A mere theory of the atonement will not save anyone. The atonement itself, and our personal connection with it, is what saves us. --- Bill Muehlenberg

Of Queen Elizabeth II: Keep your own counsel. Don't deliberately alienate anyone. Bind together a fractured nation full of mutually antagonistic, mistrustful and confused people. Carve out a space for the preaching of the Gospel. Reform, with moderation and prudence. Seek the common good. Trust God. And survive. ---Susannah Black is associate editor of Providence Magazine

By David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
December 2, 2106

The Episcopal Church is starting to learn some bitter lessons about itself...despite all the talk of the Jesus Movement and "evangelism" now being promulgated as the "new thing" to rescue the church from oblivion.

What is the future for Episcopal Clergy? Headlined a story in EPISCOPAL CAFÉ this week. The Episcopal church is running out of ordained leaders to carry it into an unknown future.

The Episcopal Church is aging with the average age of parish members increasing, but also that 67.3% of active priests are aged 55 and over and since 2009, retirements have outpaced ordinations to the priesthood by almost two to one.

Not good news. What is worse, the pipeline is emptying by the day with closing or juncturing seminaries and with the costs reaching prohibitive levels for churches to pay a priest what he needs when he graduates from seminary. What is more, Nones now outpace Christians in America. Millennials are not darkening the doors of any of the mainline denominations.

The Church's answer? "Our goal is to invite the church to think out loud about how we bring ordained leaders to our churches. From our experience, study and prayer, we recognize these to be important issues in our time. We invite dialogue in the many and diverse ways we have available: conversations on social media, at church gatherings such as meetings of diocesan transition ministers, diocesan conventions, the House of Bishops, and other leaders in our church. We offer this not as a declaration, but as an invitation to dialogue."

TEC can dialogue itself to death and nothing will change.

According to a 2013 Church Pension Group report, Episcopal clergy include 428 dual-call couples (both partners ordained). Approximately 14 percent of active priests are married to another Episcopal clergyperson. (This figure does not include Episcopal clergy married to clergy in other traditions.) It is reasonable to expect that this number will only continue to grow. In some search processes, dual-call couples have been seen as a burden. We see a need for a culture change in which dual-call couples are considered a blessing.

One answer being proffered is to provide leaders in non-traditional, non-parochial ministry, which the Jesus Movement is calling people: urban challenges, underserved populations, veterans, the "church without walls," environmental concerns, prisons, to name a few. We need to find sustainable financing for these developing areas of ministry, said a report.

Another thought is to diversify the clergy.

Although search committees have worked hard to offer slates of candidates for bishop with more non-traditional candidates--women, LGBT clergy, other racial and ethnic communities--we still see that straight, white, married males are most often elected. From 2013 through Oct. 28, 2016, there were 23 elections for bishops. Women were candidates in 16 of those elections, African-American and Hispanic candidates in 13. Women were elected in five of those dioceses. (One is no longer serving as a bishop; three are awaiting consecration.) Four Hispanic male candidates were elected, one Korean male, and one African-American male. These elections of untraditional candidates validate the normalcy of female candidates, but there is still much work to be done before the House of Bishops looks like the rest of the Episcopal Church.

The trouble with this is that there is no evidence that women and blacks make churches grow. All of the women bishops in TEC are thorough going liberals with no gospel to proclaim except endless talk of justice, LGBT issues and racism. But those issues don't bring in the masses and don't make churches grow.

There is talk now about Interim Ministries. "We invite the church to discuss the roles of interims and priests-in-charge during times of clergy transition." The church also talked about part-time clergy

Leadership. "We invite the church to consider the effects of part-time ordained ministry on both parish and priest. The number of full-time calls continues to decrease, and the number of priests able and willing to work part-time fails to match the need. The church has long advised of the need for bi-vocational clergy, but that has not yet become a practical reality."

I have news for you. It is a reality for church planters in the ACNA, but here's the difference. TEC is dying and moving from full time to part time or Interims. ACNA priests start out as bi-vocational, but as they grow the priests become full time. (I, myself am in this situation. We have a parish plant of approximately 35-40 and our last priest was bi-vocational. We are slowly growing and gaining new members and the plate increases exponentially. We anticipate that within a year or so, we can call a full-time priest.)

TEC believes that its full-communion agreements with Lutherans and Moravians will make them flourish. This is a myth and short-term thinking and it is only temporary; they, too, are dying.

TEC leaders believe that diversity is the next reality and they want more clergy who are multilingual, in the hope this will draw in the crowds. This is only true if the message they are proclaiming is worth listening to. The vast majority of bi-lingual churches in the U.S. are independent charismatic and Pentecostal churches, many of them lay led.

"Calling" is Not "Hiring" TEC leaders now opine. "The best calls happen when the Holy Spirit is part of the process. We remind our communities that seeking new clergy leadership is a spiritual process, not an executive search, and we encourage our congregations to be open to God's imagination as they seek new spiritual leaders." The Holy Spirit will have no part of a Church that embraces pansexuality, a faux evangelism that does not call people to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

TEC leaders then acknowledged this:

The number of applicants for clergy positions will be fewer than in years gone by.
Clergy are less willing or able to relocate.
More clergy are trained through local or distance-learning models, and fewer through traditional seminary settings.
Many clergy have already had a first career before responding to a call to the priesthood.
Members of the diocesan staff, particularly the diocesan transition minister, are your guides and supports through this process.
The church requires background checks on candidates.
The bishop must approve your choice of a new clergy leader.

Without a clear exposition of the gospel none of this will work. It will be the same old, same old, just with different players.

*****

As if to make the case (above), the bishop of the Diocese of Eastern Michigan, Todd Ousley warned his people against what he called the "culture of fear". He spoke candidly at a recent diocesan convention in Gaylord, Michigan, and said that some parishes in his Lower Peninsula diocese are facing economic scarcity and demographic decline:
"Within the Diocese of Eastern Michigan, these past ten years have seen a decline in membership and Average Sunday Attendance. We are now 45 congregations on our way very quickly to 43. Annual congregational giving has declined, making financial viability increasingly difficult for an increasing number of congregations. Our population continues to decline and Michigan demographics show us growing older while losing our young to opportunities in other parts of the country."

"The reality of our communities and our churches is one that ought make all of us pause."

The diocese has indeed been hard-hit, losing 28% of members and 36% of attendees from 2005-2015, a rate of decline that surpasses the national denomination. Marriages and baptisms have taken a bigger hit, with the former down 63%, while children's baptisms were down 47 percent and adult baptisms down 62%.

You can read Jeff Walton of IRD's take on this in today's digest.

*****

The Missionary Diocese of Trinity based in Indianapolis, Ind., established by the Anglican Church of Nigeria as a missionary network for evangelism in North America and Canada has had a name change. Forthwith it will be known as the Anglican Diocese of the Trinity, effective immediately. The acronyms will now be ADOTT instead of MDT.

The diocese was first established as the Missionary District of the Trinity in the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), then as the Missionary Diocese of the Trinity approved by the General Synod of the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion in 2011. MDT is affiliated with CANA and ACNA-Anglican Province in North America.

The Anglican Cathedral Church of Resurrection, Indianapolis, IN, recently hosted the Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), the Most Rev Foley Beach as the guest preacher for the 2016 Cathedral Harvest.

The Diocesan Bishop is the Rt. Rev. Amos Fagbamiye. The diocese has a number of parishes in the Midwest as well as parishes in Regina, SK, Canada (the pioneer CON Church in Canada).

*****

It's a pretty heavy thing to be accused of homophobia says Dr. Peter Jensen, a GAFCON leader and former Archbishop of Sydney. The word is not an intellectual judgement, but a more damning moral one, he writes.

"There have always been examples of unkind attitudes, bullying and discrimination towards people who appear to be, or who identify as, homosexual, just as there has always been racism, snobbery and other ugly traits. Sadly, Christians have sometimes been guilty of this, and in doing so we are failing to follow the way of Christ.

"However, in recent years the accusation of 'homophobia' has been levelled not just at these unkind attitudes towards gay people, but also reasoned biblical convictions about problems associated with homosexual practice, and any expression of concern about the power and intolerance of pressure groups. We are told that no matter how compassionate a person is towards gay people, if we do not fully embrace the goodness of the gay identity and lifestyle we are homophobes. We are said to rely on irrational feelings and thoughts to reject and damage homosexual people.

"You cannot argue your way out of such a moral judgement. You are not being accused of using bad arguments to support a case, but of reacting viscerally in an immoral and damaging way."

You can view an excellent video by a C of E priest, Sam Alberry, who experiences same-sex attractions and offers a biblical rebuttal to homosexual behavior. You can view it here:

http://www.gafconuk.org/news/rev-sam-allberry-talks-about-homosexuality-bible-and-gafcon?utm_source=GAFCON+Communications&utm_campaign=fb444d360f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_12_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ae55802e3e-fb444d360f-90164461

*****

AUSTRALIA'S SEX SCANDALS

In Perth, an ex-Anglican priest was found guilty of child abuse over a 30-year period in Western Australia's south. Raymond Sydney Cheek was found guilty of sexually abusing five boys. Cheek, 84, had been on trial in the WA District Court, charged with committing an act of gross indecency and two counts each of indecent assault and indecent dealings with a child between 1955 and 1985.

The jury returned its verdict after deliberating for almost one day.

In Newcastle, a child abuse royal commission to look at pedophile priests, questioned a defrocked Anglican dean who denied he lead a group of paedophile priests. The former Dean of Newcastle, Graeme Lawrence, was defocked in 2012.

Under cross examination, the defrocked Anglican dean vehemently denied at a royal commission hearing that he was the leader of a group of child abusers, but admitted he failed to act when he "suspected" a priest in his charge was having sex with a teenage boy.

Mr. Lawrence has been labelled one of the most influential priests in Newcastle's history. The former priest was questioned at the child abuse royal commission today about his time as a rector in Griffith, where a man known as CKH claims he was sexually abused by Mr. Lawrence as a teenager. You can read the full story in today's digest.

In Tasmania, a far-reaching paedophile ring, involving victims and predators from Tasmania, was active within an offshoot of the Anglican Church, Royal Commission lawyers alleged in a damning submission.

Counsel assisting the commission Naomi Sharp also recommended the actions of former Tasmanian Bishop Philip Newell be found to have helped cover up allegations against a serial paedophile priest.

The Anglican Diocese of Tasmania has rejected the proposed finding against Bishop Newell, who was the church's Tasmanian bishop from 1982 until he retired in 2000. You can read the full story in today's digest.

In Brisbane, the theology there is worse than the sexual sins of other places in Australia. The former Primate and Archbishop of Australia, Phillip Aspinall, has appointed Archdeacon Jeremy Greaves as an assistant bishop in the Diocese. He announced this at an ad clerum recently. Greaves' appointment will be viewed by many as controversial and even provocative. He gained notoriety for himself when Dean of Darwin Cathedral, as a proponent of "progressive Christianity", most recently being lead organizer of the 2016 "Common Dreams" conference in Brisbane. He is an outspoken supporter of same-sex marriage, but perhaps even more troubling, he rejects key understandings of Christianity that he will be required to reaffirm at his consecration (having already promised at his ordination to teach them), writes Australian cleric, David Ould. Greaves said he was happy "to abandon the creed."

Aspinall's own life and ministry has been one of a series of disasters. In 2014, I wrote that under Aspinall's leadership, the Australian church showed numerical and financial decline, subsisted on bad theology, sex scandals, aging congregations and poor governance issues with nine of the 23 dioceses facing an uncertain future. Philip Aspinall was at the center of the degeneration. The whole business was described as being in a "parlous state." You can read the full story in today's digest.

*****

Standing Rock has become a "spiritual battle", according to Bishop John Floberg, the evangelical bishop of North Dakota.

The continuing actions of those opposed to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), who call themselves water protectors, continue to draw attention. The Episcopal Church has gone on record as formally supporting the indigenous peoples' actions near Standing Rock against the pipeline's path through their sovereign territory and land they consider sacred.

"If there is one individual who personifies Christian support for the indigenous protests, it is the Reverend John Floberg, who is responsible for Episcopal (Anglican) parishes on the North Dakota side of Standing Rock.

He coordinated the actions of 500 clergy and lay people from 20 different religious groups who gathered at the camp on November 3rd, and he has persuaded his own denomination's leadership, including Michael Curry, the African-American Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, to play an active part in opposing the line's completion. Although the Episcopal Church is firmly on the liberal side of America's religious spectrum, this is still new territory for a religious group which for years was the spiritual home of the nation's social and cultural elite."

*****

Islamic State fighters are the "grandsons of Satan", according to survivors of the torture and slaughter in Mosul in Iraq, writes Ruth Gledhill for Christian Today.

Iraqi forces are trying to drive ISIS from the Nineveh Plains, which has for centuries been a traditional homeland for Christians and Yazidis in Iraq.

The liberation of Iraq is being taken cautiously because of the large numbers of vulnerable civilians who are still alive, but are effectively being held hostage by the brutal Islamist fighters.

In a report from Iraq by the BBC's Richard Galpin, who visited some of the few districts of Mosul that have been freed from ISIS, Basma al-Saoor, a survivor who visited a church and also the rubble of her former home, said: "They [ISIS] are the grandsons of Satan."

When ISIS took Karamles and nearby villages two years ago, civilians were ordered to leave, convert to Islam or be killed. Nearly everyone fled.

Father Paul Thabet, the priest at Saint Addai Church in Karamles, showed Galpin how statues of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Child, and angels had all been decapitated, the altar shot through with bullets and a priest's tomb desecrated.

Father Thabet called for those responsible to face justice, and he fears that good relations between Muslims and Christians in the region have been destroyed beyond repair.

Galpin reports that beside Iraqi army soldiers, the troops taking part in the fighting against ISIS include Shia militias, Peshmerga Kurdish troops, Christian militias and some Sunni tribesmen.

*****

Is the BBC In danger of failing to take Religion seriously? Programs such as Songs Of Praise, presented by Pam Rhodes, Alec Jones and Diane-Louise Jordan could be at risk, writes Ruth Gledhill for
Christian Today.

A senior BBC presenter has criticized the corporation's attitude to religious programming in a rare intervention by an insider.

Roger Bolton of Radio 4's Feedback says: "Just six months after the Archbishop of Canterbury called in these very pages for broadcasters to take religion seriously, it seems the BBC is doing anything but."

Bolton spoke out after the BBC decided to drop the post of Head of Religion and place corporate responsibility for religion and ethics under Factual Scotland "to simplify the existing management structure". James Purnell, the former Labour minister who is head of radio and education at the BBC, is to take responsibility for religion as part of his remit.

Writing in the Radio Times, Bolton says this will threaten the coverage of religion on the BBC.

He says: "How can young people and immigrants to this country understand the UK without learning of the crucial role Christianity has played in the formation of its political structures and culture? How can people feel they're being welcomed as equal citizens if we don't bother to find out about what is often the most important part of their life, their faith?

"How can we understand what's going on in the Middle East, for example, without knowing about the Shia/Sunni split? This is not about promoting faith; it's about promoting knowledge and understanding -- surely a central role of a public service broadcaster? But the BBC is coming up short."

*****

In the Diocese of Huron, Canada, the dean, one Kevin Dixon, has quit. He was an uber liberal dean, who, when he was installed as cathedral Dean, had an imam read from the Koran to celebrate the occasion.

Dixon has now moved on to become vice-president of operations at International Justice Mission Canada (IJM), an organization dedicated to protecting the poor from violence throughout the developing world.

When he was employed by the Diocese of New Westminster, Dixon was one of the first rectors to offer blessings to same-sex couples, during which time Dixon was critical of J.I. Packer's understanding of the Bible:

The Rev. Kevin Dixon, priest at St. Mary's Anglican Church in Kerrisdale, meanwhile believed Packer adopted a "literalistic" reading of the Bible.

"It's important for people to understand that the holy scriptures is a very nuanced document. I think we need to allow people room to come to a new understanding," said Dixon, the local newspaper reported.

"I have not always held the view that same-sex relationships are consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ, but now I do."

*****

After weeks of preparation, Anglicans around the Communion are getting involved in prayer, reflection and action for the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence, reports the Anglican communion News Service. The 16 Days of Activism campaign runs from Nov. 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs to Human Rights Day on Dec. 10. The annual campaign sprang from the first Women's Global Leadership Institute in 1991.

*****

A group of Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops have acknowledged both churches'failure to protect children, women and indigenous peoples, reports Gavin Drake of ACNS. In a statement issued by the International Anglican Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) on Nov. 25 following the group's historic meeting in Canterbury and Rome last month, the leaders called on the Church to repent and seek justice for victims. They say that, "at the foot of the Cross we, as bishops, have reflected on an 'ecumenism of humiliation.' We lament our failures and share the brokenness of our church communities."

*****

It must be nice to be glued to the state when you want money, even if the religion propping up English cathedrals has all but evaporated. Nearly five and a half million pounds (nearly $7 million US) will be awarded to cathedrals across the UK as the government announced the final phase of a two-year program on Monday.

Twenty-four Anglican and Catholic cathedrals will benefit from the grants totaling £5,423,000 for urgent repair work. Ely, Manchester, Southwark and Truro cathedrals were awarded £500,000 each as part of the wider First World War Centenary Cathedral Repairs Fund totalling £40million.

The vast majority of Monday's grants went to Church of England buildings, with Catholic cathedrals taking about a fifth of the total.

Overall, 57 cathedrals have received an average of £274,000, ($345,000) with 12 cathedrals awarded more than £1 million each ($1,258.000 US).

Second church estates commissioner, Caroline Spelman, said it was a "farsighted investment that will bring a return to cities across the country".

There is no word that this will jump start revival in the cathedral, but it will be nice for American tourists to see the cathedrals spruced up a bit. Revenue from tourists is always handy as well.

*****

The faux diocese of South Carolina is about to get its third, or is that, fourth provisional bishop. This time it is the retired Gladstone B. "Skip" Adams III, who hails from central New York. He takes over the reins following Bishop Charles G. vonRosenberg's retirement. Adams, 64, is charged with leading the church, which is currently awaiting a decision by the S.C. Supreme Court regarding a legal battle that began when two-thirds of parishes in the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina left the national church, citing theological differences over the authority of Scripture, including homosexuality and other issues.

Skippy did not have a sterling ride in Central New York. At one point in his tenure, he inhibited Fr. David Bollinger, priest for 20 years at St. Paul's, Owego, NY, for supposed financial irregularities, allegedly in order to shut the priest up after he blew the whistle on a pedophile priest. Bollinger said Adams tried to cover it all up.

Bollinger named Fr. Ralph Johnson as the unmarried priest for his alleged pedophile activities at St. Paul's parish in the 1970s and says that the inhibition, recently extended for a second term of three months, was also because of the cover-up of the Diocesan Controller's invasion of his private savings account. Johnson was later found guilty and deposed by Adams.

Bollinger sent the signed complaint to the bishop and pastoral response team. As a result of doing this, and because he blew the whistle on the former parish priest, the bishop turned on Bollinger and inhibited him and then accused him of misusing his Discretionary Fund, he said. I suppose it is a slightly better choice than the incendiary Gene Robinson. As I have repeatedly said that picking from the bottom of the ecclesiastical barrel is now a pastime in TEC circles.

*****

OBITUARY. The Most Rev. Royal Grote, Jr., Bishop of Mid-America, and Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church, passed away unexpectedly this week. A Memorial Service for the Presiding Bishop, 70, will be held at the Church of the Holy Communion, Pro-Cathedral of the Diocese of Mid-America, in Dallas, Texas, at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 13, 2016.

Grote was the fourth longest consecrated bishop in the ACNA College of Bishops. He is the third ACNA bishop to die following Bishop John-David Schofield (2013); Terence Kelshaw (2015) and now Bishop Grote (2016).

*****

Advent is here and Christmas is just around the corner, and many of you will be considering a year end donation to your favorite charities. I hope you will consider VOL one of them. We urgently need a budget as we go into 2017. I have travelled extensively this past year and we have had some extraordinary expenses. Funds are low. Would you partner with VOL to give us a working budget for 2017? To keep these digests coming into your e-mail box each week is time consuming. Our work is encouraged by your giving. It helps us believe that all we do is worthwhile. Our hard-working team of reporters and commentators feel the encouragement when you give. Your donation is tax-deductible.

Please help make this possible. You can send a donation to VOL via PAYPAL at the link here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support-vol/

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David

I live with my wife in a condominium complex on the Delaware River in Philadelphia and in the three years we have been here, we have gotten to know a few couples. One couple, Pat and Jack, are among our favorites. They are (very) old faithful Catholics who worship at the cathedral in Philadelphia. They are wonderfully Irish who love their wine and their language can be a bit salty at times. They are still a loveable couple.

Recently, Jack's knee got infected and he was operated on. At 88, he has never fully recovered and might not. But every day I am here and not travelling, I pop in and see them both.

I sit opposite Jack and look him in the face. He takes my hand and says simply, "David pray for me." He knows I am not a Roman Catholic, but that doesn't seem to bother him. I don't know if or how often his priest visits him, but he seems to love my visits and he always asks me to pray with him. His wife, Pat, seems to accept that a crazy protestant who has a faith she has never seen before, will pray for her husband. She sheds a tear when I finish. Somehow the prayer has impacted her. I don't know how or why.

Each time I see Jack, I get a bit bolder and my prayers a little longer. I pray that God will hold him in the palm of his hand, I pray that God will give him length of days, and "as the shadows fall", I pray that God will give Jack peace. I'm assuming their priest is a man of faith and administers Mass to them both. I'm assuming my visits are interim between the priest, who is the "real thing." I'm a poor substitute. Jack tells me he says the Rosary each day. I don't ask what that means. Whatever it does, it gives him some reassurance.

Today when I went to see him, he had not slept for three days. Pat was barely able to stand, the poor woman. So I asked him if he was afraid to die. He said no, but his eyes and face said differently. He says the last few days he has had dreams and thoughts of his first wife and what did it mean? His past was haunting him and I could feel it. He was feeling guilty, even though I know he had treated her well, putting his life savings on the line when she was admitted to a mental institution, and later in divorce. I don't push for more of his past.

I am not a pastor and don't pretend to be one. I take his hand and tell him that whatever the past was all about, whatever sin was committed, that Jesus can and will forgive him. He takes comfort in that. I think he knows that he is not long for this life, but he wants to believe that God has forgiven him for whatever needs forgiving.

He grows restless; I think he knows I can't stay much longer. Work calls. He reaches out a hand that is shaking and a bit bloody where he scraped it recently. "Pray for me David, please pray for me. I need you to pray for you. I know you have faith like few people I know." I take his hands in mine and we bow our heads and I pray. "Please Lord, look after my friend Jack, may he sleep in peace this night and may his wife get some sleep as well." I pray that God will forgive him his sins and his soul rest in peace.

I finish. He says 'amen', does the sign of the cross and then grasps my hand and kisses it. I tell him jokingly that I am not the pope and he doesn't have to do that, but it gives him comfort and some sort of solace. As I leave he says, "please come back and pray for me." As I pass through the front door I look back and he is looking at me and smiling. Perhaps I will be a bit bolder next time.

*****

The Church of England got a wake-up call from a young bishop this past week. He said the church is being run by out-of-touch academics and elites who are scared of patriotism and failing to protect the family. Ouch.

The Rt. Rev. Philip North, Bishop of Burnley, said the church would not be surprised by Brexit if it had listened to the concerns of those who feel "frozen out". Instead, it has become "so disconnected from many of these communities that it no longer hears what they are saying, let alone amplifies their voices to the nation."

The attack was outspoken and not common for an establishment bishop who hates rocking the boat, but he said that during the past few decades, the Church of England's agenda had been set "not by the poor, but by academia, the moneyed elites, and certain sections of the secular media."

"We then listen to the poor on condition that what they say backs up our own pre-conceived argu­ments," he said. "They have become for us an illustration, or a theological idea -- anything other than people."

He penned his remarks in the Church Times, and then went on to say that instead of listening to what the poor want, the church has obsessed over gay rights, and "all too often, middle-class clergy squirm nervously during Remembrance Sunday, and excise any hymns that hint of nationalism."

He also accused the church of failing to stand up for family values, adding; "Across many communities, extended family life remains very strong.

"For all its frustrations, it is where most people find support, self-identity, and purpose. But too many Anglicans seem embarrassed to stand up for the sanctity of the family."

Many Brexit voters, the bishop added, did not choose to leave the European Union due to racism or intolerance, but because they wanted to take back control over their country.

"It was less an anti-immigration vote than a patriotic vote from people who were fed up with having pride in their nation, its flag and its armed forces misrepresented as intolerance or racism," he said.

In the run up to the Brexit referendum, the Church of England was accused of publishing a "Pro-EU prayer" to help worshippers decide how to vote calling worshippers to "work with all the peoples of Europe" for the "common good".

*****

What will the Bishop of Maidstone, the Rt. Rev. Rod Thomas, do if the Church of England authorized services of same-sex blessing, the slippery slope to altering its heterosexual marriage Canon. What if the bishop upped and left the C of E?

He is opposed to women bishops around England, he is on the executive committee of the Anglican Mission in England, set up in 2011, to spearhead new orthodox churches outside the CofE's structures. He remains supportive of AMiE and is publicly committed to the international confessing Anglican movement, GAFCON, with which AMiE is associated.

If he left the Church of England, surely he would become AMiE's Bishop, ordaining frontline clergy for their new churches and supporting their existing churches as well as being involved in GAFCON internationally? You can read Julian Mann's take on this in today's digest.

*****

The scandal of how UK officials denied entry to Britain to three Archbishops from Iraq and Syria who have been driven from their dioceses by Islamic State, was revealed last week by persecuted church agency Barnabas Fund.

The cause was taken up by British newspapers at the weekend under headlines like as 'Britain bans heroic bishops'. Barnabas Fund this week claimed that Britain's reputation for giving safe haven to the persecuted, is at risk after it refused short term entry visas for the three Archbishops from war-torn Iraq and Syria. The two were invited to London to meet Prince Charles at the consecration of a new cathedral for the Syrian Orthodox Church in London. Prime Minister Theresa May was one of those who sent messages to the congregation to welcome the presence of Syrian Christians.

But there was no 'room at the inn' for the Archbishop of Mosul, the Archbishop of Homs and the Archbishop of St Matthew's Valley (Nineveh Valley). According to Barnabas Fund, the reasons given for their visas being refused included the claim that they did not have enough money to support themselves in the UK and that they might not leave the UK. You can read the full story in today's digest including commentary by Dr. Gavin Ashenden.

*****

A North American Anglican Leader blasted the duplicity of Western Anglicanism this week saying that growth only occurs when vision and values match.

Canon Phil Ashey, president of the American Anglican Council, said the Biblical, apostolic catholic and conciliar values that birthed Anglicanism are given lip service while leaders of the Anglican status quo drift increasingly into heterodoxy and the outright denial of the very essentials of our faith.

"They justify this with technical and legalistic appeals to the fact that the original values have not been formally or officially repealed," he says.

"No one has abandoned the Creeds or the Thirty-Nine Articles," they will say. But they are said with fingers crossed, and presented as meaninglessly as the offerings of Israel in Isaiah 1.

("Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New moons, Sabbaths and convocations--I cannot bear your worthless assemblies...They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening.") Isaiah 1:13-15

Ashey ripped the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops of the Church of England and asked what if they are preparing for an "about face" on their teaching of marriage, as some inside leaders of the Church are suggesting. "There seems to be a growing inevitability that the leadership of the Church of England will sooner than later provide liturgical blessings for same-sex partnerships, perhaps even marriages. They may say that they are remaining faithful because they have not officially repealed the Church's teaching that marriage is a lifetime covenant between one man and one woman. But in blessing same sex unions they will be repudiating the Biblical doctrine of creation, including marriage. (see Gen.2:24; Matt. 19:4-6; Eph. 5:31)." You can read the full story in today's digest.

*****

Los Angeles Episcopal Bishop Jon Bruno inhibited St. James Parish from attending their LA Diocesan Convention this week. The priest of St. James the Great wrote an open letter to the diocese and bishop saying that after three years of full participation in convention, it has seen its privilege of representation revoked by the bishop's office and they have not been allowed any delegates. “Thus we are not able to enter the discussion and vote on any resolutions or canon amendments of vital interest to us, or the election of a bishop coadjutor who may likely decide our fate.”

*****

Presiding Bishop Michael has once again found himself in the midst of another major personnel debacle. This time it is with the diocese of Haiti. He wrote a letter couched in mystery to two Haitian bishops saying they face Title IV discipline.

The issue is about money and how it is being spent. "We are reassessing Haiti," the newly-minted Episcopal Director of Development, Tara Holley told the Council members. "We are revising the Memorandum of Understanding. We're looking for accountability, for transparency, for leadership, thoughtful reporting, accurate reporting and job descriptions. We're looking at all of these pieces of project management that will make things in Haiti run more smoothly." Ms. Holley told the Executive Council that: "The Episcopal Church received a $5 million gift for Haiti in 2015, and the gift was withdrawn."

On Dec. 1, Curry penned a letter to Bishop Jean Zache Duracin (V Haiti), Bishop Oge Beauviour (Haiti Suffragan) and the Rev. Dr. Kesner Ajax (Diocese of Haiti Standing Committee President), which was released to the wider church. The letter has left people scratching their heads as they try to determine what he means. Haiti is one of The Episcopal Church's 11 offshore foreign dioceses or missionary jurisdictions. The Episcopal Church likes to boast that it is the "largest" diocese the church.

This is not the first time that Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has written a letter which has left the wider church scratching its collective head as to the exact nature of his meaning.

A year ago, Dec. 15, 2015, six weeks after the XI Bishop of North Carolina became the XVII Presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church, he wrote a letter in which he revealed the first hint of what was to come at Episcopal Church headquarters at 815 Second Avenue in New York. In that letter, the Presiding Bishop placed Bishop Stacy Sauls, Chief Operating Officer, Deputy Chief Operating Officer & Director of Mission, Samuel McDonald, and Director of Public Engagement, Alex Baumgarten on administrative leave for "possible misconduct in carrying out their duties as members of senior management of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society."

Liberal Episcopal blogger Canon Mark Harris surmises that American and Haitians understand finance differently, which may be fueling some of the problem with the Bishop of Haiti. The diocese would like to self-divide or even become an independent and throw off The Episcopal Church's yoke of supervision, he writes. We will watch how this plays out. You can read Mary Ann Mueller's excellent research story on all this in today's digest.

*****

An old friend of mine recently attended a service at Trinity Wall Street, one of the historic churches of New York City. She wrote: "The Eucharistic Liturgy referred to "the woman Mary," and "Blessed Mary" -- but at no point was the word "Virgin" mentioned. I asked the celebrant about it, and she replied that it wasn't her decision, but the Rector's; he felt that "woman" was more in keeping with the original language, it wasn't "her body" but "her spirit" that was important, etc. (The Rector was absent that day.)

"On a previous visit to Trinity last summer, the Rector -- one Rev. William Lupfer -- made a point of saying that the parish was not "exclusive," and that a meeting would be called to address the concerns of "the LGBTQ community." At the door, I told the Rector that I loved the worship of the church, and asked him if he would be willing to start a chapter of Anglicans for Life. He claimed to be unfamiliar with the group. I told him I knew he "would not want to exclude pro-Lifers." He answered, "[Trinity] has a certain identity. We are not all things to all men." When I pressed him on his pledge not to be "exclusive," he answered, "It is not exclusivity. It's identity." It was all I could do not to look him in the eye and call him a lightweight and a hypocrite. I wish I had!"

*****

At its convention last weekend, the Diocese of Los Angeles elected to become a "sanctuary diocese" for undocumented immigrants to the United States.

In the explanation to the resolution, the Rev. Francisco J. Garcia, Rector of Holy Faith in Inglewood, writes, "For many years, immigrant families have suffered on the margins of our society. They have been scapegoated during difficult economic times and victimized by harsh anti-immigrant ordinances passed by some states and localities.

"In the aftermath of the recent presidential election there is heightened concern that the campaign rhetoric villainizing immigrants will become policy targeting them because of their immigration status or religious beliefs.

"As a people of faith committed to dismantling oppressive systems and building structures and communities that reflect God's compassion and justice, we must do nothing less than make straight a highway in the desert for our sisters and brothers."

The resolution passed "by an overwhelming large margin," according to a press release put out by All Saints', an uber liberal parish.

In another move by the diocese, they elected the Rev. John Taylor to be the next bishop coadjutor on the 8th ballot. The only other serious contestant was the Rev. Paul Fromberg. Bishop Pierre Whalon, who apparently wants to leave Europe and return to the US, backed out after the third ballot. The good news is that Mr. Taylor is a heterosexual male, married and a former journalist. We'll see how open he is to talking to me, free speech and all that stuff.

*****

The Diocese of Central New York got a new bishop in the person of the Rev. The Very Rev. Dr. DeDe Duncan-Probe. She presently serves as the Rector of St. Peter's in the Woods Episcopal Church in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.

She claims to have a Ph.D. from Oxford University. VOL looked a little more closely at who authorized this Ph.D. she claims she got in 2013. Actually, it's from something called The Graduate Theological Foundation, awarded by The Foundation House/Oxford University.

A source in the UK told VOL that in the UK, degrees can only be awarded by an institution validated for that purpose by the government. Its email address is usually suffixed "ac.uk".

"I can see no mention of how these "GTF" degrees are awarded by any English university. I think it unlikely that Oxford University does so -- it has all of its own degree programs to award, and its reputation to protect."

The only hard evidence of any connection with Oxford is here:

http://www.gtfeducation.org/academics/oxford-and-rome-programs.cfm#Oxford_

Those who attend a summer school in Oxford are permitted by the GTF to claim credits towards the GTF degree.

Although these students study in Oxford, they do not graduate from Oxford University.

So it is misleading to suggest that whatever qualification she has is validated by Oxford University. She may have spent a couple of weeks at one of its colleges during the summer vacation, attending an external course, but that seems to be about all.

Is this a classic case of resume inflation?

*****

A pro-homosexual film put out by the LGBT community will premier In a Welsh Cathedral this week. The documentary is about gay nuns, and the movie has been welcomed by the arch-liberal Archbishop of Wales, Dr. Barry Morgan.

All One in Christ is a 12-minute documentary about two ex-nuns who fall in love before being rejected by their community. Deeply critical of the Church's attitude towards gay couples, it will be screened in St Asaph's Cathedral, North Wales. And you wonder why the Church in Wales is dying. This is just another nail in its coffin.

*****

The Archbishop and Primate of Nigeria, Nicholas Okoh, delivered himself of a rebuttal to the Church of England in an Advent GAFCON letter. He described as "disturbing" a response the Church of England gave at its highest level at resolution 1:10. "The Secretary of the Archbishops' Council has written an open letter to Canon Lines in which he describes the Lambeth resolution as merely "an important document in the history of the Anglican Communion". But this is no ordinary resolution. It has been the standard appealed to again and again in Communion affairs and most recently in the Communique from the Sixth Global South Conference in Cairo which describes it as representing the "clear teaching of Scripture". One senses things are going to get very rough between Welby and Okoh in the coming months, and if I am not mistaken the loser won't be from Nigeria. You can read his full take in today's digest.

*****

Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London, England, one of the most famous foundries in the world, and the oldest in Britain, is set to close in May of 2017, when the current master bellfounder, Alan Hughes, retires. Negotiations are underway for a sale of the business, but it will not remain at the current site. The foundry was established in 1570, although it has existed under various names and in various locations. It has been at its current location in Whitechapel for over two hundred seventy five years, and Hughes is a fourth generation bellfounder, his great-grandfather having taken over the business in 1904.

The famous bells of Big Ben in London were cast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, as was the Liberty Bell. Many Episcopal churches in the US have Whitechapel bells, most prominently the ring in the upper belfry at the Washington National Cathedral, and Whitechapel bells can be heard all over the world. A listing of places with Whitechapel bells can be found here. More information about the foundry, an interview with Alan Hughes, and beautiful pictures here.

*****

Three members of an Anglican theological college in Nigeria were killed and others have been critically injured after "a ghastly motor accident", the Anglican Church of Nigeria has reported. They were members of the community of St Francis College of Theology in Wusasa, in Kaduna state; and were travelling in the college minibus to represent the college at a function in Gwagwalada, when the accident happened. On hearing news of the accident, the Primate of Nigeria, Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, sent a primatial delegation to visit the college to express condolence and to offer support.

*****

Episcopal and interfaith chaplains were about to raise a tent in the Oceti Sakowin Camp on Sunday, when a message runner approached and called them to join the crowd already gathering around the sacred fire in the camp's centre. As they joined the hundreds of people around the fire, Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman, Dave Archambault II, announced that that federal government said it would not allow the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe, the drinking water source for some 8,000 people living on the Standing Rock Reservation, which covers 2.3 million acres in North and South Dakota.

*****

We are in the midst of our annual Christmas appeal, and many of you will be considering a year end donation to your favorite charities. I hope you will consider VOL one of them. We urgently need a budget as we go into 2017. I have travelled extensively this past year and we have had some extraordinary expenses. Funds are low. Would you partner with VOL to give us a working budget for 2017? To keep these digests coming into your e-mail box each week is time consuming. Our work is encouraged by your giving. It helps us believe that all we do is worthwhile. Our hard-working team of reporters and commentators feel the encouragement when you give. Your donation is tax-deductible.

Please help make this possible. You can send a donation to VOL via PAYPAL at the link here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support-vol/

Or you can send a snail mail check to:

VIRTUEONLINE
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Thank you for your support.

David

Fruit and fullness. For many years now I have recited to myself every day the ninefold fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, and have prayed for the fullness of the Spirit. For the chief mark of the fullness of the Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control. As I meditate every day on these graces, on this fruit of the Spirit, I have noticed recently that the first is love and the last is temperance. Now love is self-giving and temperance is self-control. So holiness concerns what we do with ourselves. It is seen in the mastery of self, and the giving of self. --- John R.W. Stott

The only claim I make is that there is nothing original in these pages. I present no revolutionary new ideas, no easy new way of salvation. The road is still narrow (Matt. 7:14). I do not have the gift of softening the sting of the Christian message, of making it seem light or easily borne or quickly assimilated into prevailing modern ideas. --- Thomas Oden

A sign of authenticity. Love is as much a sign of Christian authenticity as is righteousness. --- John R. W. Stott

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
December 16, 2016

Trump Is bringing progressive Protestants back to church, according to an article in the latest issue of The Atlantic. Some mainline congregations have seen a bump in attendance since the election. But the most powerful changes to come may be theological, the article said.

“In the wake of Donald Trump’s election, some conservative Christians have been reckoning with feelings of alienation from their peers, who generally voted for Trump in strong numbers. But at least some progressive Protestant churches are experiencing the opposite effect: People have been returning to the pews,” writes Emma Green in the Dec. 11 issue of the magazine.

“The Sunday after the election was the size of an average Palm Sunday,” wrote Eric Folkerth, the senior pastor at Dallas’s Northaven United Methodist Church, in an email. More than 30 first-time visitors signed in that day, “which is more than double the average [across] three weeks of a typical year,” he added. “I sincerely don’t recall another time when it feels like there has been a sustained desire on people’s part to be together with other progressive Christians.”

Anecdotal evidence suggests other liberal churches from a variety of denominations have been experiencing a similar spike over the past month, with their higher-than-usual levels of attendance staying relatively constant for several weeks. It’s not at all clear that the Trump bump, as the writer Diana Butler Bass termed it, will be sustained beyond the first few months of the new administration. But it suggests that some progressives are searching for a moral vocabulary in grappling with the president-elect—including ways of thinking about community that don’t have to do with electoral politics.

“For progressives who expected Hillary Clinton to win, Trump’s victory was a shock. “I expected that I would be talking about reaching out to the people who lost,” said Debra Haffner, the minister at the non-creedal Unitarian Universalist Church in Reston, Virginia, in an interview. “My music director and I had talked about playing ‘Girl on Fire’ as our last song. Most of the people in our congregation supported the progressive candidate.” Instead, she said, “people walked in here like they were going to a funeral. They were grieving, they were scared, and they needed hope. They needed community.”

Now that is one side the coin. On the other side have come stories of the death of the religious right. The new moral minority. The Christian case for voting Trump, followed by the Christian case for not voting Trump. Everyone wanted to know what conservative evangelicals, who have long been considered a unified voting bloc, would do during this election. Now, it is clear. They overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump.

The deeper truth is that liberal Christianity is on the ropes, it cannot survive more than 25 years. The old mainline denominations are aging and dying fast and they are not drawing in Millennials or even enough pansexualists to guarantee their future. Nones rule. Mainline churches are emptying out and being sold to whomever, often to evangelical start-up congregations and Muslim groups. Liberal Christians have their backs to the wall and this post-election bump will soon disappear. Americans are fickle about most things, one has only to look at how the stock market reacted when president elect Trump whacked a certain airline manufacturer. The stock immediately dropped for no reason at all and then crawled slowly back up. People who go to liberal churches will soon tire and leave. This is a bump with no future and people responded too, more out of fear, but there is nothing to sustain it for the long haul. No gospel, no future.

To affirm my point, a new study of 22 mainline Protestant congregations in southern Ontario revealed the common factor in those experiencing growth is their emphasis on youth programs and adherence to traditional Christian beliefs in Jesus’ Resurrection, the uniqueness of His message, and the presence of the supernatural in everyday life. Without exception, the growing churches all had conservative theology, the declining churches all had liberal theology. You can take that study and replicate it in the U.S. and you would get the same result.

*****

In a statement that is bound to raise eyebrows if not outright hackles in the Global South, the head of the Anglican Communion Office in London blasted Anglican provinces in Africa as the cause of “disagreement even hatred” between fellow Anglicans and conceded that there was no hope or possibility of the Anglican Church ever agreeing on human sexuality.

Josiah Idowu-Fearon, a Nigerian archbishop who is also secretary general of the Anglican Consultative Council, said [provinces] must live together or splinter into groups and that will not glorify the Lord,” Dr. Idowu-Fearon told this to Canon Ian Ellis, editor of the Church of Ireland Gazette in a radio interview.

He confessed that he took the job because he felt called to do something to address the "disagreement and even hatred" between fellow Anglicans. He said much of the hatred came from the Southern Hemisphere. Asked what he thought of Australian Archbishop Peter Jensen who is playing a lead role in GAFCON, Fearon said, “unfortunately for me I know all these characters…we were good friends. He invited me to Sydney. He asked me what I thought of GAFCON and I said I am sorry but it is not a movement of the Holy Spirit because it is divisive.”

While the Anglican leader said his commitment to reconciliation remained firm, he conceded that on the root of the disagreements, human sexuality, he said there was "no way" of finding agreement. "It's not possible," he said. The alternative to finding a way to live together was to allow separate "splinter groups". You can read the full story in today’s digest.

*****

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act, this week, a bill designed to “advance religious freedom globally,” following approval by the Senate last week and is now headed to the president’s desk for his signature.

The bipartisan bill, authored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), aims to “advance religious freedom globally through enhanced diplomacy, training, counterterrorism, and foreign assistance efforts, and through stronger and more flexible political responses to religious freedom violations and violent extremism worldwide.”

The legislation requires that the secretary of state “establish and maintain a list of foreign individuals to whom a consular post has denied a visa on the grounds of particularly severe violations of religious freedom” or “who are subject to financial sanctions or other measures for particularly severe violations of freedom religion.”

It also would amend the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA) requiring that the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) “make publicly available, to the extent practicable, online and in official publications, lists of persons it determines are imprisoned or detained, have disappeared, been placed under house arrest, been tortured, or subjected to forced renunciations of faith for their religious activity or religious freedom advocacy by the government of a foreign country that the Commission recommends for designation as a country of particular concern for religious freedom.”

*****

The Board of Trustees of Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, PA, unanimously appointed The Rev. Dr. Henry L. Thompson (Laurie) as the seventh Dean/President of the Seminary, effective immediately. Last May, Dr. Thompson was appointed as the Interim Dean/President. This action of the board makes the appointment permanent. Plans are underway for Dr. Thompson to be installed as Dean/President in early February. The Dean/President is the senior administrator and chief academic officer of the seminary and is responsible for all of the daily operations and fundraising efforts.

Trinity began a search for a new Dean/President when the Very Rev. Dr. Justyn Terry, Trinity’s sixth Dean/President, announced his plan to return to England. An international search identified a number of impressive candidates, but the Board concluded that none of them was the right leader for this season.

Thompson first came to Trinity in 1997 after spending 19 years in parish ministry. He has led the Doctor of Ministry program since 2001 and has also served as the Dean of Administration and most recently as the Dean of Advancement where he played an important role in the “Reach for the Harvest” campaign which raised $15.4 million for various strategic initiatives. He is married to Mary W. Thompson and they have three adult children and 9 grandchildren.

Trinity School for Ministry (www.tsm.edu) is an evangelical seminary in the Anglican tradition. Begun in 1976, the seminary has trained more than 1,200 graduates and many others who serve in ministries all over the world. As a global center for Christian formation, Trinity continues to produce outstanding leaders who can plant, renew, and grow churches that make disciples of Jesus Christ.

VOL interviewed Dr. Thompson and we will post it to VOL’s website as soon as it becomes available.

*****

Does she really have a Ph.D. from Oxford University? The new bishop of the Diocese of Central New York, DeDe Duncan-Probe, says she does. A news release from ENS says, “she holds a doctorate from Oxford University and two master’s degrees from Pepperdine University and from General Theological Seminary.”

Oxford University does not grant Ph.D.’s, only a D.Phil, so what exactly has she got? Well, it’s from the Graduate Theological Foundation/Oxford University, which is not the same thing.

The GTF web pages are very cleverly written to suggest that its degrees are Oxford University degrees, with time spent studying in Oxford, but ultimately, buried in the text, is the admission that GTF is the degree awarding authority, and not any other university or institution.

A source in England told VOL, that GTF does not say by what authority it purports to award degrees. If it was UK government accredited, it would say so. In truth, it is one of many internet- based degree factories offering awards which lack accreditation as universities.

Yep, another phony female bishop with exaggerated credentials. Think Jefferts Schori.

*****

Historic congregations in America's urban centers contribute around $1.7 million to their local economy each year, according to new research on the economic impact of sacred places, the DESERET NEWS reports.

By frequenting nearby businesses, hiring local workers and operating schools, faith groups strengthen their community's social safety net and economy, researchers noted. Their report "suggests that the secular world has a significant stake in the health and vitality of congregations and sacred places," said A. Robert Jaeger, president of Partners for Sacred Places, a nonprofit focused on supporting older religious buildings.

"Eighty-seven percent of the beneficiaries of the community programs and events housed in sacred places are not members of the religious congregation," according to the new study, which was released Nov. 29.

Jaeger's organization produced the "The Economic Halo Effect of Historic Sacred Places" report in partnership with Ram Cnaan, director of the program for religion and social policy research at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Policy and Practice. Results were based on a study of 90 historic congregations, located in Philadelphia, Fort Worth, Texas, and Chicago.

*****

To no one’s surprise the College of Bishops of the Church of England met at Lambeth Palace on last Monday to talk about sexuality and issued a non-statement.

Discussions on issues of sexuality took place as part of a process of episcopal discernment which began in September and continued at the meeting of the House of Bishops in November.

The college discussed the reflections of the House from their November meeting and also received an update from the Chair of the Bishops’ Reflection Group on Sexuality.

As with the meeting of the College of Bishops in September and the meeting of the House of Bishops in November, the discussions took place in private and participants have agreed not to comment on the contents of the meetings beyond their own views.

The Bishops agreed to consult the General Synod in February as well as updating Synod as to where their discussions had reached. More information will be available when those consultative materials have been prepared in January, 2017.

A full and diverse agenda included substantial discussions on safeguarding, discussions on Renewal and Reform activity - including lay discipleship, simplification legislation and resourcing - and ecumenical issues as well as considerations of work with student groups.

As predicted - nothing concrete.

*****

Methodist Theologian Thomas Oden (1931-2016) died this week. Liberal Episcopalians and orthodox Anglicans could learn from his life.

His memoir, A Change of Heart: A Personal and Theological Memoir, recounts his 80-year journey from small town, Depression-era, Oklahoma Methodist piety, to swimming in the confident, but cresting high tide of social gospel mainline Protestantism, to his spiritual and intellectual encounter with Christian orthodoxy through the church fathers. Oden devoted himself almost exclusively to atoning for his years of theological malpractice by committing his next 40 years to rigorous scholarship, teaching and organizing for creedal Christianity.

Having previously—like much of Methodism and mainline Protestantism—sought relevance through an endless stream of urgent political causes, theological fads, and parapsychologies, Oden later committed himself to stewardship of ancient church teachings. In the preface to one volume of a systematic theology, he declared:

“The only claim I make is that there is nothing original in these pages. I present no revolutionary new ideas, no easy new way of salvation. The road is still narrow (Matt. 7:14). I do not have the gift of softening the sting of the Christian message, of making it seem light or easily borne or quickly assimilated into prevailing modern ideas.” I doubt TEC will learn from him, certainly ACNA can learn much.

*****

Two Canadian Anglican clergy persons protested outside immigration detention center recently. The reverends Andrea Budgey and Maggie Helwig protested Canada’s detention of “hundreds of migrants”. Neither Budgey nor Helwig were arrested.

Meanwhile, in Sweden, a wheelchair-bound woman was gang raped by six asylum seekers, none of whom were being detained at the time.

And in California, an ACNA priest spent time praying outside an abortion mill, hoping to save the lives of some of the babies entering the snuff clinic. He was arrested.

Does anyone else see anything lopsided in all this? [Source Samizdat]

*****

Christian evangelist Franklin Graham has condemned TIME magazine for comparing Hillary Clinton to Moses. Time says that Clinton was, like Moses, an imperfect prophet who led her people only to the edge of the Promised Land.

In a Facebook post, Graham writes: "Hillary Clinton an American Moses??

"Today TIME magazine named Donald J. Trump as their person of the year. And, oddly enough, they also called Hillary Clinton an 'American Moses'.

"Maybe TIME should check their Bible. I find that a very interesting parallel. Moses led the children of Israel to wander around in the wilderness for 40 years. I wonder if TIME was saying that if Hillary Clinton were elected, she would have led us into the wilderness?"

Earlier this year, Graham spoke warmly about the election of Donald Trump. In an interview with Christian Today, he predicted Trump would put together the best team in Washington that America has seen for many years and said there was "no question" that God had a hand in the election result.

TIME chose Trump as its "Person of the Year".

The magazine wrote that Trump had "magnified the divisions of the present, inspiring new levels of anger and fear within his country."

And, by seeking to condemn the dark side of politics, Clinton's campaign may have accidentally validated it.

"By believing in the myth that Obama's election represented a permanent shift for the nation, they proved it was ephemeral. In the end, Trump reveled in these denunciations, which helped him market to his core supporters his determination to smash the existing elite."

On Clinton, TIME said: "In her 1969 commencement address to her class at Wellesley College, Clinton called politics 'the art of making what appears to be impossible possible.' In this, she has succeeded. Like an American Moses, she was an imperfect prophet, leading women to the edge of the Promised Land. Now it's up to another woman to enter it."

Fox News comments that TIME admits Trump was the real change-maker of 2016, but also rags him as a "huckster" and "demagogue" while reserving its most glowing praise for Clinton.

Fox says the article on Clinton is "worlds away from the fulminating darkness that permeates the Trump piece."

*****

The bishops of the Episcopal Church in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts issued a letter this week to President-elect Donald J. Trump expressing their dismay at his choice of Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

“The Episcopal Church stands strongly for the protection of the environment. We respect the facts of science. We support the laws and policies that address the reality of climate change,” the bishops say in their letter.

Weakening and dismantling the EPA’s protections of the natural world threaten the common good and compromise national security, the bishops write.

“We wonder why a person who has consistently and adamantly opposed all laws and policies that provide even minimal ‘protection’ to the environment should be entrusted with leading such an agency,” the bishops say.

“As citizens of this beloved country, we intend to write our members of Congress, urging them to block the nomination of Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA. We will pray for a better choice,” the bishops conclude, with an assurance to the president-elect of their continued prayers as he assumes “this office of tremendous responsibility for the good of all.”

*****

Hotel nightstands across the U.S. are starting to empty out. According to a new study by hospitality analytics group STR, the percentage of hotels that offer religious materials in rooms has dropped by almost half in the last decade-- from 95 percent of in 2006 to just 48 percent this year.

“It’s because the religious books don’t fit the personality of the brands,” Marriott spokeswoman Felicia Farrar McLemore told the Los Angeles Times when speaking about two brand property openings in Los Angeles this year.

Marriot International recently decided against supplying religious materials at its Moxy and Edition hotel brands, which are geared toward millennials.

But the decision to shy away from supplying the religious texts is multi-faceted.

According to some industry experts, hotels are trying to appeal to younger American travelers who tend to be less religious than their parents. The casual Bible placement has also declined to avoid offending guests of other faiths, say industry experts.

And there’s a pragmatic issue at play. Many newer hotel brands install shelves rather than nightstands with drawers next to the bed, displacing the religious materials' previously discreet home.

*****

In Ottawa, The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) signed a declaration of dialogue and partnership between the two organizations.

The declaration notes that, although “Evangelicals and Jews have distinct theological perspectives, our communities share many foundational values, interests and concerns that afford an opportunity for joint advocacy initiatives.”

It specifically commits the two organizations to discuss issues of common cause, including palliative care, affordable housing, religious freedom in Canada, peace and security in the Middle East and support for persecuted minorities in the region.

Through biennial dialogue sessions between representatives of the EFC and CIJA, this partnership aims to “strengthen mutual understanding and identify joint advocacy opportunities in the above policy areas."

*****

Two similar arsons happened recently, but CBS news covered only one of them. The difference? One fire occurred at abortion giant Planned Parenthood, the other targeted a pro-life pregnancy center.

The day before Thanksgiving, an unidentified perpetrator committed arson at Project Defending Life, a Catholic pregnancy center located in New Mexico.

According to local news outlets, the arsonist started two fires: one in the center’s chapel, beneath an Our Lady of Fatima statue, and another in the pews. FBI spokesman Frank Fisher pointed to hate crime as a possible motivation.

As the Project Defending Life client services director, Dominique Davis also speculated intentions. “They might have thought because we’re pro-life we shame women and want to take away rights,” she told the Albuquerque Journal.

While the center currently assists 15 women with housing, job placement and parenting support, no one was hurt.

“That’s what makes me the most sad about it,” Davis added. “No matter where you stand on the issue (of abortion) we’re just trying to help families, and we’ve helped lots of families with housing, getting jobs and getting established.”

*****

We are just two weeks from 2017 and many of you will be considering a year end donation to your favorite charities. I hope you will consider VOL one of them. We urgently need a budget as we go into 2017. I have travelled extensively this past year and we have had some extraordinary expenses. Funds are low. Would you partner with VOL to give us a working budget for 2017? To keep these digests coming into your e-mail box each week is time consuming. Our work is encouraged by your giving. It helps us believe that all we do is worthwhile. Our hard-working team of reporters and commentators feel the encouragement when you give. Thousands of you go each day to VOL’s extensive website and archives, but few seem willing to support us. Please think what VOL means to you and how much work has poured into every digest of stories you receive from no other source and send us a tax-deductible gift. We would be very grateful.

You can send a donation to VOL via PAYPAL at the link here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support-vol/

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Thank you for your support.

David

Remember that Christianity is not, first and foremost, a religion; it is first and foremost a revelation. It comes before us chiefly not with a declaration of feelings we are to cultivate, or thoughts we are to develop; it comes before us, first and foremost, with the announcement of what God is, as He is proved in what he has done. --- William Temple

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
December 30, 2016

If you doubt the growth of the ACNA, why and how they are doing it right, then reflect on this from members of St. Mary of Bethany Anglican Parish in Nashville, Tenn. They threw a Christmas party for the fifth straight year at the Stonebrook apartment complex, which has a large immigrant and refugee population, according to Jeanette Veile. They collected presents for 500 children, who also received a candy cane and a picture with Santa Claus (actually, Veile's husband, Bob).

The evangelical Anglican church was planted two years ago in the South Nashville neighborhood -- in part because of the involvement the Veiles and other founding members had with refugees in the area, she said. The church rents an apartment in Stonebrook for the summer lunch program she started after seeing the need as an ESL teacher in a neighborhood school, and weekly meetings of its sister church, Burmese Worship Fellowship, as well as other events.

"It's the heart of Jesus. It's what Jesus does," Veile said. "We're not there just to evangelize or to convert."

The reaction to the sermon series and giving initiative at Parkview has been overwhelmingly positive, Kollbocker said, though he added, "I think it rocks any Western, suburban, white Christian's world when you begin to talk about Jesus in ways other than ... white Jesus with the long, flowing hair we see in the classic pictures that depict him."

Some are wrestling with "some of the misinformation and some of the fear" surrounding refugees, he said.

*****

And then there's a story (in today's digest) of an Episcopal parish in Gainesville, Florida that died and an ACNA parish that was born out of the ashes of that dying TEC church.

No one wanted to admit or concede that its day was done and the parish would have to close. But close it did, and the dwindling congregation at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Gainsville, threw in the towel and called it quits, handing their keys over to the Episcopal Diocese of Florida and its bishop, Samuel Johnson Howard.

VOL first covered this story in 2006 when the parish split from the Episcopal Church over the confirmation of V. Gene Robinson as the first publicly proclaimed homosexual ordained to the episcopacy in TEC and it was downhill from there.

At that time, we reported that the Rev. Alex Farmer had resigned as rector of St. Michael's and he and his members would begin a new ministry, Servants of Christ Anglican Church, that would meet at a Vineyard Christian Fellowship, down the road, at 5 p.m. Sunday. Today that Anglican parish has 200 and growing, living proof that at the end of the day, the gospel always wins.

*****

Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, issued a passionate call for religious freedom in a pre-Christmas 'Thought for the Day'.

The persecution of Christians and other religious minorities, "had disturbing echoes of the dark days of the 1930s", which led to the holocaust. "That nearly 70 years later we should still be seeing such persecution is beyond belief," he said.

On his BBC Radio 4 Today program 'Thought for the Day', he said he had been inspired when he attended the consecration of St Thomas' Syriac Orthodox Cathedral in London recently.

"Here were a people persecuted for their religion in their own country but finding refuge in another land and freedom to practice their faith. It is an example to inspire us all this Christmas time," he said.

The Prince of Wales referred to the oppression of Christianity in Syria and Iraq, as well as attacks on Yazidis, Jews, Ahmadis, Baha'is and other minority faiths in the Middle East. He described a recent meeting with a Jesuit priest from Syria who described mass kidnappings of Christians. He repeated the Jesuit's warning that there could be no Christians left in Iraq in five years.

*****

The Dean of York has been dubbed "Vicious Viv, after Christmas bells remained silent at York Minster for the first time since the 14th century.

A group of angry parishioners have called it scandal and raised 18,000 signatures saying that Dean Vivienne Faull's silencing of the bell ringers came following unsubstantiated accusation that a bell-ringer was accused of sexual assault. A row led to the bell-ringing group being dismissed in October. No charges have been laid at the person. The Dean rode roughshod over the facts and ended the bell-ringers' jobs. Now the bell ringers and supporters are calling for the removal of the Dean of York.

You can read Dr. Jules Gomes' fine interview with a campaigner trying to get rid of the Dean.

*****

A story by George Conger, an Episcopal priest, concerning the appointment of the Very Rev. Samy Shehata to a Task Force proposed by the ACC general secretary Josiah Idouw-Fearon and the Archbishop of Canterbury is wrong, mischievous and deceitful, Egyptian Archbishop Mouneer Anis told VOL.

In a skype call with VOL, Dr. Anis blasted the article which appeared on Anglican Ink a personal Anglican blog of Conger, saying that Shehata, a professor at the Alexandria School of Theology was never going to take the job and had been pegged to take a bishopric in North Africa as part of the Anglican Diocese of Egypt. (The diocese is seeking provincial status).

"I was troubled and disappointed by what was published by Rev. George Conger of Anglican Ink because what was written was not accurate. In regards to the support of the Archbishop of Canterbury for the Diocese of Egypt in its struggle with the Protestant Church Association who are trying to bring the Anglican Church under its umbrella. Archbishop Justin Welby has been so supportive to me and to our Diocese on this issue. I am so grateful to him for his great support and for writing to our President in this regards to the recognition of our Church in Egypt."

The other misunderstanding was regarding the participation of Dean Samy Shehata in the Taskforce of the Anglican Communion. Dean Samy is going to be the Area Bishop of North Africa in addition to his responsibilities as the Dean of Alexandria and the Dean of the Alexandria School of Theology. You can read the full story in today's digest.

*****

THE PRAYER BOOK SOCIETY will hold a Theological Conference on February 16-18, 2017, in Savannah, Georgia, to mark the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. The event will take place in partnership with the Elliott House of Studies at St. John's Church.

Entitled Anglicanism: Catholic and Reformed this is an opportunity to revisit the Anglican legacy of the Reformation, its distinctive history and future within Catholic Christianity. Among the speakers are Dr. Oliver O'Donovan, Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at Edinburgh and previously of Oxford, together with his wife, Dr. Joan O' Donovan, and the Rt. Rev. Geoffrey Rowell, the former Bishop of Europe. The conference is open to all, clergy and lay, and you can register online at http://anglicanism-2017.bpt.me

For further information about the PBS CONFERENCE 2017 16-18th February
Anglicanism Catholic and Reformed Revisiting the Reformation Legacy
1517-2017 St John's Church, Savannah GA (with special rates at The DeSoto Hilton and Marriott Courtyard) go to anglicanway.org or pbsusa.org. To register (with an early booking discount) please visit: http://anglicanism-2017.brownpapertickets.com

*****

Christmas killings continue in Nigeria in spite of Boko Haram 'defeat' claims.

Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria's President declared, two days before Christmas, that Boko Haram has been defeated and the jihadists cleared from their stronghold in Sambisa Forest in Maiduguri, Borno State.

But at least 12 people were killed in attacks by Islamic militants in the last 48 hours by Boko Haram and Fulani Islamic Jihadists.

At least 10 people were killed in an overnight attack in Goska village, a predominantly Christian community, in Kaninkon Chiefdom of Jema'a in Kaduna State, despite a 24 hour curfew. Two suicide bomber were also killed early Monday morning in an attempt to attack a market in Maiduguri.

The Rev. Emmanuel Ubandoma, a pastor in Kafanchan Anglican Diocese, told Global Christian News that, "it was rumored a few days before the attack that the Fulani Islamic herdsmen had sent a message, a Jihad requirement, "that they will attack the community. Most people did not worry much because there is a curfew in place and it was expected that the soldiers and security would intervene if there was any attack, but the Fulani came and surrounded and attacked Goska village. The attack started at dusk and went throughout the night to early Christmas morning" Ubandoma said.

*****

There is still no deal on Christ Church Cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand. The Cathedral restoration deal missed a deadline. Most of the cathedral was felled by an earthquake that rocked the city and its environs.

Central city landowners and developers are frustrated at further delays on a deal to restore the Christ Church Cathedral. An agreement to restore the quake-damaged cathedral in central Christchurch was not made before Christmas.

The Government and Anglican property trustees were unable to agree on the terms of a deal that would see the cathedral in central Christchurch restored, Stuff understands.

The talks may have faltered because the Government this week changed the terms of the deal, it is understood.

A spokeswoman for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Minister Gerry Brownlee, said the Government contribution to cathedral restoration had not altered.

"The Crown contribution has not changed," she said.

A statement from the Anglican diocese said Bishop Victoria Matthews was "greatly saddened" a deal could not be reached this year "given the tireless work of the Cathedral Working Group and Church Property Trustees and staff".

*****

Three retired Bishops of the Anglican Church of Nigeria in Awka have renewed the battle against continued sustenance of the Osu caste system in parts of Igbo land, with an official letter to all the governors, speakers of the Houses of Assembly and other notable personalities in the area to implement without delay, the 1956 Eastern Nigeria law banning the obnoxious system in the area.

The clerics in the forefront of the battle are Raphael Okafor, former Bishop of Ihiala Diocese; Anthony Nkwoka, former Bishop of Niger West and Samuel Chukuka, former Bishop of Isiukwuato/Umunneochi of Abia State.

The Osu caste system was an ancient practice in Igbo land that discriminated against a group of persons allegedly dedicated to deities and the stigma was naturally transferred to generations yet unborn.

Operating under the aegis of Total Liberation Crusaders, the Bishops, who said membership of the crusaders also included notable legal practitioners, high court judges and other professionals who were equally concerned that the Osu caste system was still in vogue and denying people their fundamental human rights in many parts of Igbo land, warned that there must be an end to the obnoxious practice.

The bishops said: "We are worried that generations, who know nothing about these cultural and idolatrous practices are today suffering from the stigma, whether their forefathers willingly or unwillingly became Osu. It is wicked and very unfortunate.

"Moreover, the Osu caste system is antiquated and had been outlawed since 1956."

*****

A Church of England parish has banned a woman from a vicar's job on 'biblical' grounds. The TELEGRAPH reports that Holy Trinity Church in Wallington in south west London will now issue a job advert that specifically excludes female clerics from seeking the job.

The Church of England said such a move was rare but not unique. A spokesman said that because vicars and priests are 'postholders' rather than employees, the church does not fall foul of equal opportunities laws.

The decision to bar women from the £25,000 a year job was taken after a vote by Holy Trinity's parochial church council.

At our recent open evening we explained the parish church council's view that the position of the overall leader (vicar) should be male for biblical reasons, says the Holy Trinity Church announcement.

The announcement made in the parish newsletter handed out to the congregation stated: "At our recent open evening we explained the parish church council's view that the position of the overall leader (vicar) should be male for biblical reasons. Thank you to all those who shared their questions, views and points.

*****

The subject of Women's Ordination is in continuous theological debate and this week we have published an excellent paper on the subject by Alice Linsley, who was an Episcopal priest but gave it up when she delved deeply into the Old and New Testament scriptures and into church history.

Her piece, Anglicans and the Historic Priesthood, is must reading for waverers. http://www.virtueonline.org/anglicans-and-historic-priesthood

*****

A former Church of England priest was handed a 10-year ban from the Anglican church after a tribunal found him guilty of losing his temper and displaying anger on occasion. At no time was there a hint of adultery, sodomy, or doctrinal denial by the priest.

The principal findings against Gomes by the tribunal chairman, Geoffrey Tattersall, QC, was that Dr. Gomes had an 'over-inflated view of his own self-importance' and dealt with people with 'little or no compassion or pastoral concern'.

The former Bishop of Sodor and Man, Robert Paterson, and a tribunal he set up, imposed a 10-year ban on the Rev. Dr. Jules Gomes from exercising ministry in the Church of England and anywhere in the world, according to the Manx Independent.

However, a senior official in the Church of England told VOL that the bishop has no authority and the tribunal cannot exercise any jurisdiction outside England. "It has none beyond these shores," he said.

Dr. Gomes, an immigrant priest, said the findings were "patently false." Each church in the Anglican Communion is independent and operates under its own jurisdiction with its own legal system and discipline. A ban on Dr. Gomes' ministry cannot apply anywhere except in the Church of England.

Furthermore, it would appear that the sentence seemed extraordinarily disproportionate - double the penalty normally given to a priest caught in adultery. The tribunal's document awarding the penalty, said Gomes' behavior had been 'entirely inappropriate', by giving a radio interview describing the Bishop as vindictive and likening the Church of England's approach to dealing with disciplinary issues to Shariah law.

You can read the full story in today's digest.

*****

Trump dominated the news in 2016, but was not Religion Newsmaker of the Year.

Columnist Terry Mattingly said that while Donald Trump's crusade to win the White House was the top story of 2016, journalists in the Religion News Association saluted the brash billionaire's opponents by giving their top honor to the Muslim parents who made headlines by denouncing him.

Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the Gold Star parents of U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan, who died in Iraq, shared the Religion Newsmaker of the Year honor. The Khans made a dramatic Democratic National Convention appearance to proclaim that Trump's proposed temporary ban on Muslims entering the country would be unconstitutional.

The RNA description of the annual poll's No. 1 story stressed that Trump received "strong support from white Christians, especially evangelicals. ... Many were alarmed by his vilifying Muslims and illegal immigrants and his backing from white supremacists. GOP keeps majorities in Congress."

The No. 2 story continued: "Post-election assaults and vandalism target Muslims and other minorities. Some assailants cite Donald Trump's victory as validation. Critics denounce the appointment of Stephen Bannon as White House strategist over his ties to white supremacists." News related to Trump appeared in three other RNA Top 10 stories.

*****

The Anglican Church of Burundi will plant 10 million trees in five years to mark special occasions like confirmations, baptisms and weddings. It is an increasingly popular practice in many areas of southern and central Africa, after it was suggested and promoted by young Green Anglicans. But the Province of Burundi is going a step further and is looking to plant one tree for every one of the 10 million-strong population of the country. The church hopes to reach its "One Person, One Tree" goal within the next five years.

The move is designed to protect and maintain forests and improve the environment. A report last week showed how the planting of trees on a hillside provides security for refugees living on a hillside in Rutana. The treeshave transformed environment not only for the Tanzanian refugees who have made the area their home, but also for wildlife, including monkeys and partridges. In addition to providing shelter for housing, the trees help to prevent flooding and have resulted in new sources of clean drinking water and improved agricultural yields.

*****

One wonders why the death, in Milan, of an ISIS follower has not prompted Episcopal Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, to declare that Christians must do more to embrace how Islam shows us the true Christ and how we must commit to stop shooting the dusky messengers of One People, One Faith, One Planet, One Government under Allah. God has clearly changed his mind about exclusive faith, and we must move for tolerance through inclusive diversity.

*****

2017 is upon us and we still have not reached a minimal goal of $150,000 to cover our costs for this coming year. I hope you will consider supporting our budget as we go into 2017. I have travelled extensively this past year and we have had some extraordinary expenses. Funds are low. Would you partner with VOL to give us a working budget for 2017? To keep these digests coming into your e-mail box each week is time consuming. Our work is encouraged by your giving. It helps us believe that all we do is worthwhile. Our hard-working team of reporters and commentators feel the encouragement when you give. Thousands of you go each day to VOL's extensive website and archives, but few seem willing to support us. Please think what VOL means to you and how much work has poured into every digest of stories you receive from no other source and send us a tax-deductible gift. We would be very grateful.

You can send a donation to VOL via PAYPAL at the link here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support-vol/

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VIRTUEONLINE WISHES ALL IT READERS IN 170 COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

David

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is consulting on its policy regarding 'homophobic and transphobic hate crime'. Unfortunately, whatever the intent of this policy, it undermines equality and limits freedom. It could have a draconian effect on any Christian who believes and upholds the Bible's teaching. --- Christian Concern -- UK

Theological knowledge used to be judged not by what kind of Bible trivia quizzes you could ace but by what kind of life you lived. --- Greg Forster

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
January 6, 2017

WELCOME DEAR VOL READERS TO 2017

What better way to start the first digest of the year than to proclaim that conservative churches are growing, and will continue to grow, while liberal churches will continue to decline and ultimately die. And so it will be for the Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church of Canada and the Church of England. They are all on a down-hill trajectory with no sign they can or able to turn around in the foreseeable future.

Dr. Robert Millard Haskell, a professor of religion and culture at Wilfrid Laurier University, says that his research shows liberal churches are dying, but conservative churches are thriving.

Mainline Protestant churches are in trouble: A 2015 report by the Pew Research Center found that these congregations, once a mainstay of American religion, are now shrinking by about 1 million members annually. Fewer members not only means fewer souls saved, a frightening thought for some clergy members, but also less income for churches, further ensuring their decline.

Faced with this troubling development, clergy members have made various efforts to revive church attendance. It was almost 20 years ago that John Shelby Spong, a U.S. bishop in the Episcopal Church, published his book "Why Christianity Must Change or Die." It was presented as an antidote to the crisis of decline in mainline churches. Spong, a theological liberal, said congregations would grow if they abandoned their literal interpretation of the Bible and transformed along with changing times.

Spong's general thesis is popular with many mainline Protestants, including those in the United Methodist, Evangelical Lutheran, Presbyterian (U.S.A.) and Episcopal churches. Spong's work has won favor with academics, too. Praising Spong's work specifically, Karen L. King of Harvard Divinity School said in a review of Spong's book, that it "should be required reading for everyone concerned with facing head-on the intellectual and spiritual challenges of late-twentieth-century religious life." Harvard Divinity professor and liberal theologian, Harvey Cox, said "Bishop Spong's work is a significant accomplishment," and indeed, Cox himself has long been at the task of shifting Christianity to meet the needs of the modern world. Thus, liberal theology has been taught for decades in mainline seminaries and preached from many mainline pulpits. Its enduring appeal to embattled clergy members is that it gives intellectual respectability to religious ideas that, on the surface, might appear far-fetched to modern audiences.

But the liberal turn in mainline churches doesn't appear to have solved their problem of decline.

"Over the last five years, my colleagues and I conducted a study of 22 mainline congregations in the province of Ontario. We compared those in the sample that were growing mainline congregations to those that were declining. After statistically analyzing the survey responses of over 2,200 congregants and the clergy members who serve them, we came to a counterintuitive discovery: Conservative Protestant theology, with its more literal view of the Bible, is a significant predictor of church growth while liberal theology leads to decline. The results were published this month in the peer-reviewed journal, Review of Religious Research.

"We also found that for all measures, growing church clergy members were most conservative theologically, followed by their congregants, who were themselves followed by the congregants of the declining churches and then the declining church clergy members. In other words, growing church clergy members are the most theologically conservative, while declining church clergy members are the least. Their congregations meet more in the middle."

You can read the full story in today's digest.

*****

A case in point is the rump Episcopal Diocese of Ft. Worth, which wants you to believe that it is growing and thriving when, in fact, the facts show otherwise. Jeff Walton, of Juicy Ecumenism exposes the lies and spin of the diocese in a story posted to VOL. The Episcopal News Service (ENS) -- the Episcopal Church's official mouthpiece -- is running a continuing series of articles on the renewing Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth (TEC), the remaining Episcopal diocese which effectively formed late in 2008 after a supermajority of Fort Worth Episcopalians all voted to disassociate from the denomination.

The central focus of the first article is that remaining Episcopal Church members are reconceiving what church entails, and are now focused upon social service and outreach as they worship in unconventional spaces.

"We're not trying to rebuild an old church," Fort Worth Bishop Provisional J. Scott Mayer tells ENS. "We are trying to participate in resurrection to become a new body."

Episcopalians have the right to reorganize themselves into a new entity and continue their affiliation with the national church. But the article makes statements up front that are not in accord with the church's own self-reported statistics, writes Walton.

"Fort Worth has 17 congregations, including a Lutheran congregation pastored by an Episcopal priest. In the time since the split, the diocese has seen a 19.3 percent increase in communicant members and an 11.9 percent increase in operating revenue. Since reorganizing in 2009, Fort Worth has annually paid the full amount asked of it by the Episcopal Church to support the churchwide triennial budget. It is the only one of six dioceses in the state of Texas to do so.

"Statistics provided by the Episcopal Church Office for Research tell a different story. In 2010, the remaining diocese reported 22 parishes, 6,075 members and average Sunday attendance of 1,995. By 2015, that had dropped to 15 parishes (-32%), 4,674 members (-23%) and 1,416 attendees (-29%). Marriages performed declined from 21 to 12 (-43%). This is not a trajectory of growth.

You can read the full story in today's digest.

*****

And then there's this: living proof that when people reject orthodoxy, they don't believe in nothing, they believe in anything. A Diocese of Montreal rectory is now home to a witches' coven, a report from Modern Pagan News and Commentary.

St. Thomas' Anglican Church in the Diocese of Montreal prides itself on being, "an open-hearted, welcoming, inclusive church." It is so inclusive, it is housing a witches' coven in its rectory, an arrangement that, apparently, provides opportunities "to work together on interfaith projects." What sort of "interfaith project" you might be wondering? Something along the lines of: Fillet of a fenny snake, In the thurible boil and bake, I expect. Both church and rectory are wheelchair and broomstick accessible.

You can read the full story here: http://wildhunt.org/2017/01/old-montreal-rectory-welcomes-witches.html I am indebted to David of Samizdat for this story.

*****

To the Clergy and People of the Diocese of Fort Worth:

Well, December has come and gone, and still no decision from the Second Court of Appeals. We had expected a ruling by the end of the year, based on our understanding that the justice writing the opinion was to retire on December 31. So evidently the case has been given to a different justice, and we have no idea when the opinion may be released. Shelby Sharpe estimates that the decision is "a few months away." This is discouraging, but all we can do is wait and pray and try to remain patient and hopeful.

We still expect a favorable ruling, based upon the previous decision of the Texas Supreme Court. The delay does not indicate anything has gone wrong or that we should be worried about a different outcome.

Do pray daily for wisdom and clarity for the justice charged with writing this very important opinion.

The Rt. Rev. Jack Leo Iker
Third Bishop of Fort Worth

*****

The Diocese of North Carolina, Bishop Michael Curry's old diocese, is looking for its 12th bishop. On the ballot, so far, are four white guys, but no women; One queer, three straight men.

On the list are: The Rev. Canon Michael Hunn, canon to the presiding bishop for ministry within the Episcopal Church, is one of two nominees by petition in the Diocese of North Carolina.

The other nominee by petition is the Rev. George Adamak, rector of St. Paul's Church in Cary, North Carolina.

The Rev. Charles T. Dupree, rector of Trinity Church, Bloomington, Indiana. "I have been married to Matthew Cole since 2011; prior to that, we were partners for sixteen years." Vickie Gene was "married" for 25 years to his partner and still it didn't work out.

The Rev. Samuel S. Rodman III, special projects officer in the Diocese of Massachusetts.

Not an orthodox priest among them. The diocese was going downhill under Curry, no positive change can be expected in any of these choices.

*****

Insanity has gripped Scotland apparently. Don't leave religion to the bigots opposed to LGBTI inclusion, urges a Church of Scotland minister backing schools campaign. The faith agenda must be "seized back from the bigots and the haters" opposed to LGBTI inclusion, a Church of Scotland minister has said.

Highland minister, Reverend John Nugent, spoke out as he declared his support for the Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) campaign, which is pressing for Scottish schools to overhaul the classroom approach to LGBT issues and wipe out bullying based on sexuality and gender identity.

Human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar and actress Emma Thompson are amongst high-profile backers.

Now Nugent, who leads worship at the Saint Fergus Church in Wick, has become the latest faith leader to come out in support of the push.

Claiming the current approach breaches children's rights and that religious groups should embrace young LGBTI people, Nugent said failure to act leaves religion to "bigots".

He said: "Inclusivity lies in the DNA of faith. The founders of the great faith traditions left the door open to all, and it is this ancient path that must be reclaimed and promoted; the faith agenda then being seized back from the bigots and the haters."

Nugent is the latest faith leader to support the campaign, following Reverend Kelvin Holdsworth of the Scottish Episcopal Church and Islamic scholar Amanullah De Sondy.

The Church of Scotland offered a muted response and said this: "The Church has a range of voices and Rev. John Nugent is speaking in a personal capacity as a parish minister. The Church welcomes people regardless of their sexual orientation. The Church continues to discuss issues of human sexuality and any decisions on this matter would be openly debated at a future General Assembly."

*****

A woman who became a sexual assault campaigner after she was raped during a burglary at her father's vicarage, has died after suffering a stroke. Jill Saward, then 21, was sexually assaulted by two men in Ealing, West London, in 1986. Her father, Michael, and her boyfriend were severely beaten.

Ms. Saward was the first rape victim in the UK to waive her anonymity. She went on to use her public profile to campaign for the victims of sexual violence.

Ms. Saward, 51, who was also known by her married name Drake, had three sons and lived with husband Gavin in Hednesford, Staffordshire.

In a statement, her family said she had dedicated the past 30 years of her life to helping other people.

They said Ms. Saward had requested her organs be donated to others after her death.

Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, also paid tribute, tweeting: "Sorrowed to hear of the death of Jill Saward (Drake), heroic and remarkable campaigner for the victims of rape: much sympathy to her family."

*****

Four Episcopal California bishops have sent a letter of concern to president-elect Donald Trump voicing concern over the intended appointment of Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. The bishops also state their continuing support for all people in the United States and call for him to be "a leader for all [...] but especially [a] protector for the vulnerable" by reconsidering his cabinet choices. The letter was sent Dec. 29, 2016, to President-elect Trump in hard copy and electronic form. Letter in full included below:

Dear President-elect Trump,

Recently (December 12, 2016) our brother and sister bishops in the Episcopal Church in the State of Massachusetts wrote you to strongly question and oppose your nomination of a climate-change denier to be the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Like the bishops in Massachusetts, we, the Episcopal bishops in the State of California oversee a body of faithful people who pray for our country's leadership every Sunday. We have faithfully prayed for President Obama over the last eight years, and we are already naming you to God, for your safety and protection, and for wisdom from God in the leadership of our country and in the councils of the nations of the world. There are 422 Episcopal congregations in the State of California, and they carry you in their prayers to God, as do we.

We join with the Episcopal Bishops of Massachusetts in questioning and challenging your choice for the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. The great majority of reputable scientists recognize not only the reality of human-induced climate change, but the looming danger to our children and grandchildren from the worst, unchallenged effects of climate change. We have a slender period of time in which we can, with great concerted effort, and under your leadership, avert the worst consequences of climate change for future generations. We need you and your cabinet to work hard to prevent a bad future for all of the world's children and all of life on the planet.

We also wish to register with you our strong, continuing and resolute support for the rights and dignity of refugees and immigrants in the United States, for people of all faiths, and especially Muslims and Jews who continue to be the objects of prejudice and hatred, for women, for people of color, indigenous peoples and for those economically disadvantaged. It is our belief that the President of the United States is a leader for all the people of the United States, but especially he or she is protector for the vulnerable. We ask you to re-examine your choices for your cabinet in light of your responsibility to guard the dignity and welfare of all.

*****

Just days into the new year, the U.S. Army has already handed a major victory to religious liberty advocates.

New Army regulations released this week state that servicemen and women at the brigade level will now be granted religious accommodations to wear turbans, beards, and hijabs in accordance with their faith. The move comes just days after the New York Police Department announced its decision to allow officers to wear turbans and grow beards for religious reasons.

Such accommodations for Army service members were previously made on a case-by-case basis.

"Based on the successful examples of Soldiers currently serving with these accommodations, I have determined that brigade-level commanders may approve requests for these accommodations," wrote Secretary of the Army, Eric Fanning, in a letter announcing the decision.

The new regulations will also permit religious bracelets, as well as dreadlocks for female soldiers.

*****

GAFCON has confirmed the dates for its third international conference. Between 17-22 June, 2018, it will return to Jerusalem, the venue of the first Global Anglican Future Conference in 2008 (from which the movement takes its name).

The GAFCON announcement explains that 'The city stands as a constant reminder of the birth of the gospel and the movement's determination to remain true to the teachings of our Lord and his Word' and so, to appreciate the significance of the 2018 conference, it is worth recalling how it all began.

Over 1,100 delegates gathered for that first conference, including over 200 bishops, many of whom came to Jerusalem rather than attend the 2008 Lambeth Conference alongside those bishops of the Episcopal Church of the United States (TEC) who had set aside the biblical teaching on sexuality affirmed by the1998 Lambeth Conference by assenting to the consecration of a man in an active homosexual relationship as a bishop.

But this collapse of Communion discipline was symptomatic of the growing rejection of biblical authority in the Anglican Churches of the West, and GAFCON 2008 addressed this challenge by approving a contemporary statement of confessing Anglicanism, the Jerusalem Statement and Declaration.

I was present when it was first read to the assembled delegates. The effect was electrifying. Spontaneous prayer and praise broke out with the realization that we were witnessing an historic moment. The faithful majority had now found its voice and the Word of God was to be restored to the heart of the Anglican Communion. As a start, a GAFCON Primates' Council was formed to give global leadership and the Anglican Church in North America was recognized as a new orthodox province.

The second international conference in 2013, hosted by All Saints Cathedral, Nairobi, saw delegates rise to over 1,300 and confirmed that GAFCON was here to stay. Highlights included: a commitment to principled intervention to provide oversight for those faced with persistent false teaching; the need for a more developed organizational structure; and formal recognition of the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE), working both within and outside the formal structures of the Church of England.

*****

Bad joke of the week:"Our times require a moral compass", Seattle's Episcopal cathedral says. Truth is the Episcopal Church hasn't had a moral compass in four decades. At the brink of the New Year, the cathedral issued a statement of love and inclusion, condemning racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia and sexual assault as sins, re-establishing the church as sanctuary to the vulnerable, recognizing the gift of diversity and vowing to "fight for climate justice and protection of our environment." No mention of Jesus of course, but then why would you if you believe you can have a "moral compass" without him?

*****

I travel globally to get you the stories few others write. We need a budget for 2017 which, to date, has not been forthcoming. We must pay our bills and only you can make that happen. Please lend a hand in helping us make 2017 a viable year for VOL.

Funds are low. Would you consider partnering with VOL to give us a working budget for 2017? To keep these digests coming into your e-mail box each week is time consuming. Our work is encouraged by your giving. It helps us believe that all we do is worthwhile. Our hard-working team of reporters and commentators feel the encouragement when you give. Your donation is tax-deductible.

Please help make this possible. You can send a donation to VOL via PAYPAL at the link here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support-vol/

Or you can send a snail mail check to:

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Thank you for your support.

David

We conclude this digest with these words from T.S. Eliot:

"For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice."

"Do nothing that you would not like God to see. Say nothing you would not like God to hear. Write nothing you would not like God to read. Go no place where you would not like God to find you. Read no book of which you would not like God to say, "Show it to Me." Never spend your time in such a way that you would not like to have God say, "What are you doing?"― J.C. Ryle

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
January 13, 2017

According to most recent statistics, The Episcopal Church is closing, on average, about one church a week.

There have been 385 churches closed in seven years between 2009 and 2015. With 364 weeks, that's just a little more than one per week.

With dozens of churches having less than 25 aging members, that figure will only escalate over time. There is nothing to stop it, not even Presiding Bishop's new found evangelism call.

A typical case is the Diocese of Upper South Carolina where blogger, The Underground Pewster, writes that out of 59 parishes, 23 (38%) have an average Sunday attendance (ASA) of 50 or less. 14 have an ASA of 30 or less. You can read his story in today's digest. Those 14 will be gone in two or three years. The hemorrhaging will only continue and escalate.

*****

How many Episcopal churches are there? That is a riddle with no one answer, according to VOL researcher, Mary Ann Mueller. The exact figure is as hard to pin down as finding the Loch Ness Monster.

The Episcopal Church Table of Statistics only holds a clue. Each year since 2002, the Episcopal General Convention puts out a detailed report which highlights the statistical spiritual health of the entire church. It reveals how many baptisms, confirmations, weddings and funerals have been recorded. It shows the membership of the church in terms of baptized, communicants and others distilled into an ASA. It also shows the number of registered Sunday school pupils as well as the number of open churches and missions.

However, the number of open churches figure doesn't seem to tally with any other calculations that are out there.

The latest Table of Statistics shows that there were 6,553 parishes and missions in the domestic church, adding another 491 congregations in the various foreign dioceses, showing that there were 7,044 reporting parishes and missions worldwide in The Episcopal Church during the 2014 calendar year.

The 2015 Fast Facts has been released, showing that 6,510 open domestic Episcopal congregations filed their parochial report. However, not all congregations file a parochial report as required. You can read her full report in today's digest

*****

From Pasadena, California comes words that an Episcopal parish won't pray for president by name. Citing "an active danger to health and safety" a California Episcopal parish has ceased to pray for the President of the United States by name.

Episcopalians and other Anglicans regularly pray for their bishops and others in authority during the course of a normal Sunday liturgy, including the President of the United States. It is also common to pray, by name, for the President-elect during the window of time between the election and the inauguration.

Mike Kinman, Rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California, blogged this week: "If you come to All Saints this Sunday, you'll notice that we have removed the proper names from our prayers for those in authority. Whereas before we prayed for "Barack, our president," we are now praying for "our president, our president-elect, and all others in authority." This practice will continue for at least the near future.

*****

A passage from the Koran that denies one of the central tenets of the Christian faith was sung aloud at a cathedral service in Scotland.

The passage from Surah 19, which specifically denies that Jesus was the Son of God and says He should not be worshipped, was sung during a Eucharist service at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow, to mark the feast of the Epiphany.

A video of the recital was posted on YouTube, showing a girl singing the passage in a typical Islamic style. It narrates the Islamic account of the birth of Jesus, which includes the claim that Mary was "ashamed" after giving birth, and the infant Christ miraculously spoke from the cradle -- something not found in Christian scripture.

She then concludes by singing verse 35, which states in translation: "It befitteth not the Majesty of Allah that He should take unto Himself a son," and then verse 36, which has the infant Jesus saying: "And lo! Allah is my Lord and your Lord. So worship Him. That is the right path."

The cathedral praised the reading in a Facebook post, calling it a "wonderful event".

However, retired Anglican bishop, Michael Nazir-Ali, strongly condemned it, saying it was especially inappropriate for the feast of the Epiphany, which celebrates the revelation of Christ as the Son of God.

"Christians should know what their fellow citizens believe and this can include reading the Koran for themselves, whether in the original or in translation. This is not, however, the same thing as having it read in Church in the context of public worship. The authorities of the Scottish Episcopal Church should immediately repudiate this ill-advised invitation and exercise appropriate discipline for those involved."

In late breaking news, the Archbishop of Canterbury has been urged to discipline a Scottish Episcopal cathedral over a reading of the Koran that denied Jesus was the son of God.

Justin Welby was asked to intervene by the conservative grouping GAFCON UK on Thursday after a service last week at St Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow, contained a recitation from the Islamic holy book.

You can read my story about all this in today's digest as well as an excellent commentary by Dr. Gavin Ashenden, a regular columnist for VOL.

*****

A group of clergy of the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil say they are being persecuted for defending the biblical position on marriage and they want their Church to maintain its unity with the Anglican Communion.

In an e-mail to VIRTUEONLINE, nine clergy, including a bishop, say the chamber of bishops is imposing its position and wants them to affirm same-sex marriage. They are resisting all such efforts.

To that end, they have formed the "Alliance of Anglican Communities", acknowledging the Anglican principle of unity in diversity, freedom of thought, opinion and initiative.

"We seek unity to make explicit and share the motives of our unity in Christ so that the Church we love so much will be strengthened more and more in its witness in society. In our Church, this is indispensable, because we cherish for unity in diversity, freedom of opinion and presence of movements that can enrich it with inclusiveness and comprehensiveness," they wrote.

*****

The Anglican Church of Tanzania's Dar es Salaam Bishop, Dr. Valentino Mokiwa, has been asked to resign to pave the way for a committee to investigate accusations of fraud and abuse of his office.

In Summary:
• The church, through a letter signed by Chief Bishop Jacob Chimeledya, says Bishop Mokiwa was asked to step down after he had failed to assist in an investigation of fraud amounting to over Sh200 million in connection with a special account opened at the Dar es Salaam Commercial Bank (DCB).
• The bishop is accused of failing to supervise church assets in collaboration with other church organs by allowing the leasing of 200 hectares of land in an allegedly shady contract.

Mokiwa rejected a call to resign from his position over failure to assist a special committee investigating fraud and alleged abuse of office.

*****

It is with profound shock and sadness that we announce the sudden and unexpected death of Oak Hill Theological College's Principal, the Rev. Dr. Mike Ovey. He was 58.

A statement from the seminary read, "As the Oak Hill community comes to terms with the loss of our dear brother and leader, we cling on to the promise that 'For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life'. It reminds us that for Mike, death is not an end but a glorious beginning.

Ovey leaves behind his wife, Heather, and their three children: Charlie, Harry, and Ana.

I knew Mike well. We met on several occasions, the last being at the Anglican Leadership Institute in Charleston, SC. He was a very alive guy, full of energy and dying for a good argument. He was a great brother in the faith whom I will sorely miss. "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants" (Psalm 116:15).

*****

This week Kevin Robertson, who is married to another man, was consecrated as bishop in Toronto's St. Paul's, Bloor Street, one of the largest Anglican Church of Canada parishes in Canada; it also happens to be an evangelical parish.

A number of clergy objected to the consecration:

Standing on the chancel steps, Archbishop Johnson then read from a prepared statement. "As we gather in this sacred act to worship God -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- to confer Holy Orders, and to share in the holy meal, I want to acknowledge that I have received a formal letter of objection to these consecrations from some clergy and lay people of the diocese," he said.

"It contains arguments against the canonical and ecclesial validity of these consecrations. I have read and considered their arguments. I am grateful that they have chosen to make their objections known to me in this way with great dignity. I thank them that many of them have made the difficult decision to be here today -- despite their serious reservations -- because of the love and desire they bear for the unity and faithful witness of the Church to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. While it is our intention to proceed today, I also want all of you and the whole diocese to know that I am engaged in a serious and mutually committed consultation with those objecting, to find effective ways that our ministries might flourish together in the highest degree of communion possible.

"There are those present who come with joy, hope and celebration of this moment and those who are anxious, dismayed and hurting," he continued.

Johnson went on to say:

"Today was a wonderful, Spirit-filled day. There were people here from all parts of the diocese. It was wonderful that people from a whole lot of different traditions and theological positions were able to come and be here, even if for some of them it was a struggle. I really appreciate the fact that we're continuing to work together to build up the body of Christ.

Of course, if the objectors are correct, it could not have been "a wonderful, Spirit-filled day" at all -- it would have been a disaster for the Diocese of Toronto. Johnson and the objectors are at polar opposite, irreconcilable positions on the legitimacy of Robertson's consecration. Yet they all seem to be pretending to be merrily getting along together. Just another example of how Post-Truth -- the OED's word of the year -- has infiltrated the church, I suppose.

*****

Most millennials do not view Britain as a Christian country, according to a poll to be published Jan. 12.

Instead, they view Britain as a nation with no specific religious identity. But they do believe that religion plays an important role in the lives of individuals.

The survey was carried out by pollsters ComRes and is being published tomorrow to mark the launch of the new Faith Research Centre later this month.

The center will carry out research to help politicians, policy makers, employers and others understand the role of religion in the world.

ComRes interviewed 2,048 British adults online between January 4 and 5, 2017.

Under a third of millennials, those aged 18-24, described Britain as a Christian country. And more than four in 10 of these young men and women said Britain is a country with no specific religious identity.

However, half of millennials said UK politicians and policy-makers should have a good understanding of religion, and that understanding religion "is important to tackling terrorism around the world". [Source Christian Today]

*****

The Archbishop of Canterbury is giving thousands of pounds to a church that holds services in a field, according to a news report in Christian Today.

Gathered under a canopy in a field in Essex, worshippers sing out praise to God and many, including the ABC, seem to believe that this is the future of the Church in England.

This is the very start of a new church plant, a church that will one day serve a brand new community of 12,000 souls. Many will live in the 3,000 new homes on the Beaulieu estate now being built on the eastern edge of Chelmsford.

The project is being backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, whose "renewal and reform" program, announced £9 million ($10.2 million) in grants to seven dioceses.

The Beaulieu Park church plant will receive some of the £2 million ($2.4 million) earmarked for Chelmsford.

A former C of E priest wrote this; "It is shocking that dioceses are going broke and the C of E can't afford to pay ministers who are doing the hard work of evangelism in difficult areas but has money to do this. When I was at Liverpool Cathedral under Welby, my colleague got thousands of pounds to start a Cafe Church. Guess who came? A few of his cronies who did not like the main liturgical service. They served coffee and croissants. He also got £5000 to start a website to provide information for asylum seekers to churches!

"The retired Canon who actually did work very hard with asylum seekers (evangelizing, taking them to court, discipling, caring) was pushed out of his job (even though he wasn't getting paid a penny) because he was a threat. He was told not to visit asylum seekers to comply with Safeguarding! He wasn't even consulted when the website was being designed! It is all a network of people scratching one another's back."

*****

The Archbishop of Jos in the Anglican Church of Nigeria has spoken about how Christians are finding refuge in God "in the face of turbulence, persecution and wickedness" in the north of the country.

Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi made the comments at the opening service at the annual retreat of Anglican bishops in the province, which is being held at St Peters Chapel at the IBRU International Ecumenical Centre in Agbarha-Otor. He said that the "forces of evil are still at work but Jesus has already defeated powers of hell, of darkness of wickedness and of evil."

Archbishop Benjamin asked the church to "intensify their prayers" for churches in the northern part of Nigeria. Persecution is biting very hard, he said, adding that "the devil has failed because God cannot be defeated."

The Archbishop also called for action to tackle biblical illiteracy; and suggested that Christians should adopt the Jewish tradition of training children properly in scriptures. Hebrew children, he said, were trained for about 30 years in preparation for ministry. He cited the example of Jesus Christ "who was guided for about 30 years and used the remaining three years of his life for ministry in order to interpret the law and the prophets."

He also said that some seminaries were too academic, leading to the church ordaining people who couldn't memorize a chapter of the Bible.

*****

Ninety thousand Christians were murdered for their faith around the globe this year, which amounts to one being killed every six minutes, Italy's CESNUR religious study group said.

Christians are now the most persecuted religious group in the world, Massimo Introvigne, director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), told Vatican Radio.

According to CESNUR statistics, around 500,000 Christians around the globe are unable to practice their faith completely freely, Introvigne said.

Seventy percent of the killings of Christians in 2016 occurred during tribal conflicts in Africa, he said, referring to data from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity.

The large number of deaths may be explained by the fact that many devoted Christians refuse to take up arms, he added.

The remaining 30 percent, or 27,000, lost their lives in terrorist attacks, the destruction of Christian villages, or persecution by the authorities, Introvigne said.

However, he said that the number of Christian killings has decreased, compared to 105,000 deaths in 2015.

The data in the report may be incomplete as it doesn't include India and China, where the Christian community survives in secrecy, he added.

*****

Six years on, the UK Ordinariate continues to "go forward in faith". The path for the Anglican Ordinariate hasn't been completely smooth since its founding, but its members are thriving in their unique position within the Catholic Church, according to a Catholic world report

It's been six years since Anglicans were invited to come into full communion with the Catholic Church, entering as groups along with their pastors, bringing with them their Anglican traditions in music and liturgy and pastoral practice. Pope Benedict XVI had called out "to groups of Anglicans"--Anglicanorum Coetibus--with an invitation that had come as a result of Anglican pleading. With the ordination of women in the Church of England, it looked as though hopes for reunion had ended, a door slammed shut, years of well-intentioned dialogue ending in a fruitless void. But Benedict salvaged something and opened a new chapter of history. For those who wished to come into full communion, a new door opened.

The creation of the Ordinariate has ruffled some feathers. It also proved difficult to explain to some cradle-Catholics. People asked--and still ask--"But are they real Catholics?" Over and over again, it has to be emphasized: yes, they are. A priest of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is a Catholic priest, just like a Dominican priest, or a Franciscan one, or a Jesuit one. They celebrate the Roman Rite of Mass, but if they wish they can use the Ordinariate form, which incorporates some prayers from the Anglican tradition, in words familiar to Anglicans over four centuries of use in England's churches.

No one is sure where the Ordinariate is going next. Some Anglicans seeking full communion with the Catholic Church will quietly make their own decisions and join a local Catholic parish, following an RCIA course. Some Anglican clergy will opt simply to apply to become priests in the local Catholic diocese. One of the things it has done has been to give something of a boost to cradle Catholics, who relish its contribution to good liturgical practice, good music, and a strong sense of the glory of the Catholic Faith.

When Msgr. Keith Newton spoke to Pope Benedict after the first couple of years of the Ordinariate's existence, the latter took his hand after hearing reports of how things were going and said, "Just go forward in faith." And I think they'll do just that.

*****

If you think the pansexual infection is among mainly Episcopal, then reflect on the fact that a lesbian couple will now lead an historic Baptist Church - Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC. Sally Sarratt and Maria Swearingen will become co-pastors. The 155-year-old Baptist church was once a member of the Southern Baptist Convention, but no more. Calvary ended its ties with the Southern Baptist Convention in 2012 over disagreements regarding issues including same-sex marriage.

*****

The St. Louis Dispatch reports that the Choir of Men and Boys from Washington National Cathedral will be singing at the presidential inaugural next week, as well as the chorale of Missouri State University. The National Cathedral choir was already scheduled to participate in the interfaith prayer service on Saturday, January 21.

From the story: It's a surprising choice for the National Cathedral (officially the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul). The Episcopal Church is a liberal denomination that has long supported women's rights, racial equality and LGBT rights; two years ago, the Cathedral hosted Friday communal prayers for Muslims. Trump's religious base is composed primarily of white Roman Catholics and evangelicals.

A spokeswoman for the Cathedral said that music director Michael McCarthy made the decision to take part.

*****

Mobilizing the Church for Life The Church today is challenged with a daunting task: upholding the sacredness of life in today's culture.

While the tension between life and death has existed since the Garden of Eden, the Church needs to be equipped to honor life from conception to natural death. Life Summit 2017 promises to be an encouraging and challenging time of learning how the Church can define and defend the sacredness of life. Speakers, workshops, testimonies, and networking opportunities will together enrich our understanding of the sacredness of life--what it is and how we can live out the calling to protect it.

To that end there will be an ACNA March for Life in Washington DC January 25- 27. Come join the March for Life on January 27, 2017

For more information on the Summit contact Anglicans for Life at info@anglicansforlife.org or call 412-749-0455.

*****

There are just two main orthodox sources of Anglican/Episcopal news in North America. The first is VOL and the second is Jeff Walton, Anglican Program Director at the Institute on Religion & Democracy. There are many good blogs like the AAC, ACNA, Samizdat, Curmudgeon, the Underground Pewster to name but a few, but they are primarily disseminators of news not primary source writers of the news.

If either Jeff or myself give up on Anglican/Episcopal news, you will have no reliable sources to know what is going on. Liberal news sources like ENS, Episcopal Cafe, ACNS will continue to spin the news and there will be no counter offensive or alternative.

We need a working budget to go forward in 2017? To keep these digests coming into your e-mail box each week is time consuming. Our work is encouraged by your giving. It helps us believe that all we do is worthwhile. Our hard-working team of reporters and commentators feel the encouragement when you give. Your donation is tax-deductible.

Please help make this possible. You can send a donation to VOL via PAYPAL at the link here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support-vol/

Or you can send a snail mail check to:

VIRTUEONLINE
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Thank you for your support.

David

Scrupulous honesty. To steal is to rob a person of anything which belongs to him or is due to him. The theft of money or property is not the only infringement of this commandment. Tax evasion is robbery. So is dodging the customs. So is working short hours. What the world calls 'scrounging' God calls stealing. To overwork and underpay one's staff is to break this commandment. There must be few of us, if any, who have been consistently and scrupulously honest in personal and business affairs. --- John R.W. Stott

An authentic Christian worldview does not ignore evangelism, nor does it push it to the periphery of the Christian life. Instead, evangelism is at the heart of how we see the world. Our world is broken, and people are without Jesus. Not a day goes by when we don't pass people who need Jesus, who need a listening ear or a helping hand. --- Ed Stetzer

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
January 20, 2017

It was a bizarre week in the life of the Church of England and the Scottish Episcopal Church. In fact, I cannot remember a single week in which so much crazy utterances emanated forth from Lambeth Palace.

First we learned that the Archbishop of Canterbury was compelled to make his third trip to Auschwitz, the scene of unspeakable human destruction, where he made an impassioned statement about Nazis and evil in the world.

The Archbishop seems enamored by evil. It's deeply ironic that a 70-year old evil continues to fascinate the leader of 77 million Anglicans, when other more contemporary evils leave him apparently unmoved.

For example, the embrace of sodomy has ripped the Anglican Communion apart; it has shredded The Episcopal Church, bringing about the birth of the Anglican Church in North America. In Canada, the liberal Anglican Church of Canada has given birth to the Anglican Network in Canada and in England, GAFCON UK now has a foothold, as has the Anglican Mission in England. The rejection of marriage as it has been understood for centuries and now scoffed at in parts of the Anglican Communion along with the authority of Scripture, has resulted in GAFCON, forming the biggest single bloc of Anglicans against him and his Western pansexual brethren who hold sub-biblical views on sexuality. This evil has left Welby unfazed and his "reconciliation" attempts lying in the dust. The recent outburst by ACC Secretary General Josiah Idowu-Fearon has pretty well scuttled any attempt at reaching across the divide between liberal and conservative.

Then Welby felt the need to repent for the sins of the Reformation, when thousands were brutally put to death, often burned at the stake for their religious beliefs. Are martyrs of 500 years ago really a burning issue for Welby?

The Archbishop was roundly ridiculed for his remorse. The move was ridiculed by former Conservative Minister Ann Widdecombe, an Anglican who converted to Catholicism. "These gestures are pointless. The Archbishop has not put anyone to death, as far as I know. Modern Christians are not responsible for what happened in the Reformation. You might as well expect the Italians to apologize for Pontius Pilate," she said.

Historical apologies are a largely futile modern obsession, and the longer ago the event, the more worthless the atonement.

Some have already piled on to ridicule the move. Welby and his fellow Lords Spiritual have not immolated any Catholics recently, so what is the point in their contrition five centuries after the fact? Aren't there bigger problems stacking up in Lambeth Palace's in-trays? What about the inroads GAFCON and the AMIE are making into England!

The craziness got another lift when blogger ARCHBISHOP CRANMER ran a headline Archbishops Call On Queen To Repent Of Being Supreme Governor of The Church of England. He bewailed both Archbishops of Canterbury and York and asked are Dr. Welby and Dr. Sentamu asking the Queen to repent of her sacred oath? "They appear to be, for their statement is concerned not merely with the unholy burnings, hangings, drawings and quarterings of the past, but with those who perpetuate division into the present, which the Queen is sworn to do. And she is sworn to do this because the Reformation in England was an act of the State of which she is now Head; a parliamentary transaction sustained by the consent of the people over whom she reigns. How can the Queen repent of her part in perpetuating division without handing over her church to the Bishop of Rome ([who, constitutionally,] hath no jurisdiction in this Realm of England [Art. XXXVII])?"

The blogger said that the archbishop's use of the word was 'repent', is distinct from political apology, personal sorrow or corporate contrition.

Finally there is the remarkable silence of Welby into not one but two Muslim intrusions into cathedrals this past week. Welby has been silent on both counts and one wonders why. Certainly he cannot tell the Scottish Episcopal Church what to do, but he could have made noises to the effect that he disapproved of the actions to read the Quran in a cathedral, passages of which openly repudiated the Deity of Christ.

A second example was at Gloucester Cathedral, which provoked controversy by hosting an event featuring the Islamic call to prayer, as well as Buddhist chanting, Rasta drumming, and a Pagan rock band in an event just days after a Scottish cathedral was criticized for hosting Muslim prayers denying the divinity of Jesus Christ.

The 'Faith' exhibition by artist Russell Haine, held inside the Christian monument, features 37 portraits of individuals from different belief systems, including Zoroastrians, Druids, Witches, Pagans, and Baha'i, as well as all the major world religions.

The Islamic call to prayer -- which states that Muhammed is Allah's prophet, a teaching incompatible with Christianity -- was performed at the launch of the exhibition, by local Imam Hassan of Masjid-e-Noor Mosque.

The Rev. Ruth Fitter, vicar of St. Paul and Stephen Church, who helped arrange the event, said the call was "absolutely beautiful" and encouraged Christians to embrace all religions rather than spread the gospel in any way.

"We live in a world that is becoming more and more polarized by people who claim to have the truth. No one has any proof of God -- that's what faith is about," she told Gloucestershire Live.

Again, nothing from Welby about this second outrage.

One wonders if, in doing the Lambeth Waltz, Welby is overdoing Valium for anxiety disorders.

But there was push back. GAFCON-UK has come to the rescue of those orthodox parishes in Scotland, and one of their rectors, the Rev. David McCarthy, one of the remnant parishes in Scotland, said he found hope through GAFCON. He said that if and when the Scottish Episcopal Church's new canon on marriage is adopted, St Thomas' and other like-minded churches in Scotland would remain faithful to the bible's teaching. You can watch a video here: https://vimeo.com/199632542?from=outro-embed

*****

But it's not just the ABC bemoaning the sins of the past, of which those in the present had nothing to do with, the Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop Michael Curry will lead a weeklong Episcopal Relief & Development pilgrimage focused on reconciliation to Ghana. He will visit cities and sites critical to understanding the trans-Atlantic slave trade and Episcopal Relief & Development partners and programs working to improve Ghanaians' lives.

"At General Convention in 2015, we promised to address systemic, structural racism as a church. One of the first steps is learning the stories: how our church supported and prospered because of slavery and oppression, how black people have related to one another, how Ghanaian communities bear huge gifts and wisdom into the world today. That's what this pilgrimage is all about," said the Rev. Stephanie Spellers, canon to the presiding bishop for evangelism, reconciliation and creation.

Again, we are never told who the racists are that we hear a lot about and what does this have to do with present day Episcopalians, none of whom had anything to do with America's slave trade, except, of course, to make them feel guilty at nothing they ever did and then poke another knife into White Privilege -- people who are paying TEC's bills.

Curry wants us all to pray and reflect on the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the work of reconciliation required of all of us as followers of Jesus. But reconciliation can only be done by those who were actually involved in the slave trade, not people a 100 years later.

*****

The other piece of Episcopal news making the rounds is the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth over our new president, Donald Trump. Episcopal leaders are none too happy about his occupancy of the White House.

There is a delicious irony in that a bevy of liberal episcopal leaders are having to defend themselves over their church's role in the inauguration of a man they loathe and despise and wish with all their hearts he wasn't going to be the next President of the United States.

Donald Trump has stirred up a hornet's nest of disapproval from America's liberal elite, including not only Hollywood glitterati, but those in the Episcopal Church, who don't believe that The Donald is not God's anointed, especially as a number of evangelical leaders laid hands on him and declared him to be born again.

The former Dean of the National Cathedral, Gary Hall, believes the cathedral should ignore Trump's inauguration, even as the cathedral's choir gets ready to sing at his inauguration at the instigation of its current dean, Randolph Hollerith, who said the choir will participate. Social media went ballistic and emails lashed out at Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, Diocese of Washington Bishop Mariann Budde and Hollerith, at which they were forced to issue half-hearted support of the president couched in the usual formula of "prayer and understanding." The language of inclusion and diversity was strangely missing from their statements, of course. An ultra-liberal parish in California says it will pray for the president, but not by name. You can read my take on all this in today's digest.

*****

The Rt. Rev. Susan E. Goff, Bishop Suffragan of Virginia, has announced that she plans to participate in the Women's March on Washington, Jan. 21, according to a report in The Living Church.

Bishop Goff discussed the decision during a visit to St. Catherine's School in Richmond and in a post on a diocesan weblog.

"[The] biblical vision of the oneness of men and women is powerful and beautiful, but it is not yet a reality in our country," she said. "Women in the majority of fields still don't earn the same salary as men for the same work. Glass ceilings are still firmly in place. Women and girls still suffer abuse and sexual assault at dramatically higher rates than men do -- and dismissing assault as locker room talk is not acceptable by any standards. Gender inequality remains firmly entrenched and God's intention is not yet realized."

*****

Not to be out done on Muslim inclusion, the parishioners of the Diocese of Huron's St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral have been invited to tour a mosque on Jan 25th, an initiative of Syrian families that the diocese has sponsored.

David of Samizdat writes, "It's interesting to note the contrast with a similar sponsorship in the late 70's by the church I attend. It was a Vietnamese family -- Vietnamese boat people survivors -- whom we helped settle in Canada. The difference is, once here, they attended our church. Now, it seems the expectation is that sponsored migrants are more likely to make converts of their sponsors than vice versa. Such is the march of Anglican progress."

*****

The Bishop of Chelmsford, Stephen Cottrell, has been named as the favorite to succeed Richard Chartres as Bishop of London. Cottrell is 3/1 favorite with bookmakers William Hill for the Church of England's third most senior job after Archbishop of Canterbury and York.

Although the formal appointments process has not yet begun, his name is increasingly being spoken of in Church circles as someone with the experience and charisma to lead the Church of England's fastest-growing, most diverse and most complex diocese.

The many duties of the new bishop will include sitting in the House of Lords and acting as Dean of the Chapels Royal, in which role he or she will work closely with the monarch, her heir and the entire Royal family.

Cottrell is much-loved in Chelmsford where he has pioneered "mission units" where small groups of people from different parishes work together to support church plants and other initiatives.

He is originally from the Church's Catholic wing, but has demonstrated gifts that appeal across the spectrum. Like many "missional Catholics", he has embraced mission throughout his ministry. He supports the forward thinking of the current hierarchy, through initiatives such as "Reform and Renewal" introduced under the leadership of Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, an evangelical.

Evangelicals dominate the bookmaker's top 10.

What sort of a diocese is Chartres leaving behind? A couple of clerics who asked not to be named, said it would not be any loss at all. He has been a character from a P.G. Wodehouse novel, playing the role of a pompous Toff in holy orders. It was the existence of Rowan Williams that lost him in the top slot in 2002, which apparently he regrets failing to achieve. He has not only failed to rein in the gay lobby in London, but has significantly increased its influence via the appointments he has made. He does not ordain women, but in every other respect he has promoted them, too. His final appointment was of a heterodox Affirming Catholic as Bishop of Edmonton, which up to that point was solidly Anglo-Catholic and orthodox, if rather over-populated by gays, so as to spite the Catholic clergy remaining in his diocese.

He loved ALPHA because it put bums in the pews in the diocese, and he ordained Sandy Miller to give them oversight. The much-vaunted growth in church attendance in the diocese, other than ALPHA, can be attributed to the massive levels of immigration into London over the past 15 years from Global South countries, bringing in Christians as well as hundreds of thousands of Muslims.

*****

The ACNA House of Bishops met January 9-13, 2017, in Melbourne, Florida. Acknowledging "tensions" inherent in three streams - Evangelical, Anglo-Catholic, and Charismatic -- that make up the Anglican Church in North America, some 47 ACNA bishops from multiple jurisdictions, met together to give thanks for the breadth of Anglicanism, and the unity they had in the Anglican Church in North America.

A Holy Orders Task Force examining the issue of women's ordination concluded Phase 4 of their work and presented it to the college. "The Phase 4 report is being formatted and combined with the previous documents from the task force. This report will be passed on to the GAFCON Primates and to our ecumenical partners for feedback, and released to the whole Church in late February. The bishops will pick up these discussions at their next two meetings, in June and September of this year."

In 2012, the task force was asked to develop resources to help guide the bishops' future discussions on holy orders in general, and the ordination of women in particular. At our meeting this week, the Holy Orders Task Force presented Phase 4 of their work to the college. The College thanked the task force for the hard work that they have done on this topic in just a few short years. Having received the report at this meeting, the conversation then turned to the timeline for addressing these issues. You can read my full report in today's digest.

*****

In the ongoing mergers and acquisitions of the broader Anglican Communion, four Continuing Anglican Church bodies plan a joint Synod in October and pledged to pursue full unity. They are the ACA/ACC/APA and DHC. At the conclusion of the week, it is the intention of the four churches to sign an agreement establishing full communion (communio in sacris) among the four bodies as well as a pledge to pursue in a determined and deliberate fashion increasingly full unity.

The Churches will also discuss common plans for mission and evangelism. Each Church will hold its own mandatory business meetings and Synods, but the four will join together throughout the joint synod for common worship and social occasions.

In other news, The Reformed Episcopal Church's Diocese of the West has merged into the Anglican Church in North America's Missionary Diocese of All Saints (MDAS) under the leadership of the Rt. Rev. William H. Ilgenfritz. The Diocese of the West's synod meet at St John's Church in Boerne and voted to dissolve, and move into the MDAS as the "Convocation of the West".

*****

If you haven't signed up for it, you should. THE PRAYER BOOK SOCIETY will hold a Theological Conference on February 16-18, 2017, in Savannah, Georgia, to mark the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. The event will take place in partnership with the Elliott House of Studies at St. John's Church.

Entitled Anglicanism: Catholic and Reformed, this is an opportunity to revisit the Anglican legacy of the Reformation, its distinctive history and future within Catholic Christianity. Among the speakers are Dr. Oliver O'Donovan, Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at Edinburgh and previously of Oxford, together with his wife, Dr. Joan O' Donovan, and the Rt. Rev. Geoffrey Rowell, the former Bishop of Europe. The conference is open to all, clergy and lay, and you can register online at http://anglicanism-2017.bpt.me

For further information about the PBS CONFERENCE 2017 16-18th February Anglicanism Catholic and Reformed Revisiting the Reformation Legacy 1517-2017 St John's Church, Savannah GA (with special rates at The DeSoto Hilton and Marriott Courtyard) go to anglicanway.org or pbsusa.org. To register (with an early booking discount) please visit: http://anglicanism-2017.brownpapertickets.com

*****

The Vatican will issue a stamp featuring Martin Luther. If you happen to receive a piece of mail from the Vatican this year, don't be surprised to see the face of Martin Luther.

The Vatican office charged with issuing stamps, known as the Philatelic and Numismatic Office, confirmed Tuesday to LifeSiteNews that Luther, who broke away from the Catholic Church in a schism 500 years ago, will be celebrated with a postage stamp in 2017. The office is in charge of the annual commission of stamps, coins, and other commemorative medals.

The Vatican regularly issues such memorabilia for special events, including papal trips and holy years. Honoring Luther and the Protestant Reformation is an unlikely choice, trumping other significant events in the Catholic Church such as the 100-year anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima and the 300-year anniversary of our Lady of Aparecida, Brazil.

Major events such as Christmas, Easter, the Holy Year of Mercy, and the World Meeting of Families have also merited a commemorative stamp. In the time before a Papal election, when the seat of Peter is vacant, the Philatelic and Numismatic office issues a "Sede Vacante" stamp.

Usually, if individuals are commemorated on stamps, they are saints, such as Teresa of Calcutta, John Paul II, and Pope John XXIII, who most recently were honored with stamps.

While the Vatican has in the past collaborated with other national post offices to create stamps that are not of explicitly religious content, such as Charlie Chaplain or the fall of the Berlin wall, the Luther stamp has an undeniable religious connotation linked with much hostility to the Catholic Church.

*****

Churchgoers were surprised to find a handful of "Save ObamaCare" protesters marching around the Episcopal church in Rock Hill South Carolina, this past Sunday morning. Since Episcopalians represent a minuscule minority in York County, I am not sure what the protesters were expecting to gain by targeting the corner of Caldwell and White streets, writes The Underground Pewster. "Plus, they were preaching to the choir at the Episcopal church, which at its highest levels is likely to be supportive of the protest. As evidence, just look at TEC's history of backing the passage of the "Affordable Care Act" in the first place.

"The Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations and the Episcopal Public Policy Network had lobbied lawmakers to pass the Democrat bill, and sent emails to Episcopalians across the country, urging them to contact their congressmen to back health care reform.

"The Episcopal Church's national office endorsed a Feb 24 letter prepared by the Faithful Reform in Healthcare coalition that urged legislators to 'complete the task at hand on behalf of the millions who are left out and left behind in our current health care system,' and pass the Democrat health care bill.

'We now stand closer than ever before to historic health care reform. Turning back now could mean justice delayed for another generation and an unprecedented opportunity lost,' they argued."

*****

At St Paul's Anglican Cathedral Diocese of Huron London, Ontario, Canada, the Deacon, Pat Henderson, is asking Anglican parishioners to tour the Moslem Mosque on Wed, Jan 25th, at 7 PM for a "get-together'.

"Leaders of the Mosque will be there to offer us a tour and to answer questions in order to help us learn how Moslems truly live and practice their faith. Bring a friend or a neighbor".

This is total nonsense, said a Canadian blogger to VOL. "St Paul's is in a very precarious financial position with very few parishioners and a large building which will require repairs costing about $1 million dollars, dollars which are few and far between.

"Yet Deacon Pat organized and aided the settling of several Moslem families by St Paul's Church.

"Why did Deacon Pat not help the Christian people who needed help in getting to Canada, why was she only concerned about the Moslems? While Deacon Pat is busy taking tours to the Islamic Mosque, Christian citizens and others are being slaughtered in the Middle East, who is helping them?

"Why is Henderson so concerned about touring the Islamic Mosque, why is she not putting in more effort on behalf of the Anglican parishioners of St Paul's Church?"

*****

Nationalism joins Islam as reasons for Christian persecution. Open Door, an organization that monitors Christian persecution, has released its annual report for 2016, which it calls "the worst year yet" for violence against Christians.

The biggest part of the persecution is still committed in the name of Islam. No longer just a matter of the Middle East, Islamic persecution has risen dramatically in Africa.

As nationalism re-emerges worldwide, ethnic nationalism has become an excuse to persecute Christians. This is happening especially in Asia, including India, Bhutan, and Laos.

Approximately 215 million Christians experience high, very high, or extreme persecution.

North Korea remains the most dangerous place to be a Christian (for 14 straight years).

Islamic extremism remains the global dominant driver of persecution, responsible for initiating oppression and conflict in 35 out of the 50 countries on the 2017 list.

Ethnic nationalism is fast becoming a major driver of persecution. "While this took an anti-establishment form in the West, in Asia it took an anti-minorities form, fueled by dramatic religious nationalism and government insecurity. It is common--and easy--for tottering governments to gain quick support by scapegoating Christians."

The total number of persecution incidents in the top 50 most dangerous countries increased, revealing the persecution of Christians worldwide as a rising trend.

The most violent: Pakistan, which rose to No. 4 on the list for a level of violence "exceeding even northern Nigeria."

The killings of Christians were more geographically dispersed than in most time periods studied. "Hitting closer to home, 23 Christian leaders in Mexico and four in Colombia were killed specifically for their faith," said Open Doors of the "rare" event.

Asia is a new center of concern, with persecution rising sharply in Bangladesh, Laos, and Bhutan, and Sri Lanka joining the list for the first time.

*****

2017 is upon us and we still have not reached a minimal goal of $150,000 to cover our costs for this coming year. I hope you will consider supporting our budget as we go into 2017. Funds are low. Would you partner with VOL to give us a working budget for 2017? To keep these digests coming into your e-mail box each week is time consuming. Our work is encouraged by your giving. It helps us believe that all we do is worthwhile. Our hard-working team of reporters and commentators feel the encouragement when you give. Thousands of you go each day to VOL's extensive website and archives, but few seem willing to support us. Please think what VOL means to you and how much work has poured into every digest of stories you receive from no other source and send us a tax-deductible gift. We would be very grateful.

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It is quite interesting how often those who are inclusive toward the practice of homosexuality, transgenderism, etc. do so under the auspices of love -- especially when the apostle John connects loving others with obedience to the commands of scripture (1 Jn. 3:24-25). --- Grayson Gilbert

Holiness defined. Where today is the old evangelical emphasis on holiness? ... I suspect it has been replaced by an emphasis on experience. Now experience is good, but holiness is better. For holiness is Christlikeness, and Christlikeness is God's eternal purpose for his children. --- John R. W. Stott

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
January 27, 2018

Searching for a new church is a common experience for Americans. Nearly half have done so at least once in their life and a quarter have done so within the last five years, according to a new study by Pew Religion. But why do they leave and why do they decide where to attend?

Pew found that Americans changed churches or places of worship for a variety of reasons. The most common reason was because they moved (34%), got divorced (11%), or for other pragmatic reasons (3%). Ideological reasons were also frequently cited, including disagreements with clergy (11%) and changes in beliefs (5%).

Perhaps even more insightfully, Pew asked what characteristics played an "important role" in picking a new church. Respondents cite four major reasons: quality of the sermons (83%), feeling welcomed by the church's leaders (79%), the style of the worship services (74%), and the location of the church (70%).

Sermon quality was particularly important for Protestant church seekers (92%), especially evangelicals (94%). Interestingly, this was also most important for atheists and agnostics (76%) when seeking a new faith community.

*****

A letter, written by Archbishop Justin Welby but not well publicized, slipped in a request for another meeting of the Primates following the lackluster meeting of the same primates last January in Canterbury. The ABC has scheduled it for October 2-6, and again in Canterbury Cathedral.

But VOL has been told that it is most unlikely that the GAFCON Primates will be attending the meeting, leaving it to moderates and liberals to hear what the ABC has to say. The issue is the misinformation about the Church of England's stand on homosexual marriage, which to date, the Church of England has not accepted or allowed. There are moves afoot to wink, wink, nod, and turn a blind eye to openly homosexual priests by not asking the question. Typical British compromise.

But VOL has learned that the GAFCON primates will probably not be attending; "I'm trying to consult with the others to see how things are going. The general mood is no," a Primate who asked not be named, told VOL.

Many of the GAFCON primates felt they got burned and blind-sided by Welby when he called the first such meeting in January in Canterbury and they don't want to get humiliated again. They see no future for more talks with the ABC, especially as American Presiding Bishop Michael Curry will be present.

Last January the Primates decided that TEC should be removed from any decision making on "issues pertaining to doctrine or polity" for three years. That promise has not been kept.

Another Primate told VOL that the GAFCON primates feel that Justin has failed to follow through the meeting in January, 2016. Which is true. He has not. He personally invited Curry to Rome to meet the Pope, even as a group of orthodox primates, bishops and clergy met in Cairo for the 6th Global South Conference. Welby said he could not attend, citing other commitments. You can read the full story in today's digest.

*****

In the Diocese of Tennessee, the issue has erupted as to whether or not the diocese, under Bishop John Bauerschmidt, will allow homosexual marriages to be recognized or continue to disbar clergy from performing them.

Part of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee's members want to change Bishop Bauerschmidt's decision barring clergy from marrying same-sex couples.

Clergy and lay members from the Middle Tennessee diocese will take up the issue this week during their Annual Convention, which is Friday and Saturday at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Nashville. Two resolutions related to the Episcopal Church's long-simmering, same-sex marriage debate are before the body.

"Episcopalians continue to be divided on this issue. Last year, we appointed a diocesan task force to promote prayer, reflection, and conversation about these matters," said Bauerschmidt, in an email to The Tennessean.

But then came news The Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee has turned to the National LGBTQ Task Force to review the Church's ongoing issues with ministers officiating at same-sex marriages. Although The Episcopal Church at the national level has given official permission in 2015 to all Episcopalian churches to accept gay marriages, it had also allowed bishops to choose whether or not they will accept same-sex marriages at the diocesan level or not.

It was under this provision that the Bishop of Tennessee, John Bauerschmidt, banned the clergy in his diocese from officiating at same-sex marriages. Although he hasn't said the diocese won't be accepting these couples, members of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee feel that the ban is an impediment to the progress The Episcopal Church has been making.

Bishop Bauerschmidt has asked same-sex couples who want to get married, to do so in another diocese. As the power to allow same-sex marriages rests with the bishops, same-sex couples are forced to look for dioceses where same-sex marriages are allowed and get married there. The Bishop, himself, refers the couples to neighboring Kentucky.

Clergy and lay people from the diocese desired the bishop to lift the ban. Instead of the usual submission of a proposal to the National Church, the Episcopalians selected a task force which would study same-sex marriages closely; possibly with an aim to come up with a way to encourage the bishop to lift the ban. The decision to create a task force was approved by over two-thirds of the delegates who attended the Annual Convention that was held at Christ Church in Nashville on January 21, 2017.

My prediction is that Bauerschmidt will fold his tent under pressure from the non-inclusive LGBTQI crowd, who brook no opposition to the pansexual steam roller making its inevitable way across the Episcopal Church. There are only a handful of dioceses left that won't compromise, but given time and retirement, the inevitable will occur and TEC, which once proudly announced that its doors are open to all, will find that by killing off its orthodox wing, the only ones incidentally capable of making churches grow, they will have suffocated themselves. It's death by a thousand cuts. Bishop Bertram Herlong was the last truly faithful bishop of the Diocese of Tennessee. The diocese will not see his like again.

*****

It's official. The Diocese of South Carolina will vote on affiliation with the Anglican Church in North America at their 226th annual Diocesan Convention, at St. Paul's church in Summerville, South Carolina, March 10-11, 2017.

The Provincial Affiliation Task Force, which had been studying issues surrounding affiliation for the past three years, recommended the diocese pursue affiliation with the ACNA during the previous convention in March 2016. Bishop Mark Lawrence also endorsed that recommendation.

*****

A Rainbow fish was vandalized on a church sign recently. The Church of The Ascension in Port Perry, Ontario, Canada likes to think of itself as a church that welcomes same-sex couples and to advertise that fact -- so rare today in the Anglican Church of Canada, after all -- it placed a couple of rainbow fish on its sign.

Someone is systematically removing the fish, writes David of Samizdat. "The rector sees this as a sign of intolerance towards same-sex couples, although it could just as easily be a sign of intolerance towards a church that encourages acts of which the Bible is intolerant. A newspaper article bills it as a "hate crime". However satisfying these pilchard pilferers find their protest, it is almost certainly giving the Church of the Ascension more free advertising than it deserves and it could result in prosecution under Canada's Section 319 "hate crime" law. If the vandals are so frustrated they feel they simply must destroy something, they should join an anti-Trump women's march in their area and smash some windows; there they will be immune from prosecution.

*****

The first woman to be ordained as a bishop by the Church in Wales has described her consecration at the weekend as "awe inspiring." Joanna Penberthy remarked: "I didn't think at the beginning of my ministry that I would ever see women in the episcopate but you had to keep believing. What was important was living out the calling that we had at that time and by doing so, opening people's eyes to the fact that God doesn't just call men, God calls all of us to his ministry in a way which fits our own particular gifts and talents."

The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, paid tribute to the Church's women clergy for "daring to trust and hope" during what had been a "long and hard journey" to ordination. More than 500 people attended the bilingual service at Llandaff Cathedral, during which the Archbishop, assisted by the Church's five other bishops, ordained Joanna, anointed her with the oil of Chrism and presented her with the symbols of office -- the episcopal ring, pectoral cross and mitre.

*****

A new era of Christianity dawns in the Diocese of Niagara, writes David of Samizdat. The diocesan rag (page 6) lays before the Niagara faithful, the path of progress and enlightenment.

Original sin is out, as is propitiatory sacrifice and substitutionary atonement -- what is there to atone for, after all? Gone is the Fall, the uniqueness of Christ and, it seems, theism itself. What is left, you might be wondering -- evolution.

Change, of course, is difficult, so for those feeling a little queasy about tossing out every major tenet of our belief system, the authors of this recipe for interfaith advancement, Rev Wayne Fraser and ACoC Partnership in Mission Officer, Dr. Eleanor Johnson, offer the comfort of Missa Gaia. If that doesn't do it for you, try listening to John Lennon's "Imagine": its emetic properties will induce the inevitable and help quell the waves of theological nausea.

The concept of Original Sin is the key to obsolete beliefs, including propitiatory sacrifice and substitutionary atonement.

Likewise, to blame afflicted people for their personal torments is presumptuous in the extreme. God did not create us evil and prone to diseases as punishment for our fallen state.

Humanity is not fallen. Original Sin is not a concept even mentioned in the Bible. Original Blessing, its opposite, is, yet we allow ourselves to be "guilted" about Jesus dying for our sins. Instead, we see the Bible's claim that God created the human race, all other species, our habitats and "saw that they were very good."

The God we worship and serve is not an old man living above the clouds. We can call ourselves "a-theists," people who do not worship a human-like, a human-made God. Many who have left church have done so because of the traditional image of God. Non-theism for most of us still attending church is uncharted territory, a new theological creation. Who or what do we worship?

We must start with a humble reading of the New Testament, with the brilliant hope, peace, joy and love put before us by Jesus. We experience God as an evolving Ground of Being, and the key word is evolution. Here's where the most radical concept comes in: God is Love, is giving and receiving. God plunges into the breakdown of humanity's connection to creation as Love in our loving.

We seek the wisdom and faith to explore our human understandings of God, for kindred spirits of other world religions and for this fragile earth, our island home. We see the destruction of the ecosystems and the mass extinctions of fellow creatures as crimes against God and all creation. We believe in caring for all species of creatures and their habitats. We welcome interfaith peace and inclusive justice for all.

A new era of Christianity is here and now, but many are afraid to acknowledge it. It is here in our ecumenical and interfaith worship. We must give up our fantasy that Christianity is superior to other religions.

People of all faiths have in common an evolving experience of the Divine. True worship does not care a whit for the forms of our rituals. God gives no one the right to be militant. Jesus commands us to love God, our neighbors and ourselves. Change is difficult, in anything we do. It seems especially challenging in matters of faith.

We must, however, change or atrophy. Instead of condoning all the fears, threats and guilt induced in the past, let us rejoice in the complexity, beauty and mystery of all creation. All people come from God, we are imitators of Emmanuel and we are co-workers with the Holy Spirit.

For the beauty of the Earth,
sing oh sing today.
Of the sky and of our birth,
sing oh sing today.
Nature human and divine,
all around us lies.
Lord of all, to thee we raise
grateful hymns of praise.

--Paul Winter, Missa Gaia

And you thought that only The Episcopal Church had all the crazies. They are now evenly spread to include the north.

*****

The South Island of New Zealand has a new Maori bishop. He is the Rev. Richard Wallace. About 400 people visited the tiny Onuku Marae, near Akaroa, on Saturday to see Wallace ordained as Bishop of Waipounamu..

He will be the second Bishop of Waipounamu and first Ngai Tahu leader in active iwi governance to serve as a bishop. He was elected to the role in October last year and succeeds the late Bishop John Gray, who had links to Ngati Porou.

Gray died in November after a long illness. In February, he was suspended from his role after comments that offended Jewish and Muslim communities.

Known as the Bishop of Te Waipounamu, Richard Wallace will have spiritual responsibility for Maori Anglicans from Picton to Bluff as well as Rakiura and the Chatham Islands.

*****

Growth and decline in the church of England. Here are some figures.

Top five Church of England dioceses by electoral roll for 2013, compared to 1990

2013 1990
1. London 68.3k 45.1k
2. Oxford 51.9k 58.7k
3. Chichester 48.4k 62.7k
4. Southwark 46.7k 46.1k
5. Chelmsford 43.4k 51.1k

Note the uptick for London. There are two reasons for this, and they have nothing to do with the number of homosexual priests that make up a goodly number of parishes. One is the uptick from ALPHA converts and the other are immigrants. In short, growth has nothing to do with regular English folk returning to the fold. Nothing. So no credit to the exiting Bishop of London, Richard Chartres.

*****

The Anglican Diocese of Egypt announced a partnership with Bibliotheca Alexandrina, this week.

The modern Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) is intended to recapture the spirit of the original Library of Alexandria as a center for learning, dialogue, and rationality, writes Egyptian Archbishop Mouneer Anis.

Alexandria was selected by Alexander the Great as the capital of his empire in 320 BC, and it soon became the most powerful and influential city in the region. The original Library of Alexandria was founded in 288 BC by Ptolemy I (Soter) under the guidance of Demetrius of Phaleron. It functioned as an academy, research center, and library. The great thinkers of the age flocked to Alexandria to study and exchange ideas.

Under the leadership of Dr. Serageldin, BA is now playing a very significant role in dialogue, enlightenment and scientific research in the Middle Eastern region as well as the rest of the world.
The Diocese of Egypt, through its interfaith dialogue programs, plays an important role in bridge building and peace making. Both Gusour Culture Centre in Cairo and Arkan Centre in Alexandria, are Anglican institutions which promote national unity among Christian and Muslim youth. The centers organize many music, art and sport programs.

"I believe that this partnership will enhance all these programs which will shape the future of Egypt," said Anis.

*****

In his very first pro-life action, President Donald Trump signed an executive order today reinstating the "Mexico City Policy" banning government funding of foreign pro-abortion groups like the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

A cultural political football, the policy was first enacted by President Ronald Reagan in 1984, and was maintained by President George H.W. Bush, until it was rescinded first by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1993. Eight years later, President George W. Bush reinstated Mexico City, and it was in effect until Barack Obama reversed it upon entering office in 2009.

The Mexico City Policy bans funding to organizations that perform abortions overseas or lobby for legalizing them in foreign nations.

Trump's pro-life action comes a day after the 44th anniversary of the notorious Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling, which, along with the Court's Doe v. Bolton decision, established abortion-on-demand as the law of the land.

In other news, Vice-President Mike Pence will march and speak at the March for Life rally later this month. In attendance will be a goodly number of Anglican bishops.

*****

The former Primate of Kenya, Bishop Eliud Wabukala, has been sworn in as the new chair of the country's Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC). The judiciary's chief registrar, Anne Amadi, conducted the brief swearing-in ceremony in Kenya's Supreme Court, witnessed by Chief Justice David Maraga and Attorney Githu Muigai. The EACC exists to "combat and prevent corruption and economic crime in Kenya through law enforcement, preventive measures, public education and promotion of standards and practices of integrity, ethics and anti-corruption."

"Fighting corruption should not be left entirely to the commission," Dr. Wabukala said after he was sworn in. "Cabinet secretaries, principal secretaries, executive officers, governors and accounting officers must take responsibility and should also be held answerable for what happens in their ministries, departments and counties."

Dr. Wabukala was nominated for the position by Kenya's President, Uhuru Kenyatta, in December, after the country's Public Service Commission interviewed a short-list of six candidates in November. His appointment was approved by the country's Parliament last week. He succeeds former chair, Peter Kinisu, who was forced to stand down after companies he was involved with became the subject of EACC investigations.

*****

Many Christmas services across the Iran region were packed to the brim. At one Persian-speaking church in a country near Iran, over 1,200 attended the Christmas celebration. A few hundred had to be turned away, such was the desire to learn more about Jesus, in a report out of that region.

So far, at least 100 Iranians gave their lives to the Lord during Christmas in churches in the Iran region. Many more commitments may come to light soon. 300 other new believers from a Muslim-background will go through the waters of baptism in the near future in a country near Iran.

"We praise God that for the first time in years we have not received reports of house church raids or the arrest of believers in Iran over Christmas. It really has been a remarkable Christmas, and we trust the Lord that this momentum will only keep building during 2017."

*****

Boys who think they are girls will be allowed to join the Guides for the first time in the organization's 107-year history.

Adult men who also identify their gender as female could become leaders, too, under radical new proposals to the traditional single-sex policy of girlguiding.

The details were revealed in a document sent to all leaders this week, which explained how members would be accepted on the gender they "self-identify" with, rather than their biological sex.

*****

The presiding bishop and the director of Episcopal Migration Ministries both spoke out Jan. 25, in anticipation of President Donald Trump's actions on immigration.

In addition, the Episcopal Public Policy Network issued a policy alert offering Episcopalians ways to become advocates on immigration and refugees.

Those efforts came on a day when Trump signed executive orders to begin construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall and block federal grants from immigrant-protecting "sanctuary cities." The Washington Post reported that Trump, in an appearance at the Department of Homeland Security, also signed the first of a series of directives to put new restrictions on the estimated 11 million immigrants living illegally in the United States.

*****

The Episcopal Church in South Sudan and Sudan has warned of the deteriorating security situation in the town of Kajo Keji within the past week. It says three violent incidents have prompted local people to flee their homes and head for refuge in neighboring northern Uganda.

A communique from the Diocese of Kajo Keji said that on Friday armed men attacked and killed a local official; on Sunday, government forces were ambushed about 10 km from Kajo Keji and, in the resulting gunfire, five civilians were killed. Local residents fled and many sought refuge in Emmanuel Cathedral, in Romogi, the nearby diocesan headquarters. Then, overnight on Tuesday, there was an attack on police, in which two members of the security forces were killed.

The Bishop of the Diocese of Kajo Keji, the Rt Revd Canon Emmanuel Murye, said that the Church would continue to care for its flock in the most difficult circumstances, but he called on the international community to intervene quickly: "We the church strongly condemn both warring sides and call on both sides to refrain from such atrocities on the civilians whom each respective side claim to protect and fight for their rights."

The Diocese of Kajo-Keji is one of the 43 Dioceses of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan.

*****

The Rev. Dr. Gavin Ashenden was one of many who criticized Glasgow Cathedral's decision to invite a Muslim to read from the Koran during an Epiphany service. Now, having resigned as a chaplain to the Queen over the issue, Gavin explains why he believes a three-cornered struggle for the public space is taking place between Christianity, secularism and Islam.

"I resigned to be able to speak more freely about the struggle that Christianity is facing in our culture. I had no idea that there were plans afoot by a Scottish Cathedral to "reach out to Muslims" by scrapping a Bible reading from their worship on the Feast of the Epiphany (when Christ's Lordship is celebrated as the Light of the World) and replacing it with a part of the Koran that denied Jesus was the Son of God."

Ashenden has taken a lot of heat, including some of it from Lambeth Palace. He gave an interview to the Rev. Dr. Jules Gomes, which you can read in today's digest.

You can see a FOX news interview with Dr. Ashenden here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZnH896OVQA&feature=youtu.be

*****

We have not reached the financial level necessary for a working budget for 2017. This is regrettable. VOL is thinking seriously of making its news service available through a PAYWALL in order to raise the necessary funding. It works for most major news outlets and we believe it would work for VOL. We will wait another month or so before putting this in place, but with the thousands who come daily to the website and only a handful supporting us, this makes it an economic necessity for us to continue.

If you are a regular reader then think seriously if you want to keep the news coming FREE into your e-mail inbox each week or being able to go daily to VOL's website.

You can send a tax-deductible donation to VOL via PAYPAL at the link here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support-vol/

Or you can send a snail mail check to:

VIRTUEONLINE
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Thank you for your support.

David

According to the Pew Research Center. almost as many Christian refugees (37,521) were admitted as Muslim refugees (38,901) in the 2016 fiscal year - a difference of 1380.

The Cato Institute published a very thorough risk analysis on terrorism and immigration that tells us that the odds of an American citizen being killed by a refugee-turned-terrorist is 1 in 3.64 billion per year. New America also compiled a profile that shows us the overwhelming majority of terrorist acts in the U.S. did not come from foreign infiltrators. These are the types of statistics that we need to know before we start shutting our doors to those who need help.

You are more likely to be killed by your next door neighbor who owns a semi-automatic weapon than an ISIS terrorist. There are entire areas of Chicago, Newark and Philadelphia (where I live) that you dare not venture into day or night.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics' (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey breaks down statistics by victims. For 2013 (the most recent year available), it shows that whites accounted for 71 percent of all sexual assaults documented (above their total percentage of 63 percent of the U.S. population), while Latinos accounted for 9 percent, far below their total percentage of 17 percent. And as a percentage of all "serious violent victimizations," sexual assaults represent 11 percent of the violent crimes against Latinos.

For the record, I am an immigrant. I came to this country nearly 40 years ago, and by any measurable standard I have done well. For me, America is a "shining city on the hill" that seeks to do good in the world and I applaud that. I also contribute by tithing to my church, my bishop and a variety of non-profit organizations that seek to help the poorest and downtrodden. I don't say that to boast. It is just a simple fact. Over the years, my wife and I have had Mexicans and Guatemalans mow our lawn, redo our driveway, build stone wall fences (when we lived in the burbs) and they were polite to a fault, did not ravish our daughter and treated me and my family with great respect. My wife and I travel to Mexico occasionally and again we are treated with great respect.

I say this not to upset people who may have voted for Mr. Trump, but facts are important and double checking what he says never hurts either.

Significantly, Pope Francis weighed in and said you cannot reject refugees and call yourself a Christian. He condemned the hypocrisy from Christians who are merciless to refugees and people of other faiths. Francis rebuked "the contradiction of those who want to defend Christianity in the West, and, on the other hand, are against refugees and other religions."

"The sickness or, you can say the sin, that Jesus condemns most is hypocrisy, which is precisely what is happening when someone claims to be a Christian but does not live according to the teaching of Christ. You cannot be a Christian without living like a Christian," he said.

*****

The new SCOTUS nomination, Judge Neil Gorsuch, is going to present a huge dilemma for Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and the HOB. YUGE. Here's the problem. Judge Gorsuch is an Episcopalian who regularly attends St. John's Episcopal Church in Boulder, Colorado, with his wife and two daughters. The priest there is a woman who is liberal as the day is long. So how can a man who attends a liberal Episcopal parish be so conservative on abortion and be pro-life! Down the road from where he lives is an ACNA parish he could attend. This is also the same church that JonBenet Ramsey's family attended!

Think for a moment about John Kasich, a Republican presidential wannabee. He attends an ACNA parish in Ohio. So what is Gorsuch doing attending a liberal parish with his conservative views? Clarence Thomas left The Episcopal Church to become Roman Catholic before he joined the High Court.

PB Curry and Colorado Bishop Rob O'Neill had better tread carefully because they don't want to do in one of their own -- a blue blood Episcopalian who still writes out checks to his parish. But Gorsuch's views are definitely at odds with TEC's views on a host of issues, especially when a former Episcopal seminary woman leader screams, "abortion is a blessing and our work is not done."

It will be interesting to see if the Episcopal hierarchy issues any kind of formal reaction to this nomination. Watch this space.

As Julia Duin writes, "The Episcopal Church, for anyone who's not been following religion trends in recent decades, has been careening to the theological and cultural left for years and its membership statistics show it. Thousands have left TEC and joined alternative Anglican churches."

So, the fact that the judge and his family has remained at St. John's says something. VOL will keep you posted.

*****

The Church of England's House of Bishops have upheld canon law on marriage this past week, declaring that marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman.

Hold the congratulations. Why? Because that is what they should have said and believed all along. No qualification, no ifs ands or buts. Just a simple declaration that this is what the Bible teaches, has always taught, that God has not changed his mind and that no LGBTQI sexualities permitted.

That should have been an end to it. Not so fast. This is the Church of England where fudge, prevarication and subtle interpretations are needed to parse what they passed.

The document they produced to come to this simple conclusion came to 8500 words.

In biblical terms, that's the equivalent of the Book of Romans and the Book of Colossians put together (8693) words. OR, the books of I & II Thess, I & II Timothy, the books of Titus, Philemon, James, Jude and II and III John, put together total (8333) words, a tad less than 8,500.

Welby said the Church of England has not "reached the end of the road" over its position on gay marriage. But GAFCON has reached the end of the road with the Church of England and Welby and that, in turn, could mean the end of the road of a single united communion. You can read my full take on this in today's digest.

*****

Three Episcopal Church leaders got into a real snit this week when the Anglican Consultative Council repeated that TEC had been told to step back from voting on issues of doctrine and polity and they now say that was a wrong understanding of what happened and believe they are being falsely penalized over their stance on homosexual marriage, now enshrined in canon law in TEC.

Rosalie Simmonds Ballentine, Ian Douglas and Gay Clark Jennings, who attended the 16th Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Lusaka, Zambia, last April on behalf of The Episcopal Church, said in a post on the Episcopal Digital Network, that they were dismayed to read on the Anglican Communion News Service "an article that claims we did not vote on matters of doctrine or polity at the most recent meeting of the ACC."

They state that each one of them attended the entire ACC meeting and voted on every resolution that came before it, including a number that concerned the doctrine and polity of the Anglican Communion.
"As the duly elected ACC members of a province of the Anglican Communion, this was our responsibility and we fulfilled it."

They add: "It could be inferred from the ACNS story that we did not fulfill our voting responsibilities at ACC-16 to comply with a communique issued by the primates of the Anglican Communion in January. 2016. The communique sought to impose consequences on the Episcopal Church for its adoption of marriage equality at our 2015 General Convention. Such an inference would be incorrect."

But the raw naked truth is that TEC and its leader were told to step back for three years from voting on anything in the Anglican Communion and they are whining and now saying they were not. That's not true. They were, and this was brought about in January when the Primates met in Canterbury and told TEC that "consequences" would be imposed. Welby hated the word "sanctions", but sanctions they were. Now the fat hit the fan and TEC is flexing its ecclesiastical muscle.

The latest row came after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, wrote to every Anglican primate setting out his hopes for the next Primates' Meeting, in Canterbury next October.

He referred to the recommendation by Church of England bishops last week that the current teaching on marriage should remain unchanged, meaning there can be no same-sex weddings in the Church of England.

He also noted that the current advice on pastoral provision for same-sex couples needs clarification and that the Church needs to repent of the homophobic attitudes it has sometimes failed to rebuke.

*****

The Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan, is stepping down...finally. One blogger noted that this no doubt will make many happy that he is retiring. From the outside it appears that he has taken his inspiration from the Hajj in Mecca, which will not surprise readers who recall his preference for putting the interests of his Muslim chums before members of his own church who have remained faithful to the wider Anglican Communion.

"Whatever your views, 31 January 2017 is a great day for the Church in Wales. One which has not come soon enough for many who have despaired of Dr. Morgan's complete disregard for anyone who disagrees with his vision of a secularized church. As usual Llandaff diocesan office has gone into overdrive, leading with their own valedictory appraisal of Morgan's ministry, which has been dutifully picked up as an Establishment item by the BBC and ITV, but much slower in the press, example here. Perhaps they have rumbled him at last after reading the official release.

"An unelected politician in vestments, Dr. Morgan has used the influence of his office to push a personal, liberal agenda. He has appointed acolytes eager to do his bidding advancing their own careers at the expense of others. A glaring example is seen in the Assistant Bishop of Llandaff's letter to diocesan clergy in preparation for Barry's ticket only leaving ceremony in Llandaff Cathedral on Sunday, in which he appears to liken Barry Morgan to Jesus Christ. A typical example of deluded obsequiousness, here is an extract from the letter in which the Ass+ claims "The Archbishop's final service on Sunday will rightly be his hour":

"Archbishop Barry is supremely a mountain top person, who has looked wide to horizons far beyond those who toil on the plain. Volcanoes are exciting if dangerous places, and surprise us with heat and light and molten rocks which change the landscape forever, and the Archbishop has had the nerve and courage to do that. In the words of Cardinal Basil Hume, he has been a bishop who has come to where people are and taken them to places they have never dreamt of going.

"Of all the five archbishops I have worked with, Barry is the one who has most displayed the hallmarks of our Lord, surely the ultimate mountain with attitude! Unashamed of his own tenderness, he has a deep and genuine compassion for the underdog and marginalized, and has been a champion for the people of Wales, so often down-trodden. Prophetic to the core of his being, he has been unafraid to overturn tables and fiercely denounce white-washed sepulchers. It seems fitting that Candlemas is on the horizon for his final days as Archbishop, a faithful servant of the one whom Simeon predicted 'was destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel, to be a sign to be opposed, with the inner thoughts of many laid bare -- and a sword will pierce your own soul too.'"

Much has been made of Dr. Morgan being the longest serving Archbishop in the Anglican Communion. If length of service were a measure of success, Robert Mugabe would be way out in front. Based on Church in Wales own membership figures, over 99% of the population do not attend Barry Morgan's church, so any understanding of the Anglican faith by the population at large and the media in particular will be negligible at best. From a position of profound ignorance, they confidently report on matters of faith as if it were a secular issue affecting people in the workplace.

*****

The Archbishop of Canterbury is now formally in the apology business. In his latest apology, Justin Welby has issued an "unequivocal" apology on behalf of the Church and says he was "completely unaware" of allegations that the Church of England failed for not reporting the head of a Christian charity who has been accused of physically abusing young boys and men.

He said the Church had "failed terribly" over its handling of the case. True, but why does he need to apologize for something he personally has not done. Regret yes, apology no. You cannot repent of something you have not personally committed. This is faux repentance. The man who committed these horrible offenses against these young men should repent and go to jail for the rest of his life. But it is not the business of the ABC to apologize for something he has not done. More recently, Welby apologized for the excesses of the Reformation. Will the apologies ever end?

*****

Trump may be readying dramatic religious freedom order. Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast this week, President Donald Trump suggested his administration may be preparing an executive order offering broad protections to individuals and organizations that oppose same-sex marriage, contraception coverage and more based on religion.

Trump did not directly address the rumored executive order at the breakfast, but he did issue a ringing defense of religious freedom.

"Freedom of religion is a sacred right, but it's also a right under threat all around us," he said. "My administration will do everything in its power to protect religious liberty in this land."

The president spent much of his address defending his recent executive order on refugees, insisting that procedures will be put in place to ensure that all new entries to the country "fully embrace our values of religious and personal liberty, and reject every form of persecution and oppression."

"We will not allow a beachhead of intolerance to spread in our nation," he said, and added that terrorism must also be confronted abroad, "viciously if we have to."

Trump did announce one new domestic move with implications for religious freedom, vowing to eliminate a 1954 amendment to the tax code barring 501(c)3 tax-exempt religious organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates.

"I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment, and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution," Trump said. "I will do that."

IN OTHER NEWS... Despite rumors that President Donald Trump would overturn the previous president's executive order that furthered "rights" of federal LGBTQ employees and contractors, the White House issued a statement Tuesday saying Trump would make no changes.

The president has hinted in the past that the gay marriage issue is not as important an issue to him as others. The White House confirmed January 31, Trump is "determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community."

The White House released the statement after rumors the president would overturn Obama's 2014 Executive Order 13672, which "protects" employees from anti-LGBTQ workplace discrimination while working for federal contractors. The executive order is broad and affects more than 28 million workers

*****

Will the Accession Declaration be changed for Prince Charles after comments by the Archbishop of Canterbury? The text was altered in 1910 from being anti-Catholic to being pro-Protestant. Ephraim Hardcastle writing in the Daily Mail, says the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, offers "remorse" for the violence suffered by Roman Catholics during the Reformation 500 years ago -- a pointless gesture, says RC convert Ann Widdecombe.

But royal watchers wonder if it'll prompt Prince Charles to ask Welby's advice about amending the Accession Declaration.

As a new monarch, he'll be obliged to say: 'I do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God profess, testify and declare that I am a faithful Protestant, and that I will, according to the true enactments which secure the Protestant succession to the Throne of my Realm, uphold and maintain the said enactments to the best of my powers according to law.'

The text was altered in 1910 (for George V) from being virulently anti-Catholic to being pro-Protestant. Might a new toning-down be on the cards?

*****

ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach issued a call to prayer for our neighbors and our nations, this week. "As a province that spans Canada, the United States, and Mexico we face unique challenges on issues affecting refugees and immigration. I am thankful for our congregations that are a part of the Anglican Immigrant Initiative. They have taken the lead in caring for those in our communities who are refugees and immigrants, showing the love of Christ to the most vulnerable.

"This week, I encourage you to follow their example, and make a special effort to reach out to refugees and immigrants in your local community. In these divisive times, we have the opportunity to demonstrate a compassion that builds bridges, and overcomes fear.

"In our province we also have lawmakers who face a different, but related set of challenging moral issues. As public servants, they are called to carefully discern how best to respond to the global humanitarian need while also maintaining the appropriate role of government in protecting its citizens. There are no easy answers to how our nations should balance these priorities, and our leaders need your prayers.

"In light of the Syrian refugee crisis, changes in US immigration policy, and the way these changes will affect us all, I ask you to join me in prayer. Please pray for the poor, the refugee, and all immigrant families whose lives are made more complex, and sometimes more desperate by these events. Please also join me in praying for all those in positions of public trust who seek wisdom in the formation of the laws and policies of our respective governments."

*****

Anglicans in Canada and other Christian leaders expressed their "sympathy and solidarity" with Muslims following a deadly attack Sunday night on a mosque in the Ste-Foy neighbourhood of Quebec City.

The attack, which left six people dead and 19 others wounded, occurred just before 8 p.m., Jan.29, when a gunman opened fire while evening prayers were underway at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec. Police have charged Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, with six counts of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder.

In a January 30 statement, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, said his heart "goes out to all Muslims across Canada as they struggle with this terrible attack." The church holds in its prayers the victims of the attack, their families and their imams, he said.

Hiltz also led national office staff in a 15-minute candlelight service at the Chapel of the Holy Apostles in Toronto to pray for the victims, their families, the Muslim community, the people of Quebec and Canada.

A tweet put out by FOX news that it was a Moroccan who did the shooting, was withdrawn after one of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's senior officials took Fox News to task for describing the alleged gunman in the Quebec City shooting as Moroccan.

Kate Purchase, director of communications in the Prime Minister's Office, pointed out the "false and misleading language" in a letter to Fox News Channel co-president Bill Shine.

*****

Episcopalians in and around the Standing Rock Sioux Nation Reservation are seeing their ministry change as the camps formed by water protectors along the Missouri River protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline are slowly closing.

The temperature in the area may have climbed to 40 degrees on Jan. 30, but it is still the bleak midwinter in North Dakota, and March can be the state's snowiest month, according to the National Weather Service. Tribal officials have said that the harshness of the winter is making the camps unsafe and they are worried about the protectors' safety when spring melts the snow and the Missouri runs high.

The tribe's statement acknowledged that many people want to return to the camps because of Trump's Jan. 24 actions. "We stress, however, that further actions at the camp and at the bridge and drill pad are not where we will find success in this struggle moving forward," the tribe said. "We need to be able to focus our energy on the intense government-to-government political situation and not the camps. Please do not return, but instead put your heart and effort into supporting the battle for clean water from your various homes around the globe."

The 1,172-mile, 30-inch diameter pipeline is poised to carry up to 570,000 gallons of oil a day from the Bakken oil field in northwestern North Dakota -- through South Dakota and Iowa -- to Illinois where it will be shipped to refineries. The pipeline was to pass within one-half mile of the Standing Rock Reservation and Sioux tribal leaders repeatedly expressed concerns over the potential for an oil spill that would damage the reservation's water supply, and the threat the pipeline posed to sacred sites and treaty rights. The company developing the pipeline, Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, says it will be safe.

*****

The Anglican Communion Office in London is looking for a new Chief Operating Officer to assist the Secretary General ,Josiah Idowu-Fearon. His primary responsibility for the management and administration of the Anglican Communion Office (ACO), is to help the Secretary General from not putting both feet in his mouth when he does media interviews, but of course, it might now be too late. Serving the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), the Primates' Meeting and the Lambeth Conference, supporting the work of the Anglican Communion across the world and liaising with the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury (Lambeth Palace) is all too late as the GAFCON primates won't have anything to do with the Anglican Communion Office, so propping it up is a lost cause. The job probably doesn't pay that well ,either.

*****

A Greek Orthodox Church-run hostel for unaccompanied child refugees in Greece has been given a lifeline following a cash injection from Anglican and ecumenical Christian agencies. The Hestia Boys Hostel in Athens has been providing accommodation and training for child refugees from Afghanistan, Congo, Iraq, Pakistan and Syria since 2011. But a restructuring by the European Union meant that its funding had been suspended. Now, the Diocese in Europe's Athens' chaplaincy has stepped in to keep the centre open, with the support of the Anglican mission agency, USPG and the British ecumenical agency, Christian Aid.

*****

We have not reached the financial level necessary for a working budget for 2017. This is regrettable. VOL is thinking seriously of making its news service available through a PAYWALL in order to raise the necessary funding. It works for most major news outlets and we believe it would work for VOL. We will wait another month or so before putting this in place, but with the thousands who come daily to the website and only a handful supporting us, this makes it an economic necessity for us to continue.

If you are a regular reader then think seriously if you want to keep the news coming FREE into your e-mail inbox each week or being able to go daily to VOL's website.

You can send a tax-deductible donation to VOL via PAYPAL at the link here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support-vol/

Or you can send a snail mail check to:

VIRTUEONLINE
570 Twin Lakes Rd
P.O. Box 111
Shohola, PA 18458

Thank you for your support.

David

The humility of dependence. Humility to Bash [the Rev. E. J. H. Nash] was synonymous with dependence. He told me several times of the serious illness he had had when he was a young man. When he was at his lowest ebb, and was not at all sure that he would survive, he remembered being so helpless that he needed to be fed. This utter dependence which in a sense was for him the ultimate in humiliation, seems also to have been the beginning of humility. He learned then the inescapable fact of our human dependence on each other, and even more on God. The humility of a little child, to which Jesus several times alluded, is the humility of dependence. It is right to refer to children as 'dependants', for that is what they are, dependent on their parents for everything they possess. --- John R.W. Stott

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
February 10, 2017

President Donald Trump may have inadvertently done Christians a favor. His lies and half- truths have raised serious flags with Millennials who have been variously described as "post truth", relativist in morals and absolute truth deniers with a conundrum.

If there is no absolute truth, then why call out a president you may like or dislike on his lies and exaggerations? If President Trump tells that many lies (Hilary Clinton had her fair share) and needs to be fact checked every time he opens his mouth, then perhaps there is something called absolute truth after all!

We are being told we live in a "post truth" world where there are no moral norms, no absolute truths, but if we have a president who requires constant fact checking, then perhaps we do have an absolute moral and ontological standard to judge things by!

Millennials, who have pretty well discarded any notion of absolute truth, may have to face up to the fact that there are absolute truths. Is there a God you cannot ignore? Is there a Savior who offers salvation? Are you yourself free of sin? If not lies, what are your particular sins that require repentance?

Mr. Trump may have done us all a big favor, even if you did vote for him.

Worth thinking about.

*****

Hell hath no fury like a bishop scorned. Bishop Stacy Sauls, former COO of the Episcopal Church, got the axe from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry soon after Curry got the top slot. Apparently, a severance deal was cut, but not to Sauls' liking and so he has sued Curry and others for more money.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry read a statement to the staff of the Episcopal Church Center concerning the investigation initiated on December 9, 2015, into potential violations of personnel policies. Two staff members have been terminated, and a third has been found innocent of violations or knowledge of said violations, but will be replaced in order to implement different leadership policies and directions. The investigation found general problems in the workplace environment, and a firm has been retained to help the ECUSA address deeper issues and implement a better and healthier culture.

The actions that I took were based on the facts determined and findings reached by that independent investigation, wrote Curry.

As TEC sinks slowly into the sunset, the temptation to grab what you can is irresistible. Will there be enough money to pursue Curry's much ballyhooed Jesus Movement revival to save the Church from extinction. We wait with raptured attention, or perhaps until the Rapture.

****

The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island fired a Long Beach priest charged with possessing child pornography and drugs. The Rev. Christopher King, 51, the priest at St. James of Jerusalem Episcopal Church, was arrested Friday after investigators found images of boys engaged in sex acts on a computer at his church residence, authorities said. King also had crystal methamphetamine in his West Penn Street home office and bedroom, authorities say in court records.

"The diocese and the entire Episcopal Church have a zero-tolerance policy with respect to criminal conduct of any kind, including the allegations made against Father King," Bishop Lawrence C. Provenzano said in a statement. "As a result of these allegations, I have today terminated Father King's license to function as an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Long Island."

Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves of California's Diocese of El Camino Real put King on administrative leave Saturday, meaning he cannot function as an Episcopal priest anywhere, Provenzano said. King arrived on Long Island in 2001 from the El Camino Real diocese, which still has jurisdiction over him, Provenzano said.

The diocese has a history of sado-masochistic priests masquerading as Christians. In 2006, I wrote a story headlined The Boys from Brazil in which then Bishop Orris Walker was forced to fire the Rev. William Lloyd Andries, who imported young men from Brazil and other countries for sexual purposes and then "married" one of them. A new priest to the diocese was later name in a PENTHOUSE magazine story.

VOL obtained figures on the parish and the diocese and none of it looks hopeful. The parish has less than 50 ASA and a P&P of $52,000. One doubts it has much of a future. Overall, the diocese claims 135 parishes with a total ASA of 13,685, but it is the Caribbean Anglo-Catholic parishes that are the liveliest and for the most part keep the diocese afloat. The diocese received only 83 into its fold in 2014, performed only 255 marriages, but buried 721 people.

*****

The Episcopal Diocese of Rochester sold its headquarters and chapel for $1.2 million and then moved its diocesan administrative offices to St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 3825 East Henrietta Road, Henrietta, after finalizing the sale last month.

The Bishop, Rt. Rev. Prince G. Singh, said the funds will enter their endowment and will be used to support such things as outreach missions and growth of our congregations. That's code for we don't have enough money coming in to keep HQ going, so we are selling it off in the hopes we can keep the remainder of the diocese from running into the ground.

The diocese began exploring a sale of the 100-year-old building, where it oversaw 46 parishes in eight counties, earlier this year. The area diocese has been based at the site since 1954.

Episcopal leaders said last year that the decision to sell was more about renewing their focus on "going out into neighborhoods and traveling lightly."

Other dioceses that have been "traveling light" include the dioceses of Rhode Island, Delaware and Pennsylvania, all of whom have sold either their cathedrals or diocesan headquarters.

*****

VOL's national correspondent, Mary Ann Mueller, uncovered a letter from the Presiding Bishop and HOD President revealing a veiled threat to move General Convention over Texas's proposed Bathroom Law.

As the Episcopal Executive Council prepared to meet in Lithicum Heights, Maryland, the two presiding officers of General Convention penned a joint letter to the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, Joe Straus (R-San Antonio), protesting Texas' latest privacy bill which, if passed, would "require Texas residents to use bathrooms according to their sex designation on their birth certificate. It would also prohibit local governments from passing laws that protect gay rights in 'intimate settings' such as public restrooms."

Where they would move the convention to is not disclosed. You can read her fine bit of sleuthing in today's digest.

*****

The Bishop of Buckingham, the Rt. Rev. Alan Wilson, says that claims made by Archbishop Justin Welby that he was ignorant of boys being abused at summer camps run by John Smyth, do not hold up. The Archbishop vigorously denies any such knowledge. The bishop accused the Archbishop of lying, but declined to clarify his assertion.

Smyth, now 75 and living in South Africa where he campaigns on morality, was the head of a Christian charity, the Iwerne Trust, when he ran the holiday camps. The young Justin Welby was among the Christian young men who attended the camps. The camps were where public school evangelical Christians were sent if they were deemed to have potential as future leaders in the Church of England.

Smyth ran Christian summer "Bash" camps under the auspices of the Iwerne Trust and is alleged to have beaten as many as 22 boys who attended the camps over a series of years. The attacks only stopped when one victim, the author of the anonymous letter, attempted to commit suicide.

According to U.K. evangelist, Canon Dr. Michael Green, there were no such beatings at Iwerne! "They occurred in a shed on his property in Winchester, and later in Zimbabwe."

Canon Green, a contemporary of John R.W. Stott, said he went to these camps three times a year for about 8 years and he never saw or heard of anything untoward. "Smyth was not there in my day. He was clearly a sadist and the beatings recorded are horrific. The Iwerne camps and Bash in particular were major formative influences in my life and that of my friends, many of whom have become substantial Christian leaders at home or abroad. I learnt there, as I have never learnt so well elsewhere, how to lead an inductive Bible study without dominating it, how to preach for decision, and how to help an individual to faith. Bash himself is one of the greatest pastors I have known with immense insight, humor and a strong evangelistic gift without being emotional."

The Buckingham Bishop then went on to blame evangelical theology for the abuse, which he said promulgated a "nasty" and "punitive" doctrine of a vicious God. In an interview, Wilson linked evangelical theology with "violence and nastiness."

Canon Dr. Michael Green, author of 50 books and a leading world authority on evangelism, a contemporary of John Stott and friend of Billy Graham repudiated the bishops' claims, and told VOL that Bishop Wilson is a thorn in the side of the diocese and nobody can understand why he was ever made a suffragan!

"The Bishop of Buckingham is only a suffragan, but he makes a lot of controversial statements to the media. He does not like biblical standards nor the evangelicals who uphold them. He is in favor of gay sex and same sex marriage, thus contravening the agreed position of the worldwide bishops in Lambeth 1.10, and the recent declaration by the English House of Bishops upholding traditional Christian standards. He certainly does not speak for the Church of England." You can read my full report in today's digest.

*****

In his February letter, GAFCON Chairman, Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, commented on the recent report from the Church of England's House of Bishops on Marriage and Same Sex Relationships. The report recommended no change in the Church's official teaching, however there were "serious concerns" warned the Archbishop. "The report encourages a relaxation of church discipline and confuses pastoral sensitivity with a permissive church culture which already tolerates, in practice, clergy who have contracted same-sex 'marriages''. Therefore, despite its merits, the report has weakened the GAFCON Primates' confidence in the Canterbury based instruments of the Communion.

Archbishop Okoh finished his letter by paying tribute to Revd. Dr. Mike Ovey, whose death in early January shocked and saddened so many in the GAFCON family. VOL has posted a reflection on Dr. Ovey by the Rev. Dr. Chris Sugden of Anglican Mainstream. You can read my full account of this in today's digest.

*****

GAFCON leaders have accused the Anglican Communion leaders of "manipulation". The Anglican Communion broke an agreement from the January 2016 Primates' meeting by letting The Episcopal Church take part in decision making, GAFCON leader and Nigerian Primate, Nicholas Okoh claims.

GAFCON says the American branch sat in on a meeting on polity and doctrine in Lusaka.

After the January 2016 Primates' meeting, it was decided that The Episcopal Church would not be allowed to "take part in decision making on any issues pertaining to doctrine or polity".

This was the Church's punishment for taking a view that was pro same sex marriage.

It is now claimed that this agreement was broken. However, the Anglican Communion is said to have told GAFCON that there was no formal vote at the meeting so no rule was broken.

"This is sophistry," blasted GAFCON. "The Primates' agreement in January was never limited to the narrow issue of the method of voting," the group added in a statement.

"Whether a meeting uses a consensus model, or a voice vote, or paper ballots, or electronic ballots is of no relevance. The Episcopal Church was not to take part in decision making on issues pertaining to polity or doctrine. They did."

Archbishop Peter Jensen, General Secretary of GAFCON, said: "The future of the Anglican Communion does not lie with manipulations, compromises, legal loopholes, or the presentation of half-truths; the future of our Communion lies in humble obedience to the truth of the Word of God written."

*****

An interdenominational march of 350 with a significant proportion being Episcopalians, marched in downtown Baltimore this week to protest Trump's immigration order. Episcopal Bishop Sutton said, "This is what democracy looks like."

Amer Omar says his mother is all the family he has left, since the day in 2009 that police broke into the family's home in Sudan, trashed the place, arrested his father and brothers and killed his cat.

Omar -- now 22 and a Baltimore student -- fears he'll lose his connection to his last blood relative after President Donald J. Trump banned travelers from seven countries with Muslim majorities, including Sudan, from entering the United States for at least 90 days.

Omar told about 350 participants in a march for refugees in Baltimore on Saturday, that his family suffered discrimination in his native country because his parents were from the Darfur region, which has been embroiled in civil war since 2003.

"The government in Sudan targeted my family," he said during a service after the march at the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation on University Parkway.

One marcher carried a sign bearing images of the Statue of Liberty and the words "I'm with her." Another placard read, "They came for our Muslims, and we said no."

The marchers' chant: "No hate, no fear. Refugees are welcome here" could be heard from two blocks away. At times, their words were drowned out by the sound of horns from passing cars, tooting support.

The interdenominational march in Baltimore, one of several such protests this weekend in the United States and abroad, was organized by the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. There were marches in Washington, Philadelphia, Boulder, Colo., and London.

*****

TEC's Presiding Bishop Michael Curry wants to see revival in the Church, so he is holding revival meetings around the country to try and jump start the church, "catalyzing the energy already there," he says. Now, evangelism and Episcopalianism are not two words that go together, but Curry is trying to give the church a fresh vision of what might be possible if everyone gets on board. "Don't be afraid to stand up for the name of Jesus ...and don't be afraid to be an Episcopalian," he said in Pittsburgh recently.

There is a ton of irony here. Before the Diocese of Pittsburgh split, it was one of the most active evangelical dioceses in TEC. Under Bishop Bob Duncan, the diocese grew and prospered. Since the split and under TEC's new bishop, Dorsey W. M. McConnell, the diocese has languished.

There is little evidence to support that Curry's call to evangelize will work. Most Episcopalians are not remotely evangelical (a necessary starting point to evangelize anyone) and most wouldn't know how to lead someone to the Lord. It is not in their DNA. So much ground work needs to be done before this is even possible and Curry is not doing it.

*****

The long-serving Primate in the Anglican Communion, Archbishop of the Episcopal Church of Sudan and South Sudan, Dr. Daniel Deng Bul, said he will step down from his position in November this year.

Daniel Deng is the fourth Archbishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church of Sudan and South Sudan since his enthronement on 20 April 2008.

Deng told a congregation at Emmanuel Diocese in Yei town on Sunday that his tenure as Archbishop will expire in November, saying the church will elect a new Archbishop to lead the Anglican Church in South Sudan.

Deng thanked members of the Episcopal Church for electing him as Archbishop for ten years. "I feel it is important to notify you about that we need to see that the Anglican Church is well governed, and we have to see into it that it is governed by the right people," said Deng.

*****

The Most Rev David Chillingworth, primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, has announced he will retire at the end of July. Bishop David was consecrated as Bishop of St. Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane, in 2005 and was elected primus four years later. Under his leadership, the Scottish branch of Anglicanism took a major step towards allowing same-sex marriage. One doubts he will be missed. The real question is who will succeed him.

*****

The Archbishop of Canterbury is encouraging Christians of all denominations to join in with a 10-day global prayer initiative"Thy Kingdom Come" from Ascension Day to Pentecost. What began last year as an invitation from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to the Church of England, has grown into an international and ecumenical call to prayer. Last year more than 100,000 people joined in, and in 2017, it's expected to be on a bigger scale. The initiative runs from 25 May to 4 June.

*****

On March 13, Anglican choral Evensongwill be celebrated in St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican for the first time.

The Evensong comes five months after Pope Francis and Archbishop Justin Welby celebrated Vespers together at the Basilica of San Gregorio al Celio to mark the Anglican Centre's fiftieth anniversary.

Permission for this unique occasion was granted by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, Archpriest of St Peter's Basilica, during a recent meeting with Archbishop David Moxon, the Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome.

Archbishop Moxon will preside at the 3.00pm service, while the preacher will be Archbishop Arthur Roche, the Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments at the Vatican. The music will be sung by the Choir of Merton College, Oxford.

This date has been chosen as the nearest available day to the historic feast day of St Gregory the Great, who has become an unofficial patron of relations between the two churches. St Gregory was the Pope who sent St Augustine to England in 595 to evangelize the Anglo-Saxons and who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury.

The service will be celebrated according to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

*****

The Archbishop of Canterbury and His All-Holiness Bartholomew of Constantinople have pledged to fight modern slavery in its various forms, and signed a joint declaration condemning modern slavery at a forum in Istanbul.

*****

The Boy Scouts of America's (BSA) new policy accepting so-called transgender applicants won't affect scouting units sponsored by the Catholic Church.

In an official statement issued on February 4, the National Catholic Committee on Scouting (NCCOS) said:

(The new policy) has no impact on the operation and program delivery of Scouting program(s) in Catholic-chartered units. Scouting serves the Catholic Church through the charter concept, which is similar to a franchise. The units chartered to a Catholic institution are owned by that organization. The BSA has stipulated that religious partners will continue to have the right to make decisions for their units based on their religious beliefs.

On January 30, the Boy Scouts of America decided to change membership eligibility based on gender from one's birth certificate to one's membership application.

*****

I have new work in addition to being president of VIRTUEONLINE. I have taken on the role as North American Correspondent for GLOBAL CHRISTIAN NETWORK. You can see my scribblings here: www.globalchristiannews.org I welcome feedback.

*****

We have not reached the financial level necessary for a working budget for 2017 but we are slowly getting there. We are receiving more support once the threat of putting VOL behind a paywall became a possibility.

If you are a regular reader, then think seriously if you want to keep the news coming FREE into your e-mail inbox each week or being able to go daily to VOL's website. A donation of any amount helps keep the home fires burning.

You can send a tax-deductible donation to VOL via PAYPAL at the link here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support-vol/

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Thank you for your support.

David

An impassioned debate by the Church of England's General Synod ended with defeat for the bishops.

The shock result plunges the Church into confusion on its stance on marriage with the bishops' report barred from being discussed until the end of this synod in 2020.

Although a majority of members voted in favor overall, a move by campaigners forced the synod to split into its three separate houses -- the laity, the clergy and the bishops -- with all three needing a majority for it to pass.

But the clergy voted by 100 to 93 against, in a rebuke to the bishops' authority.
The Church of England's ruling body has thrown out a controversial report on homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

The report by the House of Bishops, which was presented to the General Synod on Wednesday, had called for the Church to adopt a "fresh tone and culture of welcome and support" for gay people -- but not to change its opposition to unions between same-sex couples.

More than 400 Church leaders gathered for a "take note" debate on the issue at Church Hall in Westminster, where they voted to symbolically reject the recommendations.

The Archbishop of Canterbury had urged the Synod to approve the report, describing it as a "good basis, a road map" for moving forward.

The report had to gain a majority in the House of Bishops, House of Clergy and House of Laity to be approved.

A total of 242 votes were cast in favor across the three houses, 184 against, along with six abstentions.

But some 100 members of the House of Clergy voted against -- compared with 93 who voted in favor and two who abstained.
The report recommended the Church of England should continue to consider marriage as "a union, permanent and lifelong, of one man with one woman".

The Bishop of Norwich, Graham James, said there had been "very little appetite" for changing the doctrine, as he introduced the debate.

However, a story broke soon after the vote that said a number of bishops did not exactly know what they were voting for.

The crucial vote on gay marriage was thrown into doubt after the Bishop of Coventry admitted he accidentally voted against the report and several others may have made the same mistake.

The Right Reverend Dr. Christopher Cocksworth apologized for the mistake last night, which he said was because of "a moment of distraction and some confusion over the voting process".

The bishop insisted that he did, in fact, support the report written by his colleagues and was "embarrassed" to have accidentally rejected it.

It has since emerged that some members have suggested that clergy had made the same mistake.

How they voted:

House of Laity: 106 for, 83 against, 4 abstentions
House of Clergy: 93 for, 100 against, 2 abstentions
House of Bishops: 43 for, 1 against, 0 abstentions
Given the number of members registered for this meeting of General Synod, the numbers suggest that 21 members were absent, or refused to vote or record an abstention.

Naturally the Church's pansexualist campaigners said they were not seeking gay marriage, but only approval for blessings. We think that is not true based on what we saw in The Episcopal Church which has now placed in canon law that marriage shall be extended to same-sex partners. The CofE is headed down the same road and nothing will stop the pansexual steam roller in the Church of England.

For the moment, the status quo remains the status quo. It was a "Take Note" report, not a new Canon or Measure. The Bishops will now go away and write a teaching document -- a replacement for Issues. The BBC will present it as a victory for the liberal lobby -- but it changes nothing.

Following the vote in General Synod, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York weighed in saying they wanted to set out the way forward in the next few months.

"First, we want to be clear about some underlying principles. In these discussions no person is a problem, or an issue. People are made in the image of God. All of us, without exception, are loved and called in Christ. There are no 'problems', there are simply people called to redeemed humanity in Christ.

"To deal with that disagreement and to find ways forward, we need a radical new Christian inclusion in the Church. This must be founded in scripture, in reason, in tradition, in theology and the Christian faith as the Church of England has received it; it must be based on good, healthy, flourishing relationships, and in a proper 21st century understanding of being human and of being sexual.

"We need to work together - not just the bishops but the whole Church, not excluding anyone -- to move forward with confidence."

We have heard this line before. 'Radical new inclusion' is just buzz and spin for brokering sodomy into the church under new house rules. If sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman is now not sin, where do these archbishops then draw the line? What sexuality in the pantheon of sexualities is now no longer sinful behavior -- bestiality, polygamy. Who's to say if the lines can now be drawn anywhere one wants to draw them?

I have posted a number of stories on this historic event in today's digest with some excellent commentary on what it all means.

*****

VOL recently exposed the sexual rot in the Anglican Church of Australia and this week came a damning verdict on response to child abuse in Australia.

A Royal Commission examining allegations of child sexual abuse delivered a verdict on a system which enabled a culture of abuse to flourish.

The report by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse comes after public hearings into how the Church of England's Boys' Society (CEBS) and the Anglican dioceses of Tasmania, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney dealt with claims of abuse. The hearings, in Hobart, Tasmania, were told of allegations of abuse by lay people and clergy associated with CEBS in the 1970s and 1980s.

The report concluded that most CEBS branches were able to operate in an autonomous and unregulated way. As a result, a culture developed in which attackers had easy access to boys and opportunities to sexually abuse them. It found the abuse often happened at camps, on sailing and fishing trips and on overnight stays at rectories and private homes. You can read the full report in today's digest.

*****

Archbishop Mouneer Hanna Anis, Primate of the Anglican Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, says a recent decision of President Donald Trump to restrict entry to the United States from seven Muslim-majority nations, and to prioritize the refugee applications of Christians in the Middle East is a mistake and will not contribute to the security of the United States in any way.

"I appreciate the right of the government to protect the nation from terrorism, but this will not happen by preventing Muslims from coming to the country. The Oklahoma City bombing, we recall, was conducted by an American, not a Muslim.

"President Trump's policy is a naïve solution based on generalization and discrimination. The risk of terrorism should be dealt with by the security agencies on an individual basis and in cooperation with other nations. This decision will result in innocent people being barred entry, and refugees will suffer greatly.

"Under so much pressure in their home countries, refugees need a refuge. Much poorer nations like Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt have been accommodating the thousands that the United States is turning away.

"This decision is contrary to the teachings of the Bible, which requires us to welcome the stranger and treat him well. Jesus Christ, we must remember, was once a refugee in Egypt.

"But President Trump's decision to prioritize Christian refugee application will not help. Deep in my heart I do not want to see Christians leaving the place where Jesus was born, lived, and was crucified.

"The Middle East will not be the Middle East without Middle Eastern Christians. It will change, and in more than just demographics. The beautiful mosaic will suffer, as will the church's witness to Christ's love among all the peoples of the region.

*****

A number of TEC bishops have weighed in on the recent decision of President Donald Trump to restrict entry to the United States.

The Diocese of Olympia welcomes refugees and is pursuing a separate lawsuit against the president's executive order to keep resettlement efforts alive.

A federal appeals court ruling Feb. 9 that blocked reinstatement of the Trump administration's temporary ban on refugee admissions was welcomed by Episcopal Church leaders in Washington, where the Diocese of Olympia is helping to coordinate the resettlement of 190 refugees each year. Of the refugees now preparing to arrive in the Seattle area, about 90 percent are expected to come from one of the seven Muslim-majority countries singled out in President Donald Trump's Jan. 27 order, which also banned visitors and visa holders from those nations.

Both the Diocese of Olympia and the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington filed a separate lawsuit Feb. 7 challenging the executive order.

Refugees who had been held up at airports overseas when Trump first signed the executive order, are now making their way to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Still, the legal uncertainty threatens to shutter the diocese's Refugee Resettlement Office, a scenario Bishop Greg Rickel said would run counter to the Episcopal Church's mission.

*****

The Episcopal Public Policy Network is opposed to the U.S. embassy in Israel moving to Jerusalem.

This would change over 50 years of U.S. foreign policy. Prior to his inauguration, President Trump said that one of the first things he would do is move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

Since his inauguration, he has said, "I am thinking about the embassy, I am studying the embassy [issue], and we will see what happens. The embassy is not an easy decision. It has obviously been out there for many, many years, and nobody has wanted to make that decision. I'm thinking about it very seriously, and we will see what happens."

We need you to tell Congress that Jerusalem is important to Jews, Christians and Muslims, and that its final status needs to be negotiated by Israelis and Palestinians with the support of our nation and the international community.

The Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations is joining Churches for Middle East Peace in meetings with lawmakers today to raise this issue.

*****

I wrote a story this week on the rapidly diminishing Anglican Church of Canada.

By any measurable standard, the Canadian church is in serious decline with little hope that the numbers can or will be reversed in the foreseeable future.

In one diocese after another, the third largest denomination in Canada is declining, its demise now almost certain as it focuses on a host of social justice issues to the neglect of evangelism, discipleship and church planting.

The Anglican Church of Canada, which is squeamishly shy about publicizing how many people attend its churches, has published no complete statistics for membership and average Sunday attendance since 2001, although the ACoC did claim a membership of 545,957 in 2007. You can my full report in today's digest.

*****

A major player at Vatican II confessed this week to concealing his homosexual life. LifeSiteNews reports that 93-year-old Gregory Baum, a famed Canadian Catholic ex-priest, has in his latest book revealed that he secretly led an active homosexual life for decades.

Baum, who was a periti or expert at the Second Vatican Council, reportedly composed the first draft of the conciliar document Nostra aetate, the Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions. Baum advocated for the elimination of the Church's efforts to encourage Jews to recognize Christ as the Messiah and has since pushed social justice and liberation theology.

The influential cleric reveals candidly in The Oil Has Not Run Dry: The Story of My Theological Pathway,"I did not profess my own homosexuality in public because such an act of honesty would have reduced my influence as a critical theologian.""I was eager to be heard as a theologian trusting in God as salvator mundi and committed to social justice, liberation theology, and global solidarity."

Baum was also influential in the Catholic Church in Canada, despite his openly heretical positions on sexuality, which he published in various journals. His public dissent from the 1968 declaration of the Church maintaining the ban on contraception -- Humanae Vitae -- was instrumental in the Canadian bishops' own dissent from the encyclical of Pope Paul VI. As the foremost expert on the Canadian bishops' dissent, Monsignor Vincent Foy has written, "If it had not been for the black shadow of Baum over Winnipeg, his influence over some Bishops, the Canadian theological establishment and pressure groups, the Winnipeg Statement of the Canadian Bishops on Humanae Vitae would not have refused to endorse the teaching of the encyclical as it did."

*****

We are slowly reaching the financial level necessary for a working budget for 2017. We will delay the paywall idea if the necessary financial support keeps coming in.

If you are a regular reader, then think about what it means to keep the news coming FREE into your e-mail inbox each week and being able to go daily to VOL's website. A gift of any amount helps keep reporters reporting, allows me to travel and much more.

You can send a tax-deductible donation to VOL via PAYPAL at the link here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support-vol/

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Thank you for your support.

David

There is no freedom of the press without the prior and defining freedom of religion. And those in the press have their own religions too. --- The Rev. John C. Rankin

The Evangelicals are just about the only ones in the Church of England who are holding fast to any kind of semblance of historic Christianity. -- Fr. Dwight Longenecker

On February 23, in the year 155, Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, was martyred. Reportedly a disciple of the Apostle John, at age 86 he was taken to be burned at the stake. "You try to frighten me with fire that burns for an hour and forget the fire of hell that never burns out," he said. The flames, legend says, would not touch him, and when he was run through with a sword, his blood put the fire out.

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
February 24, 2017

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry returned from Ghana this week, energized by the injustice of slavery. He called going there a "homecoming", and now that he is back in the U.S., he is hoping that throwing a Hail Mary for the Episcopal Church by screaming the joys of the Jesus Movement and linking it to racism, he can reignite a dying church. Rots o' ruck, as my local Chinese restaurant owner, Mr. Ho, would say.

With so many heresies TEC has embraced, we must ask if The Episcopal Church can be any longer called a church, instead we must think of it as The Episcopal Organization (TEO).

Consider the following.

The national headquarters in NYC is in total disarray with its top three leaders fired and one of them, its COO Bishop Stacy Sauls, now suing the church for an undisclosed sum of money, saying he was unjustly let go and now cannot find a job. This is not a happy moment for TEC and its leadership, bearing in mind the President of the House of Deputies, Gay Jennings, tried twice (at a cost of $1 million) to lever him out of the job. What has gone wrong with all the newly found gracious speak evangelism talk coming from the lips of Curry about the way TEC can move forward holding hands and singing kumbaya for Jesus!

Bishop Jon Bruno, the bully of Los Angeles, faces presentment charges and a secular lawsuit. The Bishop of Lexington, one Douglas Hahn, has been suspended from his position as bishop of the Episcopal diocese after he admitted to committing adultery (the only sexual sin left in the Church that is unforgiveable). His repentance was not enough. His year-long suspension by Curry got extended into infinity by the diocese.

VOL has learned that Curry is using money to prop up dioceses that should long ago have gone out of business. Is the Diocese of N. Michigan really viable with an ASA of 475? There are entire parishes bigger than that! Last year the diocese received 2, performed 15 marriages and buried 35. Now those statistics only prove that they will need a lot of Jesus Movement revival to keep the diocese afloat.

To add to the discussion, TEC is inviting the Church to think out loud about how to get ordained leaders to our churches. You see, the church is running out of clergy because most churches can't afford a full-time clergy any more. In fact, nearly 50% (46.5% actual) churches can no longer afford a full time person. Throw in costly seminary training, a priest with a wife and two kids, a salary, a place to live, full medical benefits, pension and hey, presto, the fount dries up.

So TEC wants you to ponder about clergy transitions. TEC proudly announces that it does not exist for itself but for the glory of God and the transformation of the world. That's yuge...THE WORLD. "We are the Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement that is out to change the world from the nightmare it is for so many, into the dream God has for it. God's will is to be done "on earth as it is in heaven," TEC proudly announces. The altar guild ladies, aging second career rectors and deacons who look like aging bottles of gin with inclusion on their lips, are breathless in anticipation. Among the topics explored in the document are...wait for it: Aging Church; Dual Call Couples; Energy Beyond the Parish; Diversifying Our Clergy; Interim Ministries; Part-time Clergy Leadership; Full-Communion Partners; Diversity is reality; and Calling is Not "Hiring".

If this is not the kiss of death, I don't know what it is.

Membership in Mainline Protestant denominations, including The Episcopal Church, continues to decline year after year in America. But Mainline decline doesn't mean American Protestantism is doomed. Liberal denominations have simply driven members to more orthodox congregations that remain faithful to the core tenants of Christianity, and, for Episcopalians, it is the ACNA.

You can read Rodney Stark's take here on mainline decline here on Juicy Ecumenism: https://juicyecumenism.com/2017/02/21/mainline-decline-rodney-stark/

*****

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit granted the Episcopal Church (TEC) and its local subsidiary, the Episcopal Church in South Carolina (TECSC) their appeal of a decision by the Honorable C. Weston Houck. Judge Houck issued a stay in September, 2015, of Federal proceedings until the conclusion of state court litigation. Yesterday's ruling furthers the attempts by TEC to remove the litigation of a state property and identity issue into the Federal courts.

Bishop Charles G. vonRosenberg, who retired last summer as Bishop of TECSC, repeatedly alleged that the property and identity of the Diocese of South Carolina belongs to the Episcopal Church and was wrongfully taken. Bishop Mark Lawrence heads the Diocese of South Carolina which left TEC in 2012. In particular, the Federal case alleges that Bishop Lawrence is wrongly presenting himself as a Bishop of TEC which Bishop Lawrence says is a baseless accusation that continues to be used as a means to avoid the issues being addressed in the state courts.

Federal District Judge C. Weston Houck originally dismissed vonRosenberg's claim in 2013, recognizing that the essential issues of the Diocese's identity would be resolved by the South Carolina courts. February 2015, South Carolina Circuit Judge Diane Goodstein ruled the Diocese of South Carolina was, in fact, free to leave the denomination and keep its property and assets. TEC appealed that decision and the appeal was heard by the South Carolina Supreme Court on Sept. 23, 2015.

Meanwhile, TEC has repeatedly appealed Judge Houck's decisions to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The appellate panel initially ordered Judge Houck to reconsider his earlier dismissal of the case, using a different legal standard for that decision. After consideration by that standard, Judge Houck ruled to delay any further hearings pending the outcome of a South Carolina Supreme Court decision.

Judge Houck wrote, "Regardless of the [state Supreme Court's] ultimate decision, Bishop vonRosenberg's rights will necessarily be addressed and will be adequately protected in the state court action." He also referred to the Supreme Court hearing, as "the parallel state court action." Given Bishop vonRosenberg's retirement last summer, the validity of the complaint appears further suspect.

"Basically, the Judge was saying that if the Supreme Court upholds the current state court ruling, the case will be dismissed," said the Rev. Jim Lewis, Canon to Bishop Lawrence. You can read more commentary in today's digest.

*****

This past week I spent time in Savannah, GA., attending a Prayer Book Society conference grappling with Anglican Identity. The occasion was an opportunity to discuss Anglicanism Catholic and Reformed: Revisiting the Reformation Legacy 1517-2017.

The popular model of a "Three Streams" hermeneutic to describe present Anglican identity is deeply flawed, an Anglican Grove City College Professor of History told the assembled company. While the model might be a virtue, it is, in fact, "superficial" and "incoherent", Dr. Gillis Harp told his hearers.

"It takes an occasionally helpful (but over-simplified) descriptive model of the Western church during the middle part of the twentieth century and turns it into a prescriptive theological ideal or reads it back (anachronistically) into the past," he said. Harp described it as creating "a kind of Hegelian doctrinal synthesis which actually constitutes opposed positions based upon very different readings of the Bible."

"Nor are the differences between the three streams (at least as commonly identified by its partisans) all simple differences of emphasis; some actually constitute opposed positions based upon very different readings of the Bible."

He said the "three streams" within Christianity usually referred to Catholic, Evangelical (or Protestant) and Pentecostal (or Charismatic) traditions or "tributaries" being channeled into a single "river" or stream. Lately, they had come to mean organic unity between Catholic, Protestant and Pentecostal streams, but more recently, the organ of the ACNA," The Apostle", defined the Three Streams, curiously now designated Protestant, Pentecostal/Holiness, and Anglo-Catholic as flowing together in to a single river.

"Recovering a proper respect for and appreciation of the Protestant Reformation in general and of the English Reformation as it actually happened (and not as the wishful thinking of some used to construe it) is essential to a fuller and deeper appreciation of Anglican identity." You can read my full report on this in today's digest.

*****

Mary Kate Wold, CEO and President of The Church Pension Fund, is revising the church's pension plans to modernize them, to address the realities of a changing Episcopal Church and to simplify administration without reducing the overall value of its benefits. The new rules are expected to take effect in January, 2018.

When The Church Pension Fund was established in 1917, most priests were ordained in their twenties and served, uninterrupted, for 30 to 40 years before retiring. Today, the average age of ordination is 46, many priests serve on a part-time basis, and some experience long breaks in service. The pension plan revisions we are implementing, contemplate these and other emerging trends. Please visit www.cpg.org for details.

A majority of the revisions to the Clergy Pension Plan will be incorporated into The Church Pension Fund International Clergy Pension Plan. In addition, The Episcopal Church Lay Employees' Retirement Plan, The Episcopal Church Lay Employees' Defined Contribution Retirement Plan, and The Episcopal Church Retirement Savings Plan will be amended to ensure that consistent definitions of compensation and Highest Average Compensation are used across all plans.

One retired TEC bishop wrote to VOL and said, "Apparently the demise of the Episcopal Church 'domino' is now impacting the Pension Fund! Of course they can't say that, so they say it's the "demographics" of clergy vocations today. I guess that what Jefferts Schori (former PB) said, ("Truth is what you think it is!") is catching-on. How sad, how pathetic!"

*****

The Episcopal Diocese of Olympia filed a lawsuit earlier this month in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle. It is suing the federal government over President Donald Trump's executive order curbing immigration from seven predominantly Muslim nations.

In the suit, the Diocese of Olympia argues that the executive order interferes with their ability to minister.

"Plaintiff the Episcopal Diocese brings its claims based on the Executive Order's harm to its own mission activities, as well as the Order's harm to the refugees served by the Diocese, thereby shielding those vulnerable refugee individuals from the retaliation they reasonably fear if they were to assert their claims directly," reads the suit.

"The Individual Plaintiffs, the class they seek to represent, and the Episcopal Diocese (collectively, 'Plaintiffs'), currently suffer serious harm and will continue to suffer such harm until and unless this Court preliminarily and permanently enjoins the Executive Order. Plaintiffs have no adequate remedy at law."

Josh Hornbeck, communications director for the Diocese of Olympia, told CP in an interview that the diocese has had a Refugee Resettlement Office since 1978.

"The RRO resettles 190 individuals each year out of the 65 million people worldwide who have been displaced by violence, war, famine, and persecution," said Hornbeck.

*****

President Donald Trump rescinded the crazy law that allowed Trannies to use bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity, sending it back to the states to decide. Go to the toilet of the gender you were born with, not what you might like to choose years later. Women and parents do not want boys and men in the girls' room. Period.

The question came down to: Do some people have the right to demand that law -- and the rest of the population -- recognizes their 'identity' that is based solely on their 'feelings'? And must society pay for medical costs associated with individuals achieving that identity? If so, why not race? Or any other immutable biological fact? Most Americans believe that all of us should have the same rights, whereas transgender rights activists and various identity groups want special rights which apply only to them. And that is the line in the sand that many people refused to cross. So Trump tossed it out.

Dr. Kenneth Zucker, long acknowledged as one of the foremost authorities on gender dysphoria in children, spent years helping his patients align their subjective gender identity with their objective biological sex. He used psychosocial treatments (talk therapy, organized play dates, and family counseling) to treat gender dysphoria and had much success.

Dr. Zucker's eminently sound practice is anchored by recognition of the ineradicable reality that each child is immutably either male or female. It is also influenced by the universally recognized fact that gender dysphoria in children is almost always transient: the vast majority of gender dysphoric children naturally reconcile their gender identity with their biological sex. All competent authorities agree that between 80 and 95 percent of children who say that they are transgender naturally come to accept their sex and to enjoy emotional health by late adolescence. The American College of Pediatricians, for example, recently concluded that approximately 98 percent of gender- confused boys, and 88 percent of gender-confused girls, naturally resolve.

Bishops of The Episcopal church, take note.

*****

A North American GAFCON Roadshow is underway in the US. The Most Rev. Dr. Peter Jensen, (General Secretary of GAFCON and the retired Archbishop of Sydney, Australia) together with The Most Rev. Peter J Akinola, (Founding Father of GAFCON and former Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion) are touring North America between March 2-7, 2017.

If you want to celebrate and learn about GAFCON and hear how you might support this vital movement,you can hear both Archbishop Jensen & Archbishop Akinola at the following locations:

Thursday, March 2 - at 7pm in the Greater Toronto area at Saint George's Burlington

Friday, March 3 - at 7pm in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina at St. Andrew's Church

Saturday, March 4 - at 3pm Los Angeles and Orange County area at St. James Costa Mesa

Sunday, March 5 - Preaching: Dr. Peter Jensen All Saints Church in Long Beach; CANA Bishop Julian Dobbs at St Luke's in La Crescenta: Abp Akinola at St David's Church in Burbank

Tuesday, March 7 - at 7pm in the Greater Vancouver area at St John's Anglican Church

Invitations:

In Canada: More details and invitations will be sent to those in the Toronto and Vancouver area. If you live outside these areas, but would like to receive an invitation to attend, please contact Ms. Jessica Underdown at admin@anglicannetwork.ca

In USA: More details and invitations will be sent to those in the South Carolina, Los Angeles and Orange County areas. If you live outside these areas, but would like to receive an invitation to attend, please contact Canon Jay Cayangyang at jcayangyang@gafcon.org

*****

CANADA NEWS. St. Paul's Cathedral in London, Ont., Diocese of Huron, is raising money for structural repairs, but will it save the church from dying for lack of interest? Another London church needs repairs and restorations - St James Westminster Church on Askin St at Wortley Road, London, Ont. Last year, St. James Westminster (which is the largest Anglican Church west of Toronto) had zero new members, three weddings, and 15 funerals.

In the Diocese of Niagara, Anglican writer, David of Samizdat, reports that St. James Anglican Church in Merritton had its final service on Sunday, Jan. 22. The first St. James church was built in 1871, in Port Dalhousie, moved and then, in 1892, the current church on the corner of Merritt Street and Oakdale Avenue was built. It is closing because there is not enough people to fill the pews or serve the community as it once did. The bishop, one Michael Bird, known for terrifying orthodox priests and tossing them out on their ear because they actually believe the gospel, deconsecrated the building.

"Ironically, it was nine years ago that diocesan officials marched into St. Hilda's, and shortly after into Good Shepherd in St. Catharines, to demand the building keys because they wanted to use the churches to continue diocesan services after their congregations had voted to join the Southern Cone and later ANiC.

"When the buildings were finally in the hands of the Diocese of Niagara, Bishop Michael Bird noted: "I am very pleased with this outcome. It affirms that these churches belong to all the generations that built them up and not just a particular group of individuals."

"Of the churches that "belong to all the generations that built them up", Good Shepherd in St. Catharine's now stands empty, cold and desolate and St. Hilda's, in 2013, was torn down:

"In 2017, the lot still stands empty:

"As a fitting finale to the comedic irony, the Diocese of Niagara, having also acquired St. Hilda's rectory, sold it to Daniel Freedman, owner of the largest sex toy company in Canada, PinkCherry Sex Toys."

Bishop Bird will not suffer a salary downturn for his bad stewardship of the diocese, nor a loss of pension. He is, of course, pushing homosexual marriage as a sign of inclusion and keeping up with the times. People who snort coke have a better shot at salvation than bishops like Bird.

In an article I wrote on the rapid decline of the Anglican Church of Canada, I said that the latest Average Sunday Attendance (ASA) figures were about 320,000. An Anglican reader wrote to say that is wrong and high. "The numbers have been kept secret since 2001, but then the ASA was 162,138. The 2007 number slipped out and was reported as 141,827. That's a 2.1% per annum decline. Assuming that continues, 2017 would see an ASA of under 115,000"!!!

*****

The Archbishop of Canterbury is taking it on the nose over his statement about "radical inclusion", following the debacle of a vote at Synod.

Multiple commentators (you will find several in today's digest) have come down like a ton of bricks on the ABC. One archbishop sent a note to a bishop and said this about Welby, "He is always dissembling - deceitful - hiding his real position for political gain..." That just about says it all.

In the Synod vote on same-sex relations: it was female clergy who won it (or lost it). The electronic voting results for the Synod motion on 'Marriage and Same-Sex Relations after the Shared Conversations' have been released. A request was made to count the votes by Houses, and since the report failed to secure a simple majority in the House of Clergy, the motion was lost (or won, depending on one's point of view or democratic objective).

Here's the final vote.
Bishops in favor 43, 1 against; Clergy 93 in favor, 100 against, laity 106 in favor, 83 against.

*****

Church of England bishops are proposing to turn a blind eye to gay clergy who breach its rules by having sex, in an attempt to avert a rift over how it treats gay people.

The church would replace the existing system where lesbian and gay clergy are asked to promise to be celibate when they apply to be ordained, change jobs or seek a promotion. including becoming a bishop.

Under the proposal, the House of Bishops, gay clergy would still be expected to be celibate, but would no longer be questioned about their private lives.

It is the culmination of three years of debates for the Church of England about how to respond to same-sex marriage which first took place...It's also called 'don't ask, don't tell.'

*****

A day conference will take place at the University of Roehampton, in southern England, based on a new academic study into growth and decline in the Anglican Communion over recent decades. The conference follows the recent publication of a new book, "Growth and Decline in the Anglican Communion -- 1980 to the Present." The publication was prepared by an international team of researchers based across five continents; the study provides a global overview of Anglicanism alongside twelve detailed case studies of Anglican churches in Australia, Congo, England, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Singapore, South Africa, South America, South India, South Korea, and the US. It was edited by the Rev'd Dr David Goodhew, director of ministerial practice at Cranmer Hall, part of St John's College at Durham University.

An evangelical bishop, the Rt. Rev. Bill Atwood, who globe trots the Anglican communion as an Ambassador for the ACNA, noted; "I bet they've never had to stand in line to get a seat at church like I have in Nigeria!"

Watching the spin grow, even as decline and death is inevitable in branches of the Communion that include the CofE, ACoC, TEC, Wales and Scotland, is mind blowing.

*****

Giving credit where credit is due. There was a changing of the guard this past week with The Rt. Rev. Carl Wright, newly ordained and consecrated as Bishop Suffragan for the Armed Forces and Federal Ministries. The congregation gathered at Washington National Cathedral.

The Rev. Harold Lewis, rector emeritus of Calvary Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Wright's longtime mentor, punctuated the service's pomp and precision with strong words during his sermon from the Canterbury Pulpit of Washington National Cathedral. Lewis told Wright he was "about to enter a ministry whose challenges may well be unique among those of your sister and brother bishops."

Lewis reminded Wright that he must minister to a microcosm of American society with much higher rate of suicide than the rest of the population.

Then he said this; "In a society with a plethora of religions and theologies and spiritualities from which to choose, fewer and fewer of which bare any resemblance to the faith once delivered to the saints, and in a nation whose leaders more and more exhibit the kind of arrogant, uncharitable and self-serving behavior that plagued the Corinthians and caused Paul to chastise them for thinking of themselves more highly than they ought to think, you will do well, solider of the cross that you are, to stand up, stand up for Jesus."

Kudos to Lewis for this shot across Episcopal bows.

*****

In the Dept. of absurdity, the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles has been awarded $800,000 by The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to help battle obesity.

Seeds of Hope, a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, was awarded the contract which began in December and will continue through September 2019.

Tim Alderson, executive director of Seeds of Hope, told The Christian Post that the center of the program is "garden-based nutrition and physical activity education in 10 low-income communities in Los Angeles."

"We install gardens at each site to teach people how to grow their own food and to provide fresh produce for our nutrition and cooking classes. The gardens also provide ample opportunities for physical activity," explained Alderson.

"In addition to the classes, we work with each site to improve the overall food environment at their location and the surrounding community. This involves improving the nutritional quality of the food served at each site and the food shared with the community through things like food pantries and meal programs."

I suppose eating kale while breathing the exultant fumes of the Jesus Movement will get you the perfect body, allowing you to live forever.

*****

Michael Novak died February 17, at the age of 83, after a battle with cancer. Novak is perhaps best known for his comprehensive examinations of the practical realities and ideals of "democratic capitalism," first advanced in his 1982 masterpiece The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism and developed in a series of subsequent books, including The Catholic Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1993), Business as a Calling (1996), and, most recently, Social Justice Isn't What You Think It Is (2015), co-authored with Paul Adams.

Novak's writings on democratic capitalism fought socialism not just on the level of economic efficiency, but on moral terrain, too. Socialists have long attacked market-based economies for their inequalities and consumerist frenzies, but, as Novak argued, their arguments invariably compared luminous socialist ideals with the often prosaic realities of capitalist societies. Had socialists looked instead at the socialist world as it actually existed, they would have found truncheon-enforced political conformity, economic ruin, and spiritual decay.

*****

We are slowly reaching the financial level necessary for a working budget for 2017. We will delay the paywall idea if the necessary financial support keeps coming in.

If you are a regular reader, then think about what it means to keep the news coming FREE into your e-mail inbox each week and being able to go daily to VOL's website. A gift of any amount helps keep reporters reporting and allows me to travel and report on conferences you would otherwise not know about.

You can send a tax-deductible donation to VOL via PAYPAL at the link here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support-vol/

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David

The Episcopal Church announced the merger of an Episcopal seminary with a liberal Protestant seminary this week, both are progressive and long ago departed from the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

The Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, announced it would pursue an affiliation with Union Theological Seminary. According to an announcement from EDS, such a merger would create an EDS entity to provide Episcopal theological education at Union's New York City campus.

The two progressive seminaries are merging following a financial shortfall and dropping enrollment at the historic Boston-area institution affiliated with the Episcopal Church, writes Jeff Walton of The Institute for Religion and Democracy.

Of course, this is just the beginning of more coming mergers of TEC's 11 Episcopal seminaries that have outlasted their usefulness. A progressive curriculum no different from the New York Times, wrapped up in progressive liturgies that announce a different god from that of Biblical faith is a sure way to die. What is going on is little more than spiritual suicide dressed up in fancy robes.

Few students want to pay for an education that will not guarantee them a job that will pay them a living wage from a congregation that isn't big enough to support them and pay back seminary education at the same time. Nearly 50% of all TEC's parishes have part-time, retired or second career priests. The average age of an ordinand is now 46 years old and that tells you something.

Looking for a good seminary, try Trinity School for Ministry or Nashotah House. Among other things, they are both solvent and offer fine theological educations.

*****

Archbishop Justin Welby recently toured Africa, meeting with recently enthroned primates from Burundi, Congo, Rwanda and Kenya, updating them on various developments in the Anglican Communion.

Sources tell VOL that the trip was first of all designed to woo these younger and more vulnerable primates away from GAFCON. He did not visit Nigeria, the largest province in the Anglican communion and the most solidly evangelical. Had he gone there, he would undoubtedly have gotten an earful from Archbishop Nicholas Okoh about the recent synod vote on homosexuality in the Church of England. Welby spared himself that conversation or chastisement.

The tour was billed "to hear about and see the work of the Church in each Province; to discuss future opportunities for the Anglican Communion in the world; and to pray together," and to make sure that they are onboard when he calls for another meeting of the Primates in October (2 - 6) of this year, again in Canterbury Cathedral, following the lackluster meeting of the same primates last January, in Canterbury.

But VOL has been told that it is most unlikely that the GAFCON Primates will be attending this meeting, leaving it to moderates and liberals to hear what the ABC has to say. "The general mood is no," a Primate told VOL.

But Welby needs to be sure that these new primates will show up, and to do that he made this trip in an effort to shore up his position as primus inter pares. You can read the full story in today's digest.

*****

Vice-President Mike Pence attended Falls Church Anglican last week. You can read the story in today's digest. He is not the only Anglican in politics. John Kasick a presidential wannabee also attended an ACNA parish in Ohio.

*****

ASHES TO GO is a blasphemy. The receiving of ashes on Ash Wednesday, is not simply a single act performed by the priest. It is the conclusion of a time of prayer and contemplation and a physical sign that one has undertaken such self-examination - "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return". To receive ashes outside of this context of self-examination, such as in "ashes on the go", is to receive a sign that signifies nothing. To call "ashes on the go" a form of evangelism, is to confuse the public display of a rite of the Church with the actual sharing of the redemptive message of Christ.

Episcopal clergy who perform "ashes to go" are just showing off in a public setting and looking for a photo op.

*****

The Bishop of Albany, Bill Love, has appointed the Rev. Dr. Leander Harding to be the Dean of All Saints Cathedral, Albany. Harding was formerly professor at Trinity School for Ministry and is presently at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Catskill, NY.

Harding is in his fourth decade as a priest of the Episcopal Church. This is a smart move by the bishop, as his predecessor left to join the ACNA because he did not want to get into a battle over homosexuality in the cathedral.

Harding is a good choice to heal the wounds and perhaps move the cathedral in a solidly evangelical direction.

*****

A story I wrote about a Long Island priest caught trading child porn and more caught the eye of a local priest when I wrote that the diocese was basically kept alive by Anglo-Catholics from the Caribbean. That's partially true, he wrote.

"Actually, what really keeps the diocese afloat is all of the money it rakes in from selling off dead churches. If you were to go to the cathedral or Mercer School, you would see immaculate grounds, smiling progressive clergy everywhere, and assume all was well. Really, they're just living off the fat of their spoils. Without real estate sales, they would be financially (in addition to morally) bankrupt."

There is no serious evangelism being done on the Island which spells death over time. The Bishop, one Lawrence Provenzano is a former Roman Catholic and understands little about evangelism, if anything. Today, he would be best described as an Affirming Catholic. Of course, he has jumped on the bandwagon of the PB's call for a Jesus Movement moment, but probably hasn't got a clue what to do with it.

*****

The Episcopal Church got another woman bishop this week in the person of Jennifer Brooke-Davidson. She was elected bishop suffragan of the Diocese of West Texas.

At 56, she is the first woman to be elected bishop in the Diocese of West Texas. She is currently the vicar of St. Elizabeth Episcopal Church in Buda, Texas, and was one of seven nominees. Now, as the sixth bishop suffragan of the diocese, she will serve alongside diocesan Bishop, David M. Reed.

She will be yet another politically correct woman bishop, but there is little evidence that she will be able to make the diocese grow. Has any woman Episcopal bishop brought about church growth? Most can be seen riding on the backs of convertibles during gay pride parade days, waving flags of inclusion. Politically correct her election might be, but it won't make for a growing, vibrant stronger diocese or church. But, of course, the pension is worth the job.

*****

The Diocese of Huron has financial problems, its cathedral is starting to fall down and its churches are being closed and sold.

An example from an annual vestry report from St. James, Westminster, serves to illustrate the aura of doom and pessimism that has settled over the diocese, writes David of Samizdat, an orthodox Canadian Anglican blogger.

The rector of the parish at the time of the report was Rev. Dr. Gary Nicolosi. In 2011, Nicolosi prepared a document called "Twelve Steps to Church Growth"; in his 2016 vestry report, he bemoaned the "state of the church in these times emphasizing decreased attendance" and that that the ACoC "will probably have to decrease the number of dioceses in the future". So much for the twelve steps to church growth -- perhaps its readers failed to recognize the existence of a Higher Power.

A vestry report for St. Paul's, the diocesan cathedral, is equally somber. The diocese is failing to meet existing financial commitments, still owes $5 Million in court costs and the cathedral can't find the money to fix the roof and doesn't have enough toilets. The one bright note in all this is that a "gender neutral washroom" is on the horizon; at least that may attract some peeping toms and boost the numbers.

To counter the falling away of parishioners, the financial problems and the wavering faith of the few remaining faithful, the cathedral's Rev. Deacon Pat Henderson recently led an expedition to a local Mosque to learn about the five pillars of Islam. If that doesn't reverse the tide, nothing will. Come to think of it, perhaps Henderson is looking to the future when the cathedral finally falls down and the last parishioners still managing to cheat death need to find somewhere compatible to worship.

IN OTHER NEWS, a new report recommends the closure of three long-established churches in Peterborough, Ontario.

A commission made up of members of the city's four Anglican Churches and one Lutheran Church has made the recommendation.

The commission's report - posted on the website of St. John's Anglican Church - states that attendance at the five churches combined has dropped since 2001 from 1,000 people to 500 every Sunday.

The commission recommends a reduction to two churches instead of five.

It doesn't say which three churches should close: Church members are expected to discuss the recommendation, and if they accept it they'll have to decide.

The churches in question are St. John's, St. Barnabas, All Saints', St. Luke's and Christ Lutheran.

The Anglican Church has backed itself into a corner with these Gender Neutral washrooms; for example, could there be two individuals in the washroom at the same time, and might there be "hanky panky" going on?

The United, Anglican, Presbyterian and Evangelical Lutherans in Canada churches are on death watch, with more casualties to come. These churches all went down the liberal road and with liberalism, there is no growth as parishioners leave.

On an Allied note the Presbyterian Record magazine has gone out of business, but one recent issue that I saw at the library was all about the LGBTQ2A etc.. No wonder the magazine is no more, who in their right mind would support it?

*****

If Philip North can't be Bishop of Sheffield, the Church of England ceases to be catholic.

The Dean of Christ Church, Professor Martyn Percy, issued an ultimatum in which he said that either the Rt. Rev. Philip North, currently Bishop of Burnley, who opposes women priests and bishops, must renounce his membership of The Society, whose mission is to "promote and maintain catholic teaching and practice within the Church of England"; or he must withdraw himself from nomination to the See of Sheffield, which Professor Percy describes as a "go-ahead, vibrant, progressive city."

He did not ask for Bishop Philip to withdraw, but "rather, I invite him to reflect on his position, and work through his theological convictions with honesty and sincerity; in other words, act with integrity" (the inference being that for him to be consecrated Bishop of Sheffield, where apparently a third of clergy are women, would be dishonest, insincere, and devoid of integrity).

The logic is impeccable: Philip North does not believe that women, or men ordained by women bishops, are sacramentally valid priests, so how can he possibly affirm their vocations, ministries and identities? What credible words of affirmation can he give to women priests under his episcopal authority when they know, deep down, that he does not believe they actually exist; that their holy orders are absolutely null and utterly void? And even if he acknowledges their existence as church leaders and ministers of the Word.

Martyn Percy probes deeper and says this; "But the crucial question is, what does Bishop Philip think is happening at the altar, when a woman is presiding at the Eucharist. I don't know. And so far, Bishop Philip has tended to be ambiguous in his statements on this matter. But this issue cannot now be fudged. Any answer that sidesteps the question as to whether such a sacramental offering is valid or efficacious would be pastorally and personally undermining of women clergy. And to repeat, the position of The Society is that 'we can't receive [this] ministry'.

There is no room here for a formulaic Anglican fudge: there is simply no place for sexism in the Church of England, for, as Professor Percy states, "tolerating intolerance is not virtuous practice". It is a missional imperative: "We can't speak with authenticity publicly, when we still sanction and sacralize sexism: CofE is just made to look like an odd reactionary sect," he tweeted.

And yet in his impeccable logic is a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of Anglicanism: it is almost as if the great Professor Martyn Percy is trying to play pope, which would be a very un-Anglican thing indeed.

Forward in Faith pushed back with the Bishop of Wakefield, Tony Robinson issuing the following statement on behalf of the Council of Bishops of The Society.

"We are confident that the ministry of Bishop Philip North as Bishop of Sheffield will make a very significant contribution to the life and mission of the Church. We have been delighted by the welcome that his nomination has received from representatives of a wide range of traditions in the Diocese of Sheffield and in the Church of England more widely. The support expressed by many female clergy who have experience of his ministry and gifts is especially encouraging. Their response gives grounds for hope that the Five Guiding Principles and the spirit of mutual flourishing that they embody have begun to permeate through the Church of England.

"In our 2015 statement 'A Catholic Life in the Church of England' we said: 'We reject any so-called "theology of taint" whereby a bishop who ordains women to the episcopate or the priesthood thereby invalidates his own orders and renders invalid the orders of those whom he subsequently ordains.' We made it clear that priests ordained by such bishops are welcomed as Priests of The Society. We are disappointed that our beliefs continue to be misrepresented."

*****

As Church of England parishes close for lack of interest in the gospel, something new is emerging. It is called Champing - the simple concept of camping in ancient churches and it is taking the world by storm and sweeping England. But what is it like to actually spend a night in the silence of these buildings? You can read more here: www.champing.co.uk

*****
The challenge with the transgender debate is that Christians must say two very different things at the same time.

To those pushing an agenda that says your bathroom is my bathroom and your gender is whatever you want it to be, we want to say: This is absurd. Patently absurd. There is no scientific reason, no justice reason, no internally consistent reason to think we can be boys or girls just by declaring it so. In our saner moments we know this to be true. No one would allow me to "become" Asian or African American, even if I thought that's who I was deep down. There are facts about my biology that cannot be denied. Why is gender open to self-definition, while race and ethnicity are not?

As many others have pointed out, the logic of our transgender moment simply does not hold together. Are male and female distinct categories so that we should we be pushing "equal work for equal pay" and celebrating every "first woman to do X" achievement? Or are the categories completely malleable so that even if the talk of binary gender norms is offensive? Two nights ago I watched a few minutes of the Oscars and then flipped to watch some of the SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships on ESPN. It struck me that many of the people attending the Oscars and many of the universities represented on the track, would fully applaud the transgender agenda. And yet, here they are with their antiquated categories of Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress and their old-fashioned ideas of men and women running the mile in totally separate races.

*****

Three Reasons Contemporary Worship IS Declining, and What We Can Do to Help the Church Move On.

Author Jonathan Aigner, in an article, says contemporary worship is declining.

Some months ago, T. David Gordon wrote a post entitled "The Imminent Decline of Contemporary Worship Music: Eight Reasons" that continues to be widely read and shared. While I don't agree with Gordon on every point, what he says gives us hope for the future of the worshiping church. Alongside his reasons, here are the three main reasons I see for the decline (if not demise) of the contemporary worship movement.

Baby boomers are losing their influence. Or, as Gordon more bluntly puts it, "my own generation is beginning to die." Your parents, not your kids, are the biggest proponents of contemporary worship. I've seen this in my own ministry. The most committed (and often the most obstinate) defenders of contemporary worship is rapidly becoming the older generation. While their influence remains in many places, it is waning. Within a few short years, contemporary worship will have lost its original impetus and driving force.

Millennials are seeking old ways of doing things. This (thankfully) doesn't mean a return to the church of the 1950's, but it (thankfully) means an increasing rejection of the church of the 1990's and 2000's. More emphasis is being placed on liturgy and community, and less on using corporate worship chiefly as a contrived evangelistic tool. Also, as I've cited before, most millennials (and I'm one of them, by the way) grew up not knowing anything other than contemporary worship, and we're leaving the church faster than any generation before us. Even by its own standards (i.e., number of butts in the seats) contemporary worship is a failed experiment.

Contemporary worship is an unstable and non-theological movement. To be thoroughly contemporary necessitates a slavish allegiance to the new, the current, the hip, the cool, and the commercial. It requires a thorough rejection of what is old, passe, not current, not cool and what doesn't make money. The bright shiny objects that get butts in the seats must continue becoming brighter and shinier. This holy bait-and-switch tactic is wearing thin. This constant need to reinvent yourself is a pretty tough row to hoe for any church, and few besides the largest and wealthiest are able to keep butts in the seats with any continued success.

Yes, this is good news, but for those of us who have long been resigned to the wars, there is much work to be done. Here are a few ways we can shake off our weak resignation to the movement and push toward a more profound alleluia.

Resist the temptation to "contemporize" old or new songs. The commercial idiom is thoroughly focused on recorded, individual performance. It deemphasizes the human voice, and emphasizes soloistic interpretation, affected vocal production, and contrived performance. This certainly doesn't mean we can't do new music (we should), but that we must choose music that can be sung well by a congregation and without conformity to commercial forms.

Look beyond the false worship dichotomy. We've done ourselves and the church a disservice by insisting that there are two kinds of worshipers, traditional and contemporary, and that everyone belongs to one or the other in accordance with their personality or preferences or however they happen to feel when they wake up on Sunday morning. Our musical tastes don't dictate how we worship, our theology does. Both of these extremes are toxic. All worship is historic because it recalls the creative and redemptive acts of God. All worship is contemporary, because we're doing it now. All worship is future, because it foretells the coming resurrection. So let's move away from the false dichotomy toward a generous tradition. This frees us to be creative and diverse in our music-making, without being bound to arbitrary constructs in pursuit of a target audience.

This report, however, is good news for Anglicans who still believe in having an authentic liturgy, traditional prayers and hymns that make theological sense. "I come to the garden alone" could be a love song by Beyonce.

If I hear one more time; "Jesus you are like totally, totally awesome," I will raise my vomit card in protest.

*****

SOUTH SUDAN. "We had had another conflict in Southern part of Wau town recently. Over four thousand people have been displaced and are now camping in our Cathedral compound. I am borrowing food items from businessmen in Wau market because people are starving at the door of my house especially elderly people, pregnant mothers, women who have just delivered and children who have been separated from their parents. These people have not been given any relief food since they arrived at our Cathedral compound, writes The Rt. Revd. Moses Deng Bol, Bishop of Wau, South Sudan.

There is a devastating famine occurring in South Sudan, a country where a violent civil war has already created Africa's biggest refugee crisis. ARDF is partnering with the Bishop of Wau on the ground to deliver life-saving food and supplies to the South Sudanese suffering from this famine. Currently, the bishop has had to borrow money to buy food to save the lives of vulnerable IDPs (internally displaced people, i.e. refugees in their own country). But both time and money are running out and the situation is only growing more dire. ARDF is blessed to have contacts on the ground who can get aid to those who need it most.

VOL calls on it readers to donate to fight hunger. ARDF prayerfully asks you to fast one day a week during Lent to remember our brothers and sisters who are starving in South Sudan. You can donate here:
https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=E92060&id=77

There is also a Barnabas Aid link at VOL's website to support the famine in East Africa. Click here:
http://www.virtueonline.org/content/urgent-drought-grips-east-africa-%E2%80%93-stricken-christians-cry-help-0

*****

The Anglican Way Institute will hold a Summer Conference, exploring 500 Years of Reformation 1517-2017. It is billed as "Biblical, Theological, and Ecumenical Reflections on a Movement that Changed the World"

Featured Keynote Speakers include The Most Rev. Ray R. Sutton, The Rev. Dr. Carl Braaten and The Rev. Dr. Peter Leithart. It will be held in Dallas, Texas, July 5-9, 2017.

Lenten Blessings,

David

CORRECTION. It is not two Episcopal seminaries but one Episcopal seminary merging with a liberal Protestant seminary. My apologies for the error.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
March 10, 2017

Michael Curry, TEC's Presiding Bishop, saw into the mind of God this week and forged a new path to a future glowing brightly with the transcendent luminosity of harmony, truth and justice. He and Gay Jennings, HOD president, signed an amicus brief urging the high court to allow men to use women's toilets and vice versa. The New Jerusalem is upon is, writes David of Samizdat.

They were the lead signers of 1,800 clergy and religious leaders in a U.S. Supreme Court case involving transgender-bathroom use policies.

The two say they anchored their decision to be the lead signers on the theological understanding that all people are created in the image of God and thus entitled to equal protection under the law.

Of course, "gender identity" is now completely subjective. The amazing, or odd thing, is that Black folk are not permitted to wake up and say, "Today I'll be white." The question is why is gender open to self-definition, while race and ethnicity are not?

There is little doubt that this will jump start the Jesus Movement in TEC and hordes of unenlightened folk will now come pouring into the Church, not only in search of God, but looking for a new identity.

Psychiatrists say the whole transgender thing is pure quackery. No one is born transgendered any more than they are born gay; it's a lie that goes on being perpetuated week after week until it suddenly becomes the truth.

Curry anchored his support of the brief in Genesis 1:26-27, which declares that every human person is created in the image and likeness of God. However, there is not a shred of evidence to say that God created a single transgendered person. Not a shred. You can read my story in today's digest.

*****

The Cambridge-based Episcopal Divinity School announced recently that it was folding its money and student losing seminary into the ultraliberal Union Seminary, an ecumenical institution in New York, bypassing its sister Episcopal seminary -- General Theological seminary. The question is why?

Why would EDS unite with a liberal, nondenominational seminary, with ancient Presbyterian roots, rather than connect with General Theological Seminary, also in New York and located a mere six miles away from Union?

It turns out that GTS was not liberal enough for EDS students.

In part, the joint new release said: "The Board of Trustees of Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) today (Feb. 24) voted to pursue an affiliation with Union Theological Seminary that would create an EDS entity to provide Episcopal theological education and other programs at Union's campus in New York. The Board of Trustees of Union Theological Seminary has voted enthusiastically to support Union's leadership in bringing negotiations with EDS to a successful conclusion. The two seminaries will begin negotiations immediately in the hope that both boards can vote on an agreement when they meet in May, before EDS's final commencement at its Cambridge campus."

After pointing VOL to the news release, Rebecca Wilson, a founding partner in Canticle Communications, which is handling the media for EDS, simply e-mailed: "Unfortunately, we won't be able to offer comment beyond the press release."

This demonstrates further that all is not well in the House of TEC and the Jesus Movement hasn't quite taken hold in the seminaries. If liberals and revisionists can't agree, what hope is there for the remnant orthodox in TEC finding much ballyhooed reconciliation, talk so beloved of TEC officials. VOL's special correspondent, Mary Ann Mueller, explores in detail this convoluted behavior by the ultra-liberal Massachusetts seminary.

*****

GAFCON Chairman Nicholas Okoh blasted the Church of England's failure to uphold apostolic teaching on sexuality and said the 1998 Lambeth Resolution I.10 has now been downgraded to something provisional and secondary, in a letter to his GAFCON followers.

The Nigerian Archbishop says the Church of England's recent vote on marriage and sexuality was "very distressing", creating such "confusion" it now puts the Anglican Communion at greater risk of "confusion" being spread through the rest of the Communion.

The Evangelical Archbishop said the Synod report tried to face two ways. "While it recommended that there should be no change to the doctrine of marriage, it held out the possibility that could change in the future and that for the present, in line with present practice, there should be 'maximum freedom' pastorally within the existing legal framework."

Okoh said that following this rebuke to the House of Bishops, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York issued a letter which seemed to entrench the contradiction. "They call for 'a radical new Christian inclusion in the Church' which not only draws on the traditional sources of Anglican authority, but also on what they describe as a '21st century understanding of being human and of being sexual.'

"But the inclusion the gospel offers has always been radical. All are included in fallen human nature and yet all may be included in the Kingdom of God through repentance and faith in Christ crucified. While we are included in the Kingdom solely through God's grace, this is not cheap grace and there is a great gulf between the morality of the Bible and the neo-pagan sexual morality that is now dominant in the West. We need to be as clear today as the apostles were to the churches of the New Testament that new life in Christ means a radical break with the practices and lifestyle of the world." You can read my full report on this in today's digest.

*****

Bishop Philip North, an Anglo-Catholic, withdrew his name from nomination as Bishop of Sheffield, under enormous pressure from liberals in the church of England this week.

"The news of my nomination has elicited a strong reaction within the diocese and some areas of the wider Church. It is clear that the level of feeling is such that my arrival would be counter-productive in terms of the mission of the Church in South Yorkshire and that my leadership would not be acceptable to many."

Forward in Faith leaders tried to gloss it by saying how thankful they were for the support they got, but clearly, traditional catholics in the CofE are being slowly marginalized.

In 2014, it was emphasized that traditional catholics could be chosen as diocesan bishops. As an integral part of that settlement, the House of Bishops' Declaration imposes no stained-glass ceiling on mutual flourishing. Apparently not.

"In the coming weeks, we shall be considering what action now needs to be taken -- and by whom -- to restore confidence in the House of Bishops' Declaration, and to correct definitively the false statements that have been made about the Declaration, the Five Guiding Principles, and the beliefs of traditional catholics. We hope that this can be done in partnership with those who bear responsibility for the Church of England at national level. We envisage making a further statement in due course," said The Rt. Rev. Tony Robinson, Chairman of the Council of Bishops.

*****

London St Paul's Cathedral will welcome a female chorister for the first time in its 1,000-year history. Carris Jones, 35, said she never thought it would be possible to join the choir. The professional singer, who studied at the revered Royal Academy of Music, was appointed by St. Paul's director of music, Andrew Carwood.

*****

The Diocese of South Carolina, which separated from The Episcopal Church in 2012, is set to vote Saturday at its convention on whether to join the Anglican Church in North America. The Diocese would remain fully intact, with Bishop Mark Lawrence continuing to lead its 22,000 members from 52 congregations across the eastern part of the state.

Diocese officials expect convention delegates to approve the new affiliation.

*****

The University of the South, School of Theology announced a $250,000 gift from the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta this week.

In October 2016, the University of the South announced the launch of a $250 million capital campaign, called Stronger Truer Sewanee--The Campaign for the University of the South. The campaign is the most ambitious in Sewanee's history, especially for the School of Theology, whose goal is to raise $25 million. To date, the School has secured $17 million towards that goal.

Rt. Rev. Robert C. Wright, Bishop of the Diocese of Atlanta, said he was delighted to partner with the University of the South to equip men and women for faithful Christian leadership for the 21st century and beyond.

With big TEC money from gay Atlanta diocese to gay Sewanee University mean that Bishop Wright, a prolific marcher in gay parades, will be Sewanee's next Chancellor? We waited with bated breath.

*****

In the Washington Post this week, FIRE Executive Director, Robert Shibley, criticized last week's events at Middlebury College. Shibley called on campuses and police to do more to safeguard free speech after Middlebury erupted over the appearance of Charles Murray, a political scientist and W.H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, for his views wherein he describes what he sees as the economic divide and moral bifurcation of white Americans that has occurred since 1960.

Murray focuses on white Americans in order to make it clear that the decline he describes was not being experienced solely by minorities, whom he brings into his argument in the last few chapters of a book he wrote on the subject.
So free speech on campus is facing a profound threat.

No, as highlighted by the violent disruption and end of Charles Murray's visit to Middlebury College in Vermont last week, the immediate crisis comes from one of freedom's most ancient enemies: the angry mob.

The events at Middlebury prove that now is the time to take a stand for free expression, so please check out the full article and consider sharing it with friends and on social media.

So who created the modern Middlebury? Why none other than Sewanee University's very own current Vice-Chancellor, John M. McCardell, who served as the fifteenth president of Middlebury College for thirteen years. Will we see a repeat performance at Sewanee?

*****

The Diocese of Oklahoma Episcopal is launching a new mobile app. Nicole Baxley, the diocese's communications director, said she designed the app to help serve people in the diocese wherever they are. She said it's designed to support them and provide tools and resources where they need them -- on the move.

Baxley said the app serves as a multi-way communication ministry tool designed to help strengthen diocesan community, provide new avenues for sharing stories of ministry and mission, and helps individuals and parishes engage in spirituality together in new ways.

Can revival be far behind?

*****

The Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey voted on March 4 to become a sanctuary diocese, extending refuge, healing, material and pastoral support to those targeted for deportation due to immigration status. At least one local religious leader approves.

The Rev. Frank Crumbaugh, of Holy Innocents' Church in Beach Haven, said he supports the resolution, but it is probably a divisive question for many congregations. Truly.

*****

A Church of England vicar faces an official complaint for installing a childrens' plastic table and chairs in a 12th century church. Rector Lynda Klimas introduced the pint-sized white furniture set as a way to keep young children entertained during services.

But a disgruntled churchgoer has made an official complaint as he feels it has no place in the "historically sensitive and sacred" Lady Chapel. OMG!

VOL believes this is such a serious offense, the vicar should be stoned to death for such outrageous behavior. 'Suffer the little children' now means she must suffer for daring to allow small children to hear the Good News because some disgruntled idiot doesn't like plastic chairs.

One VOL reader wrote saying, "What a terrible blasphemy against cultured refinement! The unforgivable sin of crass and tacky tastelessness! Profaning a sacred space with things to benefit children! What were they thinking?

"This guy has no idea that he is making a total fool of himself. However, he is the perfect symbol for the current priorities of the Church of England."

*****

In a moving ceremony at All Saints Cathedral, Cairo, on February 27, 2017, Archbishop Mouneer Hanna Anis consecrated his 'dear brother', Rev. Samy Fawzy, as the first Arab area bishop for North Africa.

Bishop Fawzy succeeds Bishop Bill Musk, who presided over the diocese encompassing Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya since 2008. Bishop Musk was honored and thanked for his time of service and participated in Fawzy's consecration.

Joining also to lay hands on the new bishop was Bishop Grant LeMarquand of the Horn of Africa and Bishop Michael Lewis of Cyprus and the Gulf. Also present were Archbishop Foley Beach of the Anglican Church in North America, Archbishop Rennis Ponniah of Singapore, and other Anglican representatives from around the world.

Archbishop Beach also welcomed Bishop Fawzy, greeting him in the name of GAFCON, and celebrating their partnership in the gospel while assuring of his continued prayers.

*****

Pope Francis: Drop the cellphone, pick up the Bible. Pope Francis has called on the faithful to consult the Bible with the same frequency as they might consult their cellphones for messages.

Francis urged a packed St. Peter's Square following his weekly Angelus blessing Sunday to give the Bible the same place in daily life as cellphones, asking: "What would happen if we turned back when we forget it, if we opened it more times a day, if we read the message of God contained in the Bible the way we read messages on our cellphones."

The message was a twist on Francis' frequent use of social media to reach the faithful, including regular messages on Twitter.

*****

Christians in Egypt are fleeing ISIS violence. As the Biblical Feast of Passover draws near, reports have surfaced from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula that the ancient Christian community of the region is making an Exodus of their own amidst growing conflict between the government in Cairo and the local franchise of the Islamic State (IS) terror militia. IS has claimed responsibility for a spike in murders targeting Christians in the cities of Northern Sinai and has also posted videos online warning them to leave the area or face destruction.

*****

CANADA NEWS. In London, Ontario, six more Anglican churches are going to close, amalgamations have already begun, a source told VOL.

Yet there are at least 10 conservative non-denominational community churches in London, Ontario, which have literally thousands of members attending every week.

"It is easy to see that it is the conservative churches that are growing and expanding, while churches in the Anglican Church of Canada that have embraced liberal social and family values are going downhill fast no matter what the Diocese and the powers that be say.

"The proof is in the pudding."

The Forest Community Church (which is affiliated with the Christian Reformed Church in North America which has its headquarters in Burlington, Ontario, and Grand Rapids, Michigan) had 10, 000 individuals attend its eight Christmas Eve services in southwest London, Ont.

*****

Delegates to a special convention of the rump Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin overwhelmingly elected Provisional Bishop David Cappel Rice as their diocesan bishop.

Rice, a New Zealander, was the only nominee. He was elected on the first ballot by a vote of 21 to 1 in the clergy order and 41 to 2 in the lay order. The election required a two-thirds majority in both orders. I think this is called a stacked deck.

*****

The Diocese of North Carolina elected the Rev. Samuel Rodman, special projects officer in the Diocese of Massachusetts, as its 12th bishop. He led among lay delegates on the first ballot and in both orders on the second ballot. He won on the third ballot.

Rodman has also served as the Massachusetts diocese's project manager for campaign initiatives and rector of St. Michael's Church in Milton, Massachusetts, for 16 years.

*****

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, most Americans think their nation is becoming more tolerant, at least when it comes to warm feelings about most religious believers, writes Terry Mattingly.

A recent Pew Research Center survey found that, in terms of "thermometer" ratings, Americans felt "warmer" about nearly all religious groups than they did in 2014. Even chilly ratings for atheists and Muslims are approaching a neutral 50 score.

But there was one glitch in this warming trend, with evangelical Protestants stuck on a plateau. Christianity Today magazine noted that, when the views of evangelicals were removed from the mix, only a third of non-evangelical Americans had warm feelings toward evangelicals. Flip that around and that means two-thirds of non-evangelicals have lukewarm or cold feelings about evangelical Christians.

"There's a sharp divide in this country and it's getting stronger. ... This tension has been obvious for years, for anyone with the eyes to see," said political scientist, Louis Bolce, of Baruch College in the City University of New York. "It's all about moral and social issues. Some people don't like the judgmental streak that they see in traditional forms of Christianity, like in evangelicalism and among traditional Roman Catholics."

Of course, it might not be judgmental at all, rather it might be a matter of truth telling even if it is unacceptable to a lot of people. If the truth about sodomy is that could destroy your soul for all eternity (and scripture is clear that it is) is it therefore judgmental or loving to say that?

*****

You're the reason VOL is able to do all that we do. You're the reason we're able to challenge and expose the rot in the Episcopal Church and the wider Anglican Communion. And you're the reason we're crying foul over the CofE's sneaky attempt to establish sodomite marriage in all but name into the church and then try and spin it to the wide Anglican Communion. To keep this issue alive and to follow it across the world. Won't you help us meet this challenge?

You can send a tax-deductible donation to VOL via PAYPAL at the link here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support-vol/

Or you can send a snail mail check to:

VIRTUEONLINE
570 Twin Lakes Rd
P.O. Box 111
Shohola, PA 18458

Thank you for your support.

David

"A man can no more diminish God´s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling 'darkness' on the wall of his cell." --- C.S. Lewis

liberals may have won in the courts -- but the court of public opinion is another story. ---- Nancy Pelosi

Serving and waiting. 'Serving' and 'waiting' go together in the experience of converting people. Indeed, this is at first sight surprising, since 'serving' is active, while 'waiting' is passive. In Christian terms, 'serving' is getting busy for Christ on earth, while 'waiting' is looking for Christ to come from heaven. Yet these two are not incompatible. In combination, they will deliver us both from the presumption which thinks we can do everything and from the pessimism which thinks we can do nothing.

L.G.B.T. activism is the tip of the spear at our throats in the culture war. The struggle over gay rights is what is threatening religious liberty, putting Christian merchants out of business, threatening the tax-exempt status and accreditation of Christian schools and colleges. --- Rod Dreher

A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform. No man can ever partake in the mystery of feminine identity --- Diane Mariechild

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
March 17, 2017

You have to ask yourself how is it possible that the deep thinkers in the Church of England cannot see what they are doing to their church that has not been done by the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada and the consequences that have followed from that.

By repeating the theological and moral errors of TEC and the ACoC, the CofE hopes and believes in a different outcome?

What utter foolishness.

TEC and the ACoC have imbibed heavily of the waters of pansexuality and they have paid the ultimate price of schism, fleeing congregations, lawsuits and new Anglican jurisdictions being birthed on their soil.

Now it would seem the Church of England is going down the same rocky road over women bishops and same sex marriage which will only end with the same results of fleeing congregations. The CofE will find GAFCON-UK now firmly planted on its shores and growing, even as the CofE sinks slowly into the sunset. I am in England for a week and there is much talk about the formation of a Third Province to draw together Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics, especially over the debacle of the Bishop of Burnley, Philip North, who withdrew his nomination as Bishop of Sheffield under pressure from some women and the revisionist Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, Professor Martyn Percy, because of his traditionalist views on the ordination of women to the priesthood.

It has not been a pretty movie to watch. Satan has taken over a once proud orthodox Church which sent out missionaries to the four corners of the earth, and is now turning inward as sodomy becomes the prevailing issue, even as 95% of the English view the Church as irrelevant and parishes close.

*****

The Diocese of South Carolina joined the Anglican Church in North America this week. The vote was overwhelming.

"I cast my vote to affiliate with the ACNA with eager and expectant faith," said the Rt. Rev. Mark J. Lawrence, 14th Bishop of South Carolina, in his address to the convention. "I believe God has called us to this and I believe we will find a deeper richness in our vocation; fuller fellowship in the Spirit; a more zealous thrust in mission. But most of all, I believe a door will be opened, the fresh winds of the Spirit will blow, and a caged eagle will soar."

Affiliation with the ACNA brings the Diocese into full communion with an organization of 112,000 members in nearly 1,000 churches and 32 dioceses spread across Canada, the United States and Mexico.

The Diocese of South Carolina will add an additional 53 active churches, 22,149 Baptized Members and an ASA of 9,085. It will become the largest diocese in ACNA.

The only outstanding group that needs to come in out of the cold is the Anglican Mission in America. They were the first group of evangelical Episcopalians to break away from The Episcopal Church in 1999/2000, but a schism in 2012 saw it split, with most of its bishops leaving then Bishop Chuck Murphy and joining Bishop Bob Duncan to give birth to the ACNA.

Bishop Phil Jones and Archbishop Foley Beach are old seminary buds, so, hopefully, the AMIA can put its past behind, eat a little humble pie and join with the ACNA. They have nothing to lose by joining and they will never achieve any glory by standing alone. It is time to bury the hatchet and for the sake of gospel unity add their names to the ACNA growing list of dioceses. The Diocese of South Carolina just showed them the way.

The Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach is the Archbishop of the ACNA and you will not find a more godly non-political figure. He is the perfect segue from Duncan to a new world order of young millennials, new church plants with calls to evangelism and discipleship.

By contrast, The Episcopal Church has not added any significant churches, though it is now laying out tens of thousands of dollars trying to jump start itself.

Recently, the Executive Council awarded $821,000 in grants for church planting and Mission Enterprise Zones to fund the start of 20 new ministries throughout the Church.

The grants for church planting and Mission Enterprise Zones, which are evangelistic ministries with populations that are under-represented in the church, are funded through General Convention 2015 Resolution D005, approved as part of the Jesus Movement priority to build a capacity for church planting in the Episcopal Church.

They include:
• $510,000: six new church starts
• $85,000: one renewing ministry (started in the last triennium)
• $100,000: two Hybrid/Mission Enterprise Zone grants
• $100,000: five new Mission Enterprise Zones
• $26,000: six discernment grants

The deeper question is, will it change anything? Time will tell.

*****

A number of former Episcopal bishops now with the Anglican Church in North America, have come out blasting the decision by Bishop Philip North to resign, following claims he was bullied and intimidated by Professor Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, who told him to decline his nomination to the See because of his opposition to women's ordination. A post-modern liberal, Percy published his views on the website of Modern Church, a society promoting liberal Christianity, of which Percy is a Vice President.

Bishop Keith Ackerman (formerly Quincy) said in a statement on Philip North's withdrawal, "This is one the saddest stories. As long as a Bishop believes that the "ordination" of women is a matter of Doctrinal Truth and that other Biblical principles are also irrelevant - and subject to a vote - this is what happens.

Coming out strongly on this action of the UK bishop, was Bishop William Wantland (Formerly Eau Claire, Wisc.) He wrote to VOL; "In 1976, the Episcopal Church authorized the ordination of women to all orders of ministry. In 1977, the House of Bishops made it very clear that this was "permissive only", and not mandatory. Those who opposed the ordination of women were and remained "loyal Episcopalians".

"In 1980, I was elected Bishop of Eau Claire, an Anglo-Catholic diocese opposed to the ordination of women. In spite of what had been said, my election was vigorously opposed by liberal Bishops and dioceses. Nevertheless, my election was confirmed.

"Thereafter, more and more pressure was brought to bear against those who held to the Catholic view of ordination, and, in 1997, the ordination of women was made mandatory. Since then, every Anglo-Catholic diocese has either been driven out of the Episcopal Church, or has been subverted to accept the new order. You can read the full story in today's digest.

*****

The Anglican Communion has announced that Sudan will, in a few months from now, become a separate Province is its own right. Currently, Sudan is an internal province within the Anglican Church of South Sudan and Sudan.

The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon, described it as a "welcome development" that will help connect Christians there with Anglicans in the worldwide Communion. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will travel to Sudan for the inauguration of the new Province on July 30th. You can read the full story in today's digest.

*****

A glimmer of hope in Canada this week. A new church plant has opened in Sarnia, Ontario. It is an Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) church.

A blogger wrote VOL to say; "Interesting, isn't it, that while the ACoC can't close down churches fast enough, the ANiC is starting new ones. Although losing our buildings to the ACoC was, I think, grossly unjust and vindictive on the ACoC's part, I'm coming around to the idea that in the end, it might be God's provision for us. Very few congregations can afford to maintain buildings these days; ANiC congregations, no matter how humble and small their beginnings don't have that millstone dragging them down." Amen to that.

*****

Forward in Faith North America (FiFNA) will hold its 2017 Annual Assembly, July 26-28, at the Hurst Convention Center in Hurst, TX. This year's Assembly theme will be God's Design for Marriage, Family and the Single Life. FiFNA Executive Director, Dr. Michael Howell, stated, "Christianity continues to be influenced by secular constructs, and the very foundations of our faith and society are increasingly being undermined. More than ever, we need to return to God's design for our families and how we live our lives."

Assembly plenary speaker will be Dr. Kenneth Howell, a Roman Catholic layman with an extensive background in this area. Dr. Howell is currently the President and Director of Academic Research for the Eucharist Project, an international movement promoting the supreme sacrament of the church. Dr. Howell also taught in higher education, including being a Professor of Religion at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.

The Assembly will also feature workshops on church planting and re-energizing parishes, as wellas an interactive forum on the future of Anglo-Catholicism in North America. Registration and lodging information can be found at http://www.fifna.org/2017-assembly/ or by calling the FiFNA Office at (800) 225-3661.

*****

The Bishop of Singapore, Rennis Ponniah, has issued a warning about the new Disney movie version of Beauty and the Beast because, he says, it has "homosexual content".

He wrote this note to his Clergy & Deaconesses,

"It is needful that you alert your congregation about the homosexual content in Disney's re-make of Beauty and the Beast -- a film scheduled for screening during the March school holidays.

"Disney films for children's entertainment are usually associated with wholesome, mainstream values. But times are changing at a foundational level. In this new, live-action remake of the classic film , the character LeFou is portrayed as gay and a 'gay moment' is included in the movie by way of a sub-plot.

"Parents are therefore strongly advised to provide guidance to their children about this re-make of 'Beauty & the Beast' , and indeed to their children's entertainment choices in a rapidly changing age. Let us pursue Prov. 22:6 " Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."

The Diocese and the National Council of Churches are working on a fuller advisory to our members in the coming week.

*****

Joseph Nicolosi, a leading psychologist in reparative therapy, died unexpectedly this past week. His wife Linda sent me this note: "Joe was a threat to gay-activist ideology because, after 40 years of working with homosexually oriented men and hearing their stories and understanding their traumas, he simply "knew too much." He was brave enough -- one could say, reckless enough -- to let the world know what he knew.....regardless of the consequences," his wife Linda wrote to me.

Linda Nicolosi, Joe's lifelong collaborator and also his wife of 39 years, is grateful for everyone's prayers and words of appreciation and has shared these words:
"Joe was certainly a larger-than-life, one-of-a-kind guy. Never worried about political correctness, he was happy to swim against the cultural tide when he was sure the culture was going in the wrong direction. That got him into trouble quite a few times. Gay-activist web sites, for example, are still fond of quoting the occasional risque jokes he made during his life in the public eye, and of showing and re-showing him tossing a mic back at a rude TV interviewer. But Joe had ardent convictions about the truth of male and female design, and because of his conviction and courage, his awareness that he would face biased reporters didn't stop him from appearing on Oprah Winfrey, Larry King Live, Hannity and Colmes, O'Reilly Factor, 20/20, Dr. Phil, BBC News, etc."

Jeremy Schwab Kelly wrote on FACEBOOK, "There was never anyone "harmed" by his work or any Reparative Therapy. Anyone who says that is lying through their teeth. Every aspect of his work was about reducing shame and bring real healing. I am alive today because of him as are thousands of others.

"I had the privilege of organizing what (turned out to be) his very last conference. We had participants from 104 countries last Sunday and he graciously spent 3 hours trying to respond to everyone he could. Everyone who knew him knows what an awesome man he was. We are all heartbroken to lose him, but I (and many others) have dedicated ourselves to ensure sure his work continues on."

*****

Another milestone in relations between Canterbury and Rome took place in the Vatican on Monday as a traditional Anglican Choral Evensong was celebrated for the first time in St. Peter's Basilica.

Anglican and Catholic bishops and clergy -- including one female chaplain, Rev Dana English from the Anglican Church of All Saints, Rome -- gathered together at the altar below Bernini's great bronze sculpture encasing the relics of the Chair of St. Peter.

*****

All Souls, Langham Place, was packed recently as hundreds of men and women, young and old, gathered to worship God and give thanks for the life and ministry of Mike Ovey, the dearly loved former Principal of Oak Hill College, who died on 7th January, aged 58. Hugh Palmer led the service, featuring hymns with All Souls' trademark uplifting music. Current students at Oak Hill read the opening biblical sentences; there were four outstanding tributes to Mike and a sermon based on Philippians 1:21, "for me, to live is Christ, to die is gain".

All the speakers emphasized how Mike Ovey combined robust love for truth with compassion for people. For Efrem Buckle, former student at Oak Hill and now pastor at Ecclesia Church, Lewisham, Mike used his "awesome intellectual processing power" to explain the wonders of God's love expressed, for example, in the doctrine of election, and yet he will also be remembered for being kind, patient, keen to listen and learn from those he ministered to.

Before his theological study and ordination, Mike was a highly regarded lawyer. He continued to offer support and advice to Andrea Williams and the Christian Legal Centre up to the time of his death, especially in the area of lobbying around government legislation on issues such as fertilization and embryology and same sex marriage. Andrea spoke of how Mike predicted that secularism would gradually force biblical Christianity out of the public space, and was deeply concerned about working to preserve the freedoms for sharing the Gospel that we have taken for granted for so long, but are now under threat.

*****

Franklin Graham vs the Anglican Church of Canada. Franklin Graham's Vancouver crusade seems to have been a great success. Mission accomplished: 2,318 people made a commitment to Christ.

The Greater Vancouver Festival of Hope drew 34,406 people over three nights with 1929 people going forward to make a commitment to Christ. On top of that, 65,429 people from seventy-six countries watched the Festival of Hope online, with 389 people making a commitment to Christ online. An unexpected treat was to have the grandson of Billy Graham, Will Graham, join his dad, Franklin Graham, for the Festival. This was Will's third time there, since he helped them kick off the Festival and then led 500 young people to Christ at Vancouver Missions Fest this January.

As an antidote to Franklin Graham's blatantly promoting Christianity, Anglicans sponsored a multi-faith event to celebrate diversity. Mission accomplished: 0 people made a commitment to Christ.

"People from many faiths met twice early in March in Vancouver to show support for one another at two well-attended public meetings that celebrated diversity and took a stand against acts of hatred," said a press release.

That American political problems have spilled into Canada was suggested by a bomb threat the previous week which resulted in the evacuation of Vancouver's Jewish Community Centre (no bomb was found), and by controversy surrounding a three-day campaign in Vancouver led by Franklin Graham, an American evangelist who once called Islam "a very evil, a very wicked religion" and supported a ban on Muslim immigration in the U.S.

Anglicans were involved in sponsoring both gatherings.

*****

You're the reason VOL is able to do all that we do. You're the reason we're able to challenge and expose the rot in the Episcopal Church and the wider Anglican Communion. And you're the reason we're crying foul over the CofE's sneaky attempt to establish sodomite marriage in all but name into the church and then try and spin it to the wider Anglican Communion. To keep this and other issues alive and to follow it across the world we need your help. Won't you help us meet this challenge?

You can send a tax-deductible donation to VOL via PAYPAL at the link here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support-vol/

Or you can send a snail mail check to:

VIRTUEONLINE
570 Twin Lakes Rd
P.O. Box 111
Shohola, PA 18458

Thank you for your support.

David

The choice of Matthias. It is instructive to note the cluster of factors which contributed to the discovery of God's will in this matter. First came the general leading of Scripture that a replacement should be made (Acts 1:16-21). Next, they used their common sense that if Judas' substitute was to have the same apostolic ministry he must also have the same qualifications, including an eye-witness experience of Jesus and a personal appointment by him. This sound deductive reasoning led to the nomination of Joseph and Matthias. Thirdly, they prayed. For though Jesus had gone, he was still accessible to them by prayer and was acknowledged as having a knowledge of hearts which they lacked. Finally, they drew lots, by which they trusted Jesus to make his choice known. Leaving aside this fourth factor, because the spirit has not been given us, the remaining three (Scripture, common sense and prayer) constitute a wholesome combination through which God may be trusted to guide us today. -- John R.W. Stott

In the first volume of his history of World War II, Winston Churchill looked back at the storm clouds that gathered in the 1930s portending war and the loss of human freedom. Churchill wisely and presciently warned Britain of the tragedy that would ensue if Hitler were not stopped. His actions were courageous and the world was shaped by his convictional leadership. We are not facing the same gathering storm, but we are now facing a battle that will determine the destiny of priceless freedoms and the very foundation of human rights and human dignity. --- Albert Mohler

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
March 24, 2017

Tammany Hall politics hit the Episcopal Church this week when it was revealed in a report from the meeting at the House of Bishops that the bishops are considering creating a pool of prospective candidates for the episcopacy. One blogger called it, "Pre-approved Bishops: A Nursery for Ambition."

Springfield Bishop, Daniel Martins, said this pool of wannabee bishops would be a list of prospects who are vetted ahead of time and dioceses electing a new bishop would be encouraged to use that list. Martins also infers that dioceses choosing to look beyond the list provided them, would run the risk of failing to receive approval for their bishop-elect.

Hitler would have loved it. Only those of pure Aryan race can join the Nazi Party. Jews and homosexuals need not apply.

Creating another smoke-filled room or a nursery for ambition in the church is a profound theological and spiritual mistake, said Martins.

This will tie the noose around the neck of any diocese who dares to defy the revisionism of the Episcopal Church and put up a candidate who said they could not accept sodomy, same sex marriage, women bishops, gay and lesbian bishops and woe unto you if you even apply. Your name will be entered into the Goat's Book of Death and you will be cast into outer darkness, just like Bishop Stacy Sauls.

This is a form of ecclesiastical fascism that allows political correctness to reign. God forbid that "it seemed good to us and the Holy Spirit," now it is good for us as a committee to decide if you pass the political correctness test. Added to that will be which theological seminaries (liberal of course) you have studied at, and God forbid that TSM or Nashotah House should appear on your resume.

"As a priest and a theologian, I view this development with a considerable amount of dismay and I hope that -- after further reflection -- the House will abandon their plans to create a pool of candidates in this fashion," said Martins. Which begs the deeper question, why the blazes are you still in the Episcopal Church, Brother Martins?

Dear bishop, you have watched over the years the systematic rejection of historic, catholic Christianity in one general convention after another as resolutions have been passed that have undermined and destroyed biblical faith and order and still you persist in believing that TEC is part of God's one, holy catholic and apostolic church! Really!

Furthermore, If you are right to stay, what does it say about Anglo-Catholic bishops like Jack Iker, William Wantland, Keith Ackerman, et al who, in conscience, walked away from TEC, saying it no longer contended for the faith! Were they wrong?

How many more acts like this will you tolerate, how many more prevarications and lies will you put up with, how much longer will you turn a blind eye to a group of unregenerate men and women who dress up and pretend to be what they are not, just because they have had hands laid upon them, men and women who continue to systematically destroy the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Enough, sir, get out before your soul is irreparably damaged.

You can read the full story in today's digest.

But then at the HOB meeting in Kanuga, another bishop dropped a bomb on the whole proceedings in the person of Bishop Marianne Budde of Washington, DC, when she made the announcement in a sermon to the House that the Jesus Movement wasn't working in her diocese, but was clearly evident in other denominations. She could have mentioned Falls Church, VA, just across the river, where Vice President Mike Pence attends, bypassing a dozen or so Episcopal parishes on his way there on Sunday morning. What a huge slap in her face. She publicly admitted that her own diocese was rapidly sinking, with only about 12 out of 88 parishes that will still be viable a decade from now, with the majority disappearing or barely holding their own. Then she made the stunning observation that what her diocese needed was "born again" people. Say what! That is hardly the language of "inclusion,""diversity" or "generous orthodoxy" words we are so familiar with. And why isn't all the talk by the Presiding Bishop linking evangelism with anti-racism, filling churches?

Bishop Martins said the gathering felt like one "anti-racism training" center, which translates into "white privilege" guilt.

Ironically, VOL searched in vain for any comment on the recent HOB gabfest from orthodox bishops like Greg Brewer, Bill Love or George Sumner. No blog references or tweets. Nothing. The ONLY orthodox bishop to speak up was Dan Martins. What does that tell you!

Of course, none of this is really surprising. We at VOL have been watching this play out for over two decades, and it is only going to get worse. No gospel, no hope, no future. Certain death.

*****

Now, if you thought things were bad in the Episcopal Church you can read my story about a visit I paid to an English country parish this past weekend in Pewsey, Wiltshire. What I experienced there made even the Episcopal Church look good. The service was barely discernibly Christian, let alone Anglican. No Confession of sin, (an absolution offered for sins not confessed) a made-up creed that bore no resemblance to either the Nicene or Apostles creed, a quarter- baked, totally forgettable sermon with a congregation of about 45 (the biggest in the diocese) whose average age was in the vicinity of 75. The biggest event in the coming years will be turning sod in the graveyard to bury this nearly dead lot. The most significant event was the pause in the middle of worship to hold the annual parochial meeting. You can read my story in today's digest. The deeper truth my English colleagues tell me, is that this a pretty common experience.

*****

Archbishop Justin Welby seems to have hit the self-destruct button. The Designing Lambeth Conference 2020 Group met for the first time to plot what they will focus on in Canterbury in July of 2020. The theme of the Conference will be God's Church for God's world. The design group is being chaired by the Archbishop of Capetown and Primate of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa, the Most Rev. Thabo Makgoba.

Makgoba is the most liberal archbishop on the African continent, bar none. He is a clone of TEC, having received millions of dollars over the years for being the single voice of liberalism on that continent. Included in the group which met at the Anglican Communion Offices at St Andrew's House in London, England, were the Bishop of Nairobi, Joel Waweru Mwangi; the Bishop of Sabah, Melter Jiki Tais'; the Bishop of Dallas, Dr. George Sumner; the Moderator of the Church of North India and Bishop of Amritsar, Pradeep Samantaroy; the Revd Dr Robert Heaney, of Virginia Theological Seminary'; Mrs Josephine Mujawiyera from Rwanda and Ms. Cathrine Ngangira, a member of the Community of St Anselm at Lambeth Palace.

Sumner is the token evangelical in this crowd, and the Indian moderator is from a church (including South India) which is the most corrupt in the Anglican Communion, a place once held by Mexico. VOL has written endless stories on the corruption of the Church of South (and North) India and still it continues. It's all about money, of course, and now the government is looking into the affairs of the Church with the real possibility that someone will go to jail. You can read yet another story in today's digest.

Welby said the group represents the "diversity in the Church." Well, that's a diversity way too far for the GAFCON primates, who will undoubtedly be no shows in 2020. The next GAFCON conference will be held in 2018, in Jerusalem, and they might well make public their views on this upcoming gabfest. You will recall that a third of the bishops were no shows at the last Lambeth Conference.

"God is smiling because there is a group of dedicated Episcopalians and Anglicans from all over the Anglican Communion, put together by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Secretary General, who are committed to birthing an innovative, creative Lambeth Conference, where we could listen to each other under God and in our own contexts and commit, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to participate in what God is up to in the world," said Makgoba. Really! The Africans have listened themselves to death over Western pansexuality and they ain't buying it. ACNA was birthed because of TEC's innovations. What about that does Makgoba not get!

*****

The ACNA Provincial Assembly 2017 will be held June 26-30, 2017, in Wheaton, IL. The Assembly 2017 will be hosted by the Rt. Rev. E. Stewart Ruch III, Bishop of the Diocese of the Upper Midwest and rector of Church of the Resurrection in Wheaton, IL.

"As Bishop of the Diocese of the Upper Midwest, I could not be more excited that we are hosting the ACNA's third Provincial Assembly at Wheaton College this summer! Preparations are well underway. I am convinced that our gathering will be truly transformational, and I can't wait to see you there.

"May I speak to our clergy and pastors just for a moment? Your presence with us is essential. But not only you. We are designing this Assembly as a place of inspiration and training for every member of your church, and especially for your next generation of leaders. Can you picture who those might be?

"The Upper Midwest is a young diocese, and we launched with a strong value of raising up the next generation of leaders in the Church. At this event, everyone will:

The cast of speakers includes: Michael Nazir Ali, Benjamin Kwashi, Tito Zavala, Miguel Uchoa, Gregory Venables, Jackson Ole Sapit, and Sammy Wainana.

There will be sessions on how to do real ministry between cultures, including from Caminemos Juntos (Latino ministry), Jubilee (African American youth ministry). AMEN (Anglican Multi-Ethnic Network) and others. The first step to reaching today's America for Jesus is to learn, love, and engage.

*****

The Church of England is taking a cue from TEC's playbook and is delivering its own version of bullying and mayhem.

You will recall that Bishop Philip North of the Diocese of Burnley withdrew his name from becoming the next Bishop of Sheffield because he lacked the growing diversity in the Church of England that recently appointed women bishops.

He was bullied into surrendering his option by a salvo from Dean Martyn Percy of Christ Church, Oxford who said he did not truly represent the new spiritual (dis)order now apparent in the Church of England.

Sadly, North backed down instead of fighting this nonsense, but in doing so, he rubbished all the talk of "mutual flourishing" that said the church would honor all positions in the CofE, including its catholic wing. Apparently, that is now a dead option. Will evangelicals begin to feel the whip of revisionism on its collective backsides over the next few months? The Five Guiding Principles were supposed to recognize the different loyalties and hold them together. Apparently not.

Score one for the liberals.

But then up jumps Jeffrey John, a homosexual Dean, who has been living with his lover for decades and demands to be made a bishop in Wales, having tried several times in other dioceses and failed. This time, armed with lawyers and zero humility, he is challenging the process that failed to give him a two thirds majority.

He is ranting and raging against the night and against the Welsh for not giving him the job and he is virtually blackmailing them to give him the position, accusing the Welsh of homophobia. A source told VOL he has a team of lawyers working on this.

The Church of Wales issued a statement in response to protests regarding its recent election for the next Bishop of Llandaff and said this, "We understand the disappointment felt by all the candidates considered by the Electoral College who did not secure enough support to be elected as Bishop of Llandaff. However, we are satisfied that the Electoral College process was carried out properly and fairly.

"The meeting was confidential and we will not comment on speculation about the nomination and discussion of candidates. However, we strongly deny allegations of homophobia in the process. Neither homosexuality nor participation in a civil partnership are a bar to any candidate being either nominated or elected as a Bishop in the Church in Wales. Moreover, this was made clear to members of the Electoral College by its President, the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon.

"The Constitution of the Church in Wales requires that an electoral college meets for up to three days and that if the college fails to elect, the decision passes to the Bench of Bishops. The Bishops are now acting carefully in full accordance with the Constitution. Unlike the Electoral College process, there is no fixed timetable for an appointment process, however, the Bishops would wish to announce any appointment made as soon as all necessary formalities are finalized. The appointment process is underway and we see no reason to halt it."

Apparently he cannot bully his way into the job. But there is little doubt he will keep on trying.
Jeffrey John is chomping at the bit to be made bishop just about anywhere (maybe he should try TEC) precisely because he wants to make the point that a homosexual can be bishop, and he is just the man for the job. He is yelling and screaming that he was discriminated against because he is a (non-practicing) homosexual so he tells us.

Of course, one is forced to ask, does J. John fulfill the requirements of 1 Tim. 3 "Now a bishop must be above reproach, married only once, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not a lover of money." Is John's lifestyle above reproach? Temperate? Married only once (to a woman) not a man? By any definition he does not meet the biblical requirements.

As a point of interest, this same thing happened in The Episcopal Church, where traditionalists were crushed into compliance and that sort of spiritual cancer is spreading, originally from the secular society to the church, and now to the Mother Church of Anglicanism -- the Church of England.

*****

Forward in Faith is gently pushing back on recent events to the See of Sheffield, based on a statement from the Archbishops and they are asked by the Independent Reviewer, Sir Philip Mawer, to address the concerns that have arisen in the Church.

"We are grateful for their formal statement that, as Archbishops, Primates and Metropolitans, they reaffirm their commitment, and that of the House of Bishops, to its Declaration and to the Five Guiding Principles," wrote Tony Robinson, FIF chairman.

"We stand ready to engage with Sir Philip as he reviews the operation of the Declaration in respect of what was done over the last two years to inform and educate clergy and laity about the 2014 settlement, and also in respect of the recent nomination to the See of Sheffield and reactions to it. We trust that his report will correct the misrepresentation of the Declaration and of the Five Guiding Principles that has occurred.

"The Archbishops' call to pray openly for those with whom we disagree, and to demonstrate the mutual love which we are called to share, is something that all should take to heart."

*****

The Episcopal Church ordained another female bishop this week in the person of Gretchen Rehberg, 52, as first female bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane.

Donning a plain white robe, Gretchen Rehberg stood before five consecrating bishops, and with 650 witnesses packed into the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, promised to lead the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane as its ninth bishop.

The bishop takes over a diocese that is sinking like a stone. In 2005, there were 7,029 baptized believers. By 2015, it was down to 5323, a loss of 24.3%. Average Sunday Attendance in 2005 was 2,548. By 2015, it was down to 1,826, a loss of 23.3%. Between 2014 and 2015, the loss was 1.5%. Last year the diocese received a paltry 15, married 28 couples and BURIED 113!

With losses like that, the diocese wouldn't rank on the OTC's Pink Sheets. Just to drive the point home, there has never been a single woman bishop in the Episcopal Church that has made their diocese grow. Not one. But the pension will be substantial.

*****

The persecution of Christians is on the rise in China. Apparently Episcopal PB Michael Curry didn't get the news when he was in China recently. However, a watchdog group says the persecution of Christians rose by 20% in 2015!

A new report published by a Christian charity reveals that the Chinese government's approach to religious policy has led to a significant increase in the persecution of Christians in the country.

The 2016 Annual Persecution Report, released by China Aid, noted that under former President Jiang Zemin, the Chinese Communist Party focused on efforts to encourage religions and socialism to mutually adapt.

However, in April 2016, President Xi Jinping highlighted the importance of religions "persistently following the path of Sinicization," prompting subordinate government departments to adopt the policy as a catalyst for many persecution attempts.

In an attempt to implement the Sinicization, local government units across China targeted house churches and coerced them to join the government-monitored Three-Self Patriotic Movement by threatening them with closure.

The charity asserted that Christians are being persecuted "at a frequency unseen since the Cultural Revolution."

Clearly the PB wasn't interested in hearing this news when he met with leaders of the Three Self Movement.

*****

CANADA NEWS. While so many Anglican Church of Canada churches are amalgamating, or closing and women's organizations are folding up, who will be left to do the work?

However, the news is not all bad. The Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) newsletter recently announced three new congregations in Canada; one in Trenton, Ontario, one in Oliver, BC, and another in Sarnia, Ontario.

*****

EFAC-USA news. At the 'Evangelion' conference of Evangelicals in the Episcopal Church held at Trinity School for Ministry in 2016, three ideas for the future found widespread support: renewing our connection with Evangelicals in the rest of the Anglican Communion through EFAC-USA; getting together annually; and participation in our events by Evangelicals who are members of the various Anglican
churches that have come into existence outside TEC in recent years.

Following discussions among former board members of EFAC-USA, the American branch of EFAC, EFAC-USA will reorganize under a board of directors composed of equal numbers of TEC and ACNA members, and have its first annual Assembly at the Canterbury Retreat and Conference Center outside Orlando, Florida from April 19-21 2017. The theme of the conference is 'Positively Evangelical', and
speakers include Greg Brewer, Andrew Pearson, Phil Harrold, Charlie Holt, Ethan Magness and Josh Head, each of them addressing one of the five goals of EFAC-USA. All Anglican Evangelicals in the USA, whether in TEC or another church of the Anglican tradition, are invited to attend; for more information and to register, check the new EFAC-USA website, www.EFAC-USA.org or go to the EFAC-USA Facebook page (Facebook.com/EFACUSA).

The point however, should be made, that evangelicals have virtually been eliminated in The Episcopal Church. Most are now safely in ACNA, with only Dallas and Central Florida as holdouts.

*****

The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke out on the Westminster attack and the reaction to it, and he said it illustrated the foundational values of British society.

Speaking in the House of Lords in response to the Prime Minister's earlier statement, he offered three "pictures".

"The first is of a vehicle being driven across Westminster Bridge by someone who had a perverted, nihilistic, despairing view of objectives of what life is about, of what society is about, that could only be fulfilled by death and destruction.

"The second is of that same person a few minutes later, on a stretcher or on the ground, being treated by the very people he had sought to kill.

"The third is of these two Houses, where profound disagreement, bitter disagreement, angry disagreement is dealt with not with violence, not with despair, not with cruelty, but with discussion, with reason and with calmness."

*****

Princeton Theological Seminary has rescinded an award initially given to Rev. Tim Keller, after a backlash over the pastor's views toward the ordination of women and homosexuals.

Craig Barnes, president of the seminary, said the Kuyper Prize for Excellence in Reformed Theology and Public Witness will not be award to Mr. Keller because it might "imply an endorsement" of his views.

"In talking with those who are deeply concerned about Reverend Keller's visit to campus, I find that most share this commitment to academic freedom," Pres. Barnes said in a letter, Wednesday. "Yet many regard awarding the Kuyper Prize as an affirmation of Reverend Keller's belief that women and LGBTQ+ persons should not be ordained."

Mr. Keller is the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan and is considered one of the most influential Christian thinkers in America. His church has over 5,000 practicing Christians.

Clearly, Mr. Keller doesn't fit the new-fangled doctrines of inclusion and diversity found in the Book of Post-Modern Lamentations.

*****

The Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa has a new website domain. the Anglican Diocese of Egypt will change from www.dioceseofegypt.org to www.anglicandioceseofegypt.org on Saturday, the 25th of March, 2017, at 6 p.m. For those who are interested in the deaf unit, the domain will change from www.deafunit.org to www.deafunitegypt.org

*****

We are approaching Spring and we could use a few donations to keep the lights on. You can send a tax-deductible donation to VOL via PAYPAL at the link here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support-vol/

Or you can send a snail mail check to:

VIRTUEONLINE
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Thank you for your support.

David

"Although its celebrants often don't realize it, the universe of liberal Protestantism is very small and getting smaller." --- Mark Tooley, IRD President

Full hearts and empty heads. Christianity lays great emphasis on the importance of knowledge, rebukes anti-intellectualism for the negative, paralyzing thing it is, and traces many of our problems to our ignorance. Whenever the heart is full and the head is empty, dangerous fanaticisms arise. --- John R.W. Stott

"Failed and dying liberal Protestantism self-defeatingly is prioritized over vibrant and socially effective orthodoxy." - - Mark Tooley, IRD President

Enough with the politics, Your Eminence, turn to Christ for the good of your own soul and your sheep. Your clock is running out. You've already been here eight years, and there is no turnaround in sight nor have you laid the groundwork for it. You can rail against me and other concerned Catholics all you want -- you should be concerned not about us but Jesus Christ. All the backslapping and buffoonery and loud laughing will avail you nothing at your judgment. The souls that were in your care is what you will be judged on. -- Michael Voris

The church is effectively doing power politics rather than discernment. All the anger and the rejection that the progressive part of the church found themselves expressing was not spiritual discernment, it was political rage. I'm not sure you can educate political rage. I don't think that Philip North, however well-meaning he is, is going to produce levels of education that will to remove people out of the grip of this ideology which is gender equality, which actually has nothing to do with the Gospels or Christianity. -- Rev. Dr. Gavin Ashenden

David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
March 31, 2017

Pick me off the floor. This is right up there with Ripley's Believe it or Not. You will recall that last week I wrote about Washington Bishop Marianne Budde's sermon to the House of Bishops in Kanuga. In that sermon, she said her diocese was slowly slipping away and the Jesus Movement wasn't making much headway there. Only a dozen or so parishes out of 88 would be viable in a few years. She then mentioned the need for more 'born again' members.

I took little notice of this at the time as she could have made it to mean anything she wanted it to mean, but then came word from a reliable source that she is leading an ALPHA course at the National Cathedral with Jamie Haith, curate at Holy Trinity, Brompton in London, the spiritual home of ALHPA and Nicky Gumbel, its founder!

Apparently Budde described a conversion experience she had when she was a teen. Budde's New Age heresies have been plenteously documented by this writer and I doubt I would support Haith because of her New Age heresies, but maybe something is touching her!

What is truly scarier, is if she discovers she has been wrong all these years and repents, it could start a chain reaction, maybe a riot or revival in TEC's HOB! Now that would be something to report on.

*****

The Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, the revisionist Bishop of Los Angeles, faced his accusers this week, standing accused of "conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy" and of "conduct involving dishonesty, deceit, or misrepresentation." If found guilty, he could be deposed. Testimony began this week.

The legal fight concerns a church property in Newport Beach, California, valued at over $15 million dollars.

The Rev. Canon Cindy Evans Voorhees and several others testified about how she tried to foster a new congregation, St. James the Great, in the existing building, which was built in the 1940's and extensively renovated in 2002.

This parish was once the home of 1,500 mostly evangelical Episcopalians; it has now been mired in litigation and legal proceedings for more than a decade. Then this parish and three others withdrew from the Episcopal Church and joined the Anglican Church in North America.

The fleeing parishes and the diocese both claimed ownership of the church properties, but the parishes had the keys to the buildings. In 2013, after nine years of litigation, a court ruling found that the diocese owned the buildings.

The St. James the Great complainants allege that Bruno violated church canons because he:

* failed to get the consent of the diocesan standing committee before entering into a contract to sell the property;
* misrepresented his intention for the property to the members, the clergy and the local community at large;
* misrepresented that St. James the Great was not a sustainable congregation;
* misrepresented that the Rev. Canon Cindy Evans Voorhees, St. James' vicar, had resigned;
* misrepresented to some St. James members that he would lease the property back to them for a number of months and that the diocese would financially aid the church; and
* engaged in conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy by "misleading and deceiving" the clergy and people of St. James, as well as the local community, about his plans for the property and for taking possession of the property and locking out the congregation.

Bruno says in his response brief to the hearing panel that five of the allegations must be decided in his favor because "undisputed evidence establishes no canonical violation." He says the sixth allegation concerning alleged misrepresentations to Voorhees presents conflicting evidence for the panel to weigh. However, he calls it a "she said (he told me he wouldn't sell the property), he said (I never said I wouldn't sell the property) dichotomy."

At one point she testified that Bishop Bruno offered her a position working on an international mission, at a salary of $111,000, which was far more than she was making at the church. She accepted the position initially, but then handed her first paycheck back to the bishop and said she would stay with St. James the Great.

The Hearing Panel is hearing testimony in a meeting room of the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in Pasadena, located about 90 minutes northeast of Newport Beach. Save St. James the Great has organized buses to travel to and from the hearing each day.

*****

Episcopal Presiding Bishop Michael Curry gave a Q & A to the Salt Lake Tribune and gave some answers that you might want to think about.

QUESTION: On Jan. 14, 2016, the Anglican Communion suspended the Episcopal Church's voting and decision-making roles within the global body for three years, primarily due to the [U.S. church's] clergy officiating at same-sex marriages. Where are you in your relationship today?

CURRY: We are in good and full relationship and communion. ... That never changed. [The Anglican Communion's action] asked that the Episcopal Church not represent the Anglican Communion on ecumenical bodies. ... We were asked not to make decisions on matters of policy, or on how the church is governed for a period of three years. There are differences [between the two bodies], but the Anglican Communion is working together on moving forward . . . in the ministry of Jesus Christ to help and heal a hurting world. The mission we've been given is bigger than any divisions there may be among us.

QUESTION: If the Anglican Communion continues to insist on marriage solely being between a man and a woman, can the Episcopal Church remain affiliated with the body? Indeed, has the church effectively evolved into something different, something more than Anglican?

CURRY: No. The Episcopal Church is a constituent member of the Anglican Communion. We have been and will continue to be [because] that's who we are, and we're committed to that. There's been no discussion otherwise.

QUESTION: Has the same rift shown itself within the U.S. church since the 2003 consecration of Gene Robinson as the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop?

CURRY: [At the time of Robinson's consecration] I was bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina, one of the seven or eight largest dioceses [in the church] and probably fairly representative [of the church as a whole]. I gathered our clergy after consecration of Bishop Robinson. ... We knew that some people had left and I asked them to give me an estimate [of how many]. I'm here to tell you that in the Diocese of North Carolina [it was] 800 out of 49,000 [members], and one congregation out of 120. I think that pattern was fairly typical [for the church].

*****

A Diocese of Niagara parish offered up Islamic Prayers to Allah this week. In the wake of the Quebec mosque shooting, St. Simon's in Oakville, Ontario, decided to support Muslims, by praying to Allah during its monthly labyrinth walk.

We have seen the Episcopal Church's National Cathedral open its doors to Islamic worship. We have seen passages of the Koran publicly read in a cathedral in Scotland, with only minimal pushback. In Germany, Islamic prayers were offered in a Lutheran Church by an Imam, with fierce pushback by a Christian Lutheran woman; who called the act blasphemous. We have seen the Archbishop of Canterbury shake hands publicly with dodgy Islamic leaders who would sooner kill him than love him if circumstances were different.

But what we have never seen before is this.

This was the prayer:

O Allah, unite our hearts and set aright our mutual affairs, guide us in the path of peace.
Liberate us from darkness by Your light, save us from enormities whether open or hidden.
Bless us in our ears, eyes, hearts, spouses, and children.
Turn to us; truly you are Oft-Returning, Most Merciful.
Make us grateful for Your bounty and full of praise for it, so that we may continue to receive it and complete Your blessings upon us.

I'm not sure what "enormities" the congregation of St. Simon's need to be liberated from, but perhaps one is the enormous folly of reciting an Islamic prayer in a Christian church. You can read more about this in today's digest.

*****

Four Continuing Anglican jurisdictions, including the ACC, APA, DHC and ACA plan to meet in joint synods in Atlanta, Georgia, the week of October 2-6, marking a watershed in the history of the 40-years old movement.

Climax of the weeklong gathering will be a plenary session on Oct. 6, at which leaders of the Churches intend to sign an agreement establishing full communion (communion in sacris) among the four bodies, as well as "a pledge to pursue in a determined and deliberate fashion increasingly full unity." Church leaders will also discuss common plans for mission and evangelism.

*****

Five members of the Church in Wales' secretive electoral college that debates and votes for candidates, have spoken of 'deeply inappropriate' references to Dr. Jeffrey John's homosexuality when considering his nomination, Christian Today can reveal. The church will investigate official complaints into homophobia against John.

In a letter to the Church's most senior executive, Simon Lloyd, the electors said the remarks against Dr. John 'prejudiced' the process, making it 'invalid'.

A formal investigation has now been launched into the process and a legal panel chaired by a judge will decide whether to scrap the decision not to take Dr. John's nomination forward.

The electoral body met in Llandaff Cathedral for three days, but failed to elect a candidate, despite Jeffrey John winning more than half the vote and unanimous support from local representatives.

The complaint, signed by five of the 47-strong body, read: 'We object to the raising at electoral college of the matter of sexuality or civil partnership status, in direct contravention of the Church in Wales's own policy that sexuality or civil partnership status is not a bar to appointment as a Bishop.

'We consider that this action was deeply inappropriate, and prejudiced the electoral college proceedings so as to render them invalid.'

*****

CANADA NEWS. A merger of five Peterborough-area Anglican and Lutheran congregations into two might begin as early as this September, says a diocesan official overseeing the process.

The amalgamation of St. Barnabas Anglican Church, St. Luke's Anglican Church, St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church, All Saints' Anglican Church and Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church was recommended by a commission of lay people from all five churches in a report released last November. The report recommends that the current five parishes be reduced to two, but does not specify which two existing churches will remain open and which will close.

Since the report was released, all five churches have voted to proceed with amalgamation, according to Bishop Patrick White (ret., Bermuda), who was appointed assisting bishop for Trent-Durham after the departure of Bishop Linda Nicholls last year and before the installation of current Bishop Riscylla Walsh Shaw this January, and was asked to continue guiding the process.

The next step, White says, is for another commission, this one consisting of appointees from the Anglican diocese of Toronto and the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), to determine which two of the five churches will remain open. That commission's report is expected to be released in late May, he says. If its recommendations are approved, the diocese would begin implementing the amalgamation in September. It could take a year or more after that to complete the process, especially if the two sites chosen need renovation work, he says.

Giving had increased somewhat over that same period, the report said, but had not kept up with cost increases, and some of the parishes were either already financially unsustainable or soon to become so.

*****

NEW ZEALAND NEWS. ChristChurch Cathedral has been sitting derelict for over six years and many local landowners believe it is holding up regeneration of the city center.

Bishop Victoria Matthews has penned a letter to the Government, saying she is "seriously considering" its offer to help fund restoration of ChristChurch Cathedral, but sources say no decision will be made for at least a week.

Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister, Gerry Brownlee, said he wrote to Anglican Bishop Victoria Matthews on March 8 to reiterate an offer to contribute a $10 million grant and a $15 million loan towards the restoration costs of the cathedral. Brownlee said Matthews wrote back on March 21, stating they were "seriously considering" the offer.

Brownlee said Cabinet approved the $25 million funding offer in December.

*****

NIGERIAN NEWS.Nigerian Archbishop, Nicholas Okoh, says no one can hold the Church to ransom in a diocesan dispute over allegations of financial irregularities. The Primate of the Church of Nigeria said the crisis at the Sapele diocese can only be resolved by true repentance and recognizing that the church is governed by certain rules that must be obeyed for the good conduct of its affairs. The Church of Nigeria "recognizes the worth of its members who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, true members of the Anglican Church, baptized and confirmed, necessarily submit to the structure of the church, first to its clergy, bishops, archbishops, and ultimately to the Primate who administers the church through proper legal instrument. Hence, every clergy who accept to be ordained (must) swear to the oath of canonical obedience and loyalty to their bishop."

He said the protesters had failed to present their case against the bishop and had refused to work within the system of ecclesiastical discipline, leaving him no choice but to conclude the charges brought against Bishop Erifeta were unfounded.

"Anyone who fails and feels unable to bring himself under the governing authority of this church automatically repudiates his membership and has a right to leave or walk away. But no one has a right to hold the church to ransom."

His views are contained in a statement released on the church's website and signed by the General Secretary of the Church of Nigeria, The Ven. Dr. Stephen Ayodeji Fagbemi.

The Primate lamented the embarrassment the crisis had caused the church and noted that the complainants had "crossed the red line."

*****

Christian parents should pull their children out of public schools, now, to protect them from spiritual damage, extreme indoctrination, and other serious problems. Pastors and churches should work to encourage that "exodus," helping and encouraging families to put their kids in homeschools or private Christian schools as quickly as possible. The alternative will be the continued decline of the church in America and an acceleration of the nation's decline. That was the explosive message of an evangelical ministry leader, speaking as a guest this week on one of America's top Christian radio programs.

Dr. James Dobson, one of the nation's most influential Christian leaders and a former public-school teacher, hosted the discussion on his national radio program, focusing on the spiritual danger of allowing children to sit in secular or even anti-God public schools for over a dozen formative years. Dobson's guest on his nationally syndicated show, Family Talk, heard on hundreds of stations across America, was Lt. Col. E. Ray Moore, a retired military chaplain, a homeschooling pioneer, and the nation's leading advocate of a mass exodus of Christian children from the government schools. The explosive interview could have far-reaching ramifications, forcing millions of Christian parents and thousands of pastors across America to re-consider their choices.

Moore said churches and Christian families must launch a fresh effort to "really grow Christian schooling and homeschooling in the evangelical and conservative church community." First of all, he said, there is a "scriptural pattern" that underpins his argument. "The Bible is clear: Scripture assigns the education of children to the family with assistance from the church -- and not government," said Moore, who leads Frontline Ministries and is the director of the Exodus Mandate Project to get children out of government schools. "So we actually do not believe in state-sponsored education in any fashion."

Citing various Bible verses, Moore said parents are commanded to raise their children up in the "culture" of the Lord. Homeschooling and Christian schools help fulfill that, he explained, adding that public schools today are overtly hostile to Christianity and the Bible. Especially in the early years of child development, homeschooling is an excellent choice, with Christian schools available later for those who feel they can't do it themselves. For one, it creates a strong solidarity in the family, Moore said, adding that many homeschooling families are able to avoid the "teenage rebellion" stage altogether. "These kids that are homeschooled, and their peers in Christian schools, are a different breed, it's a different culture," he continued.

Dr. Dobson agreed, saying the sentiment was "absolutely true," and that young children are especially vulnerable to lifelong effects from being bullied or teased in their early years. "Today, public schools don't offer much in the way of values education, and if they do, it's often wrong," said Dobson, who was described as "the nation's most influential evangelical leader" by The New York Times. "Particularly today, so much of what goes on in public schools is really harmful." When Moore and Dobson were children, public schools still began the day with prayer and the Bible. "It was very, very different than it is today," Dobson added.

*****

We are fast approaching Spring and we could use a few donations to keep the lights on. You can send a tax-deductible donation to VOL via PAYPAL at the link here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support-vol/

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We really could really use some financial support. Thank you.

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Transgenderism is supremely incoherent not only because it is irrational, but because that irrationality doesn’t diminish its appeal or social standing. Its irrationality is not a defect but its principle feature, its point of pride and perverse strength. Judge Niemeyer wrote in dissent in a transgender case, that, as against transgender policy, “[v]irtually every civilization’s norms on this issue stand in protest.” Well yes; that’s rather the point. For transgender ideology, the unanimous testimony of human civilization not only has no authority, but civilization is precisely the foe it aims to vanquish. Settled categories—of law, logic, or physical creation—are targets for subversion. --- Jeff Shafer in FIRST THINGS

Anti-intellectualism and the fullness of the Spirit are mutually incompatible, because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. --- John R.W. Stott

All I know is that God put us here to be lights in the darkness, and however dark it gets, our mission does not change. Dostoevsky wrote that stars grow brighter as the night grows darker. So the good news is that we have the opportunity to be the brightest stars for Christ that the world has ever seen, because we may well live through its darkest night. --- Matt Walsh, THE BLAZE

Totalitarians and fascists have always sought to demonize their opponents, in part by marking them out from the “normal” majority. They are clearly identified one way or another as recalcitrants, and treated accordingly. Simply consider how Jews fared as the Nazi regime occupied various European countries: being forced to wear a yellow badge in the form of a Star of David. Millions of our young men gave their lives to fight these totalist regimes and to preserve our cherished freedoms. But a new totalitarianism is descending upon the West, and it comes in the form of the militant and totalitarian rainbow activists. --- Bill Muehlenberg

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
April 7, 2017

The trial of Los Angeles Bishop J. Jon Bruno is over; now we await the verdict and his possible banishment from The Episcopal Church by his peers. If he is found guilty, he could be suspended or defrocked over a plan he had to sell St. James the Great in Newport Beach, a prime location worth an estimated $15 million.

Bruno faces allegations that he was deceptive and acted in a way unbecoming a clergyman when he tried to sell the St. James the Great site, locked congregants out and then kept the gates, closed even after the sale fell apart.

Testifying in Pasadena before a five-member panel of Episcopal bishops from around the country, he described the diocese as property-rich but cash-poor.

The irony of all this is that this parish was once solidly evangelical and in the hands of the Rev. Richard Crocker. He and the majority of the parish walked away over TEC’s abandonment of the faith and the ordination of an openly homosexual bishop to the episcopacy. The parish was “rescued” by a liberal woman priest, the Rev. Cindy Voorhees, and it was she who got in the face of Bruno. She wanted to keep the parish open. Bruno saw an opportunity to make a ton of money and ordered the parish closed and the locks changed. Voorhees and her small group of Episcopalians refused to take this lying down and went after the bishop. She got support from the lesbian assistant bishop of the diocese, Mary Glasspool, who subsequently got fired for supporting Voorhees, and charges were then filed against Bruno.

So, what are the odds Bruno will take a walk because he is within a year of retirement? And will the parish regain the property? Will these bishops really hang one of their own out to dry?

All but one of his judges are as liberal as Bruno theologically and on moral issues. The one bishop, Michael Smith of North Dakota, a Communion Partner bishop, is the most likely to vote to defrock Bruno. It will be interesting to see what and how the others say and vote.

A little history is important on how revisionist bishops hang one of their own, even if it is by their testicles…the pain is apparently worth it. There’s always the pension to dull the pain.

In the Diocese of Pennsylvania (where I live) we had a power-crazy bishop, Charles E. Bennison of less than blessed memory, who relished seizing parishes and their assets in the civil courts during both the Frank Griswold and Jefferts Schori reign. Bennison was infamous for his sayings about the Faith that would have Arius rolling over in his grave. He once said that “Jesus was a sinner who forgave himself” and "Men wrote the Bible and therefore could rewrite it.” As one poster noted, he performed illegal SSMs in private gardens around Philadelphia, spent diocesan money like there was no tomorrow, and then was finally caught covering up his pedophile brother, who was also a TEC priest. The Presiding Bishop at the time was Frank Griswold, who was living in his Rumi the Sufi world. He called on Bennison to meet him on a plain beyond good and evil, but when that failed (the plain apparently could not be found), he insisted that Bennison step down, as did a number of PA clergy. He refused. Finally inhibited, and tried he was exonerated by his own peers on the shifting sand of the “statute of limitations” which they should have known about before they went to trial. Jefferts Schori managed to lever him out with a new canon she got through the HOB and forced Bennison into retirement with a golden parachute.

So, the question is, do you really think that Bruno will be convicted and deposed?

The Right Rev. Herman Hollerith, the panel chairman and blue-blood bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia, said he doesn’t expect a decision on Bruno to be issued before Easter, April 16. Bruno is no doubt hoping for a resurrection moment.

*****

A small Episcopal congregation in North Dakota made news this week with their own new LGBT window dedicated to the gay community.

St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Fargo dedicated a new window on Sunday featuring a rainbow and words from the denomination’s 1979 revision of the Book of Common Prayer: “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being?”

Dubbed “Integrity Window”, the installation also commemorates English writer St. Aelred of Rievaulx. Aelred authored the treatise “On Spiritual Friendship” and is claimed by some in the gay community for his own deep friendships with men. The window also features a quote from Galatians, a pride flag, the logo of Integrity USA (the unofficial LGBT caucus within the Episcopal Church) and a depiction of the parish’s rainbow-flag flying float from a local parade.

“Loving God, loving your neighbor as yourself, that’s really the basis for all Christian ministry as I see it and I think that’s the basis for how we see GLBTQ inclusion,” Parish Priest-in-Charge Jamie Parsley told local news station KVLY. The window is dedicated “in memory of those who died trying to be their authentic selves.”

So, by engaging in anal sex you will discover your “authentic self”. Someone needs to sit down with this parish and read the Book of Romans right through from beginning to end. You can read the full story in today’s digest.

*****

TRINITY WALL STREET…and what they really believe there. An old and dear lady friend of mine recently visited Trinity Wall Street, probably the wealthiest church in the world, and had the following experience and encounter at both worship and later with a clergyperson.

“The Eucharistic Liturgy referred to ‘the woman Mary,’ and ‘Blessed Mary’ -- but at no point was the word "Virgin" mentioned. I asked the celebrant about it, and she replied that it wasn't her decision, but the rector's; he felt that "woman" was more in keeping with the original language, it wasn't "her body" but "her spirit" that was important, etc. (The Rector was absent that day.)

“On a previous visit to Trinity last summer, the Rector -- one Rev. William Lupfer -- made a point of saying that the parish was not "exclusive," and that a meeting would be called to address the concerns of "the LGBTQ community." At the door, I told the Rector that I loved the worship of the church, and asked him if he would be willing to start a chapter of Anglicans for Life. He claimed to be unfamiliar with the group. I told him I knew he "would not want to exclude pro-Lifers." He answered, "[Trinity] has a certain identity. We are not all things to all men." When I pressed him on his pledge not to be "exclusive," he answered, "It is not exclusivity. It's identity." It was all I could do not to look him in the eye and call him a lightweight and a hypocrite. I wish I had!”

*****

It is now apparent to this writer that Archbishop Justin Welby’s Global Anglican strategy is to neutralize GAFCON before the next Lambeth Conference in 2020. His aim is to get as many African Primates on board over the next three years and thus neutralize the growing vibrant Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) which stands as the biggest thorn in the flesh to his ambitions to keep the Anglican Communion together at any cost.

But will it work? That is the $64,000 question. You can read my full analysis in today’s digest or here: http://tinyurl.com/mx9lnt7

*****

The Anglican Communion is being degraded and confused by false teaching and the Communion’s traditional leadership responds by accommodating [to] it, says GAFCON chairman and Nigerian Primate, Nicholas Okoh.

Writing in his April letter to GAFCON followers, the Archbishop of the Anglican Communion’s largest province, said there is no hope in that direction, a reference to Archbishop Justin Welby, leader of the Anglican Communion.

“At the same time, we see a new future unfolding. This is the GAFCON vision and it is being demonstrated very clearly in North America.” You can read the full story in today’s digest.

*****

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Glenn Davies said that marriage equality campaigners are 'bullying' Australians who don't agree with them. He lashed out, accusing same-sex marriage campaigners of “swamping the public debate” by denying free speech to those that are against it.

Writing a column in The Australian, the Archbishop argued that a plebiscite would reveal that the majority of Australians opposed same-sex marriage.

Dr. Davies remarked that the views of gay marriage advocates have silenced the public from voicing their own opinions.

“People have been sold a lie, their views are shutdown, marginalized, ostracized and pilloried in a bullying fashion,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The Archbishop even commented on how marriage in Aboriginal culture is regarded as being “between a man and a woman”.

This is fascinating because Native American Anglicans in Canada made the same argument and gave Archbishop Fred Hiltz heartburn when the same-sex marriage vote narrowly passed in the Anglican Church of Canada recently.

*****

A day-long conference on Church Growth and Decline in the Anglican Communion, 1980 to the present, was held in late February by the center for Church Growth Research in Durham, England.

Here is what the group of mostly English academics concluded in its global research about the Episcopal Church, USA.

UNITED STATES

The principal Anglican denomination in the United States is the Episcopal Church. It lost almost a quarter of its members from 1986 to 2011, within the context of a rapidly rising population. Although decline was slower in the 1980s and ’90s, it has become much more pronounced since about 2000, albeit with a wide regional variation.

The South grew slightly in this period overall, while the East Coast and Midwest did much worse. That said, all areas have declined in recent years. Average Sunday attendance declined by almost a quarter between 2000 and 2010, and the number of baptisms halved between 2000 and 2014.

The figures for baptism are especially significant, given that Episcopalians tend to join the denomination as infants.

In contrast with other US denominations, the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church (USA) are doing worse than the Episcopal Church, but most denominations are doing better.

Although most Episcopal dioceses are now in decline, those in the interior are most vulnerable (a number of rural dioceses are barely viable), and those in metro­politan centers tend to be more robust.

Figures for the main Anglican alternative in the US, the Anglican Church in North America, are not precise; but, even if added to those of the Episcopal Church, they suggest that a large number of those who were Anglicans in the US in 2000, had ceased to be so by 2010.

As an example, the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy has ceased to exist following schism, with remnant Episcopalians now under the Diocese of Chicago.

*****

The Rt. Rev. Michael P. Milliken, Bishop of Western Kansas since 2011, will assist the Diocese of Kansas as the diocese begins to search for its tenth bishop.

The council is looking for a replacement for the former Bishop, Dean Wolfe, who fled to a wealthy parish in New York City. The diocese floundered under him. Truth be told, Western Kansas is barely holding on and the only real hope is for these two dioceses is to unite. Whether that happens remains to be seen.

The Diocese of Kansas was founded in 1897. The Diocese of Western Kansas began its life in 1903 as the Missionary District of Salina, and became a diocese in 1971.

*****

The Church in Wales has rejected claims of "deeply inappropriate" conduct during the selection process for a new Bishop of Llandaff.

A gay clergyman, the Very Rev. Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans, accused the Church of homophobia after he was rejected for the role. He is understood to have received over half the votes, but not the two thirds required.

One of the complaints came from five members of the Church in Wales' electoral college, the body which discusses and votes on bishop candidates. They had said: "We object to the raising at electoral college of the matter of sexuality or civil partnership status, in direct contravention of the Church in Wales's own policy that sexuality or civil partnership status is not a bar to appointment as a Bishop. We consider that this action was deeply inappropriate, and prejudiced the electoral college proceedings so as to render them invalid."

The church’s legal sub-committee had investigated three complaints in total and said all three were “without merit.” His Honor, Judge Andrew Keyser QC, said: “The proper course is for the bishops to proceed to fill the vacancy in accordance with Regulation 23 and the exercise of their own judgment."

Last month, the Church in Wales said it was satisfied that the Electoral College process had been carried out properly and fairly: “The meeting was confidential and we will not comment on speculation about the nomination and discussion of candidates. However, we strongly deny allegations of homophobia in the process. Neither homosexuality nor participation in a civil partnership are a bar to any candidate being either nominated or elected as a Bishop in the Church in Wales.”

The Provincial Secretary of the Church in Wales, Simon Lloyd, said, “I am very grateful to the legal subcommittee for their thorough and prompt examination of the complaints received about the election and appointment process of the Bishop of Llandaff. I can now confirm that proper procedure has been followed and there are no grounds for the complaints submitted. This means the Bench of Bishops can continue its task of appointing the new bishop without further delay.”

*****

CHURCH OF ENGLAND: In defense of church pews. There is “no theological basis” for the retention of church pews, declared John Gallagher, Chancellor for the Diocese of Rochester, as he dismissed the view of conservationists, who wanted to retain the austere wooden pews in the 14th-century Grade I listed St Margaret’s Church in Rainham, Kent. And so, a Church of England court has decreed that these Victorian pews may be replaced with tubular steel chairs, upholstered in royal blue, which are light and easy to stack, not to mention a little easier on the posterior than hard wood.

History and architectural congruity must give way to the need for “comfortable seating” and the preference for “color and brightness”. The change is apparently “popular among their congregation”, and they believe it “would encourage more people to attend”.

St Mary’s vicar, the Rev. Judy Henning, is supported in this decision by church wardens, Janet Garnons-Williams and Desiree Willis. This is…O, it’s probably best not to comment further.

*****

According to the latest PEW research, Christianity is dying out in Europe, while Islam is expanding. The new Pew Research study showed that deaths among Christians outnumbered births in Europe by almost six million between 2010 and 2015. “In Germany alone, there were an estimated 1.4 million more Christian deaths than births from 2010 to 2015.”

While Christianity dies out in Europe, Islam is rapidly expanding. During that same time period, births among Muslims in Europe outnumbered deaths by more than two million.

Among the religiously unaffiliated, births outpaced deaths by around one million.

*****

A group of 99 religious and denominational organizations are urging Congress to maintain laws that prevent churches and other tax-exempt non-profit groups from endorsing political candidates.

The coalition, which includes the Alabama Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ's Justice and Witness Ministries and the United Methodist Church's General Board of Church and Society, presented a letter this week to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan and all members of Congress.

The letter addresses the "Johnson Amendment," the 1954 IRS regulation that prohibits churches and other religious organizations from keeping their tax-exempt status if they endorse candidates, participate in partisan activities, or "directly or indirectly" become involved in a political campaign.

President Trump has vowed to repeal the rule to allow faith leaders to "speak freely and without fear of retribution."

In their letter, the faith leaders said changes to the Johnson Amendment could result in houses of worship becoming partisan political tools.

"Current law serves as a valuable safeguard for the integrity of our charitable sector and campaign finance system," the group said. "The charitable sector, particularly houses of worship, should not become another cog in a political machine or another loophole in campaign finance laws."

"Houses of worship are spaces for members of religious communities to come together, not be divided along political lines; faith out to be a source of connection and community, not division and discord," the letter states.

*****

Lambeth Palace is pleased to announce the appointment of the Rt. Rev. Tim Thornton, the current Bishop of Truro, as the new Bishop at Lambeth. Bishop Tim will take up this post in September, replacing the Rt. Rev. Nigel Stock, who is retiring.

A source told VOL that he is being offered the plush job at Lambeth as a reward for failure. “The diocese
used to be perfectly viable when Bishop Graham Leonard was there. Thornton virtually erased the diocese. At one point in his career, he was David Hope’s chaplain in the Diocese of London. Immaculate robes, no substance.”

*****

Half the states want to restrict the $500 million that flows to Planned Parenthood, in what is described as the next abortion battle. Half the states are now able to defund Planned Parenthood, as Congress has cleared the way for them to do so.

The abortion giant rakes in $1.2 billion a year, with a leftover profit of $127 million — most of it from abortion money. Its CEO, Cecile Richards, made an annual pay of nearly $1 million — causing some to wonder how this outfit continues to call itself a "non-profit."

On Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence once again cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate, this time striking down Obama's agency regulation the lame-duck president pushed through just before he left office. The agency rule by Obama disallowed states from blocking federal Title X funding, flowing through them to Planned Parenthood (PP).

*****

A new opportunity for Ph.D. studies for mission leaders, people involved in ministry in the public square, development practitioners, and seminary teachers seeking a multi-cultural international educational experience to engage in research has opened up at The University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, in partnership with the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life UK, directed by Canon Dr. Vinay Samuel and supported by East Mountain, Stellenbosch and Barnabas Fund. They invite applications for their four year degree program, with 4 months residence, beginning with a three week introductory seminar in Stellenbosch, in September, 2017.

For further details download the enclosed brochure and for application forms email the Co-Dean in Oxford, Canon Dr. Chris Sugden on csugden@ocrpl.org.
(Click on link below for brochure)
PhilosophyDegree_Brochure Final

*****

If you were under the impression that the opposition to your religious freedom came from rational people who just have a disagreement with conservatives, wait until you see who's jumping into the movement.

The latest group to declare their allegiance to the anti-Christian cause might surprise and even frighten you a little. They are Satanists.

"If we're asking for religious rights for all, then we need to understand what that means. That means religious rights for Satanists as well," a Satanist declares.

The Satanic Temple tells the outlet Broadly it is looking to mainstream itself and is vying for converts among one of the fastest growing segments of the American spectrum of faith – atheists and so-called free thinkers. But they insist that is just parody to make a point. Satan, they say, is not real; they just need a gimmick to counter the inroads Christianity has made into society.

"We don't believe in a guy with a red poker down in Hell waiting … to torment us for the rest of our life," the spokesperson explains. Really.

*****

Bland statements of optimism

“mutual flourishing”

“good disagreement”

“radical new Christian inclusion”

*****

As you made it to the end, we at VOL want to ask a favor of you. More people are reading VOL than ever, but only a few pay for it. We get a small amount of revenue from advertising, but it is not nearly enough to pay our bills. And we have not erected a paywall as some professional fund-raisers suggest we do. We want to keep our scribblings as open as we can. So, you can see why we need to ask for your help. VOL’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too. Where else would you get stories about the Ordinariate or the Global South and GAFCON as it confronts the liberalism and revisionism of the West, with analysis that you will not find anywhere else.

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Diversity and harmony. The church as a multi-racial, multi-cultural community is like a beautiful tapestry. Its members come from a wide range of colorful backgrounds. No other human community resembles it. Its diversity and harmony are unique. It is God's new society. And the many-coloured fellowship of the church is a reflection of the many-coloured (or 'many-splendoured', to use Francis Thompson's word) wisdom of God. --- John R.W. Stott

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
April 14, 2017

At 9.30 on (Palm Sunday) during Mass at St George’s Church in Tanto, north of Cairo, dozens of Coptic Christians were celebrating the joyful entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Then, in the twinkling of an eye, our Lord welcomed at least 25 of them into His kingdom, as a bomb went off inside the church, narrowly missing the Coptic Church’s Patriarch, Pope Tawadros II.

That, at least, is what hundreds of millions of Christians believe; as Holy Week begins. They will be praying for the slaughtered men, women and children of St Mark’s – and also for the victims of a suicide bombing outside St Mark’s Cathedral, Alexandria, that happened soon after and where 18 are reported to have been slain.

A spokesman for the Egyptian ministry of foreign affairs tweeted that the Palm Sunday massacres were “another obnoxious but failed attempts against all Egyptians”. Really? It looks very like an attack on Christians simply because they are Christians. It would be equally fatuous to claim that Boko Haram’s unrelenting slaughter of Christians is directed “against all Nigerians”, noted Damian Thompson in The Spectator.

The impulse to wipe them from the face of the earth is growing stronger, and Muslim fanatics are delighted that the extinction of Christianity from its ancient heartlands is tantalizingly close to happening.

The slaughter brought forth anguish from Egyptian Anglican Bishop, Mouneer Anis, who noted with “sadness” the killing of 45, with a further injured 129, some of whom were Muslim policemen and guards. “Sadness overshadowed all Palm Sunday celebrations all over Egypt,” he said.

“Both terrorist attacks were done by suicide bombers. In Tanta, the suicide bomber succeeded in entering the Church, while in Alexandria, the metal detector gates beeped as the bomber was going through and to avoid being arrested, he detonated the bomb.

“In view of these terrorist attacks, we expect that tourist numbers to Egypt will drop considerably although Egypt is still considered a much safer destination than other countries in the region,” wrote Anis. I have posted several stories on this brutal slaying from an Anglican perspective in today’s digest.

*****

Episcopal Dioceses are starting to crumble as parishes decline and there are fewer paid rectors.

Following recent revelations by Mariann Budde, Bishop of the Diocese of Washington, that her diocese is in free fall with only a dozen or so viable parishes out of 88, VOL has received reports from other dioceses that reflect similar decline.

The Diocese of Nthn. Michigan, for example, has a total ASA of 475 (as of 2015) from a handful of parishes. The diocese is being sustained financially by the national church.

However, it is not always the bishop that is so forthcoming. VOL has received a report from another TEC diocese in the northeast. In this case, news comes from a clergy person who agreed to talk to VOL on the basis of anonymity, fearing retribution by the diocesan bishop.

This person wrote: “Of the approximately 80 parishes within the diocese, there have been over 30 rector and/or clergy changes since January 2015, with two additional parishes making changes in the coming months. This represents almost 40% of the diocese in transition within a space of just over 24 months. Furthermore, within this diocese, salaries are coming down and there are difficulties in employing interims as a result. Meanwhile, the diocesan office is hiring additional staff and seeking enlarged office space.”

When one considers that the cost of bringing in a new rector involves the considerable expense of moving, rectory refurbishment, final payments to the previous rector or interim, this game of musical chairs is doing little for the financial health of either the individual parishes or the diocese as a whole!

“Yes, we're coming apart,” the source told VOL. You can read the full story in today’s digest.

*****

Top TEC Officials pull down nearly $3 million a year in salaries, official sources revealed this week.

For an institution that is slowly dying, with nary a diocese that is growing, you might be amazed, perhaps even shocked, at what the principal players in The Episcopal Church pull down in terms of salaries, not including housing allowances, which is a tax-free benefit.

The top five players including the Presiding Bishop, Chief Financial Officer, Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer and President of the House of Deputies (the latter gets nothing), pull down close to $1 million a year, (the exact amount is $920,430).

Bishop Michael Curry gets $280,500, (bear in mind that the Jesus Movement has yet to show an evangelistic profit); the Chief Financial Officer pulls down $230,830; The Executive Officer gets $209,100; the Chief Operating Officer gets $200,000 and HOD president Gay Jennings is branded a “volunteer,” does a lot of the heavy lifting and gets paid nothing.

Then there are the principal employees numbering some thirteen, beginning with the Director of Development who pulls down a mere $191,250, followed by the top legal counsel who gets $190,382. Three Canons to the Presiding Bishop pull in a total of $505,715. The lowest paid is the General Convention Manager who pulls in a mere $137,489. The Canonical Archivist pulls down $137,553. The total is almost $2 million. The Bishop-in-Charge, Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe pulls down a mere $74,468.

This does not include housing allowances totaling $75,000. You can read the full story in today’s digest.

*****

Heather Cook, the former Episcopal bishop who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the December, 2014, killing of a cyclist in a drunken crash in North Baltimore, is eligible for parole next month.

Cook, 60, who has been incarcerated at the Maryland Correctional Institute in Jessup, is scheduled to appear before the Parole Board on May 9, according to a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS), according to newspaper reports.

Cook had been sentenced on October 27, 2015, to seven years in prison for the crash, which claimed the life of Thomas Palermo, a married father of two who had been out riding his bike two days after Christmas.

Cook pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter, leaving the scene of a fatal accident, driving while under the influence and texting while driving.

Asked how the state calculated her eligibility for parole, less than two years into her prison term, DPSCS media relations specialist Gerard Shields explained it this way: “She has a seven-year sentence, but because the crime is considered non-violent, she is eligible for parole after serving 25% of it,” Shields said. “It does seem quick,” he agreed.

So, the killing of a man on a bicycle while you’re drunk is non-violent? I guess in this crazy country it is only violent if you use a semi-automatic weapon capable of killing dozens of people at a single sweep.

*****

Barbara Rice Thompson, 56, a former editor of Penthouse, an iconic pornographic magazine, has taken up a position as program director for a Mother and Child Ministry at a local Episcopal Church, with the blessing of the priest and Long Island Bishop, Lawrence Provenzano. She is a resident of North Wantagh.

She said she had spoken with the Rev. Christopher Hofer, the rector of the Church of St. Jude, about how she wanted to “give back on a more real level — other than providing porn.” You can read the full story in today’s digest.

*****

Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry named Bishop Todd Ousley of Eastern Michigan as Bishop for the Office of Pastoral Development, a member of the Presiding Bishop’s staff.

“Bishop Ousley is an experienced bishop with a depth of pastoral and leadership skills,” Presiding Bishop Curry said. “I am very thankful to him for his willingness to assume this particular ministry which is vital to the spiritual life and vitality of our bishops and, through them, the Episcopal Church. I have known and worked with him for several years and, like my brothers and sisters in the community of bishops and spouses, Bishop Ousley has my deep respect, affection and trust.”

Based on diocesan statistics, Ousley’s leadership skills are decidedly wanting. The Diocese of Eastern Michigan under his leadership has seen decline year after year. In 2005, the diocese had 8,133 baptized members; by 2015. it was down to 5,888. Between 2005 and 2015, the loss was 27.6%. Between 2014-2015, the loss was 5.6%. Total loss is 33.2%; fully a third of the diocese has disappeared.

Eastern Michigan’s ASA has also plunged dramatically. In 2005, it was 3,124. By 2015, it was down to 1,991, a loss of 36.3%. Between 2014-2015, the loss was a further 5.0%. Baptisms totaled 90, confirmations totaled 33. Twenty people were received into the churches, marriages totaled 55. Altogether the number is 178. Funerals, on the other hand, totaled 212. The real kicker is the average age of all active priests: it is 66 in 40 parishes. In the next five years, they will be begging laypeople who have been specially trained and approved, to serve as Lay Eucharistic Ministers.

And Ousley is going to be in charge of Pastoral Development for the whole Episcopal Church!

*****

You will recall the trauma over Bishop David Moyer and the Anglo-Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, PA. that briefly turned the Diocese of Pennsylvania into a living hell. Moyer fought and sued Bishop Charles Bennison and lost, he sued his lawyer and lost, he attempted to join the Ordinariate hoping to get to Rome and failed, now he drives a limo to make a living. His life is in pieces. In time, Bennison got his head handed to him by Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori and was levered out of the diocese.

Time marches on and the parish now flounders with just a handful of old Anglo-Catholics and some real estate holdings the parish owns. With the church in trouble, the Vestry decided to rent the parish hall to – are you ready - a Vineyard church. Now, The Association of Vineyard Churches, also known as the Vineyard Movement, is a neocharismatic evangelical Christian denomination. It has over 1,500 affiliated churches worldwide. It is rooted in the charismatic renewal and historic evangelicalism. Its founder, John Wimber, died recently, but he must be chortling from the grave with the irony of it all. Moyer despised evangelicals, and now it would appear that the Episcopal parish’s future existence depends on a non-denominational evangelical church! You might be forgiven if you thought God didn’t have a sense of humor.

*****

Canadian Anglicans among the ruins. David of Samizdat reports that the Anglican Church of Canada can’t afford to maintain its buildings: they are crumbling around the clergy and bishops are collecting plaster dust in their rainbow mitres.

Ottawa’s cathedral has buttress woes.

One of the most critical areas are buttresses located on the west wall of the cloister garden, also known as the Garth, where mortar is crumbling and cracks are appearing.

“Not far in the future, the gaps and cracking could cause individual stones to fall, leading to the collapse of the walls,” says Blair Seaborn, who is chair of Restoration 120, a fundraising campaign to raise $120,000 for repairs.

“We’ve been told over and over by engineers that they’re not decorative,” said Seaborn. “The buttresses are rather critical in holding up the roof and walls.”

Even though Huron’s St. Paul’s cathedral is raising money by inviting the Pride Men's Chorus to sing, it still can’t seem to find the cash to fix the roof and the rot in the cathedral trusses is exceeded only by the rot in the diocesan theology.

Owen Sound is closing churches, Niagara is closing churches, or “celebrating mergers” to quote the preferred euphemism, as is Peterborough and Brantford, while the Diocese of Niagara continues to endear itself to the residents of Guelph by pressing ahead with the sale of St. Matthias, in spite of vigorous opposition. The list goes on.

VOL has more here:

By any measurable standard, the Anglican Church of Canada is in serious decline with little hope that the numbers can or will be reversed in the foreseeable future.

In one diocese after another, the third largest denomination in Canada is declining, its demise now almost certain as it focuses on a host of social justice issues to the neglect of evangelism, discipleship and church planting.

The Anglican Church of Canada which is squeamishly shy about publicizing how many people attend its churches, has published no complete statistics for membership and average Sunday attendance since 2001, although the ACoC did claim a membership of 545,957 in 2007.

Today, by all measurable standards the average Sunday attendance in the Anglican Church of Canada is around 320,000. If this is correct, in 40 years the average attendance will be 19,200 or less. As there is no wave of Millennials aching to fill Anglican pews, this figure is probably exaggerated.

Ironically, the vitriolic battles that the Anglican Church of Canada launched against ANiC churches in 2008 was over the ownership of buildings. The ACoC won the battle in 2008, only to lose it in 2017: it doesn't have the income for the upkeep of the buildings it claimed were so essential to its ministry.

*****

A quarter of people who describe themselves as Christians in Great Britain do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus, a survey commissioned by the BBC suggests.

However, almost one in 10 people of no religion say they do believe the Easter story, but it has "some content that should not be taken literally".

Exactly half of all people surveyed did not believe in the resurrection at all
46% of people say they believe in some form of life after death and 46% do not
20% of non-religious people say they believe in some form of life after death
9% of non-religious people believe in the Resurrection, 1% of whom say they believe it literally

Well, if you don’t believe in the Resurrection, you are not a Christian, says the Rev. Dr. Gavin Ashenden; and he is right:

A former chaplain to the Queen has said that the quarter of Christians who say they do not believe in the Resurrection "cannot be Christians".

The Rev Dr. Gavin Ashenden said in a letter to the Times that a survey which found that one in four self-proclaimed Christians do not believe in Jesus's Resurrection "made the mistake of confusing British culture with Christianity".

He said: "Those people who neither believe in the Resurrection nor go anywhere near a church cannot be 'Christians'.

"As with so many things, the key is in the definition of terms. Discovering the evidence for the Resurrection having taken place to be wholly compelling is one of the things that makes you a Christian; ergo, if you haven’t, you are not."

*****

The Union School of Theology has been formed in Tunbridge Wells, England. Their mission statement states the following: “Through our approved Learning Communities, Union aims to serve the Church by providing an affordable, flexible, accessible option for formal theological education. Our state-of-the-art online platform makes this possible as never before, and with excellent mentors and local tutors provides an enhanced way of learning in the context of the local church.

“The Learning Community is hosted by the Anglican Partnership Synod – a group of evangelical Churches in Kent and Sussex. All of our churches subscribe to the Jerusalem Statement as an expression of orthodox belief. Students are welcome from any church – Anglican or otherwise.

“The Lead Mentor is Rev. Dr. Peter Sanlon. He is the author of a number of theology books, including ‘Simply God’ (IVP) and has contributed to volumes edited by Michael Reeves, such as ‘Adam, the Fall and Original Sin’ (Eerdmans). For three years, Peter taught Doctrine and Church History at Oak Hill College. For the past three years, he has been the vicar of St Mark’s Church, Tunbridge Wells.

“Our facilities for the community make for a relaxed, friendly experience of study and mutual encouragement.”

The background to this news, is a story VOL ran in August of 2016, when a number of Church of England parishes considered their first step towards a formal split in the Church of England over issues such as homosexuality, with the creation of a new “shadow synod” vowing to uphold traditional teaching.

Representatives of almost a dozen congregations in the Home Counties met in a church hall in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in a first session of what they say could eventually develop into an alternative Anglican church in England.

Organizers, drawn from the conservative evangelical wing of Anglicanism, say they have no immediate plans to break away - but are setting up the “embryonic” structures that could be used to do so if the established church moves further in what they see as a liberal direction.

This, of course is Welby’s worst nightmare. He has problems enough with GAFCON and Nigerian Archbishop, Nicholas Okoh. Now he’s got a fifth column right under his nose.

Congregations from three dioceses – Rochester, Canterbury and Chichester – are to become founder members of the new grouping, which does not yet have a name, but they expect others to join.

They claim the Church of England’s leadership is progressively “watering down” centuries-old teaching, not just over the issue of sexuality but many core beliefs including the authority of the Bible.

The Rev. Canon Dr. Gavin Ashenden, a royal chaplain, said: "The energy behind this new jurisdiction comes from a growing perception that the CofE is so desperate to remain chaplain to a country that is turning its back on Christian ethics, that there comes a point when it fails to be faithful to Christ and in particular his teaching on marriage.

"At that point, and it may already have arrived, there will be a rupture and the orthodox will make arrangements to safeguard the integrity of the Church for the future."

A spokesman for the Church of England said a recent process of “shared conversations” involving bishops, clergy and laity would lay the foundations for “further formal discussions” about sexuality in the Church of England.

*****

The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, launched a stinging attack on 'politically correct' aid officials who are 'institutionally biased' against helping Christians.

Lord Carey warned ministers risk breaking the law by discriminating against Christians facing oppression in Syria.

He claimed Syrian Christians are not benefiting from British help as they avoid UN refugee camps, funded with UK aid, because of fears of persecution from rogue Islamist groups operating inside or Muslim officials who are hostile to converts to Christianity.

By staying away from the camps, Christians are missing out on food, shelter and opportunities to come to Britain in a relocation scheme.

Lord Carey, who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002, said: 'In the run-up to Easter, British taxpayers will be appalled by this institutional bias against Christians by politically correct officials.

*****

TEMPORARY MARRIAGE: No longer ‘till death us do part’? Colin Hart writing for the Coalition for Marriage (C4M) says the well-known author and academic Jeanette Winterson has called for fixed-term marriages.

Professor Winterson entered a same-sex marriage in 2015 with Susie Orbach, despite being initially “unsure about gay marriage” because of its association with “heterosexual, patriarchal norms” (The Guardian, 8 April 2017).

Jeanette Winterson is now seeking to further redefine marriage by throwing overboard the idea of lifelong commitment, asking: “why not discuss fixed-term contracts? ... A fixed term might allow both parents to feel less pressure and more responsibility”.

The concept of a ‘fixed-term marriage’ must be firmly resisted. Marriage requires total commitment, not temporary assent.

C4M always warned that, once marriage was redefined for same-sex couples, there would be further redefinitions down the line. We need to continue speaking out for the true definition of marriage – the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.

*****

The Vatican selected a prominent LGBT-pushing Jesuit priest to be a consultor to its communications office. The priest selected is Fr. James Martin, a progressive Jesuit who's the editor-at-large of America magazine. Martin's new book is titled Building A Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity.

In it, Martin argues Church employees shouldn't be fired for going against Church teaching by endorsing homosexual acts or openly professing homosexuality because "such firings selectively target LGBT people." He also says, "church leaders should address LGBT people by the term they call themselves."

Several Pope Francis-appointed cardinals endorsed the book, along with far-left dissident nun, Sister Jeannine Gramick, who said it "shows how the Rosary and the rainbow flag can peacefully meet each other."

*****

The Anglican Church in North Americas’ Assembly 2017 will be the largest Anglican event in North America this year. With a dynamic lineup of speakers and ministry-specific workshops, there is something for everyone, writes Archbishop Foley Beach.

This years’ Assembly will be held in Wheaton, Ill., June 28 – 30.

Speakers include: Ed Stetzer, Ben Kwashi, Louie Giglio, Lisa Espineli Chinn, Michael Nazir-Ali, Dave Ferguson, Tito Zavala, Daniel Carroll Rodas, and Miguel Uchoa. There will be tracks for youth, Latino ministry, campus outreach, multi-ethnic ministry, healing prayer and many more.

*****

Burundi Archbishop Martin Blaise Nyaboho led a delegation from the Anglican Church of Burundi in a public march of several hundred people last month, in a public demonstration against gender-based violence (GBV). Archbishop Martin was joined on the march by the Bishop of Rumonge, Pedaculi Birakengana and members of both provincial and diocesan staff and many school children.

The march, through the province of Rumonge, followed International Women’s Day and sent a loud message: yes, for the rights of women and “no” to discrimination and violence against them.

The Anglican Church of Burundi has been working with Christian Aid since the end of last year on a program to mobilize people to end violence against women in the community.,” the Province said on its website.

The Governor of Rumonge described the Anglican Church of Burundi as “the pioneer in this fight against gender-based violence.”

Archbishop Martin emphasized the importance of the partnership to ending GBV, saying: “We are aware of the importance of women in our society. We know what the gender issue is like, but the result we want is a society where men and women will say ‘Together we are able’”.

*****

VOL wishes all its readers in 170 countries around the world a very blessed and holy Easter.

David

Ecclesiastical salt cellars. When men reject what they know of God, God gives them up to their own distorted notions and perverted passions, until society stinks in the nostrils of God and of all good people. Now Christians are set in secular society by God to hinder this process. God intends us to penetrate the world. Christian salt has no business to remain snugly in elegant little ecclesiastical salt cellars; our place is to be rubbed into the secular community, as salt is rubbed into meat, to stop it going bad. And when society does go bad, we Christians tend to throw up our hands in pious horror and reproach the non-Christian world; but should we not rather reproach ourselves? One can hardly blame unsalted meat for going bad. It cannot do anything else. The real question to ask is: where is the salt? --- John R. W. Stott

What all Protestants agree on is that if a person has a right relationship with God, forgiven and justified, it is not because of any personal merit that person can claim. Our main objection to Catholic theology is the implication (if not straightforward claim) that merit other than Jesus' own comes into play in the sinner's reconciliation and right standing before God. --- Roger E. Olson

It would be very exciting if the Church of England apologized for not evangelizing enthusiastically enough. I remember when I was converted back in1975 in an Anglican cathedral and I had been a choir boy since the age of six. I was confirmed in Canterbury Cathedral. I remember, as the Gospel struck me for the first time as a law student, saying: "Well, Lord. Where do you want me to be a Christian.? Surely not in the Church of England. They've had me since I was six and they managed to hide Jesus from me all that time." ... There has always been this sense that if the Church of England had anything to apologize for perhaps it ought to start with not having put enough energy into evangelism and actually telling people Who Jesus is --- Canon Gavin Ashenden on Anglican Unscripted

I think we'll see what the next few years will mean for religion in American life. But I think most Evangelicals right now, wherever they stood on the election, have the understanding that the Bible commands us to pray for our leaders, to wish the best for our leaders, to wish the best for our country. And so I think most Evangelical Christians are -- are willing to pray for President Trump, for his administration, and also too seek to be good citizens. --- Russell Moore

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
April 21, 2017

We invite VOL readers to listen to this before reading the news. It will uplift you.
http://www.anglicansamizdat.net/wordpress/easter/beethoven-hallelujah-from-christ-on-the-mount-of-olives/

*****

An Anglican priest who listened to Archbishop Justin Welby's Easter message urging strength, had this to say after the ABC said people facing despair should remember the words "Do not be afraid". He said it was woeful misapplication of the Easter message - where is redemption honoring the Savior? Pointless prattle. The bishop of balderdash. Woeful Welby - a waste of the office and its opportunities. A mere cub scout in a commander's costume, ecclesiastically speaking. May God give us a man to wear the mantle of mighty preaching - not this bleating apology for a bishop.

Here is the archbishop's sermon:

The Christian gospel runs 'utterly counter' to the world, a world where there is still evil.

"Christians in Egypt live surrounded by bombs and terror. We and those we love, know the grim, grey moments of illness, suffering, arguments, poverty, ill health mental and physical, prison, guilt and failure.

"We experience a world of pain and despair, grief and death."

These things must not be allowed to overshadow our lives, he said.

"They lie, they deceive, they pretend to have power that they do not have, when they say they are final.

"There is only one finality: Jesus the crucified one is alive. In the hard journeys we all face, in every moment of loss, the community of witnesses to the resurrection must come alongside and, with love and gentleness, bring restoration and hope.'

He added: "In our world today the only certain ground for hopeful expectation is the news of today; it happened, Jesus is alive."

Archbishop Welby was speaking during sung Eucharist.

He said terror cannot triumph over Christianity, because the Resurrection happened.

"Today across Egypt, but most poignantly at St George's Church - Tanta and St Mark's Church - Alexandria, God's people have already gathered to worship the One who was dead and is now alive.

"Seven days after the horrendous bomb attacks on these Christian communities the resurrection will be proclaimed and experienced. Because the church is established by this day.'

The witnesses are those who met him.

"Laid stone cold dead in Joseph's tomb on Friday, on Sunday morning the tomb is empty, he is physically, bodily, tangibly alive. Why would we presume to know better than these first witnesses what took place?"

What brings the faithful out to worship in Tanta and Alexandria is truth. 'It happened. The resurrection is an event which -- although never experienced before or since -- changes everything because it happened.'

*****

An Indian theologian blasted the duplicity of the Church of South India (CSI) Moderator's Easter message. The Rt. Rev. Thomas Oommen presents a false image of Church of South India to the Anglican Communion via the Anglican Communion News Service.

An Easter message by the newly elected Moderator was branded an "empty speech" devoid of any truth about the true state of the CSI, which an activist orthodox Anglican theologian says is embroiled in political as well as financial corruption and fraud.

The Rev. Dr. Joseph G. Muthuraj, resident of Bangalore, responded to the Moderator's message and argues that the Easter Message published by the Anglican Communion News Service (http://www.anglicannews.org/news/2017/04/easter-message-from-the-moderator-of-the-church-of-south-india.aspx) comes as a "total surprise" to members of the CSI, "You have never spoken in this manner to a CSI audience when all the bishops were present," Muthuraj expostulated.

The theologian criticized the Anglican leader, accusing him of speaking with a "double-tongue"; giving one message to the international community to earn a good name, and another message to his own national community," for public consumption.

He added, "This projects a false image of ourselves to the Anglican Communion when the Anglican Communion is fully aware of the crisis situation of the CSI which is embroiled in corruption and fraud."

Dr Muthuraj squared off against Oommen in the following exchange. You can read the full exchange in today's digest.

*****

Following a story I wrote last week on crumbling parishes and dying dioceses, VOL got further word on a TEC diocese in the Northeast that is in deep trouble. A VOL reader wrote and said that the diocese in question back in 2006 was reasonably healthy. 36 churches had full time clergy. 56 had part time or supply. Then there were 92 parishes. Today there are about 80.

Now in 2017, those same 36 fulltime churches look very different.

1 left the diocese for ACNA
16 have part time clergy
19 have full time clergy (although some are at the very low end of a full-time salary, and expect with their next clergy change, to go part time). Meanwhile, the diocesan office is expanding hires, and renting more square feet.

Will Bishop Curry's Jesus Movement make a difference? Don't hold your breath.

*****

On the occasion of Bishop Keith Ackerman 43rd anniversary of his ordination, he wrote this; "As I think about, the eve of my 43rd ordination to the Sacred Order of Deacons - 4/20/74, I realize how much has happened. The day was magnificent, and being ordained at Nashotah House was more than I could have hoped to encounter. Our 3 year-old son, Keith (now 46), prostrated himself before the Altar - because that was what Daddy was doing. Brien and Terry Kohler helped in every conceivable way, and the faculty absented themselves from their conventual Masses in order to participate.

"As I ponder what destruction has occurred with the theological innovations since 1974 I realize how heart sick I am. It is as if someone has taken the Church into which I, my parents, my grandparents, and great - grandparents and numerous generations before me were born and has altered it beyond measure. It becomes increasingly obvious that the ordination of women is more than simply an alteration - but is an innovative destruction of the Faith once delivered. While I want to celebrate these 43 years, witnessing the destruction of the Catholic Faith by virtue of the "ordination" of women is simply more than I can imagine. I remain an Anglican, but weep beyond what I can express. The onus remains on those who have sought to change the Faith - not on those who have sought to maintain it."

*****

Sheila Abdus-Salaam, America's First Female Muslim Judge who was found dead floating in the Hudson River in New York City this week, was married to an Episcopal priest. Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam was married to her husband of less than one year, Canon Gregory A. Jacobs, Canon to the Ordinary & Chief of Staff for The Episcopal Diocese of Newark.

Sheila Abdus-Salaam, an associate judge on New York state's highest court and the first African-American Muslim woman to serve in that position, was nominated in 2013 to serve as an associate judge on the state Court of Appeals by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Officers with the New York Police Department's Harbor Unit reportedly discovered Abdus-Salaam's body after they responded to a 1:45 p.m. report of a person floating by the shore near West 132nd Street in Upper Manhattan on Wednesday. The judge was pronounced dead by paramedics shortly after 2 p.m.

Police are still investigating how Abdus-Salaam ended up in the river. It was not clear how long the judge, who lived nearby where she was found in Harlem, had been missing.

*****

President Donald Trump attended an Easter service at the Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea near his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, this year.

The president attended with his wife, Melania, as well as his two younger children, Barron and Tiffany, and the first lady's parents. Trump returned to Mar-a-Lago after the service to join the rest of his family for annual Easter festivities, including a brunch and an Easter egg hunt.

Trump has been attending the Episcopal church for years, and he and the first lady were married there.

*****

There were three notable bishop deaths in TEC this week. Two were orthodox, one revisionist.

The Rt. Rev. David Standish Ball, Seventh Bishop of Albany and a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, died. A native of Albany, he was a graduate of Colgate University and General Theological Seminary. He was ordained deacon and priest in 1953.

Bishop Ball began his ordained ministry as a curate at Bethesda Church in Saratoga Springs, serving there until 1956, when he was made canon sacrist at the Cathedral of All Saints. He served three years as canon sacrist and two years as canon precentor, and was elected dean of the cathedral in 1960. He served as dean for 23 years.

He was elected Bishop coadjutor of Albany in 1983 and consecrated in 1984. Soon after becoming bishop, he established the Step Out in Faith campaign, which raised several million dollars for the diocese. He was known for supporting hospitals, nursing homes, schools, St. Margaret's Center for Children, and ministries among the poor and the homeless. He retired as bishop in 1998. [The Living Church]

The Rt. Rev. Frederick H. Borsch, who as the Episcopal bishop of Los Angeles crusaded for an inclusive social justice agenda that empowered women, gays and lesbians, blacks and Hispanics, and poor and low-wage workers, died on April 11 at his home in Philadelphia. He was 81.

Despite opposition from the world's Anglican bishops, he championed the ordination not only of celibate gay men and lesbians but also of those in committed monogamous relationships. He was among the worst of revisionist bishops. His legacy in Los Angeles was Jon Bruno who now faces charges that could get him tossed out of the Episcopal Church.

At his death, he was a professor of New Testament studies and the chairman of Anglican studies at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. During the high noon years of Charles Bennison's reign he stayed largely under the radar screen not wanting to get involved in the battle either for or against his brother bishop. His sympathies undoubtedly lay with Bennison, but he was smart enough to stay out of the fray and watch as Bennison sank beneath the waves of his own duplicities.

Finally, there was the passing of the Rt. Rev. Robert Hibbs, 84, retired Diocese of West Texas bishop suffragan. As bishop suffragan he served alongside then-Diocesan Bishop Jim Folts until Hibbs' retirement in December 2003. A former TEC bishop said he seemed a Christian gentleman, but not a Catholic Anglican. There is no word that he was particularly evangelical either.

Hibbs was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church after graduating from General Theological Seminary. After some graduate work in Canada, Hibbs served on the faculty of St. Andrew's Theological Seminary in Quezon City, Philippines, for 15 years as sub-dean and later dean. He then served on the faculty of the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin. For five years, Hibbs served in the Diocese of Northwest Texas as vicar of St. Peter's, Borger, and vicar/rector of St. Stephen's, Lubbock. In 1993, he arrived in the Diocese of West Texas and served as rector of St. Barnabas, Fredericksburg, from 1983 to 1988; and assistant rector of Church of the Good Shepherd, Corpus Christi, from 1988 to 1996.

As bishop suffragan, Hibbs' passions included Recovery Ministries, both in the diocese and the national church, and the Cursillo movement.

*****

A team of Bible translators in Kurdistan, northern Iraq, working against the backdrop of civil unrest and religious persecution, have completed the first ever translation of the whole Bible into the Central Kurdish Sorani language. CMS missionaries completed the 28-year project to publish whole Bible in the central Kurdish Sorani language.

Over the last eight years, Church Mission Society mission partners, Joel and Ruth Hammond (pseudonyms, for their safety), worked alongside indigenous Kurds and other indigenous Christians in drafting text, checking names, terminology, and style. The team finally checked both the Old and New Testaments so they could be published together for the first time as the complete Bible.

The whole translation of Old and New Testaments will enable 6 million native speakers of the Sorani language to hear and read the Bible in their own language for the first time. As well as physical copies, the new translation is available digitally, both through a YouVersion app and a newly designed Kurdish app called Pertukekem (My Book).

The new translation, which has been a joint initiative between Church Mission Society, Biblica, and several other linguistics services, was launched at a special ceremony April 3, by Carl Moeller, CEO of Biblica. [The Living Church and other sources provided this information].

*****

Neil Gorsuch, an Episcopalian, and recently elected to the Supreme Court of the United States, faces his first religious liberty case in a playground fight. Evangelicals are eyeing how the new Supreme Court justice will impact this term's only remaining church-state case.

Now, for the sake of Christian schools across the country, American evangelicals are hoping the new justice will continue his pattern of siding with religious groups' First Amendment rights.

More than 15 months after the high court took on a case involving a Missouri church denied a state grant to make its preschool playground safer, the nine justices will hear oral arguments on Wednesday in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer.

"The church isn't asking for favorable treatment. It is asking to be treated the same as every other nonprofit," said David Cortman, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which is representing Trinity Lutheran in court.

The case tests how far officials can take the separation of church and state, and whether constitutional principles can be used to justify what Cortman calls "worse treatment" for religious organizations.
Depending on how broadly the court rules, the dispute over this Lutheran school playground could determine the future of state funding to religious schools, which has become a particularly hot issue amid the recent push for school choice.

*****

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Little Rock, Arkansas, will hold a service of prayer and vigil ahead of the scheduled executions of prisoners on death row this week and next.

In a statement, the church said: "Our prayers and music for this solemn occasion are Easter-themed. They will be for the men sentenced to death and their loved ones, for the victims of the acts for which they have been sentenced and their loved ones, and for those who must execute these sentences. For all of these, and for ourselves, we will pray for hope, for strength, and for mercy.

"This service will take place whether or not executions go forward on Thursday night. The uncertainty itself calls for prayerful attention.

*****

The Anglican Church of Canada celebrated Earth Day this year with Archbishop Fred Hiltz, and bishops Mark MacDonald and Susan Johnson pooling the considerable resources of their little green brain cells to pray for it. Jesus' Resurrection has become a handy illustration, what really matters: spring is just around the corner!

As we celebrate this great mystery we recall how he helped us understand death and resurrection using the image of a seed planted and coming out of the earth as a new growth--budding, bursting, blooming, bearing beautiful fruit.

And:

Our churches are committed to responsible stewardship of the earth.

That's why the ACoC is demolishing so many of them, writes Anglican blogger, David of Samizdat.

"The Carbon Pariah receives an honorable mention, even though the ACoC is using diesel fume spewing bulldozers to demolish its churches observed in the Diocese of Niagara."

We recommend that you or your congregation get involved with the Faith Commuter Challenge, a creative way to reduce your carbon footprint and raise awareness of the impact of our actions

Naturally, we have muddled -- twisted, really -- wording to prompt right Gaia thinking: world -- as in "for God so love the world" here seems to mean "earth" rather than "people":

Through our Lenten Journey to Easter we have been reminded once again that Jesus offered his whole life and death for the love of the world

"Speaking of God, Hiltz doesn't, he refers to Creator instead, an Indigenous metaphysical replacement that Hiltz seems more comfortable with these days. Or perhaps he is referring to the process of Darwinian evolution.

"Likewise, Father and Son have not been seen in a Hilztian prayer for decades and, by the end of the prayer, the Holy Spirit has metamorphosed into "Spirit One"; who was Spirit Zero, I wonder."

*****

Next week, the GAFCON Primates arrive in Lagos, Nigeria, for the annual Primates' Council meeting to be held between the 25th - 27th of April. Peter Jensen, General Secretary, asks us to pray for this important gathering. Below are some specific points to help guide you.

Please pray for:

• The safe arrival of the Primates (archbishops), representatives and advisers from GAFCON provinces and branches.
• Clarity and understanding as the Council reviews GAFCON activity over the past 12 months (e.g. the inaugural Bishops' Training Institute course) and considers a range of reports, including theological education and church planting.
• Plans for the 2018 GAFCON Conference in Jerusalem next June.
• Discussions about GAFCON policy in Communion matters and its implementation.
• Discussions about further expansion and funding of the movement.

*****

The annual Synod of the Missionary Diocese of CANA East will be held at the Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd, Binghamton, NY, from May 4-6.

38 congregations from Maine to Miami and from Tulsa to Long Island will gather together under the leadership of Bishop Julian Dobbs.

Celebrating the 500th anniversary of The Reformation, this year's synod is called REFORMATION 500.

In attendance will be: the Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, The Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach; Director of Anglican Church Society from the United Kingdom, The Rev. Dr. Lee Gatiss and the Anglican Bishop of Kafanchan, Nigeria, the Rt. Rev. Markos Dogo, whose diocese has experienced significant persecution from terrorists.

CANA East is one of three missionary dioceses in the Convocation of Anglicans in North America. CANA offers an authentic connection to the Anglican Communion through the Church of Nigeria and full membership in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).

*****

A conference has begun in Chicago, facilitated by a group of more than 60 Episcopal bishops working to curtail the epidemic of gun violence in the United States. "Unholy Trinity: the Intersection of Racism, Poverty and Gun Violence" is a three-day event grounded in scripture, liturgy and theology.

The conference will feature a "three-note" panel of African-American leaders offering perspectives on poverty, racism and gun violence and include Bible study focused on the conference themes as well as a prayerful procession to sites of gun violence on Chicago's South Side.

Workshops at the conference are devoted to helping participants work with police, young people, legislators, the media, anti-violence advocacy groups and other constituencies to reduce gun violence.

"Our goal is to continue creating a network of Episcopalians inspired and equipped to work against gun violence and the social forces that drive it," said Bishop Mark Beckwith of Newark, one of three co-conveners of Bishops United.

*****

VOL's Easter appeal has gone out to all our readers and we hope you will respond. Week by week we pour out the news you won't find anywhere else. Who knew that America's first female Muslim judge was married to an Episcopal priest or that a black Episcopal bishop deliberately invites a Muslim woman to preach at a service designed to confirm the Christian faith of its priests in their (alleged) preaching of the gospel. You can't make this stuff up. It is beyond parody.

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