Dear Brothers and Sisters,
December 27, 2024
THE BATTLE is over for the Western provinces of the Anglican Communion, and for the Church of England in particular. As an Established Church, all the levers of power are tightly controlled by the two Archbishops and the House of Bishops. All the property and assets of the Church are vested in the Church of England as established by law by Henry VIII. No matter how many leave, they will not take any of those assets with them, and all will remain in the hands of the House of Bishops.
The House of Bishops has chosen to defy the Canon Law of the Church of England to impose prayers for the blessing of homosexual unions. No attempt appears to have been made to challenge this in the courts, the only redress available to the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC). They will walk away with nothing.
The CEEC, an association of mainly conservative evangelical Anglican members of the Church of England describes itself as the collective voice of the "vast majority" of evangelicals within the Church of England, aiming "to promote and maintain orthodox evangelical theology and ethics at the heart of the Church of England". It was founded in 1960 by the evangelical Anglican clergyman John Stott, whose theological legacy continues to this day. The CEEC Alliance has declared a “parallel province” supported by more than 2,000 clergy, and they have cautioned the bishops against a departure from the Church of England’s historic and biblical doctrine of sex and marriage. But it has no teeth when it comes to property, purses and pensions.
This is exactly what happened in The Episcopal Church, except the courts did not favor the Episcopal Church in every property case. In some cases deals were cut that allowed the continuance of the newly formed Anglican Church in North America to stay in their properties. There were big wins for the ACNA in Ft. Worth, South Carolina, and Quincy
No orthodox province should continue any longer to maintain any relations with the See of Canterbury. It is firmly set on the trajectory imposed by Justin Welby of embracing the full agenda of The Episcopal Church. It will not change whoever is appointed as ABC in 2025, since there are 41 other diocesan bishops who have committed themselves to this.
The future for orthodox Anglicanism lies beyond English shores. VOL believes the time has come for a new international leader based elsewhere, perhaps in Alexandria and the See of St. Mark or a new bishop of North Africa!
Speaking of which, all bets are on the Iranian-born Bishop of Chelmsford Gulnar "Guli" Francis-Dehqani to replace Justin Welby, the first woman archbishop in the Church of England and the third global archbishop following in the footsteps of TEC Archbishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Linda Nicholls of the Anglican Church of Canada. There have been several women Metropolitan bishops or archbishops in charge of an internal ecclesiastical province but not primates.
But as the Guardian newspaper observed, “The Church of England is beset by financial troubles, heresy, and, worst of all, no particular sense of what the Church is for or why it exists at all.” The charge is a terrible indictment of a state church by a leading newspaper. If she wins can Francis-Dehqani turn it around? Sadly the House of Bishops looks more like an elder care facility.
The final nail in the Welby coffin ere he leaves, came when a children's charity rejected a Christmas donation from the departing archbishop, saying that accepting it would not be consistent with its work in supporting victims of child sexual abuse. That must have been a real slap in the face as his wife had endorsed the idea.
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BUT THE NEWS that captured the headlines was the departure not only of Archbishop Justin Welby but former Archbishop George Carey as well with John Sentamu, former Archbishop of York already out the door, and Stephen Cottrell the present Archbishop of York waiting for the axe to fall. One can only imagine what William Shakespeare would have made of all this.
Welby’s departure may seem shocking, but on several occasions when he found himself in hot water he had asked “should I resign.” His self-answer was no.
This time with conservatives riding his case and liberals finally having had enough of his failure to deliver on the promise of full homosexual marriage recognition, Welby tossed in the towel and said he would go.
It was an ignominious end from a hopeful beginning.
Following the end of the reign of the Hegelian-driven Rowan Williams whose thoughts and pronouncements had the primates of the Global South shaking their heads in bewilderment, Welby seemed like a breath of fresh evangelical air coming out of Lambeth Palace. Sadly it was not to be.
He was brought down by a layman barrister whose sadistic behavior with young men went ignored for four decades, finally caught up with him and he was gone.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey also quit the Church of England after it emerged he 'let a child abuser return to priesthood'. Lord Carey penned a letter announcing his resignation earlier this month amid mounting pressure over a sexual abuse case in relation to ex-priest David Tudor.
Tudor was banned from the ministry for life this year as he admitted what the church described as serious sexual abuse involving two girls aged 15 and 16.
Now the Archbishop of York faces even more charges, but steadfastly refuses to resign (at this time of publishing). Tudor, who was banned from ministry for life this year, was reinstated during the Archbishop of York's time as Bishop of Chelmsford and remained in post after Stephen Cottrell was first told of concerns about him, the BBC reported.
Cottrell admitted that things 'could have been handled differently' as he faced calls to resign over his handling of the case.
Earlier, The Daily Mail reported that the CofE’s second most senior figure, ‘ignored’ 11 separate complaints, some involving leading figures in the Church, including bishops.
Cottrell opined that the church must “kneel in penitence and adoration” this Christmas and “be changed”, adding that the needs of others, including victims of abuse and exploitation must be put first in a Christmas sermon he delivered.
Victims of the priest branded Cottrell’s response to the case “insulting and upsetting” and suggested his resignation or him being forced out of his leading role in the Church was “inevitable”.
Bishop of Newcastle Helen-Ann Hartley questioned how Cottrell could have any credibility, and Bishop of Gloucester Rachel Treweek declined to publicly back him.
Lord Sentamu, the former Archbishop of York, was forced to step down from his Church of England role in May 2023 after a review into how he handled a child sex abuse allegation found that he failed to act on the claim and should have sought advice. The review also found that Sentamu's response to the findings was unacceptable.
Smyth's Sadistic Behavior could claim 30 percent of the evangelical leadership in the CofE.
More and more it appears that Welby has become the fall guy for the presenting situation.
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Meanwhile the Church of England squirms as its role as leader of the Communion faces condemnation for its failure to adequately address the concerns of the communion especially over matters of human sexuality.
The Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith, and Order (IASCUFO) a permanent commission that advises the Anglican Communion on matters of doctrine, liturgy, canon law, and ecumenical relations, recently issued a communique following weeklong pro forma meetings in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, earlier in December.
The key phrase in the communique reads: “As we wrestled with our divisions, we sensed that the Communion may be moving from a season of raw and antagonistic division to one of reckoning with what will likely be a long process of resolution. We may now be able to face our theological differences and associated fractures more productively, as we seek responsible and creative ways to remain together, albeit to varying degrees. This will involve recognition of the hurt that has been caused, as well as concerted attempts to find healing for past and present wounds, and to rebuild trust.”
The IASCUFO praised the recent Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) new direction for the Anglican Communion, but will GAFCON Bishops buy it?
The proposals, which were endorsed by the Communion’s Standing Committee, call for a new description of the Anglican Communion that strikes the phrase “communion with the See of Canterbury”. These proposals also call to elevate a senior primate to serve along with the ABC with responsibility for chairing the other Instruments of Communion."
But will GAFCON primates buy it? No mention was made of the Jerusalem Declaration which states that GAFCON bishops are out of communion with Western liberal Anglicans in the communion who preach and practice another ‘gospel’ that is no gospel at all.
One thing is clear; both GAFCON and the GSFA have demanded that repentance and repudiation of homosexuality and its attendant lifestyle must take place before any rapprochement can take place. And that, it seems, it still a long way off. You can read more here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/the-city-of-man-against-the-city-of-go
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10 notable Christian ministry leaders, influencers who died in 2024 included two Anglicans. Bishop Jack Iker, 75, Anglican Bishop of Ft. Worth. He saw the diocese through its tumultuous transition from Episcopal to Anglican and managed to keep the properties for future generations of Anglicans. Iker is credited with helping to found the ACNA, that became the home for many congregations that left The Episcopal Church over its theologically liberal direction.
The second notable Anglican was Timothy Dudley-Smith, a former bishop in the Church of England and the prolific hymn writer behind such songs as "Lord, Through the Years" and "Tell all, my Soul," died at age 97.
A native of Manchester, England, Dudley-Smith served as bishop of Thetford from 1981-1991, general secretary of the Church Pastoral Aid Society from 1965-1973, and director of the Evangelical Alliance from 1987-1992. He was a close associate of the late John R. W. Stott.
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We could not end today’s digest without a mention of the Christians in Syria who now find themselves in a perilous position, having gotten rid of Basha al-Assad now find they must contend with rebel groups who hate them even more. “Better Assad than ISIS” ran the old theme. Now they don’t know where they stand or fall.
You can read Giles Fraser, an Anglican priest’s A fearful Christmas in Syria Christianity is threatened by Islamism here:
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Warmly in Christ,
David
President,
VIRTUEONLINE
VOL WISHES ALL ITS READERS A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A BLESSED AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.
A nice Freudian (?) typo there - TD-S's famous hymn was of course "Tell out, my soul" - but the version David has given us seems well-designed to strike the conscience of any church leaders who've fallen short of their safeguarding reporting duty....