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Global South Primates say Apb Beach is Primate*TEC Bishops Snubbed in West Malaysia Consecration*TEC losses Number 50,000*Theologian Hauerwas Declines GTS Lectures

A double duty. The shepherds of Christ's flock have a double duty: to feed the sheep (by teaching the truth) and to protect them from wolves (by warning of error). As Paul put it to Titus, elders must hold firm the sure word according to apostolic teaching, so that they would be able both 'to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to confute those who contradict it' (Tit. 1:9). This emphasis is unpopular today. We are frequently told always to be positive in our teaching, and never negative. But those who say this have either not read the New Testament or, having read it, they disagree with it. For the Lord Jesus and his apostles refuted error themselves and urged us to do the same. One wonders if it is the neglect of this obligation which is a major cause of today's theological confusion. If, when false teaching arises, Christian leaders sit idly by and do nothing, or turn tail and flee, they will earn the terrible epithet 'hirelings' who care nothing for Christ's flock (Jn. 10:12ff). Then too it will be said of believers, as it was of Israel, that 'they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and ... they became food for all the wild animals' (Ezek. 34:5). --- John R.W. Stott

The size of the average Episcopal parish has now dropped to 61 persons from 64 in 2012, while 69 percent of congregations now report less than 100 attendees. Only 4 percent of parishes report attendance of over 300 persons. Fifty-Three percent of Episcopal congregations report that they are in decline. --- Jeff Walton for IRD

"It is unacceptable to disregard and disobey" our denomination's rules forbidding our ministers from conducting and our churches from hosting same-sex union ceremonies. From now on, any United Methodist minister in my jurisdiction who "officiate[s] or host[s] a same-gender ceremony" will have complaints against them "handled swiftly" and will face "significant and appropriate consequences," potentially including "trial, involuntary leave of absence without pay, or other significant consequences." --- United Methodist Bishop Peggy Johnson of Philadelphia

"Though our contexts vary in our different parts of the globe, the heart of our calling is to share the transforming love of God through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We celebrate that the Anglican Church in North America shares in that same mission and purpose. We and our Provinces will continue to share in Gospel work together, and pledge our continued partnership with the Anglican Church in North America to pursue the work of Christ."--- Global South Anglicans at the installation of ACNA Apb Foley Beach.

By David W. Virtue DD
www.virtueonline.org
October 17, 2014

By any reckoning, it was a clear and public rebuke of the Archbishop of Canterbury by a group of Primates that he is allegedly more in common with -- evangelicals from the Global South - than he is with Western liberal Primates like Jefferts Schori (TEC) or Fred Hiltz (Canada).

A Statement from the Primates of the Global South and the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans made it official this week. They were honored to participate in the joyful investiture of the Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach as Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church in North America, and to receive him as a fellow Primate of the Anglican Communion.

There you have it. VOL broke the news at the investiture of Archbishop Beach in Atlanta. Now these primates including Nicholas Okoh (Nigeria); The Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer Hanna Anis (Middle East);
The Most Rev. Dr. Eliud Wabukala, (Kenya); The Most Rev. Dr. Onesphore Rwaje (Rwanda); The Most Rev. Stanley Ntagali, (Uganda); The Most Rev. Stephen an Myint Oo ( Myanmar); and The Most Rev. Hector (Tito) Zavala (Southern Cone); representing some 50 million Anglicans have made it official.

"We celebrate that the Anglican Church in North America shares in that same mission and purpose. We and our Provinces will continue to share in Gospel work together, and pledge our continued partnership with the Anglican Church in North America to pursue the work of Christ."

They just sank the reconciliation nostrums of the Rev. Philip Groves (pro-gay reconciler) along with Archbishop Welby's Director of Reconciliation, the Rev. David Porter. Strikes one and two for the Global South.

It is clear these brave primates would sooner have the approval of God than the approval of the Archbishop of Canterbury who is showing himself to be more theologically lite, while reconciliation heavy, but it is equally clear that it is getting him nowhere. The more he talks up reconciliation, the more things fragment.

The ABC has drifted around the world talking up reconciliation wherever he goes. In the end, he said it would be up to the Primates if there is [ever] to be another Lambeth Conference. The deeper question is: Can he even bring ALL the primates together to discuss the matter? Rowan Williams failed to do that in Dublin when a third of them were no shows. Can Welby do any better? We wait and see.

I think these primates have a much clearer understanding of what it means to be Anglican and Christian than Justin Welby does. The clear rebuke to the weak and vacillating Welby is duly noted.

*****

A startling revelation by ACNA Bishop Bill Atwood this week. Shortly after the TEC House of Bishops met in Taiwan, a group of bishops went to West Malaysia. They heard that the consecration of a new assistant bishop was about to take place and they were there to participate. Leaders in the Anglican Church in Malaysia said, "You are welcome--to our country. You cannot participate in the service however, because of the actions you have taken to tear the fabric of the communion and you remain unrepentant. We are not in Communion with you, so you cannot participate in the service."

The visit was part of TEC's initiative to demonstrate that they are fully part of the Communion and are in relationships with other Anglican Provinces. The tactic has been used in a number of places in Africa where they visit and are received with hospitality (because that is the culture of those people). Then they take pictures to demonstrate that there are no significant issues even though there may be disagreement over things like sexuality.

In this case, the TEC plan did not work in Malaysia. The leaders in the Diocese of West Malaysia are very well informed and steadfastly faithful.

Not only did they turn TEC away, they knew I was traveling in South East Asia so they sent me a message. "Can you change your travel plans to be at the consecration we are having in Kuala Lumpur? We want to demonstrate that we are not in Communion with TEC, but we are in Communion with the ACNA. If you can get here, we'd like to make your visit highly visible."

Now I wonder why that did not make The Episcopal News Service.

*****

Fighting Islamic State militants through air strikes alone is both unlikely to succeed and questionable in its long-term effect, the Archbishop of Canterbury opined.

Justin Welby also contended religious leaders must "up their game and engage jihadism... in religious space".

In an article for Prospect magazine, he also warned that justifications for violence must be robustly challenged.

He described the situation as a "winnable struggle".

In his article, the Archbishop argues that whatever is done to deter IS must be "global, holistic, and determined over the long term" with the clear intention of building a "just peace".

He states that the current situation is neither a war on terror nor a conflict of civilizations, but instead "a terrible mix of ethnicity, economics, social unrest, injustice between rich and poor, limited access to resources, historic hatreds, post-colonial conflict and more - which need to be tackled ideologically".

He argues it is essential that Christians are clear about the aim of peace and the need for working together while Muslim leaders continue explicitly to reject extremism, violent or otherwise.

*****

The city of Houston has issued subpoenas demanding a group of pastors turn over any sermons dealing with homosexuality, gender identity or Annise Parker, the city's first openly lesbian mayor. Those ministers who fail to comply could be held in contempt of court.

"The city's subpoena of sermons and other pastoral communications is both needless and unprecedented," Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Christina Holcomb wrote in a statement. "The city council and its attorneys are engaging in an inquisition designed to stifle any critique of its actions."

ADF, a nationally-known law firm specializing in religious liberty cases, is representing five Houston pastors. They filed a motion in Harris County court to stop the subpoenas, arguing they are "overbroad, unduly burdensome, harassing, and vexatious."

"Political and social commentary is not a crime," Holcomb observed. "It is protected by the First Amendment."

The subpoenas are just the latest twist in an ongoing saga over Houston's new non-discrimination ordinance.

*****

The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams used a literary festival speech to raise the plight of two Christian archbishops kidnapped by Islamic extremists in Syria.

The former ABC told an audience at the Cheltenham Literature Festival he knew two clerics who are being held hostage in the Middle East. He spoke of them in a wide-ranging talk on "Rights, Law and Religion", in which he insisted the West can't ignore the "poisonous" effects of religious-inspired tyranny in the region.

A woman in his audience asked Lord Williams if it was time for the Church of England and the country to speak out about what is happening to Christians in the Middle East. "Five hundred Christians including women and children have been buried alive," she noted. "They have been executed and thousands of Christians have been confined. Surely it is time we spoke up on that? It cannot surely be open season on Christians entirely yet?"

Lord Williams replied. "I couldn't agree more. Many have been speaking up and I hope more will. One of the dangers we face at the moment is the rise of a particular kind of religious tyranny in that region whose results both locally and globally are lessons for us all.

"We cannot turn our backs on that. I have people I know who are currently being held in the Middle East including two Bishops in Syria and I am waiting to find out their fate. 'It is not academic - I am glad there are people speaking out."

He did not name the pair, but he was apparently referring to Bishop Boulos Yazigi of the Greek Orthodox Church and Bishop John Ibrahim of the Assyrian Orthodox Church. Gunmen pulled the pair from their car and killed their driver in April last year while they were traveling outside the northern city of Aleppo.

Bishop Tony Yazigi of the Damascus-based Greek Orthodox Church stated at the time that the gunmen are believed to be Chechen fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra, a radical Islamist faction in the Syrian opposition.

*****

The Episcopal News Service reports that former Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold will facilitate the Oct. 16 meeting between trustees of the General Theological Seminary and eight professors whose employment is at the core of the dispute involving complaints about the conduct of the school's dean and president.

The General trustees agreed Oct. 13 during a teleconference to have the facilitated discussion with the aim of achieving greater clarity, understanding, and reconciliation, according to trustee Chair Bishop Mark Sisk (retired of New York).

A meeting between trustees and the professors had already been scheduled for Oct. 16. The addition of a facilitator is a new development, one apparently suggested by the eight professors and agreed to by the board. The board asked Griswold to fill that role.

When Sisk wrote to the eight on Oct. 1, reiterating an offer that had been previously made to the professors, he said the meeting had to be "wholly confidential, off the record, and no one involved will make use of anything said at it."

The conflict between the Very Rev. Kurt Dunkle, who became dean and president in July 2013, and eight of the 11-member faculty at the nearly 200-year-old seminary was made public late in September when e-mails and letters from the departing professors to students were circulated and the professors announced a work stoppage.

Griswold is an interesting choice. The Episcopal Church began its accelerated slide under his leadership that has worsened under Jefferts Schori. It was Griswold in Dromantine, Ireland, where the Primates were meeting, who castigated Dr. Rowan Williams for not being tougher on the Global South Primates over homosexual acceptance. Williams was locked in a three way, never resolved issue because he himself was conflicted. The Global South stuck to its guns; Western pansexual primates stuck to theirs and Griswold went away unhappy. Now he's being hauled out again to resolve yet another TEC dispute.

As all GTS parties are pro gay, that issue will be left off the table except for Dean Kurt Dunkle's remarks about GTS not being the "gay seminary". The bigger question is whether Griswold will again cite Rumi the Sufi as he did in the Charles Bennison dispute with Fr. David Moyer, perhaps hoping all sides will meet on a plain beyond good and evil.

*****

Theologian Stanley Hauerwas has declined a series of lectures he was scheduled to give at New York's General Theological Seminary in November in the wake of the crisis roiling the school.

On Wednesday, the Christian ethicist announced that he does not want to get in the middle of a controversy involving the resignations or firings of eight faculty members.

Two weeks ago, the eight faculty members quit teaching classes and attending official seminary meetings or chapel services until they could sit down with the Board of Trustees.

Hauerwas, who is professor emeritus of divinity and law at Duke Divinity School, said he pulled out of the lecture series so he would not appear to take a side.

"I was looking forward to going because I've known of General for my whole academic life, but I had never been there. At one time, it represented a commitment to an Anglo-Catholic tradition with which I'm very sympathetic," added Hauerwas, who attends an Episcopal church in Chapel Hill, N.C. "I think the situation is one of deep pathos; it's just pathetic. I'm sorry that I've gotten caught in it."

GTS, the flagship seminary that has produced generations of bishops and noted theologians, is the only Episcopal seminary overseen by the national church.
Is a major "pastoral earthquake" really about to hit the Roman Catholic Church? A prominent Catholic leader is dismissing media reports and speculation that his Church is preparing for a major "pastoral earthquake" when it comes to addressing controversial issues like premarital sex, divorce and gay marriage.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who is in Rome to participate in the Synod of Bishops on the Family, which ends Sunday, appeared on SiriusXM's Catholic Channel to discuss the purpose of the meeting and to respond to media coverage surrounding it.

Commenting specifically on a working document -- titled "Relatio post disceptationem" -- that had been put together by Catholic clerics handpicked by Pope Francis in an effort to review Catholic teaching on the family, Dolan indicated that the media might be arriving at some "inaccurate conclusions."

The faith leader explained that some synod participants worried that the media would misinterpret the document after it was released. Contrary to what was being reported, he hadn't experienced anything akin to a theological "earthquake" while participating in meetings.

"We had a great conversation on this relatio, which is a draft, an attempt to kind of sum up what was said by the bishops of the world last week," Dolan told co-host Father Jonathan Morris. "It was very honest and many of the bishops said, oh, this is a great draft, a good idea, but it's not the final word and we're going to have a lot to say about it."

Donan acknowledged that some believe that the final statement will need to be "more assertive about the timeless teaching of the church."

Is this blowback or damage control? Stay tuned.

The Catholic Church still officially maintains that homosexual behavior is "intrinsically disordered". There would seem to be no change in that regard. The loving acceptance of homosexuals does not mean accepting their behavior, something The Episcopal Church has done with devastating consequences.

*****

VATICAN CITY: Anglican, Lutheran delegates say the Roman Catholic Church's synod's concerns are theirs, too. Upholding the Christian ideal of marriage and family life while also reaching out to those whose lives do not reflect that ideal is a pastoral challenge, faced by all Christian communities, noted the Anglican representative to the Synod of Bishops.

Anglican Bishop Paul Butler of Durham, England, and "fraternal delegates" from seven other Christian communities addressed the synod Oct. 10. Bishop Butler also spoke to Vatican Radio Oct. 15 as synod members worked in small groups to amend the assembly's midterm report.

He told members of the synod that he and his wife have been married 32 years and have four grown children. Although Anglicans have married bishops and clergy, "like you," he told them, Anglicans "are wrestling with how best to respond" to the challenges facing family life around the world.

"As part of this response," he said, "we want to speak more of the promise of and hope from the family than focus on the threats," while also making it clear that "marriage is between a man and a woman and is intended to be for life."

Still, he told the synod, "families of all types" exist in society and within the church. "We have to minister to and with cohabiting, single-parent and same-sex families. This demands listening, understanding, compassion and care rather than condemnation."

In the Vatican Radio interview, he said that by participating in a synod-working group and making suggestions, he was looking primarily at "the tone" the synod report would take. "It's about being as positive as we possibly can to families of all make ups, recognizing that within the Catholic confession marriage is a sacrament, but how can the church be as welcoming as it is possible to be to those whose family life is not the ideal."

Being welcoming, he said, "is a way of offering hope to people and introducing them to the Christian doctrine. If we are seen as completely negative, then people won't come near us and they will just dismiss the Christian Gospel."

Lutheran Bishop Ndanganeni Phaswana of South Africa, representing the Lutheran World Federation, also told the synod that his community has been having "lively discussions" about how to respond to "new forms of family and marital relationships." The process, he said, has "created tensions" within the federation.

On behalf of the federation, he thanked the Catholic Church for inviting him to observe the synod's "discernment process and to learn from your discussions on this subject."

*****

IN SOUTHERN PINES, NC, The rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church and another man are accused of engaging in sex acts at Reservoir Park, earlier this month, according to the Southern Pines Police Department. The news was reported in the "Fayetteville Observer".

Fr. John Grey Tampa, 63, of Southern Pines, and Howard Reynolds, 79, of Whispering Pines, are each charged with indecent exposure, which is a misdemeanor.

An undercover officer watched them engage in two separate sex acts. After police interviewed both men and consulted with the Moore County district attorney, the men were arrested.

The Village Chapel of nearby Pinehurst, NC, a nearby interdenominational church, is served by the Rev. Dr. John R. Jacobs, an Episcopal Priest who came from Diocese of Central Florida, is an attorney-turned-priest, and a graduate of Sewanee. He was on the Board of Trustees of the Diocese of Central Florida. He was previously Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, Vero Beach, FL.

A source told VOL that it is likely that there will be some migration from Emmanuel Episcopal Church to The Village Chapel as a result of the incident by Tampa.

*****

My wife and I are in Europe looking over some old haunts of mine from yesteryear. This week, we were in Prague. I stood in Old Town Square where the statue of John Huss, the 15th reformer stands. 47 years ago I stood before that bullet riddled statue having smuggled Bibles and books by Mother Basilea Shlenk into Czechoslovakia and Poland. It was a moving moment for me and one that brought back many memories of Christians I had once known and who have now gone on to be with the Lord. I hope you like the full story in today's digest.

*****

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Thanks for your support,

In Christ,

David

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