time activist on Middle East issues" who has testified to both chambers of Congress about Palestinian interests, increased U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority, and "Israel's disproportionate use of force" in Gaza.

*****

In Milan, Italy, Maria Vittoria Longhitano lay before the altar in May in Rome when she was ordained a priest of the Old Catholic Church.

As a child, she prayed to St. Rita - much venerated in Sicily - asking for her intervention to become a priest.

The Roman Catholic Church has no place for women among its clerical ranks, as the Vatican stated forcefully over the summer when it decreed that the attempt to ordain female priests is to be considered one of the most serious crimes against church law.

Ms. Longhitano's spiritual journey eventually led her to the Old Catholic Church, a denomination that split from the Roman Catholic Church in the 19th century, mostly over the issue of papal infallibility. She studied theology at the University of Catania.

On May 22 - coincidentally, the feast day of St. Rita - Ms. Longhitano, 35, was ordained a priest in a ceremony in an Anglican church in Rome. She is now known as Mother Vittoria, and is preparing to lead a congregation in Sabbioneta.

*****

CORRECTION: Last week VOL mentioned two parishes in Canada - St. Alban's in Ottawa and St. George's. We forgot to say that St. Alban's left the Anglican Church of Canada and became part of the Anglican Network in Canada (a part of ACNA) on 16 February 2008. St. George's followed suit in October 2008. Bishop George Sinclair wrote to VOL and said, "We have remained in our buildings since we believe that legally and canonically they are owned by the Incumbent's and Wardens in trust for the parishes. The mediation sessions are an attempt to see if we can come up with a solution that keeps us all out of the courts and allows all parties to move on."

*****

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In Christ,

David