Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
March 1, 2007

The Anglican Church appears, to the outside world and to many of its own members, to be "obsessed with sex", the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, admitted to the General Synod of the Church of England this past week.

The Archbishop went on to argue that its bitter and prolonged dispute over homosexuality touched deeper issues, such as the way the worldwide Communion deals with profound differences, which could not be easily avoided.

It is "folly" to think a split in the Church over homosexuals would leave a "neat and morally satisfying break" between liberals and conservatives, he said. The primates' meeting in Tanzania issued an ultimatum to American liberals to reverse their pro-homosexual agenda. They have seven months to impose unequivocal moratoria on same-sex blessings and the future consecration of homosexual bishops. If the Episcopal bishops failed to provide such reassurances, the American Church would have to face the "consequences".

THE ARCHBISHOP has also admitted it was unlikely that The Episcopal Church would be able to comply with the September 30 deadline. They are just continuing with what they did as a result of conviction. It is extremely unlikely that they will back off. It would be a complete denial of everything that has happened. The problem, wrote one British commentator, is, they will use legalese and their ways of following the letter of the law. Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori has said, over the last couple of days, that at no point has TEC been asked to stop BLESSING same-sex relationships. They have been asked not to AUTHORIZE rites for such relationships.

The Archbishop of Canterbury said the point of the meeting had been to get the covenant sorted out. This meant creating space so that the two vital questions at the heart of the debate could be confronted: do the different parts of the Communion want to be in a relationship with each other, and can they be in a relationship?

I have reflected on this in a major article in today's digest. It is my own personal observation that the The Episcopal Church (TEC) will not conform, compromise, repent or do anything that will inhibit the pansexual steamroller plowing through the church. http://tinyurl.com/2zxylu

What is increasingly likely, as the ball is now squarely in TEC court, is that the American Church, rather than the Global South provinces, who will go its own way. Dr. Williams believes the U.S. could become a separate communion. The Episcopal Church claims 15 countries, all of which would be a part of a breakaway, yet pseudo Anglican Communion. He named Mexico, Central America and Brazil as those who would consider themselves partners with the Episcopal Church. The 15 official countries that the TEC supports financially are: Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador Central, Ecuador Litoral, Honduras, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Taiwan, Virgin Islands, Haiti, Convocation of American Churches in Europe (Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy). I have written a major article about this here or in today's digest. http://tinyurl.com/2m7m6d

Bishop Steven Charleston, president of the Episcopal Divinity School, told The Washington Post, "I would accept schism. I would be willing to accept being told I'm not in communion with places like Nigeria if it meant I could continue to be in a position of justice and morality. If the price I pay is that I'm not considered to be part of a flawed communion, then so be it."

Dr. Williams said he sees the Church of England remaining in the Anglican Communion.

One possibility allegedly proclaimed by Archbishop Gregory Venables is a "Two-Tier" Communion; but The Christian Challenge (TCC) editor Auburn Traycik tracked down the Southern Cone Primate who said this: "I wasn't predicting it at all; I was just saying it was a possible outcome." And in fact, it is not an outcome he would personally find agreeable, he told TCC. "I don't understand how we could consider ourselves a church if we're not in agreement on the basics, on the essentials."

It was Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams who first noted the possibility that a two-tiered structure could result from the process of formulating and adopting a covenant aimed at helping ensure unity among Anglican provinces. Provinces that accept the document, as binding, would remain full members of the Anglican Communion, while those who do not might retain some lesser affiliation or relationship to the Communion. Archbishop Venables does not see this as a viable option. It would have two legitimate but different religions functioning alongside one other in the Anglican Communion which is untenable.

Mrs. Schori, clearly sensing that her back is to the wall, said this: "We are being pushed toward a decision by impatient forces within and outside this church who hunger for clarity. That hunger for clarity at all costs is an anxious response to discomfort in the face of change which characterizes all of life. The impatience we're now experiencing is an idol - a false hope that is unwilling to wait on God for clarity."

The Global South leaders and orthodox North American Episcopalians believe we have had clarity for more than 2,000 years and what we are getting from the Episcopal Church is the muddy waters of innovation and compromise. Mrs. Schori will have until Sept. 30 to provide that clarity. The primates' terms, for accepting assurances that The Episcopal Church wishes to remain as full members of the Anglican Communion, is a bitter pill for many people, said Bishop Jefferts Schori. Indeed it is.

In March, all U.S. bishops in the Episcopal Church will convene thirty miles south of College Station in Navasota, Texas. The bishops are expected to iron out a response to the Anglican primates.

REFORM, the orthodox Church of England organization that is trying to keep the Church of England from going completely off the rails, issued one of its occasional press releases this week saying that it supported the Anglican Primates in Dar es Salaam; for their commitment to maintaining bonds of fellowship; and for their agreement that false teaching is eating away at the life of the Communion. David Banting, chairman of REFORM, said this should not be allowed to continue indefinitely. The deadline given for the Episcopal Church of the USA to clarify its position is necessary. "We are very conscious that the Church of England itself is feeling the strains that are caused by false teaching on human sexuality. These will be firmly on display at the forthcoming General Synod next week. We continue to urge the House of Bishops to adopt a similarly firm stand on such false teaching in order to avoid our own church being brought to the brink of schism."

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND (CofE) announced, at its Synod gabfest, that the rising cost of maintaining the palaces of Church of England bishops may be met by cutting spending on parish missions. Figures, released at the church's general synod ('parliament') in London, show that the church's spending on bishops, including their official residences, has risen by 40% in two years, from £20.7m ($40 million) to £29.5m $60 million). To accommodate the costs, the house of bishops privately agreed last month to give a lower priority to sustaining the church's £4.7m ($10 million) parish mission fund - the money spent on maintaining its local proselytizing efforts - and even to cutting spending on books for theological students completely, reports the Guardian newspaper. This comes at a time when the church is attempting to restructure its focus on mission rather than on the maintenance of its creaking infrastructure. So, the bishops want to sacrifice the gospel so the bishop has more sherry and Brie. Now you know why Church of England Evangelicals went to the ABC with a Covenant to get out from under liberal bishops who have no gospel to proclaim.

Why the blazes should they support a theologically and morally bankrupt church! The CofE is only two steps behind the TEC.

IN OTHER NEWS, The Episcopal Church announced that it will not suspend, or withdraw, from property lawsuits it initiated, unless there is a comprehensive agreement taking into consideration "all the other recommendations of the primates' communiqué," said David Booth Beers, chancellor for the Presiding Bishop.

Mr. Beers responded to a proposal to suspend property litigation made by lawyers representing some of the eleven congregations which voted in December to disassociate from the Diocese of Virginia. In the Primates communiqué, they unanimously "urged the representatives of The Episcopal Church and of those congregations in property disputes with it to suspend all actions in law arising in this situation."

In his reply, Mr. Beers noted that the leadership of the departing congregations has not made any effort to come into compliance with the requests made by the primates in their communiqué.

"Indeed, the recommendations in the primates' communiqué concerning a possible suspension of civil litigation over property matters specifically urge all parties in this context to 'provide assurances that no steps will be taken to alienate property from The Episcopal Church without its consent'," Mr. Beers stated. "The church is unaware of any movement in this regard on the part of the congregations involved in the pending litigation."

CLOSED: They're closing churches, Mildred...one by one the doors close on churches in NJ. In Montclair, they closed Trinity Episcopal, and in Haledon, N.J., they closed St. Mary's. The last four parishioners, sipping decaffeinated coffee at a St. Mary's farewell, had an average age of 84! That speaks volumes about closing churches. And this crowd is definitely not into MDGs.

THE outgoing BISHOP OF OKLAHOMA, Robert M. Moody, got his nose out of joint this past week when he learned that the Rt. Rev. Gerard Mpango, Bishop of Western Tanganyika, will preach at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Owasso, a church that was formed last summer when a group of people split away from the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross. "I am surprised that the Bishop of Western Tanganyika has come to the Diocese of Oklahoma and not notified me of his coming. If I were to travel to his diocese I would certainly communicate with him," wrote the miffed bishop. Why should he? Mpango is not going to an Episcopal parish, but one that has left the Episcopal Church and has no connection with the TEC!

The revisionist bishop also raised questions about how the African bishop got money to travel to the U.S. Well, VOL can answer that - it is coming from those churches that will host the bishop, said a source. Moody naturally accused the African bishop of "fomenting schism" without at all realizing that 40 years of innovations by the TEC caused the problems in the first place. You cannot widen a schism that is already impassable! Moody, ordained the first transsexual to the Diaconate, and has seen his diocese slide steadily downhill. It is about to get rescued, maybe, by a new bishop with some theology. We shall see.

In the DIOCESE OF CONNECTICUT, they chose a liberal woman priest to be the next suffragan bishop. No surprise there. The Rev. Barbara Cheney, 63, who has served as rector of the Episcopal Church of St. Paul and St. James, since 1993, in downtown New Haven. A sign in the front of St. Paul and St. James says it is an "inclusive church," and Cheney said there are a number of homosexuals and lesbians who are members. She said she has not blessed homosexual relationships, which Smith authorized last fall, because no one has asked, but that she and the parish are willing to do so. She emphasized her stand on the issue is not why she's running. Of course not.

THE AMERICAN ANGLICAN COUNCIL (AAC) announced this past week that it is lifting the inhibitions of the 21 recent Virginia clergy declaring them null and void. The clergy, from two of the three Episcopal dioceses in the state of Virginia, were declared inhibited in January by the current bishop of middle and northern Virginia, the Rt. Rev. Peter Lee. The clergy he acted against had already transferred to other Anglican jurisdictions.

Asked by what authority the AAC could lift the inhibitions, Canon David C. Anderson replied: "By what authority did Bishop Lee attempt to impose the inhibitions on clergy belonging to Uganda and Nigeria? Those faithful clergy are now declared Uninhibited for Christ!" Amen.

In the DIOCESE OF PENNSYLVANIA, Bishop Charles Bennison continues to feel the heat even as he insists on holding onto his weakening throne and miter. The Standing Committee of the diocese wants him gone so badly that they will meet with representatives of the National Church on Friday, (today), to discuss their "Verified Complaint". We will keep you posted as events develop. Bennison now faces a civil court trial for his for his fraud and bad faith in his persecution of Fr. David Moyer.

SEWANEE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH is back in the news. The Homosexual-Straight Alliance is hosting Gene Robinson at the Episcopal University in April. Wrote one student to VOL, who is paying for this? This is a complete flouting of the Primates Communiqué. Word is that Robinson will be a guest of the Vice-Chancellor in his house in Sewanee. Apparently, Sewanee doesn't mind flaunting its liberal credentials. It will be interesting to see if conservative alumni will continue to support the university, if they sense it is deep-sixing traditional morality by inviting the Bishop of New Hampshire.

Just in case Sewanee is not getting the message, consider this. A longtime donor to the College of William & Mary will withhold a $12 million pledge to the public university because of the removal of a cross from a campus chapel, reports the Washington Times. The donation was pledged to the campaign fund before Gene R. Nichol became the university's president and was revoked because the donor disagreed with Mr. Nichol's decision to remove the brass cross from permanent display on the chapel's altar, spokesman Mike Connolly said. The donor was not identified. The loss of the funds "represents a serious setback to the college," said Mr. Nichol. Alumnus dollars speak louder than words.

In the DIOCESE OF THE CENTRAL GULF COAST, the Rev. Robert Hails Seawall (50) got handed his marching papers by liberal Bishop Philip M. Duncan, II. The parting will be amicable, said Seawall to VOL. Seawall has been in the diocese for 21 years and started a church plant seven years ago - the Church of the Apostles in Daphne, Alabama. He saw the direction the national church is taking and told the bishop, late last year, that he could not, in conscience, keep his vow to support him, nor reap the benefits of pension and insurances. The bishop inhibited the evangelical/charismatic priest invoking Canon IV.10.1 "Abandonment of Communion" and will "release" (not depose) him six months from now. Seawall said the congregation is meeting in a leased building and that the bishop signed over the lease. He said the congregation is using the Anglican Communion Network for oversight, but they will have to consider a longer term relationship in the near future. "I grieve for my church, I am not angry with my bishop, I understand what he is doing, he has been very kind to us." The church will hold a series of town meetings to decide its future, he told VOL.

IN CANADA, liberal bishops are coming down hard on orthodox priests and ministries. The BISHOP OF BRANDON, Jim Njegovan, said "nothing has changed" regarding his assent to a resolution that was recently passed by the diocesan synod permitting Essentials Manitoba, a conservative Anglican group, to hold meetings in parishes, with the approval of the rector and wardens. He warned them that they had "to check out with the bishop" before making a presentation in any of his parishes. Big brother is watching and clearly not approving of orthodox presentations of the gospel. In his letter, Bishop Njegovan stated that "to date no one has shown me any example of how Essentials Manitoba or Essentials Canada is building up the family of God within the diocese of Brandon or within the national church and I see it doing just the opposite."

In the DIOCESE OF OTTAWA, the bishop, the Rt. Rev. Peter R. Coffin, issued a letter, which VOL obtained, telling his priests that if any of them have any plans to leave the diocese and take their properties with them, they will be met with his ecclesiastical and legal wrath. "A parish acting alone cannot legally transfer, mortgage, or lease its land to another party," he wrote. Clearly, the bishop is afraid someone might want to do just that, hence the pre-emptive letter. He will fight anyone tooth and nail for the properties, if they try. Perhaps, he has been in touch with David Booth Beers of TEC for pointers.

In the DIOCESE OF NEWS WESTMINSTER, clergy in four parishes returned to the diocesan pension plan, but fifteen lay employees could not. Four protesting parishes in the diocese have taken up the offer the Diocesan Council made last fall that lets eight of their clergy return to the diocesan payroll so they can remain in the Anglican Church of Canada's pension and benefits plans. However, the parishes have decided not to return about fifteen lay employees to the diocesan payroll. They will receive lesser benefits costing more. The clergy and lay employees left the diocesan payroll system in 2002 to protest the Diocesan Synod's request for a blessing of same-sex unions.

In other news, the Council of the diocese submitted a resolution on same-sex blessings to the national Synod. They support them. The NW Diocesan Council decided last month to submit a resolution to the national General Synod that would affirm the continuation of same sex blessings in the Diocese of New Westminster because the diocese faces the possibility that the General Synod could adopt the St. Michael Report, prepared by the Primate's Theological Commission, stating that same sex blessings are a matter of doctrine-although not core or "creedal" doctrine -–and, as such, fall under the jurisdiction of the national Anglican Church of Canada, and not individual dioceses. This would be bad news for Michael Ingham, if passed, and possibly set back his bulldozing homosexual agenda.

OUTGOING IRISH PRIMATE Robin Eames told an Ulster Television documentary, profiling his twenty years as Archbishop of Armagh, that he does have a personal opinion on homosexual bishops in the Anglican Communion. Interviewed on the terrace of the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, Archbishop Eames said, "I feel that there's a problem...first of all, I try to accept a totally inclusive view of all these lifestyles. But moving from that, the role of a bishop is a particularly important one in our structure, and it's got to be, as we say, a focal point of unity. And I'm not certain that a homosexual bishop at this time is necessary, the focal point of unity. It's too divisive, and therefore it questions not the lifestyle; it questions the role of a bishop."

You can read ongoing stories of reactions to the Primates at Tanzania at VOL online. Stories of reactions, both commentary and news, are available in today's extensive digest. This story is far from over. It is the biggest news since Lambeth '98, perhaps even bigger than Lambeth 2008. We shall see.

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FOOTNOTE: Perhaps as a sign of the desperation of the Left, my website was hacked into this past week with many of you receiving a flood of unwanted e-mails. I do apologize for this and ask that you simply delete them.