The U.S. event brought together some 21 Windsor Bishops to Camp Allen, Texas.

There one page statement boiled down to this one paragraph: "It is our hope and prayer that through our fellowship we can contribute to the renewal of our Province's life within the Communion."

You can read the full letter to the HOB here: http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4745

This writer has learned over the years that whenever you see a sentence that begins: "It is our hope and prayer....", "The common hope of those gathered here..."; "We believe that this process will lead too..."; "The Church needs to go to a deeper place...." that what you have is nothing more than fudge, Episcopal fudge.

Renewal of the Province! Not a chance. The Episcopal Church is 80 per cent run by liberals and revisionists and the orthodox are fast becoming a remnant church.

The group of bishops who met the week before in New York City concluded that divorce was now the only way forward and all that remained was how to divvy up the properties.

The difference between these two groups is that the group meeting in Texas were Windsor bishops who accept and affirm the Windsor Report and view adherence to it as furthering the vocation to heal the breaches within the Communion and in their ecumenical relationships. Furthermore, they endorse the recommendation of the Windsor Report, as supported by the Archbishop of Canterbury, for the development of an Anglican Covenant. They believe the Windsor Report believe that the church should adhere to statements made at successive Lambeth Conferences, including the resolutions of Lambeth 1998 (among which is Resolution 1.10). We understand this to be the mind of the Communion for teaching and discipline. They recognize that GC2006 was inadequate in its response to the demands of the Windsor Report.

The set of bishops who met in New York City included Network Bishops and those seeking APO and they said they are done talking and want to see divorce papers put on the table.

The Windsor bishops just clearly don't see it that way. The notion that "renewal" is possible at this late hour in the Episcopal Church is, VOL believes, a fiction.

Tell that to my rector who has to live with the vicious, orthodox hating Charles E. Bennison every day of his life....or the orthodox remnant that still have to live under Bishop Orris Walker of Long Island. Tell that to godly orthodox remnants living in dioceses like CT, NY, FL, CA, et al Tell that to all the AMIA folk who have left ECUSA over the last five years. Tell that to the 16 parishes in Northern Florida who have forsaken millions of dollars worth of properties in order to be faithful to their Lord. Tell that to the California five who have left and are still in litigation with Bishop J. Jon Bruno for their properties. Tell that the 7 parishes in the Diocese of San Diego whom Bishop Mathes calls "chicken littles." Tell that to Bishop John-David Schofield who faces possibly getting thrown out of his diocese by four gloriously "inclusive", "diverse" appreciating California bishops. Tell that to the dozens of parishes that have sought APO from overseas bishops. Tell it to the dozens of parishes since the St. Louis Convention that have fled ECUSA for one of the many Continuing jurisdictions.

The truth is the ECUSA is totally beyond renewal. If you don't believe that just read my story on Bennison here: http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4739 and ask yourself if renewal is even remotely possible in the Diocese of PA or any revisionist diocese. Now if they happen to get rid of this worthless bishop, do you think for a moment that this diocese will elect anyone remotely orthodox? Not a prayer.

BUT, another voice from a person who was at Camp Allen, not a bishop, offered VOL an entirely different perspective on what happened there. Asking to remain anonymous, here is what he wrote: "I was there and it was spectacular. The dove tailing between Camp Allen and Kigali (Rwanda) is the perfect set up and everyone is on board to force those who have walked apart to hit the road. The Primates were given the critical mass they needed with a broad coalition that had to expand beyond just the network that they can now work with, and it is the primates with whom Rowan himself must work to have the right authority to call it like it is. All the pieces have now been put in place for the way forward. New York failed, so the internal attempt at a solution box has been checked. Camp Allen yielded the broader group that will quickly grow. Not only did we not lose anyone like [Bishop Jack] Iker, but we added people like [Bishop Geralyn] Wolfe. Their statement said exactly what they were asked to say. Over half the primates [in Kigali] then extended their hand with a language which was within their own authority to speak--and gave us already in a sense the outcome of the February meeting. Goodbye Columbus (GC2006)." He also proffered the view that Katherine Schori will never make it to a Primates meeting. She is toast. We shall see.

For Bishop Wimberley who hosted this event, the real test will be when a parish in the Diocese of Texas wants to secede from that diocese and the ECUSA, and then watch how he reacts. That will be ABSOLUTE TRUTH time for that Windsor bishop and that parish.

The Network bishops believe the Episcopal Church is lost and they will not have Eucharistic fellowship with Frank Griswold or Katherine Schori ever again. For them it is over.

IN KIGALI, Rwanda the heat got turned up even higher when 20 African primates said that the time has now come to take initial steps towards the formation of what will be recognized as a separate ecclesiastical structure of the Anglican Communion in the USA. "We have asked the Global South Steering Committee to develop such a proposal in consultation with the appropriate instruments of unity of the Communion," they said.

What they actually said was that THEY the (Global South Primates) were going to set up a new structure. I think they are going to try to collaborate with Lambeth. There is a lot of quiet diplomacy going on as well, said a source who was there.

Then they gobsmacked The Episcopal Church. "At the next meeting of the Primates in February 2007 some of us will not be able to recognize Katharine Jefferts Schori as a Primate at the table with us." Others will be in impaired communion with her as a representative of The Episcopal Church. Since she cannot represent those dioceses and congregations who are abiding by the teaching of the Communion we propose that another bishop, chosen by these dioceses, be present at the meeting so that we might listen to their voices during our deliberations."

Then they said that Primatial oversight should be provided for those American dioceses who want it. "We have asked the Global South Steering Committee to meet with the leadership of the dioceses requesting Alternative Primatial Oversight, in consultation with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Network and the 'Windsor Dioceses', to investigate their appeal in greater detail and to develop a proposal identifying the ways by which the requested Primatial oversight can be adequately provided."

The message to Rowan Williams could hardly be clearer, as it is for Frank Griswold.

Said the African leaders: "We understand the serious implications of this determination. We believe that we would be failing in our apostolic witness if we do not make this provision for those who hold firmly to a commitment to historic Anglican faith."

The full communique can be found here along with responses from the Anglican Communion Network, the American Anglican Council and Church Society. http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4744

But an American evangelical leader who was present at the Kigali meeting with the Primates said it was really good. "There was a sweet spirit; great cooperation. Though people may think the language is a bit muted, it is in "English understatement" style. The whole thing boils down to two main things. First the Global South coming into its own with the theological work better than anything coming out of the West, and the practical stuff is Gospel centered. Secondly; trying to help Rowan succeed in handling the crisis while making sure that the faith goes on in North America."

"The ECUSA has colored outside the lines for too long and totally blew it at General Convention. I think 815 will try to spin that this meeting has "No Authority" to act in another province, but..."

You can read all the primary source statements in today's digest with additional commentary.

SADLY we report that Bishop Stephen Jecko, Assistant Bishop of Dallas entered the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville for tests. Late on Sunday night it was confirmed that Bishop Jecko has confirmed bladder cancer but the prognosis is very optimistic. He has returned to Dallas. Bishop James Stanton (Dallas) requests prayers for the Bishop and Mrs. Jecko.

The DIOCESE OF NEWARK elected a new bishop this past week and mercifully it was not the gay candidate. Does it mean the diocese will look up? Not likely. The new bishop, the Rev. Mark Beckwith will be the 10th Bishop of Newark. He is not known for his orthodoxy, and his election was roundly praised by Integrity president Susan Russell. He's a clone of Croneberger and Spong. The diocese will continue its decline into oblivion.

From the DIOCESE OF COLORADO comes word from a VOL reader that, according to the latest parochial reports in Colorado: 19 churches are growing, 38 churches are maintaining, 46 churches are declining and 4 churches are closing. Within a decade half the diocese will have closed unless they get an Evangelical bishop who will fervently proclaim the gospel.

The DIOCESE OF TENNESSEE is back on the front burner looking for a new bishop. After more than 30 attempts at the last convention to find a bishop and failing, the nominees were scrapped and five new men have been nominated as next bishop for this orthodox diocese to succeed Bishop Bertram Herlong. The nominees are: the Rev. John L Bauerschmidt, 47, rector, Christ Church, Covington, Louisiana, Diocese of Louisiana; the Rev. James L. Burns, 60, rector, Church of the Heavenly Rest, New York, Diocese of New York; the Rev. Thack H. Dyson, 50, St. Paul's Church, Daphne, Alabama, Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast; the Rev. Dr. Russell Jones Levenson, Jr., 44, Christ Church Parish, Pensacola, Florida, Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast; and the Rev. Carter N. Paden, 53, rector, St. Peter's Episcopal Church and School, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Diocese of East Tennessee. Nominations by petition will be accepted until noon on October 4.

A source deep in the diocese told VOL that liberals dominated the selection of the slate of candidates, and said that the only two safe candidates were the Rev's. Bauerschmidt and Levenson. The others are liberals and will lead the diocese away from orthodoxy, said the source.

Bishop Herlong reconfigured the Episcopate Committee in May and charged the members with gathering new names and offering a slate of three to five names. The slate announced September 20 does not include any of the original nominees.

In the Diocese of Tennessee, it is not unusual for bishop elections to require a number of ballots. Herlong was elected after 15 ballots and it took 39 ballots to elect his predecessor.

CATHEDRAL BURNED in Nigeria. St Peter's Anglican Cathedral in Dutse, the capital of Jigawa State in Northern Nigeria was burnt down September 19 by arsonists. The Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Yusufu Lumu and his family, his wife Phoebe, and their three children, are under police protection at the police station. Source - The Bishop of Kano, the Rt. Rev. Zakka Lalle Nyam.

Ruth Gledhill reports on her blog: In the latest anti-Christian Islamist violence linked to the Pope's recent Regensburg address, the Anglican cathedral of Dutse in northern Nigeria and all but two of the local churches have been torched. When I called Bishop Yusufu Lumu, whose seat St Peter's cathedral is, or was, he was grateful only that no lives had been lost. His bishop's cottage was partly burned, he said. "We have called the police but up to now they have not come out to protect the area," he said. "We do not know what will happen next." I asked him why he thought it happened. Even down the crackly line from Nigeria, I heard him sigh. "The rumour is that someone insulted the Prophet."

Bishop Ben Kwashi of Jos spoke to Anglican Mainstream after speaking to Bishop Yusufu Lumu of Dutse. "Only about three churches out of about 15 are still standing in the town. The destruction was only in the town. No reason has been given. They just began looting and burning churches from about 8.30 p.m. last night. It was not until it was over that the police came. No help came whatsoever until after it had happened. The Nigerian security system is very good. This is a police system that has gone all over the world in UN peace-keeping operations. Right now we have police in Sudan, we have police in Lebanon. They were in Kosovo. They have done very well. It is not possible that something of that magnitude, directed specifically at the church and only at the church, should take our security systems unaware. There seems to be some deliberate intention to support this at state level."

EVEN as the Episcopal Church comes unglued, Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) reiterated the "full communion" relationship between the ELCA and the Episcopal Church. He spoke about the role of churches in holding governments accountable for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Hanson also urges involvement in the ONE Campaign, the goal of which is to direct an additional ONE percent of the U.S. federal budget toward providing basic needs like health, education, food and clean water to transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the world's poorest countries. It's interesting, both liberal denominations are losing people, but they are united in saving the world through economic salvation.

ACCORDING to the several newspaper reports in England the former Archbishop of Cape Town and Nobel prizewinner Dr Desmond Tutu was considered as one of the candidates to become the Archbishop of Canterbury on the retirement of Lord Runcie in 1991. Details of this are revealed in a new authorized biography by John Allen a journalist and a former member of Dr Tutu's staff and of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. It is to be published next month.

Bemoaned an REC priest; "how much more quickly would things Anglican have fallen apart if Tutu had been made ABC?" Indeed. Tutu has come out foursquare for the gay and lesbian agenda of the Episcopal Church. His leadership would have had Nigerian Primate Peter Akinola force a crisis much sooner than it has.

FROM A VOL READER: There are probably more scriptural references to Christians being required to dissociate from false teaching and/or pagan practices than there are to homosexuality. It is surprising to me that no one is really writing about this. What we hear about is the authority of Scripture and God's stand on issues of sexual morality. But no one seems to be talking about the ethics of association. And yet this is precisely the message that needs to be getting out to the fence sitters. Point duly noted.

WHILE FLORIDA BISHOP John Howard, a Windsor Bishop was present at Camp Allen, he did not sign the final document, causing a former Episcopal priest to observe that while he claimed to be a Windsor Bishop and Florida a Windsor Diocese, his excessive need for power and control, and his ousting of every orthodox priest in his diocese, makes him a misnomer. "Howard sees himself and his leadership in the Diocese of Florida as exemplary. He speaks to the people in the diocese suggesting that he (Howard) and the Diocese of Florida are paving the way for the reformation of the Episcopal Church. He has vowed to remain a part of the ECUSA/TEC. He wants it both ways and fails to see that it just ain't gonna happen."

A VOL reader wrote to say that Howard went to the Texas meeting with one agenda and one agenda ONLY -- NO BOUNDARY CROSSING. Apparently, he kept hammering, and hammering away at the issue until Wimberly said, "put a sock in it." Apparently, Howard got up in a huff and left the meeting returning to Florida before the end of the meeting. Ah collegiality. "Howard's #1 concern is himself. He wants to be a player. Until GC2006, the international status of the Network was somewhat uncertain. Since GC2006, the Network is rising in global significance. ECUSA/TEC is about to topple. As such, Howard will do anything and everything to simply make sure he's still a part of the worldwide picture. So ... he will attend the meeting in Texas with Wimberly to open a possible window for himself when all falls apart. BUT ... he won't go so far as signing his name to anything in the event ECUSA/TEC remains in the picture. I believe he's trying to play both sides without having to put his name on the line for ONE purpose ONLY -- He wants to go to Lambeth in 2008." "If Howard was to have signed the Network letter, he would be seen by the HOB as having abandoned the ECUSA. That would compromise his standing in the ECUSA. However, if he had failed to attend the meeting, he would have been written off by the Network and global communion. So ... he went to the meeting ... but refused to commit. He's looking out for himself and his place in the power politics, striving to keep every door and window open. What's interesting to me is what Howard will do when the expulsion of the ECUSA finally comes. What will he do with the 16 churches and 30 clergy who he has inhibited and deposed? By standing for nothing but himself, he has put himself in a no win situation."

The Anglican Communion News Service reports a new co-operative venture with the Church Mission Society (CMS) and the Anglican Communion Office (ACO). Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of announced the appointment of the Rev. John Kaoma Kafwanka as Mission and Evangelism Officer for the Anglican Communion. The position became available after the recent retirement of Marjorie Murphy. Kafwanka has worked for CMS for the last three years as a regional co-coordinator in Lusaka, Zambia, in Southern Africa. Ordained to the priesthood in 1994, Kafwanka served St. John's in Zambia and was also the principal and rector for the national seminary. "I am looking forward to working within the Anglican Communion Office with the hope of widening experiences in mission work and increasing the visibility of mission endeavours in our churches," he told Anglican Communion News Service.

Kafwanka describes Mission and Evangelism as being about "God's mission to humanity in a holistic sense, where it is God's mission and not the Church's mission. Thus wider and bigger than we can envisage." Kafwanka will survey the work of the Provinces and Member Churches of the Anglican Communion with respect to mission and evangelism and to identify the needs and resources. Important to his portfolio is his work in the preparation of materials to be used at the 2008 Lambeth Conference on issues concerning evangelism.

A person knowledgeable on international Anglican affairs wrote VOL to say that the move to have a highly visible evangelical in that post is "a good appointment. My guess would be that CMS is moving to try to get some Gospel into the ACO," he wrote.

STORIES in today's digest include a major development in the DIOCESE OF PENNSYLVANIA. The Standing Committee has retained separate counsel in its fight to get rid of Bishop Charles E. Bennison. The theologically limp but fiscally conservative group, have gotten up enough religion to finally hire none other than feisty Newark lawyer Michael Rehill, who doesn't lose cases when it comes to the Episcopal Church. While he was Spong's diocesan chancellor and supported Walter Righter in the infamous 'Righter Trial', and won a ton of money for the Rev. Janet Kraft in her case against former NY Bishop Richard Grein, he once told this reporter he was an Anglo Catholic. So now he's been hired to get rid of Bennison. Based on past performance, the odds are he will tell Bennison he can go quietly now with a generous payout a la Joe Mo Doss the former Bishop of NJ, or he can go later, publicly humiliated in the press, a humiliation this writer will gladly indulge him in.

ANOTHER story by this writer, documents the quickening decline of The Episcopal Church in the wake of GC2006.

SOME OF YOU have written to say that you have been dropped from the database. Let me assure you that no one is taken off the list except by personal request. Please check your SPAM filters first before writing to VOL.

If you are an AOL user, then there is a good possibility that you may not receive the digest from time to time. VOL's web master suggests that you obtain a FREE e-mail address from Google, Yahoo or MSN.

PLEASE consider supporting VOL with a tax deductible donation. Most of you have been receiving VOL's weekly digests for years but have never made a financial commitment. Please consider doing so this week. There are now three persons on the VOL payroll to keep you informed.

You can send a donation to:

VIRTUEONLINE
1236 Waterford Rd.,
West Chester, PA 19380

OR you can make a donation through PAYPAL at VOL's website: www.virtueonline.org

Thank you for your support.

All blessings,

David W. Virtue DD