jQuery Slider

You are here

TEC under judgment.Schori Downplays Schism.Task Force Will Fight for Properties

"The apostles' concern was not to defend themselves but to uplift Christ. *We must obey God rather than men!* they said (Acts 5:29), and in so doing laid down the principle of civil and ecclesiastical disobedience. To be sure, Christians are called to be conscientious citizens and generally speaking, to submit to human authorities. But if the authority concerned misuses its God-given power to command what he forbids or forbid what he commands, then the Christian's duty is to disobey the human authority in order to obey God's."--From "The Message of Acts" (The Bible Speaks Today ---John R.W. Stott

"For it is a time for judgment to begin with the household of God: and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of Christ?" (I Peter 4:17).

"Affirming Catholics cling to the outward trappings of Catholicism, although true catholicity may be as dead as the crusader. Indeed the more gloriously vested he or she is, the more likely a priest of that persuasion is to have shed the doctrines that the vestments once proclaimed."---Alan Edwards from "Shaking Hands" at Trushare website

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
4/26/2007

"I can't shake the nagging idea that in some mystical way God is shaking down His Church, sifting the wheat from the chaff. Could it be that God is moving on the unbelievers, so that they, by their own words, freely deny the redeeming blood of Christ, and thereby publicly expose themselves as liars and fools? In other words, they are fulfilling the will of God -- His will being to publicly expose them for what they really are and in so doing, they condemn themselves to perdition by their own volition. The judgment falls on us all, but the believers accept God's harsh word of judgment with shame and sorrow, and are ultimately saved by His love and mercy while the others reject God's righteous judgment and condemn God instead, and are themselves condemned for their rebellion and unbelief." Thus wrote a reader to VirtueOnline this past week.

This note captures the heart of the dilemma - The Episcopal Church (TEC) is clearly under the judgment of God, and being complicit with her apostasies makes us all guilty of the judgment. So the question is: what can we do at this 11th hour? Should the remnant orthodox go or stay? Many parishes are answering that question. Almost weekly another parish, somewhere in the country, announces it is leaving.

What about the Network dioceses? Since the Camp Allen, Texas HOB meeting, we have not had a definitive word from the Network moderator, the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan about his take on what happened there and what his plans are for the Network. Are they waiting for Sept. 30 to come and go before making a declaration of intent?

How big is the network? There are ten dioceses comprising about 175,000 Episcopalians. In those ten dioceses are 650 congregations. Beyond those dioceses are another 350 congregations. Huge decisions therefore will have to be made for a lot of people. One can only hope and pray that the right decision will be made.

By contrast, CANA Bishop Martyn Minns forges ahead laying claim to parishes across the country, while the AMiA steadily plants new congregations in both the U.S and Canada.

Reinforcing the present direction of The Episcopal Church this past week, Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori journeyed to Boston, Massachusetts, where she told enraptured audiences that she plans to hold firm on homosexual approval and said that the election of an openly homosexual bishop in New Hampshire has been "a great blessing" [to the church]. Then she said this: "I don't believe that there is any will in this church to move backward, [on homosexuality]." She compared the gay rights struggle to battles over slavery and women's rights. She believes that it is a vocation for the Episcopal Church "to keep questions of human sexuality in conversation, and before not just the rest of our own church, but the rest of the world."

Then she took a swipe at African Evangelical Anglicans saying this: "Where the protesters are, in some parts of Africa or in other parts of the Anglican Communion today, is where this church and this society we live in was 50 years ago, and for us to assume that people can move that distance in a year or in a relatively instantaneous manner is perhaps faithless. That kind of movement and development has taken us a good deal of pain and energy over 40 or 50 years, and I think we have to make some space so that others can make that journey as well."

TRANSLATION: The Global South archbishops and bishops have got it all wrong and need to catch up to us (read TEC) about homosexuality. How patronizing, colonialist, imperialistic and racist of Mrs. Schori to even suggest that. You wonder why the Primates came down hard in Tanzania with a deadline for the TEC to repent or else. Now you know why all the talk of covenants and Windsor Reports is a giant smokescreen...absolutely nothing is going to change with the TEC between now and Sept. 30. Nothing. The Network bishops will have to decide, and soon, what they are going to do. To do nothing is not an option. You can read the full report of what Mrs. Schori said here or in today's digest. http://tinyurl.com/2oqvxp

Later, she journeyed to Virginia Beach where she downplayed the notion of a denominational schism over homosexuality, saying only a tiny fraction of congregations have moved to break away. She told a group of Episcopal communicators (where VOL is not welcome) that congregations had "gotten a lot of attention and been very noisy," but accounted for less than 1 percent of the country's total number of parishes, which she put at 7,500.

Mrs. Schori conveniently overlooks the fact that while the parishes are few in number, the number of dues paying Episcopalians is huge. Just one example. The departure of Christ Church, Plano, formerly in the Diocese of Dallas, is the equivalent of the entire Diocese of Nevada, Mrs. Schori's former diocese - over 4,000 members.

To cap off the week's TEC news, the HOB Task Force on Property Disputes released its memorandum declaring once and for all that it is going to be open season on fleeing parishes and dioceses. David (Wilkes) Booth Beers, Mrs. Schori's legal Doberman, will rain down legal hell on anyone who tries to flee the squid-like embrace of TEC.

Watch for sparks to fly in the coming months as the dreaded Sept. 30 deadline draws near. An interesting case to watch will be the DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA. If Mark Lawrence doesn't get consents in a second run off, will they consecrate him anyway? Bishop Ed Salmon, though orthodox, is very much a TEC team player. It will be interesting to see if he will lay hands on Lawrence if the San Joaquin priest doesn't get the required consents from liberal dioceses. Interesting days lie ahead.

THE Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, sent an ambiguous signal to the Global South Primates over remarks he made recently in Canada concerning the Scriptural interpretation of biblical passages regarding homosexual practice and truth. His words sent up question marks that will undoubtedly cause Primates like Nigerian Primate Peter Akinola to wonder if the archbishop still supports Lambeth Resolution 1:10! I have examined what he said in today's digest drawing on the expertise and wisdom of men like Dr. Robert Gagnon and John R. W. Stott. You can read that here: http://tinyurl.com/yphp8w

IN OTHER NEWS THE ABC has announced that he will visit the U.S. in September, in response to an urgent request from the Episcopal Church. He will meet with the HOB in Louisiana. Dr. Williams announced the meeting during a visit with Canadian bishops in Toronto this week. He will attend meetings Sept. 20-25 and will be accompanied on his visit by key archbishops from conservative overseas Anglican churches. You can read the full story here: http://tinyurl.com/22qylo He has also confirmed that the Lambeth Conference will go ahead as expected in 2008.

Dr Williams reiterated his desire to avoid a split along with his passionate belief in the mutuality of the Anglican Communion. He hoped that the meeting with the US Bishops, to be held in New Orleans, would result in a better understanding, on the Episcopal Church's part, of what the Primates were trying to communicate; and, on his own part, of the problems the request was causing to the whole Church. "I'm still waiting to see what the Episcopal Church will come up with as an alternative," he said.

Sources in England and Washington have confirmed that Dr. Williams will take part of his summer sabbatical at Georgetown University. Williams has stayed at the Jesuit university twice previously during seminars of interfaith scholars, and is friendly with the university's president John J. DeGioia. The news that Williams would be spending his sabbatical in the U.S. became public before Williams announced whether he would accede to a request to meet with the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church in an effort to defuse the crisis over homosexuality that threatens the future of the Anglican Communion. That meeting is now set for late September in New Orleans.

Anglican leaders are set to converge In NEW ORLEANS where lie the bones of the first Bishop of Louisiana, Leonidas Polk who grew his protestant ministry to exemplary proportions. It has been forecast that this is where the TEC will die. He was known as "the Fighting Bishop Polk." Now, they are all fighting bishops and it is here all the bishops will fight and TEC will die. Wrote a VOL reader: "It is amazing that TEC comes to an end in the city where Protestantism came as a pioneer and gave so much good to so many. Here in the city where pioneer missionary Bishop Polk fought and died, lies their one last chance to reclaim historic Christianity. They can save our church from collapse. They will need to look to the Faith delivered through warriors such as Polk, and reject Spong and all his followers." One can only hope.

WHILE the TEC continues to decline (see the latest news from the DIOCESE OF WESTERN MICHIGAN about closing cathedrals and more), the GLOBAL SOUTH continues to forge ahead. This week in NIGERIA six new bishops were consecrated to further its quest for evangelistic growth in Nigeria. The consecration took place at The Good Shepherd Cathedral in Enugu and was presided over by the Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Archbishop Peter Akinola. He had this to say: "You are to make evangelism a watchword, and endure any suffering encountered in the pursuit of this course, just as Christ endured on the cross." About 90 bishops, three archbishops and 5,000 faithful attended the consecration service, while former Vice President Alex Ekwueme also graced the occasion. In the SUDAN, they consecrated three new bishops at All Saint Cathedral in Juba for that burgeoning part of the world even as they face persecution and more. All the while Western Anglicanism continues to decline. The Archbishop of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Joseph Marona presided at the consecrations. In their appreciation remarks, the newly consecrated Bishop of Torit, the Rt. Rev. Bernard Oringa Balmoi, appealed to the government of southern Sudan to help in stopping the bleeding of his congregations at the hand of Ugandan Lord Resistance army. Another bishop advised the new bishops to disassociate themselves from tribalism rather to preach peace to all through reconciliation and uniting them as one nation of south Sudan.

IN ENGLAND, the last census revealed 72 percent of people identified themselves as Christians, but the Church of England has said that fewer than 10 percent of its members are regular churchgoers. By contrast, evangelicals make up 40 percent of all the nation's regular churchgoers, according to Peter Brierely, head of Christian Research, a London-based think tank. Part of the evangelical growth is the result of immigration. Since 2001, Africa has supplied the largest pool of new British citizens. Evangelical churches - both black and white - also intensely evangelize in a way that other British Christians don't. Perhaps the ABC needs to talk to these folk and remind his friend Jeffrey John that his bizarre atonement theology won't and can't win converts. Is it any wonder that African leaders like Akinola, Orombi, Nzimbi et al don't feel the need to compromise. It is THEIR people who are re-evangelizing England. Dr. Williams take note.

IN CANADA, the Rt. Rev. Bruce Howe, 59, is in the running to lead the Anglican Church of Canada, say reports out of Toronto. The bishop, who oversees Anglican churches in the Waterloo Region, is one of four candidates on the slate to lead the troubled Anglican Church of Canada. The church's 41 active bishops chose the nominees during a meeting in Niagara Falls last week. Primate Andrew Hutchison, who was elected three years ago, is retiring. Other nominees for the primate's post are: Rt. Rev. George Bruce, a bishop in Eastern Ontario; Rt. Rev. Fred Hiltz, Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island; and Rt. Rev. Victoria Matthews, Diocese of Edmonton. If Matthews is elected primate, she will be the first woman to be primate of the Canadian church and only the second woman to head a church in the Anglican Communion. On the spectrum from theologically liberal to conservative, one theologian places Hiltz and Howe into more liberal camps while Matthews and Bruce are more theologically conservative.

The Anglican Church of Canada will decide at its General Synod in June whether to allow dioceses to make their own decisions on the blessing of same-sex unions. Dr Williams would not speculate on possible outcomes, but commented: "I don't think it takes rocket science to work out that that would pose some problems."

ON A LIGHTER NOTE, the Bishop of Rhode Island Geralyn Wolf, 60, got married to Thomas Charles Bair, Jr. before a crowd of nearly 400 at her diocese's Cathedral of St. John. "I think it was the most spirited wedding I ever attended," said former Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, a long-time friend who had baptized Wolf on her conversion from Judaism to Christianity 36 years ago and preached at her ordinations to deacon, priest and bishop. It was a first for her, second for him. While there are six other bishops of the Episcopal Church who are known to have married after taking office, the others have been low-key, private affairs. Bishop Wolf not only invited the entire House of Bishops but she also invited every member of the diocese, making for what Bishop Griswold referred to later as a more intense, enthusiastic celebration. Bishop Wolf has been bishop of RI for 11 years

The latest count from NORTH FLORIDA reveals 21 Congregations with 39 Clergy have left the DIOCESE OF FLORIDA and TEC.

IN NEW ORLEANS, Fr. Jerry Kramer writes that his Church of the Annunciation is in urgent needs of funds. "We're beyond running on fumes, been bouncing checks to the contractors for weeks. The need here is only getting greater and the interest around the nation is waning. People either think we're all fixed or entirely hopeless. Neither scenario could be further from the truth. We're fighting for our lives daily if not hourly. The good news is that we're growing in faith and numbers and all facets of ministry here are just getting stronger. As we've said from day one, with no script to follow, '"We don't know what we're doing...but we're getting better at it.;" I urge VOL readers to open their checkbooks to this priest and his parish. Their website is: www.annunciationinexile.homestead.com. For volunteers they have another link: www.resurrectionhouseofneworleans.org. If you are weighing whether to write out a check to VOL or the ministry of Fr. Kramer may I urge you to support this dear brother and his vital work. He wrote me this week with this note: "Please pray for us. There were 25 crack heads living in the abandoned house right across from our relief centre in the Lower 9th Ward. They were throwing things at us regularly. The National Guard came in last week and flushed them out. Our politicians are beyond hopeless. But we persevere by grace."

FROM THE SUBLIME to the ridiculous, the Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus, Bishop of California, will celebrate Gay Pride Day by riding in a convertible with Davis Mac-Iyalla, a token Anglican Nigerian gay man.

THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL task force of the TEC has prepared a study guide to assist Episcopalians interested in commenting on the proposed Anglican covenant. Comments must be sent to Council headquarters at the Episcopal Church Center in New York City no later than June 4. The six-page study guide, available on The Episcopal Church website or through diocesan offices, presents the proposed covenant line-by-line, along with a commentary on the proposed language. After the commentary, one or more questions are offered. The Presiding Bishop will then appoint a second Executive Council task force to compile the comments on the proposed Anglican covenant and draft a response for Executive Council to consider at its October meeting in Detroit. http://www.episcopalchurch.org/documents/CovenantStudyGuide_English.pdf The Archbishop of Canterbury appointed the Covenant Design Group (CDG.) Every Province (Church) of the Anglican Communion has been asked to respond to this Draft by January 1, 2008. The Report of the Covenant Design Group is in three sections: "The Report of the Covenant Design Group", "An Introduction to a Draft Text for an Anglican Covenant", and "An Anglican Covenant Draft".

FINALLY, Bishop John Shelby Spong took it on the chin this week in a brilliantly written piece in National Review magazine which you can read here or in today's digest http://tinyurl.com/3czhrv Towards the end, commentator Jason Lee Steorts writes: "It is hard to see how the new story can survive when the God at its center is nothing but an overwrought sentimentality plummeting down an abyss. If that is all we have left, Spong can keep his Christianity."

And to cap the week's TEC news, the HOB Task Force on Property Disputes released its memorandum declaring once and for all that it is going to be open season on fleeing parishes. The Task Force's report reveals a non-Christian, morally bankrupt church with millions of dollars being spent to retain empty buildings. David Booth Beers, Mrs. Schori's legal Doberman, will rain down legal hell on anyone who tries to flee the squid-like embrace of TEC. Watch for sparks to fly in the coming months as the dreaded Sept. 30 deadline draws near.

CELEBRATION OF FREEDOM, a CD featuring sermons by TJ Johnson, Canon Ellis Brust, Rev. David Rich, J.I. Packer and Rev. Ed Hird can be purchased by sending an e-mail to: stuart@lightspeed.ca They are being made available by Norlynn Audio Visual Services. Strongly recommended.

Among today's stories you can read what an orthodox West African Primate had to say in response to an American liberal bishop's brush off after the Primate refused to celebrate the Eucharist with Mrs. Schori in Tanzania and was then uninvited to perform sacramentally and to preach in the Diocese of Maryland.

CORRECTION: A reader from St. James Episcopal Church in Oklahoma City, OK writes that St. James is still open for business despite a group of parishioners who left to form St. James Anglican. "They did not cause the demise of St. James Episcopal Church. Indeed, St. James Episcopal Church is alive and well and growing also," he wrote.

IF YOU HAVEN'T visited VOL's website and seen its hundreds of new and archived stories then take a moment to visit www.virtueonline.org. You can read past digests you may have missed, catch up on the latest news, join one of a multitude of forums, make a comment of your own at any of the hundred or more stories that are just one click from reading. More than 25,000 of you go daily to the website, making it the most widely read orthodox Anglican Online News Service in the Anglican Communion.

If you would like to receive a FREE weekly digest of stories coming directly into your e-mail then you can sign up by sending a note to david@virtueonline.org.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SUPPORT this ministry with a tax-deductible donation we would be most grateful. VOL depends totally on its readers to make this news service available to readers in more than 48 countries. Please be generous.

You can send a check by snail mail to:

VIRTUEONLINE
1236 Waterford Rd.,
West Chester, PA 19380

or you can make a donation through PAYPAL by clicking on www.virtueonline.org and following the link.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

All blessings,

David W. Virtue DD

Subscribe
Get a bi-weekly summary of Anglican news from around the world.
comments powered by Disqus
Trinity School for Ministry
Go To Top