The Primates wrote: “This deliberate disobedience of the revealed will of God in the Holy Scriptures is a flagrant departure from the consensual and clearly communicated mind and will of the Anglican Communion. By this, ECUSA has willfully torn “the fabric of the communion at its deepest level, and as a consequence openly cut themselves adrift and broken the sacramental fellowship of the Communion.”

Here’s what they said: Should ECUSA fail to comply within three months, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates should then take appropriate disciplinary
action, which should include the suspension and ultimate expulsion of ECUSA from fellowship and membership of the Anglican Communion.

And as an added twist they said that full recognition and full Episcopal and pastoral oversight should be given by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates to those dioceses, parishes and laity within ECUSA who continue to uphold the historic faith and order of the Anglican Communion.

They then said that similar measures should be applied to the Bishop and Synod of the
Diocese of New Westminster, Canada for their unilateral approval and implementation of rites for the blessing of same sex union.

The question that must be asked is why now and why not wait till the Lambeth (Eames) Commission has finished its work? Clearly the Primates want to send a very loud message to Robin Eames and his team and it is this – we will brook nothing less than the full exclusion of Griswold and Ingham for their moral and theological apostasy – and if you disagree, it will rebound on Dr. Rowan Williams himself. Are you listening Archbishop Eames?

And this is what Griswold fears most. He doesn’t care what the Primates think, he only cares what the Archbishop of Canterbury thinks, and if he is in communion with him personally. If that tie should break, Griswold will go down in flames and it will be the end of “graceful conversation” once and for all. It will also mean that The Episcopal Church will become a minor sect on the American ecclesiastical landscape, and it will, in time, because of its apostasy and the hardening of the hearts of its revisionist bishops, die.

There will be no Solemn Pontifical Requiem Mass.

Clearly it’s “springtime for Vickie”.

You can read their full statement in today’s digest.

THE SEXUAL MADNESS IN ECUSA CONTINUES. You can read a story in today’s digest about how gay revisionists are turning up the heat on pro-gay bishop William Swing of California because he dared to say that Otis Charles “marriage” was irregular and should not have taken place. Swing fired Charles as his assisting bishop. In Massachusetts, Tom Shaw the pro-gay bishop there says he won’t allow gay marriages to be performed in his diocese, but a lesbian ‘theologian’ at Episcopal Divinity School is challenging that. It just gets crazier with each passing day.

AND IN THE DIOCESE OF RHODE ISLAND, concerned orthodox laity and clergy are stepping up the heat on revisionist priests and laity in that diocese. They have formed CERI – Concerned Episcopalians for Rhode Island to do battle with the revisionists. The liberal Bishop Geralyn Wolf actually wants to work with the AAC as a model of cooperation between the two groups. We shall see.

And in the DIOCESE OF PITTSBURGH the Via Media revisionists are trying to up the pain levels on Bob Duncan the bishop there because he allowed an REC Bishop to officiate at one his parishes. Duncan is not moved and fired back a strong salvo of his own. You can read that story today.

And in the DIOCESE OF LONDON, an orthodox parish angry at the appointment of Jeffrey John to St. Alban’s has told the C of E powers that be that it is going to divert funds into an ex-gay ministry to help sexually addicted homosexuals break free. Holy Trinity Church in Barnet, north London, will give nearly $10,000 a year to the True Freedom Trust, which offers therapy to encourage sexual "transformation".

Wouldn’t it be an real act of courage if one orthodox ECUSA diocese said it would divert funds from the national church in order to support an EXODUS ministry for homosexuals who wanted to break free from their sexual addiction, and offer to provide them with office space at Diocesan headquarters. The Integrity folk would probably implode with anger.

AND VIRTUOSITY TAKES ANOTHER HARD LOOK AT DEPO. Orthodox rectors are confused about what the bishops really passed in Texas. If you are a besieged rector take a hard look at this article and start fighting. You can put off an unwanted visitation from a revisionist bishop longer than you think

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU GAVE your hard-earned money to support a conference for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, with "skill-enhancing workshops led by nationally renowned activists and community-building activities with like-minded progressives," and such luminaries as, Raven Kaldera, Female-To-Male Transgendered Activist and Shaman, pagan priest, intersex transgender activist, parent, astrologer, musician, homesteader, and the author of Hermaphrodeities: The Transgender Spirituality Workbook. He is the founder and leader of the Pagan Kingdom of Asphodel, and the Asphodel Pagan Choir. He has been a neo-pagan since the age of 14, when he was converted by a "fam-trad" teen on a date. Since then, he's been through half a dozen traditions, including Gardnerian, Dianic, and granola paganism, Umbanda, Heithnir, and the Peasant Tradition.

Or, M. Macha NightMare, Priestess & Witch, author of 101 Reasons To Be Proud You're Pagan, whose "magical practice is inspired by feminism and a concern for the health of our planet, and is informed by Celtic, Hindu and Tibetan practices, the sacred art of tantra, and the magic of enchantment."

Well... if you contribute to the EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF MICHIGAN, you just did.

On May 22nd at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Together in Faith, sponsored in part by the Michigan chapter of Episcopal GLBT "outreach" group Oasis, will bring together Wiccans, shamans, Muslims, pagans, Hindus, and one Episcopal... something or other... to talk about such topics as Sex & Spells: Gender and Political Activism in the Witchen Community. "We will sit in circle for focused discussion about gender, power, and the many ways that people change culture. We will address our values and the ethics of spellwork, after which we will plan, create and empower our own collaborative spell for change in harmony with our values and in accordance with our wills."

So good to know that affirmation and inclusiveness are alive and well in Ypsilanti. Oh, and paganism too. A Virtuosity reader spoke on the phone at length with a prominent cleric from the diocese. He said the organization indeed gets some of its funds from the diocese.

COWLEY OH COWLEY please don’t let us down. Once known as the Cowley Fathers but now the Society of St. John the Evangelist SSJE based in Boston, has an interesting twist on the difference between chastity and celibacy.

Now the dictionary definition of chaste is “not indulging in unlawful sexual activity”; virtuous: said especially of women. Celibate is a person who has taken a vow to remain unmarried. One who is sexually abstinent.

When a Virtuosity reader asked where the SSJE stood on this fine distinction here is what the Superior Curtis Almquist said: “Thank you for contacting us for a clarification about our own life and vows. We live as a community of brothers, a number of whom are ordained. (The title "Cowley Father" was dropped about 16 years ago and since then, irrespective of our ordination status, we are addressed as brothers.) Approximately thirty years ago the community elected to change the vow of "chastity" to the vow of "celibacy." The community understood, and understands, that those who live under the vows of marriage or in dedicated partnership live under a vow of chastity, i.e., faithfulness to this one other. Our understanding of celibacy is rigorous. In our Rule of Life three chapters are given over to this vow.

So if you have entered into a “dedicated (read sexual) partnership” with another monk that’s okay because it can be deemed “chaste”. You gotta love what you can do with language to make room for whatever it is you wanna do unto another. Some years ago VIRTUOSITY exposed the sexual shenanigans of the friars at the Society of St. Francis on Long Island. They weren’t quite so chaste. A friar, one James Allen got hurt real bad when he was seduced homosexually and he ultimately committed suicide. Perhaps they should have gone back to the old fashioned term celibacy. The former head of the SSJE Martin Smith got tossed out of the SSJE for conduct unbecoming. He quietly shipped off to Washington, DC without ever being deposed.

AND FROM WALTER RIGHTER COMES THE FOLLOWING REALITY CHECK.
He wrote on the HOB/D LISTSERV, “that there is, incidentally, plenty of evidence that what is happening in Africa is not going to last as people float from Christianity to Islam and Back again. The emptiness of African religion is there for all to see. Now we wait and watch.”

Indeed we shall bishop, and while wait and watch, ECUSA will sink deeper into the swamp of unbelief and heterodoxy, its Presiding Bishop banished by the Global South Primates, while the African Church will continue to grow by the millions as the gospel is presented clearly and unambiguously to people just dying to hear.

AND FROM SISTER SARAH MASTERSON, MDC comes this. Have you ever considered being a nun? Just curious about religious life in the Episcopal Church? The Missionaries of the Divine Compassion are sponsoring a discernment retreat for women and girls (age 15 and up) August 20-22, 2004 in Warsaw, Indiana. During the retreat, the participants will be praying Holy Eucharist and Divine Office with Sister, attending conferences, recreating, sharing thoughts and good times, but, above all, listening to God speak to their hearts during Eucharistic Adoration. There will be plenty of time getting to know each other and learning about religious life and the special work of this new foundation, as well. Fr. Steven Kelly, SSC is chaplain for the retreat. The Missionaries of the Divine Compassion was founded in response to the Holy Spirit's urgent desire to bring people to Jesus and is an ecumenical, Franciscan religious order affiliated with the American Anglican Council and committed to bringing the Gospel to the people, the people to the sacraments, and the tender love of Our Lord Jesus to everyone. For more information, please contact Sister Sarah Masterson, MDC, (574) 269-2972 or 309 Herscher Dr., Warsaw, IN 46580. Www.orthodoxanglican.org/mdc.

SEWANEE GETS NEW DEAN AND COPES WITH NAME CHANGE. Bill Stafford,
an orthodox professor who was teaching at Virginia Theological Seminary has been named Dean of the School of Theology at Sewanee. He is reported to have been very disillusioned by the actions of the last General Convention and depressed over what VTS
has become. “He has the courage and wisdom and faith to do an excellent job. Sewanee under his leadership might become a new outpost for orthodoxy or it might become the Alamo,” writes a Virtuosity reader. We shall see.

In the area of name change (see story in today’s digest) it’s all about political correctness.
If you go to Sewanee’s website, you will find that the university now has a Women’s Studies Department with course offerings such as “Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies.” This course provides “a survey of the history, politics, culture, psychology, biology, and literature of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered people.”

That should make a lot of Episcopal mothers happy.

AND THE DIOCESE OF WEST TEXAS has reduced it's proposed '04 payment to the budget of the General Convention of ECUSA by $500,000+ first by a reduction in the percentage of the diocesan budget originally proposed, followed by a reduction of $350,000+ by redirection by parishes as a result of a diocesan council resolution passed in Feb. giving parishes and individuals a choice as to whether or not their pledges would be used to support ECUSA or instead, other designated world mission work.

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