"This is a matter of moral character and there seems to be a serious ethical failure in this instance. I was shocked to learn she (Bishop Heather Cook) was charged in 2010 with DUI and possession of pot. Could someone tell me where the hell the Suffragan Search Committee was on this one?" --- Rev. John Farrell

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
February 13, 2015

The Episcopal News Service hid the South Carolina story from its readers this week. There were no banner headlines proclaiming a South Carolina judge's ruling for Bishop Lawrence.

It has been more than a week since South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Diane S. Goodstein ruled that the historic Diocese of South Carolina, under the faithful leadership of Bishop Mark Lawrence (XVI South Carolina), has the legal right to disaffiliate with The Episcopal Church, keep its real and personal property, as well as its corporate and legal identity.

Barely a sentence, a word, a jot or title has been printed or posted by The Episcopal News Service, just a small squib hidden deep in the ENS Blog. A major news story, involving an historic Episcopal diocese -- the Episcopal Diocese OF South Carolina (DIOofSC) -- and its remains -- the Episcopal Church IN South Carolina (TECinSC) -- that has garnered national headlines, is being slighted by the Episcopal News Service, "the officially sponsored online news source of The Episcopal Church."

The Episcopal News Service (ENS) bills itself as offering "in-depth reporting and analysis of local, regional, national and international news for Episcopalians and others interested in the church's mission and ministry."

The legal decision which TEC and the diocese lost to the tune of $500 million is not just a smack in the eye, it is a kick in the head, a smack down of the Dennis Canon, and a triumph for "Neutral Principles".

As Canon lawyer Allan Haley observed, it is a full vindication for Victims of ECUSA's Oppression.

It is a vindication first, for the Rt. Rev. Mark Lawrence and his legal team, who conceived the winning strategy, assembled and put on all the evidence, wrote all the briefs, argued all the appeals, fought back in the federal courts, and at last brought ECUSA to its day of reckoning.

It is a vindication, as well, of Bishop Lawrence's pastoral strategies, by which he showed how spiritual leaders can follow and submit themselves to the civil law, and while in doing so, can remain faithful and be Biblical counselors and guides for those in their spiritual care.

You can read Mary Ann Mueller's story in today's digest.

Ft. Worth Bishop Jack Iker weighed in on the South Carolina ruling saying he was grateful that one more court is now observing that Neutral Principles triumphed over the Dennis Canon.

He wrote, "In coming months, we expect TEC will once again be taking their losses in Illinois, South Carolina, and Texas to the United States Supreme Court, seeking reversals. We do not believe such efforts will succeed. Needless to say, all of this is a very expensive undertaking, costing both sides millions of dollars in legal fees and court costs that instead should be going for ministry and outreach in the world." Pray for all three dioceses.

The court's decision did not stop TEC rump diocesan Bishop Charles vonRosenberg from lashing out at the judge's decision, vowing to continue the fight in higher courts, determined to win at all and any cost.

He wrote what amounted to a statement of sanctimonious claptrap to his diocese lamenting the decision and drawing on biblical images. He vowed to continue the fight "to a higher level".

You can read my report on this in today's digest.

*****

Sewanee University showed its true colors this week as a progressive, liberal institution that is intolerant, of course, towards anybody of orthodox faith and conviction. Such institutions of alleged tolerance reveal that. Fascism with a kindly face.

They awarded two honorary doctorates to two significant persons; one a culture critic in the person of Eric Metaxas, and the other a world class New Testament Theologian, Dr. N.T. Wright. Following their awards, and a speech delivered by Mr. Metaxas, Sewanee faculty complained about the doctorates being awarded with Dr. Wright taking it on the chin from a Prof. Paul Holloway, Sewanee NT theologian who slammed Wright personally, vilifying the multi-volume scholar in a blast at the professor in a display of hubris, intolerance and sheer contemptuousness.

Holloway wrote, "I am writing to express dismay at Sewanee's recent awarding of an honorary degree in Theology to Tom Wright, former bishop of Durham and now professor of New Testament at St. Andrews University in Scotland. I am the current professor of New Testament at the School of Theology at Sewanee, and Wright's receiving an honorary degree during my tenure is a professional embarrassment. Some of the readers of this letter will know Wright as an outspoken opponent of LGBT rights and a vociferous critic of the Episcopal Church for its progressive stance. I find Wright's position on these matters offensive and harmful. It is an affront to the School of Theology in general and to its LGBT community and its allies in particular."

He accused Wright of being little more than a book-a-year apologist and accused Wright of coming to the evidence not with honest questions, but with ideologically generated answers that he seeks to defend. "I know of no critical scholar in the field who trusts his work. He contradicts what I stand for professionally as well as the kind of hard-won intellectual integrity I hope to instill in my students. I feel like the professor of biology who has had to sit by and watch a Biblical creationist receive an honorary degree in science."

This is supposed to be an institution of higher learning that allegedly tolerates all points of view and pushes inquiry, except of course if you happen to be orthodox in faith and morals, which Sewanee is not.

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

*****

The coming ecclesiastical war in the Church of England heated up this week when the Diocese of Southwark, roughly the equivalent of TEC's New Hampshire diocese, found itself in crisis. The diocese is notoriously liberal with gay partnered priests and a penchant for all things liberal, except for a tough group of Reform Evangelicals who have decided to take up the fight.

The evangelicals issued "The Southwark Declaration" calling on clergy and lay people in the diocese to affirm, among other things, the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures and their supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

"We affirm, with Article XX, that 'it is not lawful for the Church to ordain anything that is contrary to God's Word written.'

"We affirm the teaching of Scripture (Genesis 2.24, Mark 10. 7, Matthew 19.5), the Book of Common Prayer, and Canon B30 ('Of Holy Matrimony') that marriage is the union of one man and one woman for life. We affirm it is the one God-ordained context for sexual intercourse. We affirm resolution 1.10 on human sexuality of the Lambeth Conference (1998).

"We call upon all the Bishops, Archdeacons, and the senior staff of the Diocese, alongside all clergy and licensed lay ministers, to affirm these truths, live by them, and to teach in accordance with them.

"We call upon the Bishops to appoint to positions of teaching authority only those who hold to these truths in good conscience."

This is the first opening salvo in what will lead to the ultimate break-up of The Church of England.

To make that point, VOL published an exchange between David Porter, the Archbishop of Canterbury's Director of Reconciliation and Colin Coward, a gay priest in a partnered relationship who heads Changing Attitude, the UK equivalent of Integrity the Episcopal Church's unofficial pansexual organization.

Porter revealed that the Church of England could split with as much as 80% of the Church accepting non-celibate partnered homosexual relationships while the other 20% go their own way.

Porter further admitted that the Pilling Report was an "ill-conceived exercise...because it was formulated by a male only group." It was marked by a lack of coherence and incompetence in the Church, he added.

Porter then made the grand admission that the Church of England Province is the primary problem for the Anglican Communion because the other Provinces no longer really know what the Church of England is!

Porter further admitted that the issue is missiological. Because there is no decision-making process, there can be no consensus in the Church on how the Church should respond. He acknowledged that there are diverse and contradictory responses to the issue of sexuality and gender in the Church.

Coward then said Porter conceded that the church is in fact planning for fracture. "The intention is to change the tone of the conversation and take some of the toxicity out of it, acknowledging that there is no agreement between us and Reform.

"David assumes there will be a fracture and when it happens, it will be small and done with profound sadness, with a measure of grace, disagreeing well. Conversations are a process."

You can read my story on this in today's digest.

*****

The Executive Council's Finances for Mission Committee, which began work in the fall of 2012 on the budget for the 2016-18 triennium that Council, proposal to the Program, Budget, & Finance Committee (PB&F) for the 78th General Convention is now out.

The Joint Standing Committees of Executive Council then reviewed the input of the CCABs and created priorities for their areas of ministry. Finances for Mission, working closely with the officers of The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society (the Presiding Bishop, President of the House of Deputies, Chief Operating Officer, and Executive Officer of General Convention), then consolidated all the visionary input into a visionary budget draft.

Here are some general comments about items found in this budget.

Revenues

"The proposed budget makes two changes in the diocesan asking.

"First, it raises the exemption for each diocese's income from $120,000 to $175,000.

"Second, this budget also lowers the asking percentage for the remainder of income from 19% in the current triennium to 18% in 2016, 16.5% in 2017, and 15% in 2018. We believe that this gradual reduction in the asking percentage is a responsible way to work toward a lower asking of 15%.

"Draw from Investment Assets: The budget draft assumes that we will continue to draw income from our investment assets at 5%, well under the recent earnings rate of 8% over the last 20 years. This draw will allow the investment principal to continue to grow to support the mission of the church.

"Income from Development Office: In the current triennium, the Development Office was funded by a seed grant from the endowment assets. Finances for Mission does not support continuing to fund the Development Office in this way. Instead, we are proposing that the Development Office raise $2 million for the mission of the church.

"Rental Income: Rental income resulting from our rental of space the church does not use in the Church Center building has increased substantially. This is partly due to Church Center staff vacating additional space and making it available to rent to new tenants. In addition, we are proposing to begin charging rent to affiliated entities with offices in the Church Center. Rental income also includes imputed rent from Episcopal Relief & Development, which uses space in the Church Center, but this rental income is offset in full by a grant to Episcopal Relief & Development."

Expenditures

"Total expenditures are projected to increase by $5,722,507. This budget expects staff compensation and benefits expenses to increase by some 10-11%, as a result of cost-of-living adjustments of 2% and estimated health insurance premium increases of 8.5%.

"We do anticipate some reductions in total staff costs over the course of the triennium, resulting from increased efficiencies in a variety of areas.

"As we decrease the diocesan asking, making more money available for local mission, we also anticipate shifting costs in some areas to the diocesan and local levels, thus decreasing churchwide expenditures. We also recognize the widely valued place of the churchwide structure in providing grant incentives to support local mission. This budget proposes continuing to provide grants for mission initiatives in all five Marks of Mission categories.

"Note this: It is intended that $800,000 of funding provide incentives Anglican, Ecumenical, and Interfaith Work: Funding for the Anglican Secretariat has been restored to pre-2012 levels, totaling $1,200,000 for the 2016-18 triennium. Additional funds have been provided for travel to other Anglican provinces. Grants within the Anglican Communion have been retained at similar levels to the current triennium. Funding for ecumenical and interfaith work shows a slight increase, with some reallocations between the various groups."

This guarantees that TEC will continue to support the Anglican Consultative Council in London and use money to manipulate Global South bishops towards its goal of the full inclusion of homosexuality in the wider Church.

*****

The Archbishop of Canterbury welcomed new Anglican Communion bishops this week. Thirty-seven bishops from across the Anglican Communion spent a day in London visiting both the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace and the Anglican Communion Office staff based at St Andrew's House.

The bishops came from all over the world, including Kenya, Nigeria and the Church of England. Two new female bishops from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa were also in attendance.

The Archbishop spoke to the new bishops about the Anglican Communion and how he sees its future. He based his talk on his visits to the 37 Provinces of the Communion, and spoke of his hopes for the worldwide Church, which he said is primarily "a church of the poor for the poor".

Apparently, he didn't mention the hot button issues that may well divide the whole communion and his church. Noticeably absent was the "unrecognized" ACNA Anglican Archbishop Foley Beach.

*****

The Archbishop of Canterbury today reaffirmed his commitment to evangelism, telling the Church of England's General Synod that it is "the calling of the whole Church".

Addressing the synod in London, the Archbishop opened his presidential address with a joke at his own expense.

Noting that many Christians respond to the thought of witnessing with "nervousness, uncertainty and guilt" rather than delight, he observed, "The strategic response to this is clearly for a long-term, iterative and interactive, metric-based, evidence generated development of competencies across the widest possible range of stakeholders in order to achieve maximum acceleration of disciple input with the highest possible return on effort and capital employed.

"That last paragraph is, of course, complete rubbish. To be honest, I just put it in in order to reassure you, as it is well known that I am in fact a businessman who put on the wrong clothes this morning."

In his first presidential address to the synod last July, Welby labelled evangelism as one of his three main priorities in ministry. "We need new imagination in evangelism through prayer, and a fierce determination not to let evangelism be squeezed off our agendas."

*****

A vicar who suggested Israel was responsible for the 9/11 attack on the twin towers has been banned from Twitter and other social media for six months, the Church of England reported this week. The Rev. Stephen Sizer used his internet accounts to spread ideas which were "clearly anti-Semitic."

Despite his "indefensible" actions, the cleric will be allowed to remain a priest keeping his job as vicar of the wealthy parish of Christ Church in Virginia Water in Surrey.

The Church's verdict on Mr. Sizer follows a series of clashes between the vicar and Jewish leaders over his vehement campaigning against Israel, during which he attended a conference in Iran where Israel was accused of plotting the 9/11 attack.

The controversy over the vicar came to a crisis last month when he posted an article on his Facebook page which attempted to connect wealthy Jews to the attacks. "Is this antisemitic?" Mr. Sizer commented under the link, adding "It raises so many questions."

Yesterday, Bishop of Guildford the Rt. Rev. Andrew Watson said that the vicar's campaigning on the Middle East was "no longer compatible with his ministry as a parish priest."

The bishop declared, "I do not believe that his motives are anti-Semitic; but I have concluded that, at the very least, he has demonstrated appallingly poor judgment in the material he has chosen to disseminate, particularly via social media, some of which is clearly anti-Semitic."

The Diocese concluded that Sizer's comments were "no longer compatible with his ministry as a parish priest," and outlined conditions for his continued leadership of the Virginia Water parish. These include a six month complete ban from social media activity, and a lifetime ban from speaking about Israel and the Middle East, attending conferences on the subject, writing about it or allowing his name to be associated with it.

Any violation of this decision, "in letter or in spirit", would require his immediate resignation.

*****

"Fifty Shades Of Grey" Gets Black Marks From Bishops, Pastors. The film adaptation of "Fifty Shades of Grey," which opens in theaters today has church leaders up in arms.

The Catholic bishop of Buffalo, N.Y., has warned fellow prelates to step up preaching on the true beauty of sex-within-male-female-marriage -- and do it pronto.

"Remind the faithful of the beauty of the Church's teaching on the gift of sexual intimacy in marriage, the great dignity of women, and the moral reprehensibility of all domestic violence and sexual exploitation," wrote Bishop Richard Malone, in a letter Wednesday (Feb. 4) to fellow clergy at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

His letter came with multiple links to resources, some 15 to 20 years old, showing the church's consistent stand against domestic violence and pornography.

The Fifty Shades books by British writer E.L. James have sold more than 100 million copies.

So far no moral outrage from any Episcopal Bishop. Go figure.

Do not go to this film and do not let your friends go to this film. If you choose to attend this film, you will be contributing to sexual exploitation because you are directly putting money in the hands of the people who are promoting this stuff.

Read David Kyle Foster's piece, "50 Shades of Degradation" at VOL's website

*****

The almost 7,000-strong Anglican Church of Barbados was challenged to work with social partners and Anglicans of every age and gender. The appeal was made from the Anglican Church of Canada's first black bishop, Barbadian-born Peter Fenty, in an address to the annual diocesan service at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex.

"Work together with the social partners and Government and many others in tackling the concerns of Barbadian society today," Fenty said. "We do not live out our Christian life in a vacuum. We live our Christian life in context of what is happening in and around here and now, where we seek to be mindful and responsive to the cares and concern of our island nation Barbados."

- See more at: http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/63274/fenty-unite#sthash.awLtIsSq.dpuf

*****

This weekend two new bishops will be consecrated for the Episcopal Missionary Church in Warrenton, VA. The Most Reverend William Millsaps, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Missionary Church, announced this week that The Very Rev. Dr. Vince McLaughlin will be consecrated Bishop of the Diocese of the East and The Venerable Dr. Jeffrey Anderson will be consecrated Bishop for the Armed Forces. The event will take place this Saturday at 10.00am at Christ Church, 95 Green Street, Warrenton, Virginia.

****

Pardons for homosexuals! At the end of last month, Benedict Cumberbatch and Stephen Fry sent a letter to the British Government asking them to pardon 49,000 homosexual men convicted of gross indecency under Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885.

Please check out Stephen Green's somewhat tongue-in-cheek response on Youtube. Green is the National Director, Christian Voice. He cites Daniel 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: ... (KJV)

Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2vyRkcIIHo&feature=youtu.be

*****

Contrary to several media reports, a New Jersey court has not ruled that a counseling referral service that provides help to people with unwanted same-sex attraction violates the state's Consumer Fraud Act or that faith-based counselors violate the act when they express their views. The court did not make any findings of fact and preserved the First Amendment defenses of JONAH, the counseling referral service sued by the Southern Poverty Law Center in Ferguson v. JONAH.

Although the court accepted SPLC's argument that describing homosexuality as a mental illness or mental disorder would constitute a Consumer Fraud Act violation, the court made clear in its decision Tuesday that "a jury could find, based on evidence presented at trial, that JONAH represented homosexuality not as a mental disorder, but as 'disordered' and prohibited by its religion. First Amendment protections would be applicable in this latter situation. Consequently, JONAH's...defense is not stricken."

"Americans have a constitutionally protected freedom to decide how they want to live or change their lives, and that includes what counseling they wish to receive," said Charles LiMandri, lead attorney for JONAH. "This decision doesn't change any of that for the people whom JONAH has served. We are confident that a jury will not shut down their freedom to voluntarily seek help from a religious nonprofit like JONAH if they so choose."

Significantly, Judge Peter Bariso of the New Jersey Superior Court also denied SPLC's motion for partial summary judgment on the primary issue in the lawsuit -- if JONAH misrepresented whether they can help clients "change" their unwanted same-sex attractions. The court correctly held "that an average juror could find 'change' to mean choosing not to act on homosexual desires, and instead acting only on heterosexual desires."

The court further held that a reasonable juror could conclude "that JONAH used the term 'change' to simply mean consumers could disengage from their homosexual desires."

The case will be tried before a jury this summer.

*****

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In Christ,

David