Of the dozens of parishes (and they are usually large) that have left revisionist dioceses in the ECUSA, this writer can think of only one parish that has not made it. In every instance where a revisionist bishop has come down hard on orthodox priests who will not toe the pansexual line, the initial agony has been great, the soul-searching severe, the break usually painful, but in the end they have always come out on top.
Read moreThe Covenant Statement was described as a "reflection of a fresh spirit of mutual forbearance and reconciliation among us" and "the beginning of a new day in our life together."
This, of course, totally ignores what the Global South bishops will have to say about it.
The bishops thought so highly of themselves that one bishop noted their own "resilience and honesty," we were told.
Read moreIf that's the mood in the Church of England, imagine what the mood must be like in Abuja (the headquarters of the Anglican Church in Nigeria), or even, for that matter in the US Episcopal Church where Frank Griswold feels that William's lack of leadership (read conviction on homosexuality) got him his head handed to him on a plate at Dromantine.
BUT THE CONFLICT IN THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION is reaching fever pitch everywhere.
Read moreVirtueOnline has learned that the Rev. Mark Allen McIntosh, Canon Theologian to Griswold will lead the committee charged with producing a theological response to the Anglican Consultative Council's meeting in June; so no official stand will be taken as to whether or not the Episcopal Church will withdraw from the Communion until General Convention meets in June 2006.
Read moreThe presenting issue was not just homosexuality and the consecration of a divorced, non-celibate homosexual to the episcopacy, but the deeper issue of the authority of Holy Scripture itself.
Read more"Furthermore," says Lewis, "there are other reasons why such action would be improper and illegal-all of which would be asserted (including possible counterclaims) in the event of any attempt to 'seize the property.'"
Read moreThey expressed repentance for the divisions that separated them and then committed themselves to "Biblical faithfulness within a missionary movement" noting that this was a defining moment in Anglicanism." Nothing was said of the thorny issue of women's ordination, which clearly is seen as a secondary issue for the higher call of declaring what the substance of the faith is, in the face of the glaring theological and moral apostasies of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.
Read moreThat could also apply to every revisionist ECUSA bishop and a goodly number of Canadian Anglican bishops as well, not just to Bishop Michael Ingham of New Westminster. There is more wrong with the state of the Anglican Church in Canada than is publicly known. Only about 25 percent of their bishops are orthodox. What is not known is what Rowan Williams will do about the Primate of Brazil and the dogfight that Primate is in with his token orthodox diocese - Recife in Northeast Brazil.
Read moreThe meeting dubbed Third Trumpet and chaired by the Nigerian Primate archbishop Peter Akinola saw the CAPA bishops reject the apology by the American Episcopal Church and they will take that message to Ireland later this month where the 38 Primates representing more than 50 million faithful will, for the last time, call on ECUSA Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold to repent.
Read moreWhile no formal concordats were announced they did engage in talks to deepen the relationships between the orthodox Anglican entities. The Most Rev. Peter Akinola is clearly ratcheting up the ante on the US Episcopal Church prior to the Primates meeting in Ireland, and seems to be sending a loud signal that he will do business with just about anybody in North America except The Episcopal Church. (The REC and APA are in concordat with each other.)
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