The gift of faith. We must never think of salvation as a kind of transaction between God and us in which he contributes grace and we contribute faith. For we were dead, and had to be quickened before we could believe. No, Christ's apostles clearly teach elsewhere that saving faith too is God's gracious gift.--- From "The Message of Ephesians" from The Bible Speaks Today)

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
9/26/2008

"No comment," said a defiant Lambeth Palace spokesman on the deposition of the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh. This week the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams was in Lourdes looking for a miracle, no doubt hoping and praying for a way forward for the Anglican Communion, perhaps even hoping that Our Lady can offer him a salvific plan to save the Anglican Communion from the egregious behavior of the American Episcopal Church.

His silence about the "deposition" of a godly orthodox bishop demonstrates an appalling lack of leadership and abdication of responsibility in the face of one of the worst acts of ecclesiastical betrayal in contemporary Anglican history.

Ironically, Williams and John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, have nothing to say about this act of ecclesiastical treachery, but have plenty to say about the financial meltdown going on in the US! Sentamu is in New York playing up Millennium Development Goals and won't say a word to Jefferts Schori about her flagrantly abusive power play to get rid of a bishop. From one end of the globe to the other, the outrage at this sham "deposition" has been swift and condemnatory.

The Bishop of Rochester, the Rt. Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali said in an interview with The Times that the time has now come for Dr Williams to create a new province for conservatives in the US.

Six senior Church of England bishops came out in support of deposed US bishop Duncan, declaring themselves "deeply saddened and shocked."

The Bishop of Winchester, the Right Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, the Bishops of Blackburn, Chester, Chichester, Exeter and Rochester joined in declaring their belief that the deposed Bishop of Pittsburgh remains "a bishop in good standing in the Anglican Communion."

Another senior bishop, a former primate of the Southern Cone province in Latin America, also wrote an open letter to Dr Williams demanding the immediate suspension of The Episcopal Church from the Anglican Communion and for the recognition of a new conservative province.

Still Williams said nothing.

It was the Primate of Uganda, Henry Luke Orombi who came out with the strongest statement of all. "We continue to recognize you (Duncan) as a Bishop in good standing in the Anglican Communion, and we whole-heartedly support the action of Archbishop Greg Venables and the House of Bishops of the Province of the Southern Cone to receive you into their House of Bishops. We continue in full communion with you and we do not recognize the action of the TEC House of Bishops to depose you."

Then he went a step further and said this, "This vote reveals how spiritually lost TEC is and why North America needs a new Province that authentically represents historic and Biblical Anglicanism. The Instruments of the Anglican Communion could have averted this crisis. Instead, institutional inertia is preferred, and meanwhile, the tear in the fabric of our communion is now deeper and wider, the mission of the church suffers, and many people miss out on hearing the good news that a Saviour has come. "I look forward to the day when you are not only the Moderator of the Common Cause Partnership, but when we can also welcome you to the table of Primates as the Archbishop of a new, Biblically faithful Province in North America." Slam dunk.

There is an exquisite irony in the "deposition" of Bishop Duncan. The mostly liberal and revisionist HOB who couldn't wait to deep six one of its own ("prayerfully" of course as Mrs. Jefferts Schori stated) is now faced with a crisis as to who will fill Bishop Duncan's shoes as the see of Pittsburgh is technically "vacant" or at least Dr. Louie Crew thinks so.

Since the Episcopal Church is a hierarchical church, as we are so frequently told by the heavy hitters at 815 Second Avenue, then presumably the diocese will be run from the headquarters of the Episcopal Church by someone appointed by Jefferts Schori, the Executive Council, or the HOB. That someone could even be Jefferts Schori herself!

Nope. The diocese is going to be run by Pittsburgh's Diocesan Standing Committee, clergy and parishioners of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. That's some hierarchy. Were this the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope or a Cardinal would have a new bishop in the office on Monday. Not here. According to a press release, the diocesan convention will go forward as planned in "an orderly and grace-filled manner" on October 4.

The Episcopal Church's own documents show that the vote to "depose" Bishop Duncan fell far short of the majority required by TEC's canons. Mark Mccall's story, Do Bishops Deserve Due Process should be read as a reminder that they do. Click here. http://tinyurl.com/3pphel Allan Haley's argument Why the Vote was Wrong is also must reading: http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=9054

One person who has fond memories of Bishop Duncan is Fr. Jerry Kramer of the Church of the Annunciation in Broadmore, New Orleans. In an e-mail to VOL, he said the Pittsburgh bishop raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Annunciation, post Katrina. "Without him we would likely have closed," he told VOL. We have not heard the end of this debacle. Watch for more fall out from this supreme act of stupidity. VOL has posted a number of stories in today's digest covering this ongoing saga.

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THE FINANCIAL meltdown of the US and foreign markets has roused the ire of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York this week. Both men railed against American capitalism. Williams attacked modern finance blasting the corrosive effects of modern capitalism - even going so far as quoting Karl Marx approvingly.

Face it: Marx was partly right about capitalism, he wrote in a syndicated article. He said the financial world needs fresh scrutiny and regulation. "In our attitude to the market, we run the risk of idolatry." He and Sentamu condemned those who shorted the market and did other egregious acts to bring the whole house of cards down. Then the Financial Times took a whack at him saying that the Church was hypocritical as the Church of England has itself contributed to short selling by lending stock from its £5.5bn of funds. The Church Commissioners have also invested funds in Man Group, the largest listed hedge fund manager!

The financial Times said Dr. Sentamu was wrong to join the chorus of abuse for short-sellers, now the UK's most popular pantomime villains. They are clearly not "bank robbers" or "asset strippers". If investors believe a price is too low, they can buy and hold it. If they believe a price is too high, they can sell it short. This interplay is important. Without short sellers, prices will tend to rise too high. There are strong arguments for restraining them under febrile market conditions, but what they do is not wrong or immoral.

You can read full stories on all this in today's digest including Dr. Williams' take on greed and the U.S. economy.

*****

Another large TEC parish shook the dust off their feet and fled the Episcopal Church this week. St. John's, New Braunfels in the DIOCESE OF WEST TEXAS, with more than 300 members representing 90% of the congregation, left TEC citing the church's failure to uphold the authority of Holy Scripture and recent sexual innovations including the Robinson consecration. They will start up down the road as an Anglican parish under an as yet to be named overseas Anglican jurisdiction. The departure process from the Diocese of the Rt. Rev. Gary R. Lillibridge, a moderately conservative bishop, was fair, said the Rev. Dr. Chuck L. Thebeau rector of the Evangelical catholic parish, in a phone call to VOL. "We feel relieved that this has been accomplished in an amicable manner and that we are now set free to carry out the mission the Lord has given to us." Another 1000-member parish is set to leave TEC next week over the same issues. VOL will bring you exclusive coverage.

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RICK WARREN to the rescue. Dr. Warren, known to the world as the author of The Purpose Driven Life wrote to VOL this week saying that if any orthodox Episcopalians in Orange County, CA loses their building to TEC, or if they simply want to plant a new Anglican church in Orange County, he wants them to know that the Pastors and Elders of Saddleback will gladly share their 120 acre campus with a new congregation on Sunday afternoons.

"We stand in complete solidarity with you all. We now have 7 Sunday services (and 2 Saturday), but we're always ready to help a sister church," he told VOL. You can write to david@virtueonline.org and I will pass the message along to him. One church and an overseas bishop have already been in touch with Dr. Warren. It's amazing, just when you think things will never get better, a brother in Christ from a totally different denomination comes to the rescue. That is true ecumenicity.

*****

This past week, Bishop John Chane of the DIOCESE OF WASHINGTON once again showed his true colors. He filed a lawsuit against Central Union Mission, a highly -respected mission outreach to the homeless of Washington, D.C., saying that a land swap giving the dilapidated Gales School, on Massachusetts Avenue NW near Union Station, to the Central Union Mission, would violate laws regarding the separation of church and state.

After I wrote this story, Brad Hutt, an activist layman and chair of the American Anglican Council - Washington, wrote VOL to say that there was more to this story than I knew. He uncovered the nasty truth that the underlying issues behind this lawsuit were far more important than what is on the surface --- the mission's refusal to hire homosexuals and that a CANA Mission, St. Brendan's in the City holds Sunday evening services in the Central Union building!

Diocesan officials vigorously denied this, but no one has officially contradicted anything Hutt has written. Here's a bishop that keeps bashing Global South primates like Nigerian Primate Peter Akinola for being obsessed with the homosexual agenda and ignoring pressing issues of poverty, AIDS and injustice.

Chane has shown himself to be precisely interested in gay sex and is trying to prevent the homeless from getting shelter in the nation's capitol! Chane thy name is hypocrisy. According to an official blurb at their website, "Central Union Mission is a highly-respected mission outreach to the homeless of Washington, D.C. Where other city outreaches to the homeless fail, Central Mission remains a crucial component to the church's commitment for justice and compassion for all." You can read more about the amazing work of Central Mission here. http://missiondc.org/

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The Episcopal Church jointly hosted Iranian Terrorist Leader President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a dinner reception this week. Jay Sekulow chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice said the Iranian leader spoke on the topic of "Has Not One God Created Us? The Significance of Religious Contributions to Peace."

Ahmadinejad is a man who has repeatedly called for the annihilation of the Jewish state of Israel, rejects religious freedom, and embraces terrorism. It is well known that Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and is notorious for denying that the Holocaust occurred, saying of the West, "[t]hey have invented a myth that Jews were massacred."

Ahmadinejad has also warned that "[a]nybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury." Sekulow described the actions of The Episcopal Church and other church groups as "inexplicable." You can read the full story here: http://blog.beliefnet.com/lynnvsekulow/2008/09/religious-leaders-make-mistake.html

*****

If you were wondering just how low The Episcopal Church can sink then read the story about the DIOCESE OF CALIFORNIA'S complicity in a gay pride parade day that was explicitly sexual in nature. A three hour public orgy of simulated sex acts, advertised gay bars, pornography vendors, male prostitution businesses with handouts to parade spectators that included condoms, sexual lubricant samples, and literature promoting a pornographic web site, were part of San Francisco's gay pride parade day that included a flotilla from the Episcopal Diocese of California and Bishop Marc Andrus. BE AWARE these are sexually explicit videos that should not be seen by children or young aduilts: http://tinyurl.com/4889a2

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COMMON CAUSE PARTNERS of North Texas met last Sunday. A panel of speakers included Bishop Ray Sutton (REC), Bishop Jack Iker (Diocese of Fort Worth) and Bishop Nathan Kanu (CANA, Oklahoma City).The bishops reflected upon GAFCON, Lambeth and the future of the Common Cause Partners (CCP). They also talked about the establishment of a new orthodox Anglican province in North America. They were told that the CCP had sent documents, in hard copy and electronically, to GAFCON at the Jerusalem conference requesting that the primates recognize a new North American province. They were lost in transit to GAFCON and were never received for consideration. The primates said that had they received the documents from CCP, they would have recognized a new province at the GAFCON conference last summer!

However, the process of recognition is moving forward with great momentum. The CCP leadership will hold a meeting during the first week of December 2008. The meeting will further clarify the structure of CCP relationships and the New Orthodox Anglican Province in North America and, again, formally petition for recognition. It is anticipated that the GAFCON Primatial Council will provide formal recognition of the new province before the end of December 2008.

The vision of how the new province would be structured was also discussed. Anticipated is a province without geographical borders where provincial parishes could align under a bishop who best fits their liturgical and theological nuances (e.g. Anglo Catholic, evangelical, charismatic, women's ordination, etc).

*****

GENE ROBINSON'S ENDORSEMENT OF OBAMA brought a reaction from a VOL reader who is a tax lawyer. He stated that his endorsement does not violate tax laws. However, VOL believes that a bishop endorsing a candidate is inappropriate, whether or not it violates the tax laws. Heating up the issue, pastors across the US are planning to defy an IRS ban on political speech. Ministers will intentionally violate the ban on campaigning by nonprofits in hopes of generating a test case. Setting the stage for a collision of religion and politics, Christian ministers from California and 21 other states will use their pulpits this Sunday to deliver political sermons or endorse presidential candidates -- defying a federal ban on campaigning by nonprofit groups. The pastors' advocacy could violate the Internal Revenue Service's rules against political speech with the purpose of triggering IRS investigations. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/lat-Wiley_jmual8kn20080925143430,0,3865418.photo

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Two NIGERIAN SUFFRAGAN BISHOPS in CANA have joined Forward in Faith as orthodox witnesses to the historic faith over women's ordination. The Rt. Rev. Amos Fagbamiye and The Rt. Rev. Nathan Kanu will remain in CANA and make a stand against the rising tide of women's ordination in the Common Cause Movement. Both bishops do not consider that the churches of the Anglican Communion have authority to change the historic tradition of the Church that the Christian ministerial priesthood is male. The Rt. Rev. Amos A. Fagbamiye, CANA suffragan bishop serves as vicar at the Anglican Church of the Resurrection (Indianapolis, IN). The Rt. Rev. Nathan C. O. Kanu, also a suffragan bishop is a founding vicar at Christ's Ambassadors Anglican Church (Oklahoma City OK).

*****

From the DIOCESE OF PENNSYLVANIA come more details of a diocese in decline. In 2002, voluntary pledges made in support of the Diocesan program budget (Mission and Ministry of the diocese) were $2.440 million. In 2009 the proposed budget is $1.089 million a 124% decrease. Under Mandatory Assessments to support an Episcopate budget, which includes Clergy Financial Assistance and Retired Clergy Medical Assistance the picture is different. In 2002 the amount was $908,000. In 2009 a proposed budget is $1.664 million - an 83% increase.

*****

In a humorous aside, sources at The Episcopal Church ™ Headquarters in New York said that the Rt. Rev. Katherine Jefferts-Schori, the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church ™, almost deposed herself. Deposition prevents a priest from saying Mass and removes their ordination.

Jefferts-Schori, who just this week deposed the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan for holding traditional Christian views, was preparing 36 other depositions "as a precaution" and accidentally got the "To:" and "From" lines mixed up on one of them. "David (Chancellor David Booth-Beers) can't stop laughing about it," said Jefferts-Schori, "He's been emailing me all day, inviting me into a deeper relationship with my spell-checker."

Once the error was discovered, Jefferts-Schori convened an emergency meeting of the House of Bishops in her office and the deposition was rejected. Since only Bishops in attendance may cast ballots on depositions, the 1-0 outcome against the deposition conforms to Church canons, according to Booth-Beers. It doesn't take much to read between these lines...

*****

In crisis, Wall Street is turning to prayer. Starting early last Sunday morning, the turmoil in New York's financial markets triggered a spiritual response among Christian leaders reminiscent of the response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Cell phone text messages quickly spread calls to prayer. "Barclay has pulled out of Lehman deal," one announced. Wall Street giant Lehman Brothers was finalizing bankruptcy papers; Merrill Lynch was clinching its deal to sell itself to Bank of America. Monday would be devastating. Many Wall Streeters realized that the crisis could be earthshaking. A. J. Rice, well-respected CEO of the hedge-fund firm Pomeroy Capital, says, "Most people think this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. In 1987 we had a dramatic shock, but the other shoe didn't drop." This year, a whole lot of shoes have dropped. Wall Streeters have lived with a constant sense of foreboding.

Prayer for the current financial situation

Lord God, we live in disturbing days:

across the world,
prices rise,
debts increase,
banks collapse,
jobs are taken away,
and fragile security is under threat.

Loving God, meet us in our fear and hear our prayer: be a tower of strength amidst the shifting sands, and a light in the darkness; help us receive your gift of peace, and fix our hearts where true joys are to be found, in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

*****

The General Synod of the EPISCOPAL MISSIONARY CHURCH is set to meet October 2-4 at St. Andrew's (EMC) in Gainesville, Florida. This synod will focus on the Ministry of Women, including the varied ministries of deaconesses in the EMC. The church's Presiding Bishop William Millsaps will report on GAFCON. The highlight of the EMC Synod will be an Ordination Service held on Friday afternoon. More details are available at emchome.org and on St. Andrew's own website.

*****

IN BOTSWANA, Anglican leaders sought a judge's intervention. Canon Dr Howard Moffat, Canon Professor James Amanze, The Very Rev Dr Mongezi David Guma, Bishop Musonda T S Mwamba, Archdeacon South Fr Andrew Mudereri, and Archdeacon North Fr Archford Musodza are asking the High Court to resolve their differences. Divine intervention has failed and Anglicans have now resorted to the secular courts. A judge spent a whole day listening to a case in which seven priests are challenging the Anglican Church Diocese of Botswana and Bishop Trevor Mwamba for revoking their licences last year. The seven are claiming unfair dismissal. The Diocese is arguing that the canons give the bishop power to revoke a priest's licence. Both sides have agreed to accept the determination of the court despite the wish of the Judge that they might settle their differences amicably.

*****

An old and dear friend of mine, the Rev. Wayne Buchanan has received official word from CANA Bishop Martyn Minns that he has been approved for ordination into the Anglican Church. He will be ordained as a deacon at Truro Church in Fairfax, VA on November 1. Six months after that he will be ordained as a priest in Maine (where he resides) by Bishop David Bena. It's been a personal pleasure to help navigate this dear friend into Anglicanism. Please keep our brother in prayer. He has bladder cancer, but the doctors are very hopeful.

*****

Below is one the best political ads this writer has ever seen. Click to watch. http://www.catholicvote.com/

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ISLAMIC law has been officially adopted in Britain, with sharia courts given powers to rule on Muslim civil cases. The government has quietly sanctioned the powers for sharia judges to rule on cases ranging from divorce and financial disputes to those involving domestic violence. Rulings issued by a network of five sharia courts are enforceable with the full power of the judicial system, through the county courts or High Court. Previously, the rulings of sharia courts in Britain could not be enforced, and depended on voluntary compliance among Muslims. Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi, whose Muslim Arbitration Tribunal runs the courts, said he had taken advantage of a clause in the Arbitration Act 1996.

Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said, "If it is true that these tribunals are passing binding decisions in the areas of family and criminal law, I would like to know which courts are enforcing them because I would consider such action unlawful. British law is absolute and must remain so." We have not heard to the contrary so Archbishop Rowan Williams clearly approves of such a move. Other people see it as yet another nail in British Common Law, a state of affairs that could have far reaching implications in time as the Church of England's moral and spiritual grip lessens on the people and other, more strident religious voices like Islam are being heard. Will Britain end up on the ash heap of nation-states that have destroyed themselves from within?. The Islamic Fifth Column is effectively destroying the first and near-greatest exemplar of Magna Carta and the common law (U.S. is first, of course!). Rowan Williams, of course, is too busy playing a pious religious leader to counter these ominous trends.

*****

The Bishops of the CHURCH IN WALES have promised to provide continuing care for those opposed to the ordination of women, following a decision not to appoint a new assistant bishop. They stressed there is still a place in the church for those unable in conscience to accept the ordination of women and emphasized their commitment to sensitive pastoral care for all people and parishes in each diocese. The announcement follows the retirement last June of Bishop David Thomas who came to be known as the Provincial Assistant Bishop. He was appointed in 1996 when the church decided to ordain women as priests.

The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, made the announcement to the Governing Body of the Church in Wales meeting at the University of Wales, Lampeter. The Chairman of Credo Cymru, Forward in Faith Wales, The Revd Alan Rabjohns, said that note appointing a replacement of a Provincial Assistant Bishop was "disappointing and sad. We reject the claim that such an appointment is unnecessary and do not regard what was said yesterday as the final word on this subject."

*****

If you wonder why a whole generation of young people, including evangelicals are leaving the church, Washington Times Religions Julia Duin's book Quitting Church is must reading. Read a review here. http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1417423266/bctid1803307531

*****

For a truly upbeat story, I hope you will take a moment to read my story on the revival going on in China. It is probably the greatest story on church growth in modern history. When China was under the heel of Mao Tse Tung there were only 800,000 Christians. Today there are 130 million. Click to read the story here: http://tinyurl.com/4cyh43

*****

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All Blessings,

David W. Virtue DD