VIRTUEONLINE Digest - 12 Jan 2007 to 17 Jan 2007 (#2007-3) Wed, 17 Jan 2007 There are 26 messages totalling 1802 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Table of Contents 2. VirtueOnline Viewpoints - January 17, 2007 3. NIGERIA: House of Bishops issue warning to Anglican Communion Leaders 4. MINNESOTA: Bishop Jelinek Prohibits Kenyan Apb from Preaching in Orthodox parish 5. VIRGINIA: Va. churches' dispute with Episcopal diocese come to a boil 6. If the Pope can go to Turkey, Can the ABC go to Texas? - by Paul Marshall 7. MEMPHIS, TN: Churches request Anglican diocese, bishop 8. Presiding Bishop: "The church in most places is healthy and vital" 9. ATTLEBORO, MA: Kenyan archbishop and bishops to visit Attleboro 10. How Far Is Too Far: When Is It Time To Leave A Church? 11. KNOXVILLE, TN: Splinters of faith bind together as foundation for new church 12. FLINT, MICHIGAN: New head of Episcopal diocese sees need for change 13. UTAH: St. John's alliance with AMiA 'fit the bill' 14. CALIFORNIA: South Carolina Bishop Elect Postpones Consecration 15. AAC President Transfers Canonical Residency to Anglican Church of Nigeria 16. TEXAS:Pastor Of Historic Central Texas Church Arrested On Sexual Assault Warrant 17. Mark Harris' Manifesto For Walking Apart: Part One - by Gary L'Hommedieu 18. MARK HARRIS' MANIFESTO FOR WALKING APART: Part Two 19. "Let This Day Be Remembered" - by David Baumann 20. Reflections on Moving Forward - by David C. Anderson 21. Ex-Gay Leader In Exchange of Letters With Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola 22. Senate bill attacks free speech of churches, pro-family groups 23. A rabbi's warning to U.S. Christians 24. Ancient and Future: Church Planting For The 21st Century 25. A 21st Century Anglican Catechism: A Response to the Post-Christian Age 26. LOVE IS KIND - by Ted Schroder ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:47:59 -0500 From: "Robert Turner (webmaster)" Subject: Table of Contents 1. VIEWPOINTS: AAC leader leaves TEC...Nigerian HOB issues new warning to TEC...more 2. NIGERIA: House of Bishops issue warning to Anglican Communion Leaders 3. MINNESOTA: Bishop Jelinek Prohibits Kenyan Archbishop from Preaching in Orthodox parish 4. VIRGINIA: Va. churches' dispute with Episcopal diocese come to a boil 5. If the Pope can go to Turkey, Can the ABC go to Texas? - by Paul Marshall 6. MEMPHIS, TN: Churches request Anglican diocese, bishop 7. Presiding Bishop: "The church in most places is healthy and vital" 8. ATTLEBORO, MA: Kenyan archbishop and bishops to visit Attleboro 9. How Far Is Too Far: When Is It Time To Leave A Church? 10. KNOXVILLE, TN: Splinters of faith bind together as foundation for new church 11. FLINT, MICHIGAN: New head of Episcopal diocese sees need for change 12. UTAH: St. John's alliance with AMiA 'fit the bill' 13. CALIFORNIA: South Carolina Bishop Elect Postpones Consecration 14. AAC President Transfers Canonical Residency to Anglican Church of Nigeria 15. TEXAS:Pastor Of Historic Central Texas Church Arrested On Sexual Assault Warrant 16. Mark Harris' Manifesto For Walking Apart: Part One - by Gary L'Hommedieu 17. MARK HARRIS' MANIFESTO FOR WALKING APART: Part Two 18. "Let This Day Be Remembered" - by David Baumann 19. Reflections on Moving Forward - by David C. Anderson 20. Ex-Gay Leader In Exchange of Letters With Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola 21. Senate bill attacks free speech of churches, pro-family groups 22. Orthodox Rabbi's warning to U.S. Christians 23. Ancient and Future: Church Planting For The 21st Century 24. A 21st Century Anglican Catechism: A Response to the Post-Christian Age 25. Devotional: LOVE IS KIND - by Ted Schroder END ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:50:16 -0500 From: David Virtue Subject: VirtueOnline Viewpoints - January 17, 2007 Christian Mission. Christ's universal authority. The fundamental basis of all Christian missionary enterprise is the universal authority of Jesus Christ, 'in heaven and on earth'. If the authority of Jesus were circumscribed on earth, if he were but one of many religious teachers, one of many Jewish prophets, one of many divine incarnations, we would have no mandate to present him to the nations as the Lord and Saviour of the world. If the authority of Jesus were limited in heaven, if he had not decisively overthrown the principalities and powers, we might still proclaim him to the nations, but we would never be able to 'turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God' (Acts 26:18). Only because all authority on earth belongs to Christ dare we go to all nations. And only because all authority in heaven as well is his have we any hope of success. It must have seemed ridiculous to send that tiny nucleus of Palestinian peasants to win the world for Christ. For Christ's church today, so hopelessly outnumbered by millions who neither know nor acknowledge him, the task is equally gigantic. It is the unique, the universal authority of Jesus Christ which gives us both the right and the confidence to seek to make disciples of all the nations. Before his authority on earth the nations must bow; before his authority in heaven no demon can stop them. --From 'The Great Commission', in "One Race, One Gospel, One Task", ed. C. F. Henry and W. S. Mooneyham (Minneapolis: World Wide Publications, 1967) --Excerpted from "Authentic Christianity" - John R. W. Stott Dear Brothers and Sisters, www.virtueonline.org 1/17/2007 One by one they leave. This week the president of the American Anglican Council, Canon David C. Anderson announced that he was, sadly, leaving the Episcopal Church after serving it for more than 35 years. In a personal reflection, which you can read in today's digest he wrote this: "It came time for me to change trains, and All Saints' Day was a good day to do it. Do I have regrets about 62 years in the Episcopal Church and approximately 35 years in ordained ministry in TEC? No." Then he said this: "I believe the issue of timing and how long to stay in TEC is one that each person and parish has to answer individually, but it is a question that will grow more significant each month. It may be that the global Anglican Communion will provide a way for those in TEC to remain safe, but until that happens, we want to stand with those in harm's way and help defend them. If the Anglican Communion doesn't make such provision, all orthodox TEC churches will need to leave eventually! In my 62 years in TEC, I didn't change-the church did. I have understood and shared the same Gospel throughout my life, but the church that I served left me behind as it rushed headlong into beliefs that do not appear to be either Anglican or Christian." Canon Anderson stands in a long line of those who have, in recent years, finally said 'enough is enough'. The Rev. Chuck Murphy a strong activist Episcopal priest left, and with a group of other unhappy priests watching the drift of the Episcopal Church away from orthodoxy, left with him to form the Anglican Mission in America - today a thriving mission that is reaching out to 130,000 million unchurched Americans under the spiritual and pastoral care of the Archbishop of Rwanda, Emmanuel Kolini. The Rev. Dr. John Rodgers, former Dean of Trinity School for Ministry followed and so the pace quickened. In recent days such leaders as the Rev. David Roseberry, pastor of the largest attended Episcopal parish left as did Ekklesia head, Canon Bill Atwood. The Rev. Martyn Minns, now a bishop with CANA led a contingent of Virginia parishes out of the Episcopal Church recently, while some of the biggest parishes in the Diocese of Florida with household names like Sam Pascoe, Jim McCasli n, Rob Sanders et al - the brightest and best minds in The Episcopal Church - fled to various orthodox Anglican provinces and jurisdictions. Other names include Os Guinness, John Yates, Chuck Nalls, Sam Edwards, the late Lou Tarsitano, Peter Toon, (PBS President), Praveen Bunyan...and the list could go on and on. In time there will be bishops, perhaps John-David Schofield will be the first, but we shall see. Some eight sitting TEC diocesan bishops have asked for commissary status, which is their way of saying they want out from under Mrs. Schori and would happily settle for an orthodox archbishop of Dr. Rowan Williams choosing. The great exodus from The Episcopal Church has begun in earnest and there is no immediate sign of it abating or letting up soon. ***** AND still the warnings come from the Global South archbishops. This week in Nigeria, the House of Bishops issued a statement at their annual retreat (January 9-13) have issued a communiqué warning Anglican Communion leaders that they will break fellowship with those provinces that do not repent of their apostasies and submit to the authority of Scripture. You can read the full story here or in today's digest: http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=5341 Will The Episcopal Church heed the warning and repent. There is little indication it will, in fact, the lines seem only to harden each day with more fleeing parishes, increasing litigation over property, and more outrageous statements about what the faith means by Mrs. Schori the Presiding Bishop. From the DICOESE OF MINNESOTA came word of yet more tyranny by a revisionist bishop. The Rt. Rev. James Jelinek clamped down hard on Messiah parish in St. Paul and said they could not invite Kenyan Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi to their parish. It is typical of the fear these tyrannous bishops generate and the reason they are so hated. When the story got out, an orthodox parishioner wrote VOL and said this: Even the "moderate" clergy are afraid to cross this tyrant (Bishop Jelinek). Our AAC chapter is a totally scattered bunch of 30 or so folks from Rochester in the south to Brainerd in the north. Outside of Messiah, we have no concentration at all. We're generally a very passive and timid bunch. Yet Jelinek has deemed that our mere existence so threatens the diocese, he pretty much denies any access to any parish for our talks and denies us any publicity even in the announcements section of the diocesan web page. I knew he was a control freak, but this is totally off the deep-end. He wants to control any and all information flowing into and out of the diocese. He, and those in tune with his agenda, control EVERYTHING in the diocese." There you have it. Liberal and revisionist bishops are men who live with two basic drives...control and intimidation and fear and hatred of all things orthodox, even though liberalism is incapable of filling churches or starting a single mission. Undeterred, Archbishop Nzimbi will visit the diocese on Tuesday Jan. 23rd at Bethel Christian Fellowship in St. Paul at 7.30pm; on wed. 24th at the Episcopal Church of Sts. Thomas and John in New Richmond, Wisconsin and on Thursday Jan. 25 at Rochester Covenant Church, MN, and on Sunday again in northern MN. In the latter he will conduct a wedding. In times past the orthodox archbishop has received standing ovations wherever he has spoken, strengthening the faith of those who need it and much more. Boundary crossing is now a way of life for these godly men from Africa. They will not be bullied by liberal and revisionist TEC bishops. A SIGN OF THE TIMES. As people flee so goes their money with them. A member of Holy Comforter in Montgomery, Alabama wrote to say that the church's budget which proposed $355,000 had received only $276000 - a huge shortfall, and typical of what is going on in one midsize parish after parish. And the other truth is that numerous dioceses do not have trust funds and endowments to draw on to make up the difference. In time these dioceses will die or be forced to merge. In the DIOCESE OF VIRGINIA more parishes voted to leave this week. This week's vote at the Church of Our Saviour at Oatlands on leaving the Episcopal Church required two separate sets of voting regulations: the regulations of the Commonwealth of Virginia, which restrict votes to parishioners over 18, and the regulations of the Diocese of Virginia, which forbid absentee votes. Parishioners aged 16 and 17, who are allowed to vote by the Episcopal Church's regulations, were allowed to cast color-coded ballots, and parishioners who could not attend were allowed to vote absentee; both groups' votes were tallied separately from the main count. On the question to leave The Episcopal Church and join CANA and the Anglican Province of Nigeria eligible voters 18 or over present, voted 123 yes, 4 no. On the second question to keep the property, 123 voted yes, and 4 no. Over at Epiphany, in Herndon, VA, they voted 78% for to leave, and 89% to keep their property. In the DIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES money and people continue to slip away. At St. Thomas the Apostle in Hollywood, VOL has learned there is a $75,000 shortfall in pledging year over year. This figure was contained in a letter that the parish sent to members. The 'gay' Anglo-Catholic parish rector, Ian Davies, is leaving on a 'sabbatical' January 22 and will not attend the annual meeting at the end of the month at which the financial crisis will certainly be at the top of the agenda! According to a source, Fr. Davies needs to "recharge his batteries" and will be ensconced at the Episcopal Franciscan House on Long Island for two months. Interesting place indeed. This was the place where a young friar was anally seduced by members of the order and ultimately committed suicide. The church also rents to a Romanian Orthodox congregation. Irony of ironies, the Romanians are out of communion with the TEC. Another irony is that the associate rector, Mark Stewart, is an alumnus of Nashotah House! Both priests are Affirming Catholic types whose liturgical predilections (e.g., the immaculate conception of Mary) are even off-putting to that broad church guru Bishop J. Jon Bruno who whenever he visits the parish, invariably remarks that the altar does not face out to the congregation! In the DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA comes word that the diocese is postponing the consecration of the Rev. Mark Lawrence. They made the following announcement. Due to the fact that the expiration date for the consent process is not until March 9, 2007, the tentative consecration date of February 24, 2007, for Bishop-elect Mark Lawrence has been postponed until after Easter. This deferment is necessary because of unanticipated delays in the mailing of the Consent Requests to Diocesan Bishops and Standing Committees which did not occur until the second week of November, 2006. We look forward to setting a date certain for Fr. Lawrence's consecration in the near future after consultation with the Presiding Bishop's Office of The Episcopal Church. The Rev. J. Haden McCormick President of the Standing Committee Diocese of South Carolina http://www.dioceseofsc.org/ This raises the interesting question as to why they would bother consulting with the PBs office if they have no intention of inviting her to consecrate the new bishop! ON THE PLUS side of the ledger, the Anglican Relief And Development (ARDF) Project received a White House Grant for Substance Abuse Rehabilitation and HIV/AIDS (SARAH) Network in Kenya, has been named a sub-grantee in the first round of three-year grants awarded in the fight against HIV/AIDS by the New Partnership Initiative (NPI) announced by President George W. Bush last year on World AIDS Day. The primary project grantee is Global Outreach for Addiction Leadership and Learning (GOAL) Project based in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. The GOAL Project was one of 23 recipients that will share the $72 million NPI grant. As Director/Founder of GOAL, Terry Webb, formerly of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was invited by President and Mrs. Bush to the White House to receive the grant award and to kick off World AIDS Day on December 1, 2006. "We are happy to share the blessing of this grant with ARDF's SARAH Network project. We started praying for the GOAL project a year ago and have been overwhelmed with what God has provided," said Webb. "The objectives of GOAL and SARAH both address the wide ramifications of the alcohol abusing behaviors that lead to the spread of the HIV virus. By supporting SARAH, we can not only serve our neighbors next door through GOAL, but also our neighbors half way around the world through ARDF." Created by founder, Margaret Namirembe Oketch of the All Saints Cathedral Diocese of the Anglican Church of Kenya, and led by Canon Wycliffe Balongo, the SARAH Network is a group of Christian professionals, church leaders and volunteers coordinated by these Anglican clergy and lay persons who work together to implement projects that break the cycle of substance abuse and addiction and the spread of HIV/AIDS in communities. In November, the SARAH Network held its first clergy conference in Kenya to train pastors in AIDS education on topics including understanding addiction, the 12–step program for recovery, and prevention. FROM THE AMERICAN ANGLICAN COUNCIL comes the new statistics of departures of both parishioners and money from the DIOCESE OF VIRGINIA. Regardless of who wins the property disputes, this is money and people Bishop Peter James Lee will never recover from. Here is the summary: In the last 14 months, 15 congregations have voted to break with the Diocese of Virginia. These vibrant congregations represent 6,175 parishioners on an average Sunday, or nearly one in five that attend church on an average Sunday in the Diocese. These churches also give at above average levels, representing over a quarter of the money given on an average year in the Diocese (16.4 Million in Plate and Pledge out of a diocesan total of 63 Million). So far, the following churches have either departed (i.e. settled situation) or just voted in the last month: The Falls Church - ASA 1,900 Truro - ASA 1,800 Church of the Apostles - ASA 450 All Saints Dale City - ASA 350 (Settled I think) Christ our Lord - ASA 200 (Settled I think) Saint Margaret's - ASA 160 South Riding Church - ASA 150 (Settled - no property) Christ the Redeemer - ASA 140 (No Property) Church of the Holy Spirit - ASA 130 (No Property) Saint Paul's Haymarket - ASA 120 Saint Steven's Heathville - ASA 120 Church of the Word - ASA 120 Potomac Falls - ASA 90 Now add the two above: Church of the Epiphany - ASA 380 Our Savior - ASA 65 FORWARD IN FAITH Int. wholeheartedly welcomed the response of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Panel of Reference to the Appeal of the Diocese of Fort Worth. The response recommends that the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Presiding Bishop of TEC and the primates 'should publicly commend the adequacy of the Dallas Plan'. It clearly affirms that, despite the 1997 Canons, opposition to the ordination of women to the priesthood and the episcopate should not be grounds for refusing consent to a bishop duly elected by the diocese. It also affirms that opposition to the ordination of women to the priesthood and the episcopate is 'a recognised theological position' and that '...no diocese or parish should be compelled to accept the ministry of word or sacrament from an ordained woman'. We note that that wording clearly includes the ministry of the Presiding Bishop. Forward in Faith looks now for a gracious response from Dr Jefferts Schori, which would include a full recognition of the ' Dallas Plan' as an adequate provision for those women in the diocese of Fort Worth who are seeking ordination, and Primatial oversight for the diocese alternative to her own. http://www.forwardinfaith.com/artman/publish/article_349.shtml WHILE an embattled Church of England flounders, news comes that traditional church weddings are making a comeback. However it turns out the trend has little to do with religion. A survey commissioned by the Church of England reveals that couples are choosing to get married in a church because they like the setting, The Times of London reports. The Henley Centre questioned 1,800 people who opted for a church wedding and found that just over half mentioned religion as a factor. Seventy-five percent said they chose to have their wedding ceremony in a church because they wanted a "proper wedding," while 69 percent said they chose a church because of its location. NEWS from Southern Africa is that Archbishop Njongo (as he's called) Ndungane is retiring before the 2008 Lambeth Conference. Apparently this came as something of a surprise to many. A journalist did some sleuthing and finally got one of the bishops to talk about it. He said the HOB told Ndungane that, in 2007, he (1) had to arrange for a new election for the Bishop of Cape Town, a position he now holds; and (2) then retire, in order to let the new bishop go to the Lambeth Conference. This does not mean he won't be in Tanzania, of course; but it does seem as if some folks are eager to get him out as Archbishop. He is the only holdout liberal on the African continent and just about anything would be better as a replacement, especially if he comes up against Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola. AMONG today's stories you will read VOL's take on Archbishop's Akinola's scriptural basis for opposition to homosexual acts. He has been much vilified by the secular media as well as Episcopal Church pansexualists, looking for any excuse to call him Fundamentalist and blaming him and the rest of the orthodox in the church for causing the schism in the church when in fact it is Robinson and his ilk that have done the church dirty. MRS. SCHORI gave a full length interview on what she believes to the Arkansas Gazette this past week and you can read that in today's digest. Nothing about the interview gives aid and comfort to The Episcopal Church's orthodox. Her words will only ferment more schism. Canon Anderson has called it right. In time all the orthodox will have to leave - with or without their properties - there is simply no future now for anyone who holds to the faith once delivered for all to the saints. The courts will be forced to decide property issues; in some states parishes will win, in other states they will lose. One thing seems certain; those who are forced to start over do so, and seem to grow in numbers and strength. Money doesn't seem to be a great problem either. New churches are built and the faith is once again proclaimed without fear of a bishop looking over their shoulder wondering if they are being inclusive or diverse or whatever. In the DIOCESE OF WEST TENNESSEE, delegates from a dozen churches in Memphis and across the South will ask the Anglican Church of Kenya to form a diocese and appoint a bishop for them in America. The unprecedented request was given to Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of Kenya, who was in Memphis over the weekend for meetings and services hosted by St. Peter's Anglican Church in East Memphis. The archbishop said he will discuss the request with worldwide Anglican leaders in February and he hopes to have an answer by April. You can read that story here: http://tinyurl.com/ybmcqc One can't imagine Bishop Don E. Johnson taking this lying down. When we get his response we will bring it to you. In the DIOCESE OF MILWAUKEE it was reported in the TLC that The Rt. Rev. Steven A. Miller, Bishop of Milwaukee, has been cleared of charges that he mishandled a formal complaint made by several parishioners against the Rev. Martha Ann Englert, rector of Grace Church, Madison. A formal complaint was filed against Bishop Miller last June. Fourteen lay Episcopalians and two clergy alleged in their complaint to Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold that Bishop Miller improperly influenced the diocesan review committee in order to ensure that the complaint against Ms. Englert would result in a presentment, the ecclesiastical equivalent of an indictment by a grand jury. Ms. Englert, who has been inhibited from functioning as a priest pending the outcome of her case, is accused of making inappropriate remarks and disclosures about Grace Church parishioners. This is a major loss to former Newark chancellor Michael Rehill who is defending Englert. IN A FORMER VOL digest we mentioned that in the DIOCESE OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA The Rev. David H. Miller had been told by Bishop Barry Beisner that he had voluntarily renounced his (priestly) Orders. Not true says his attorney, The rev. Dr. Lu T. Nguyen. He wrote to the bishop saying "be advised that the false statement by Bishop Lamb (former bishop) has hurt Fr. Miller personally and professionally and can also be a violation of his personal rights under California Civil Code §§45 and 46(3). The long and short of it is that the actions of both bishops might be determined libelous and defamatory by a court of law. You can read it all here: http://tinyurl.com/tngc4 ONE Episcopal bishop, Paul Marshall of Bethlehem has written a scathing attack at Rowan Williams, "If the Pope can go to Turkey, Can the ABC go to Texas? In this rip at the ABC, Marshall accuses Williams of not being prepared to personally face his accusers but sends a lot of second string bishops to either speak for him, or to gather information for what he might or might not do. Here is one choice paragraph: "No more messengers; no more cell phone calls to defeat the integrity of this Church's polity. If Rowan really believes what the Lambeth press office says he believes about us, it is past time for him to say it to our faces, and have the goodness to listen to the response of those who have to live with the results of his choices. This would be, I believe, fair play and look very more like the New Testament." You can read it here or in todays digest http://tinyurl.com/vrrwv DEAR VOL READERS. By the time you receive this digest I will be in Jacksonville, Florida covering the Anglican Mission in America annual winter conference. Please check in daily at the website www.virtueonline.org as stories will be posted there immediately they are written. PLEASE consider supporting this ministry. Next month I and a colleague will be traveling to Tanzania to cover the Primates meeting there. It will be a make or break time for the Communion. Mrs. Schori will show up as will three orthodox bishops from The Episcopal Church. Already liberal TEC bloggers are moaning about the fact that the Archbishop of Canterbury has invited non primates to this meeting. How dare he usurp the Episcopal Church's right to be truly represented by its officially elected leader and not a subset of leaders they argue. Will the African Primates be seated in the same room with her? Will Dr. Williams be forced to play shuttle diplomacy between opposing forces? Will it all simply fall apart? It is VOL's hope that we will get the news and post it to you from Dar es Salaam. Please consider an extra special gift if you would. You can send a donation by credit card or through your bank by going to the PAYPAL link at www.virtueonline.org or you can send a donation by snail mail to: VIRTUEONLINE 1236 Waterford Rd., West Chester, PA 19380 Thank you for your support All Blessings, David W. Virtue DD PS. WEBSITE MODERATION: VOL is pleased to add to its staff, as part-time discussion moderator, the Rev. Paul Taylor. Mr. Taylor is an Anglican priest and lawyer and a veteran of the political wars in the Episcopal Church and the Continuing Church. Mr. Taylor will be assisting VOL with moderation of the News comments and the Discussion forums. Our policy regarding appropriate and civil discussion is defined in our Terms of Service which you can find by clicking on FAQ in the top menu. www.virtueonline.org ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:51:16 -0500 From: David Virtue Subject: NIGERIA: House of Bishops issue warning to Anglican Communion Leaders NIGERIA: House of Bishops issue warning to Anglican Communion Leaders By David W. Virtue www.virtueonline.org 1/15/2007 The House of Bishops of the Church of Nigeria meeting at their annual retreat (January 9-13) have issued a communiqué warning Anglican Communion leaders that they will break fellowship with those provinces that do not repent of their apostasies and submit to the authority of Scripture. "We stand by our earlier endorsement of the recommendations of the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa (CAPA) document: "The Road to Lambeth" and maintain the posture that we cannot claim to share fellowship with member-Provinces that denigrate the authority of Scripture on the life of the Church. Our participation in this worldwide fellowship is contingent on genuine repentance by those who have chosen to walk away, for two cannot walk together except they are in agreement. Christian unity must be anchored on Biblical truth," said the statement signed by Archbishop and Primate, the Most. Rev. Peter Akinola. This new warning comes over the Anglican Communion as the African Archbishops continue to push the American Episcopal Church to show both repentance and restraint over homosexuality consecrations and same-sex unions. The Nigerians have indicated that total exclusion of the Episcopal Church is the only way forward. "We therefore call on the leadership of the Global South and Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa (CAPA) to do everything necessary to put in place a Conference of all Anglican Bishops to hold in 2008 should all efforts to get the apostles of 'revisionist agenda' to repent and retrace their steps fail." If in fact the African provinces decide not to attend Lambeth and have their own "Lambeth" on African soil, it will be the end of the Anglican Communion as we know it. The African Anglican Church will simply not compromise on Biblical faith and morals and neither will those who remain faithful to Scripture do the same either in North America or anywhere else. The CAPA bishops have fired the final warning shot across the bows of the Anglican Communion, the next shot they fire will be fatal. Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) told VOL in an exclusive interview in Nairobi that he did not totally rule out the possibility that the Africans will have their own Lambeth in 2008, because of the recent actions of the American Episcopal Church's General Convention in Columbus, Ohio and its failure to obey the demands of the Windsor Report. The recent communiqué from Kigali recommended that there be a separate ecclesial body within the Episcopal Church to meet the spiritual and ecclesiastical demands of orthodox bishops, priests and parishes under siege by liberal and revisionist TEC bishops. A new "structure" was promised for orthodox Episcopalians. In July, 2006 the Nigerian province through its leaders threatened not to attend Lambeth 2008 if the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams does not come down hard on the American Episcopal Church and expel them from the communion for its pro-gay policies, and for electing a known non-celibate homosexual to be the bishop of New Hampshire. Archbishop Akinola said in a statement following The Episcopal Church's General Convention, that total exclusion of the Episcopal Church may be necessary: "A cancerous lump in the body should be excised if it has defied every known cure. To attempt to condition the whole body to accommodate it will lead to the avoidable death of the patient." The archbishop said he was more than ready to have a parallel Lambeth on African soil if the homogenital Bishop of New Hampshire is invited to Lambeth 2008. Recently the Nigerian archbishop called for the Church of England to be suspended from the worldwide Anglican Communion over its backing of civil partnerships. Archbishop Akinola ridiculed the policy by asking the Church of England bishops if they were intending to place cameras in the bedrooms of their clergy and said that Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury and his church should now face disciplinary action. "I believe that the temporary suspension of the Church of England is the right course of action to take. The church will be subjected to the same procedures and discipline that America and Canada faced". In a rare personal jibe against Williams, he said: "Lambeth Palace upholds our common historic faith. It will now lose that place of honour in the world. Must I come to Lambeth Palace in order to go to heaven. The answer is no!" At the HOB retreat this past week the bishops said they were delighted that the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) - an outreach initiative of the Church of Nigeria was taking "giant strides to other parts of world." They reaffirmed their commitment to the Great Commission, and elected 19 new Bishops for newly created missionary dioceses in different parts of the country. They deplored the concept of power as an avenue for "personal enrichment." http://www.anglican-nig.org/communique_2007bpsretreat.htm END A Church on the Move - Church of Nigeria elects 20 new bishops in one night! The vision is clear ... we are to make disciples of all peoples. However, as he traveled along many rural highways it became clear to the Primate, Archbishop Peter Akinola, that large sections of his own country of Nigeria were without any significant Anglican presence. "It was a disturbing indictment of our ministry," said Archbishop Akinola, even though with 19 million members, it is the largest Province, in terms of active membership, in the Anglican Communion. This became a personal challenge for the Primate, Archbishop Peter Akinola, whose passion to bring all people into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is well known around the world. He has shared this vision throughout the Province and a number of missionary dioceses have already been established. This next unprecedented step was approved by the Standing Committee, when they met in Port Harcourt in September 2006, and so detailed preparations began that culminated in an amazing night of back-to-back elections. "It was a truly historic event and one for which I am very grateful to God," said Archbishop Akinola, who along with Archbishop Maxwell Akinwenwa, Dean of the Province, presided over this remarkable night. Ninety-three Anglican bishops most wearing traditional purple cassocks gathered in the chapel of the Ibru Ecumenical Retreat Center at Agbarha Otor. The Retreat Center is a sprawling complex of modern air-conditioned buildings surrounded by palm trees in the middle of the farmland of the Delta State in the Niger Delta region approximately 6 hours drive from Lagos. The theme for this annual retreat was "Empowered Leadership" a title that seemed most appropriate in light of the events that were about to unfold. They began with an hour of energetic intercessory prayer for the nation and the church that was punctuated by spiritual choruses and loud shouts of praise. This was followed by a traditional service of Holy Communion and then the work began. Earlier in the meeting large maps of the various regions had been carefully examined and twenty new strategic areas for mission reviewed. A committee had worked with neighboring dioceses and regional leaders to choose a location for the new work and also gather the necessary resources for housing, transportation and financial support - 3 million Naira per annum for the first three years (approximately 12,000 pound sterling). Each area was then briefly described and the particular dynamics discussed - for example some of the areas are situations where there is virtually no Christian presence, others are places where new universities have been established, and still others where an influx of refugees present a unique challenge. Nominations were then made. All of those nominated were clergy who had a demonstrated aptitude for dynamic evangelism and church planting. In some cases as many as four candidates were proposed and then the ballots distributed. As a team of election monitors including Bishop Martyn Minns, one of the newest missionary bishops, carefully counted the ballots there was a time for prayer and vigorous hymn singing before the results were announced. This pattern was followed for the next five and a half hours until 3:30am! By which time all twenty new bishops had been chosen - nineteen will serve in new missionary districts and one will fill a vacancy in an existing diocese. "You have taken three of my best clergy!" exclaimed Bishop Ben Kwashi of the Diocese of Jos where three new missionary districts have been established. His big smile however made it clear that he was proud to be part of this remarkable night. Finally, there was an election for a new Archbishop for the Niger Delta Ecclesiastical Province - Bishop Ugochukwu Ezuoke of the Diocese of Aba - and ninety-three tired but jubilant bishops walked out into the moonlight aware that they taken part in a historic event. "This is a dream unfolding!" declared an exuberant Archbishop Akinola. Now they had to make plans for an unprecedented consecration that will have both national and international, significance. No one could think of a similar moment in the history of the Anglican Communion. This truly is a church on the move. END ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:52:16 -0500 From: David Virtue Subject: MINNESOTA: Bishop Jelinek Prohibits Kenyan Apb from Preaching in Orthodox parish MINNESOTA: Bishop Jelinek Prohibits Kenyan Archbishop from Preaching in Orthodox Parish By David W. Virtue www.virtueonline.org 1/13/2007 The Bishop of Minnesota, the Rt. Rev. James L. Jelinek has told the Rev. John Newton priest at Messiah Episcopal Church in St. Paul, MN that he may not have Kenyan Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi preach in his church, and ordered the priest to cancel any meetings set up for the orthodox Primate. In a letter to Fr. Newton, which VOL obtained, Bishop Jelinek wrote, "Your news about Archbishop Nzimbi is disturbing. His meeting with people at Messiah does not meet with my approval. He has done things in this diocese before, without my prior knowledge or permission, which were calculated to harm the Episcopal Church. I have met with him and told him he may not do this again within this diocese. The last time he was here, he had a meeting at the Episcopal congregation in Hudson, I trust with the knowledge and blessing of the Bishop of Eau Claire. On that occasion he honored my word and jurisdiction." Wrote Jelinek: "Accordingly, you will please cancel this meeting on January 23 at Church of the Messiah with Archbishop Nzimbi. Do not schedule any other meetings with him either at or in the name of the Church of Messiah. I am sure you do not want to be a party to this act of bad faith. I would appreciate receiving a copy of the notice canceling the meeting. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter." Jelinek did not say what the nature of those things were that Archbishop Nzimbi did "to harm the Episcopal Church." He did not return an e-mail to VOL requesting an answer. "Over the years Messiah has worked very hard to cooperate on every level with the diocese and to maintain close and cordial relationships, in spite of some grave differences in matters of theology. We are at a loss to know what has provoked this reaction from Bishop Jelinek and find it very disappointing," Newton told VOL. Two sources told VOL that on an earlier occasion Bishop Jelinek assured Archbishop Nzimbi that he was welcome to speak in Minnesota any time. Newton had written the bishop on January 9 saying that he had received a call from Mwende Nzimbi, the daughter of Archbishop Nzimbi saying that her father would be visiting Minnesota towards the end of the month and could he address the congregation, and asking if the bishop "would like to get together with him during his brief visit here." Jelinek wrote back snubbing not only the idea of meeting with the archbishop but refusing to allow him to speak in the church. Kayla Berger, coordinator of the Minnesota chapter of the American Anglican Council and host of Archbishop Nzimbi's talk, told VOL that the event would be moved to Bethel Christian Fellowship, 1466 Portland Ave, St. Paul. It will still be held on Tuesday January 23 at 7.30pm, she said. A VOL reader observed the irony of the bishop's rejection of the archbishop while at the diocesan website in the weekly newsletter, there's a section called "Diverse Voices." "I guess we now know that "diverse" doesn't include voices that disagree with the prevailing liberal orthodoxy," wrote an orthodox layman. "The end is in sight." In an article at the diocesan website a Commission report titled, "What Does it Mean to be Episcopalian in Minnesota?" a diocesan functionary wrote: "We "see ourselves" as both a family and a democracy, which has both positive and negative values. As a "family," we experience intimacy, acceptance and safety. But, as Huber pointed out, "families are the most closed systems." A "democracy" allows for diversity, participation and permission to disagree." Apparently "diversity" and "permission to disagree" does not apply to the Archbishop of Kenya. The bishop sent copies of his rejection letter to Mr. Len Addington, Diocesan Chancellor and Ms. Fran Bly, President, Standing Committee. Archbishop Nzimbi is travelling in the U.S. and could not be reached for comment. END ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:53:16 -0500 From: David Virtue Subject: VIRGINIA: Va. churches' dispute with Episcopal diocese come to a boil VIRGINIA: Va. churches' dispute with Episcopal diocese come to a boil By Cathy Lynn Grossman USA TODAY http://tinyurl.com/29hpha 1/17/2007 A potential courthouse showdown looms this week between 15 Northern Virginia churches, including two that predate the Revolutionary War, and the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. At stake are beliefs neither side will compromise, millions of dollars in properties and legal precedents that may reverberate nationwide. In the past six weeks, the 15 conservative churches voted to withdraw from the diocese. The diocese is part of the liberal-leaning, 2.3-million-member Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the 77-million-member Anglican Communion, which is more theologically conservative. A 30-day "standstill" agreement, intended to keep both sides from suing to retain the properties, expires Wednesday. Diocese of Virginia Bishop Peter Lee said last week that it would not be renewed. "It's fair to assume the diocese will move to retain the properties at all the separated churches on a case-by-case basis" because they are held in trust for all Episcopalians present and future, diocesan spokesman Patrick Getlein said. Lee meets with his top leadership Thursday to decide the next move. The national presiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, has said she will support Lee's decisions. At stake are multimillion-dollar church properties including The Falls Church in Falls Church, Va., where George Washington was once a warden; and Truro Church in Fairfax, Va., led by the Rev. Martyn Minns. Minns recently became a bishop in the Anglican Church of Nigeria and is head of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America. According to Monday's Legal Times, meetings between lawyers for all sides came to naught. But on Tuesday, Minns told USA TODAY that the churches would not race Lee to the courthouse steps. "We are trying to stay committed to the process of amicable separation, and we're still hopeful that the diocese will not want to go into a public legal fight," Minns said. But Truro will defend local ownership of the church property if need be, he says, calling its claim "credible and strong." Both Minns and Jim Pierobon, spokesman for The Falls Church, say they'd like to see an arrangement similar to one worked out in Texas in which a major church pulled out of its diocese with a five-year step-down agreement on payments. Even if a financial and real estate agreement could be reached, there's no talk of closing the spiritual gap. The Episcopal Church, now headed by the Anglican Communion's first female presiding bishop, Jefferts Schori, takes a more metaphoric and cultural view of the Bible and welcomed an openly gay bishop in 2003. That's when long-simmering concerns of conservatives boiled over. Since then, nearly three dozen churches, including Truro, have aligned with Anglican archbishops in Africa and South America who take a stricter view of Scripture and who do not ordain female or gay priests, much less bishops. END ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:54:16 -0500 From: David Virtue Subject: If the Pope can go to Turkey, Can the ABC go to Texas? - by Paul Marshall If the Pope can go to Turkey, Can the ABC go to Texas? A MOTION FROM THE RUSTBELT AS OUR MEETING APPROACHES Being sure the obvious is said By Bishop Paul Marshall 1/14/2007 I have always been captivated by the realism about human interaction found in the seven undoubtedly Pauline Epistles, our earliest testimony to Christianity: for Paul, the living out of the gospel is always a matter of imperfect personalities and events, redeemed and being redeemed, giving and embracing comment and correction on the way. Spirits are to be tested, and behavior in the Body addressed. Compare Paul's own report of his conflict with Peter over the latter's suspension of eating with Gentiles, and his report of what went on at the Jerusalem summit with Luke's much smoother and curial account of relations at a "council," and we begin to see more clearly the apostle's consistency behavior and his point of view about leadership. For good or ill, most people acknowledge that Paul led the formation of the Christianity we know. It is wise to consider on the meta level his operational principles of directness in truth-telling. Let us also consider his directness in truth-acting: circumcision decisions on Timothy and Titus are radically different because how those decisions related to Gospel truth at certain places in certain times. With St. Paul, we must dare to look at and respond to the vessels and the circumstances, all of which struggle to bear the Gospel. Being more modestly gifted than my apostolic namesake, I will limit my theological observations while trying not to avoid naming the issue and person that concerns me in the Church as much as President George Bush does in the orbis terrarum, and I assure you that do I write to him often. The most un-biblical part of traditional Anglicanism is its politeness, its charm, its unwillingness to confront and hold accountable those who have sought and accepted positions of supreme leadership. We in the Episcopal Church often brag about our Church's failure to address slavery as though that were a virtue and not a disgrace. The Church held together while humans died in chains and even bishops (both north and south in the beginning) traded in human flesh. We now have put the British emancipator William Wilberforce in our calendar but do not make his commemoration one of fasting and lament for our heritage of cowardice in the name of togetherness. The words and deeds of Paul and even more certainly of our utterly tactless Lord Jesus suggest that charm is less important than candor or provocative questioning, that real love in times of disagreement is often something quite uncomfortable. It seems no accident that historically we are enthralled by John, whom we cannot un derstand, rather than Paul, whom we can but would prefer not to. That said, my subject, with both regret and trembling, is the Archbishop of Canterbury, but only in the very limited sense of his functioning toward our house and to some extent our Church. That is a tiny and limited subject and I do not intend it for a discussion of the content of the myriad ministries in which he is engaged. As one too old to have anything to gain or lose, I will try to say what may be obvious to others but risky for them to voice. I hasten to add that this is not a matter of condemnation: he needs no witness from me to his reputation as a pious and good man, great in so many ways, and someone whom I overall admire as writer, teacher, and moral voice in the UK. I believe with all my heart that his intentions are at least a good as any of ours. I write of a perceived chain of mistakes in policy and deed, mistakes, not evil. I have made perhaps more than my share of system mistakes, so I know one when I see one. It will, however, not do to say, as one persistent soul on HOBD frequently does, that because Rowan is so smart and knows things we do not, he must be right in his approach to us. I stopped believing that about leaders during Vietnam, which this is not, of course. A Gestalt bouquet: I am sadly impressed that my friend and neighbor Bob Duncan, peace be to him, and a few of his supporters, have had more time with Rowan Williams than has our entire House, or even our Church gathered in Convention. The long-distance intervention in our process during the last moments of the Columbus convention has made us a laughing-stock. (Katharine wonderfully rolled with that without losing her integrity, a marvelous first inning.) The public words of welcome he gave to our new primate would have made a Laodicean proud for their restrained enthusiasm. The widely-publicized Lambeth Palace photograph of Rowan, Frank, and Katharine all standing as far away from each other as the camera lens would allow has not been without its effect on many among us. A dismal icon of formal communion without a hint of affection or connection has been sent to the entire inhabited world. The perceived distancing did not begin with Gene Robinson. My neuralgia on the question of the ABC's witness and function has been growing since his disastrously insensitive comments on 9/11 -made in New York The situation of the shunning of North American bishops would be painful under any circumstances. The pain is more intense here because it comes from the withdrawal of a human who was friend, teacher, and colleague to many in this church - with no notice that either his opinions or commitments were in flux. The archbishop has appeared to my knowledge only once in the US since 2003, and that was the briefest of visits to raise money for a function of the Communion. He cancelled a date for a joint meeting with Canadian and US bishops with no real excuse, and has made no effort to reschedule what could have been a fellowship-redeeming encounter. Our relationship to the one who is expected to be first in a world-wide college of bishops is distant, confused, and multiply-triangulated. We are ceaselessly told by those who would destroy our church that the ABC endorses this or that crudely divisive action or position. Questions to Lambeth on these occasions are sometimes met with si lence and sometimes with stunning equivocation. This distance, confusion, and triangulation ought not to be. One of the basics of episcopal - or parish - pastoral care is that one gets with and stays as close as possible to those who may be seen to be problematic. The Pope went to Turkey. Can the Archbishop of Canterbury not come to meet us just once at a regular or special meeting in any city he would care to name? A very highly-placed COE figure told me personally last September that he thinks Rowan has been "badly advised" in what this person admitted was callous treatment of the US and Canadian churches. I rejoice in the hint that Rowan may wish have an authentic connection with us, but I cannot accept that report of bad advice as sufficient mitigation: as a bishop I alone am responsible for my actions. I connect with my churches not with my words as much as by being among them. Leaders are leaders because they show up when it is not pleasant to do so. All of this said, it seems necessary to report my perception that the nadir in Rowan's overall relationship to the US, Canada and perhaps South Africa has been the appointment of a virtual lynch mob to draft the Covenant that will by all reports attempt turn a fellowship into a curial bureaucracy in which the worst elements of the great and oppressive Colonizer and of the Resentful Colonized will as meet as a scissors to the denigration of significant number of God's people who were almost equal in Christ for one brief shining moment. Are North America, South Africa and many other parts of the Communion (not to mention "much cattle") of such little value in the grand scheme? Does anyone think that the COE itself will not split if a continent and a half are among those permitted to be set adrift? So we must always talk about him, not to or with him. Like so many of you, I have been disheartened by the succession of "second gentlemen" from the COE who have addressed our House in Rowan's stead while over-insisting that that they were not at all doing so. No bishop of the left, right, or center, was taken in, and our colleague from Missouri pointed this out on one occasion with deft words that the Sage of Hannibal, MO, himself would envy. Even our steadfastly bucolic local papers here in rustic Pennsylvania would not be deceived by such over-wrought protestations of mere coincidence or fortuitous invitation. By these speakers, one of whom just happened to have a specific list of a dozen or so things we had to do, all but the most anxious of us have been inevitably alienated. How can it help bonds of affection for Communion leadership to so overtly and maladroitly play us for chumps? There is a kind of contempt for our intellect there whose sting almost matches the pain o f the overall strategy of isolation. Having now had three successive messages delivered to us by what some UK friends describe as "fully accredited members of the British Olympic Patronizing Team," I take this (perhaps not entirely welcome to her) opportunity to thank Katharine for her outstanding integrity and clarity of focus since her election, and accordingly to urge her that no foreign bishop whatsoever be given the privilege of addressing the House of Bishops of this Church until the ABC can personally enter this country and speak to the House himself and deign to entertain the level of frank questioning that his counterpart the Prime Minister might have to endure among those he leads and serves. We all do get cable news and know what the wonderful British tradition of questioning in the house can helpfully add to common life. As I began, I end. My text is Paul's reminder to Peter that he USED to eat with Gentiles until he found it unhelpful to his plan for the church. After decades of close fellowship, Rowan has steadfastly chosen the comfortable path of being Peter when we need Paul, and unless he can make an overwhelming Gospel case for it, I cannot help but anticipate that he will be remembered as having chosen a path that was not courageous or well-defined and actually fostered schism. I cannot now imagine what it will take for him in the long run to re-create good relations with the US and Canadian houses, but hope that the effort will be made should we somehow be allowed to remain in communion. For now, I call on our own amazingly composed and delightful Leader to require heightened integrity on ABC's part and to remind him that without _pares_ there is no _primus_ _inter_ which he may by any significant sense claim to preside. I do not, cannot, ask the ABC to agree with us: we are a body of bishops who hold many views and we could be wrong about any number of our positions and actions. I do not ask that he endorse the actions of this Church, even if they can claim that they were to some extent his idea. He doesn't have to receive communion. He doesn't have to eat or hang out with us. He certainly ought to meet us face to face and accept accountability for his breath-taking words and actions us-wards. He needs above all to square what he has said and done in terms of congruence with what we can know of the ministry of the fleshly Messiah. No more messengers; no more cell phone calls to defeat the integrity of this Church's polity. If Rowan really believes what the Lambeth press office says he believes about us, it is past time for him to say it to our faces, and have the goodness to listen to the response of those who have to live with the results of his choices. This would be, I believe, fair play and look very more like the New Testament. Reluctantly yours, Paul Marshall Bishop of Bethlehem ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:55:16 -0500 From: David Virtue Subject: MEMPHIS, TN: Churches request Anglican diocese, bishop MEMPHIS, TN: Churches request Anglican diocese, bishop Many seeking conservative alternative to Episcopal faith By David Waters The Commercial Appeal January 15, 2007 http://tinyurl.com/yyq9gv January 15, 2007 Delegates from a dozen churches in Memphis and across the South will ask the Anglican Church of Kenya to form a diocese and appoint a bishop for them in America. The unprecedented request was given to Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of Kenya, who was in Memphis over the weekend for meetings and services hosted by St. Peter's Anglican Church in East Memphis. The archbishop said he will discuss the request with worldwide Anglican leaders in February and he hopes to have an answer by April. "We must go slowly and assure that in every step we are giving honor and glory to God," Nzimbi told delegates from Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, North Carolina and Missouri. St. Peter's is one of 18 U.S. churches that have affiliated with the Anglican Church of Kenya, joining a growing nationwide movement to establish a conservative alternative to the Episcopal Church. All Saints Anglican in Jackson, Tenn., is another. In recent years, dozens of other congregations across the country have cut their ties to the Episcopal Church and affiliated with more conservative Anglican communions in Africa, Asia or South America. The exodus began in 2003 when Episcopal bishops consecrated an openly gay bishop. That year, Faith Anglican Church of Memphis joined the Nigerian-based Anglican Mission in America, which includes more than 100 U.S. congregations. With 2.5 million members, the Kenyan church is the fifth largest branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, a bit larger than the Episcopal (U.S.) branch. So far, all of the Kenyan Church's 29 dioceses and more than 40 bishops are in Kenya. The formation of the first American diocese would include the appointment of the first American bishop and could encourage more Episcopalians to leave the fold and join the U.S. Anglican movement. "Our goal is for the Episcopal Church to sort of see the error of its ways and reunite with all of us," said Rev. Steve Carpenter, a former Episcopal priest and now associate pastor of St. Peter's. "But if that doesn't happen, the goal is to establish a single Anglican communion in America. Right now, all of us who have joined the Anglican movement are sort of free-floating. Establishing an Anglican diocese with a bishop here in America would give all of us a new home." The Anglicans who met in Memphis said they feel more spiritual kinship with their Anglican brothers 8,000 miles away than they do with their Episcopal cousins next door. "This isn't just about homosexuality or same-sex unions. This is about the authority of Scripture," said Jeff Garrety, a member of All Saints Anglican Church in Jackson. "The Episcopal Church and its leaders have diminished that authority." Nzimbi cautioned the U.S. delegates not to expect too much too soon. The next step might be to form an American deanery, a less formal collection of parishes, which could grow into a larger diocese headed by a bishop. Meantime, he asked delegates to be patient. "We are here to say we stand with you, we encourage you, and we love you," Nzimbi said. END ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:56:16 -0500 From: David Virtue Subject: Presiding Bishop: "The church in most places is healthy and vital" Presiding Bishop: "The church in most places is healthy and vital" Laura Lynn Brown interview Katharine Jefferts Schori, TEC Presiding Bishop 1/12/2007 The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, visited Arkansas, presiding over the consecration of the Right Rev. Larry Benfield as bishop of Arkansas on Saturday. She also preached in Pine Bluff at a joint service Sunday uniting two parishes -- one conservative and one liberal. Laura Lynn Brown of the (Little Rock) Arkansas Democrat-Gazette interviewed Jefferts Schori. While the media focuses on the denomination's declining attendance (down 8.3 percent between 2001 and 2005), Jefferts-Schori said they're not telling the whole story. "The church in most places is healthy and vital and doing good and creative ministry. And that's not the kind of story that sells newspapers. But it's real. The church is thriving in so many places. And yes, there's some conflict, but it's a very tiny piece of the whole," she said. In the interview, Jefferts Schori also said she can "affirm" Jesus' statement: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." But she does so with caveats. "I certainly don't disagree with that statement that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. But the way it's used is as a truth serum, or a touchstone: If you cannot repeat this statement, then you're not a faithful Christian or person of faith. I think Jesus as way - that's certainly what it means to be on a spiritual journey. It means to be in search of relationship with God. We understand Jesus as truth in the sense of being the wholeness of human expression. What does it mean to be wholly and fully and completely a human being? Jesus as life, again, an example of abundant life. We understand him as bringer of abundant life but also as exemplar. What does it mean to be both fully human and fully divine? Here we have the evidence in human form. So I'm impatient with the narrow understanding, but certainly welcoming of the broader understanding." Asked about the rest of Christ's declaration: "No man cometh unto to the father but by me," Jefferts Schori continued. "Again in its narrow construction, it tends to eliminate other possibilities. In its broader construction, yes, human beings come to relationship with God largely through their experience of holiness in other human beings. Through seeing God at work in other people's lives. In that sense, yes, I will affirm that statement. But not in the narrow sense, that people can only come to relationship with God through consciously believing in Jesus," she said. To read the entire interview, click below. http://www.biblebeltblogger.com/biblebelt/2007/01/presiding_bisho.html#more Religion editor Frank Lockwood's spirituality blog Frank Lockwood is the religion editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:57:16 -0500 From: David Virtue Subject: ATTLEBORO, MA: Kenyan archbishop and bishops to visit Attleboro ATTLEBORO, MA: Kenyan bishops to visit Attleboro BY GLORIA LaBOUNTY / SUN CHRONICLE STAFF January 13, 2007 http://tinyurl.com/t83xc Steve DuPlessie had just begun working full time as a teaching pastor at his church, Good News Bible Chapel in Attleboro, when he had a visit from another pastor who was looking for a temporary home. That pastor, the Rev. Paul Mwaniki, was a native of Kenya and was looking to start a new Anglican church in Attleboro as an offshoot of Kenyan churches that had been established in the Boston area. Although Anglicans and evangelical Christians follow different religious traditions, DuPlessie said he and Mwaniki immediately connected. Mwaniki, he said, introduced himself as a believer in Jesus Christ and in the Bible as the inspired and authoritative word of God. "We found we share a common faith," he said. "That's what unites us." Mwaniki was looking for worship space for his new parish, St. James African Anglican Church, and was looking for a conservative evangelical church to serve as host. DuPlessie, a long-time elder at Good News, took the request to the team of elders, who agreed to welcome the Anglican parish to their chapel. The members of St. James have now been holding Sunday services at Good News for more than a year, and celebrated their first anniversary in November with a service attended by visiting Anglican pastors from several states. Next Sunday, they will host three of their bishops - Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of the Anglican Church of Kenya, Bishop Gideon Githiga of the Diocese of Thika in Kenya, and Bishop Timothy Ranji of the Diocese of Mt. Kenya South - in a special service at 2 p.m. Mwaniki, who lives in Attleboro, is currently visiting Kenya and is scheduled to return on Jan. 18 to host the visiting bishops, who are coming to check on the newly planted churches in this country. In the time that the Kenyan church has been at Good News, the two congregations have come together at times for fellowship, choir exchanges and other events, but each church holds its own services on Sundays. St. James worships in the chapel at 10:45 a.m., a time when Good News is holding its service in the gymnasium. Similarities, differences While their theologies are similar, their style and structure is not. St. James is part of the global Anglican Communion, and its services are liturgical and upbeat, while Good News is independent and non-denominational, with a worship style that DuPlessie said is very informal. Although the sharing of a building has worked out well for both Good News and St. James, it is not a permanent arrangement. According to DuPlessie, Mwaniki and his parish have been searching for a building and are hoping to eventually buy a church of their own in this area. St. James does have a lot in common with nearby All Saints Anglican Church, the former All Saints Episcopal Church that is in the process of splitting with the national Episcopal Church because of its liberal views, and aligning with conservative Anglicans worldwide through the bishop in Rwanda. Similar splits are occurring across the country. Although African bishops are supportive of conservative Anglicans in this country, local parishes such as St. James are trying to stay away from the controversy. The Rev. Lance Giuffrida, rector of All Saints, said he has met with Mwaniki, the pastor of St. James, but the two parishes, although both Anglican, are operating separately. Good News Bible Chapel is located at 235 West St., Attleboro. It can be reached at 508-226-2916. GLORIA LaBOUNTY can be reached at 508-236-0333 or at glabounty@thesunchronicle.com. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:58:17 -0500 From: David Virtue Subject: How Far Is Too Far: When Is It Time To Leave A Church? The Albert Mohler Radio Program January 12, 2007 Guest Host: Dr. Russell Moore Guests: Os Guinness, Rev. John Yates and Recent division in the ECUSA forces us to consider reasons to leave a church. The Falls Church, ECUSA, Os Guinness, Rev. John Yates, Judge Paul Pressler discuss the situation in The Episcopal Church today To listen to this broadcast click here: http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_show.php?cdate=2007-01-12 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:59:17 -0500 From: David Virtue Subject: KNOXVILLE, TN: Splinters of faith bind together as foundation for new church KNOXVILLE, TN: Splinters of faith bind together as foundation for new church By MILLETE BIRHANEMASKEL KnoxNews http://tinyurl.com/y9afsl January 13, 2007 A Rwandan coffee aroma wafting through the halls at Middlebrook Christian Ministries in Knoxville is the product of a peace effort in the East African country. In the United States, the sweet smells are an unpleasant reminder of turbulence among brethren in the Episcopal Church. The worldwide Anglican Communion's American branch is fighting an internal battle, which so far has cost more than one-third of its membership -- dropping from 3.5 million to 2.2 million -- in 30 years and caused some leaders to cry heresy at practices such as the consecration of an openly gay bishop in 2003. But to reduce the problem to one of homosexuality is wrong, said the Rev. Christopher Cairns, who leads a Knoxville congregation that recently broke away from Church of the Ascension Episcopal Church. After being "inhibited" -- or prevented from ministering in an Episcopal Church -- by the Diocese of East Tennessee, Cairns now operates under the authority of the archbishop of Rwanda. The Anglican Mission in America has been an answer to Cairns and other conservative Episcopal parishes throughout the country that feel the American church has deviated from Scripture. Cairns' decision to accept a pastoral role at the Anglican Mission of Knoxville was grueling and one not reached with any flippancy. "Leaving the historic faith of my fathers and mothers is tragic to me," Cairns said. Anglican Mission in Knoxville Cairns is not being facetious when he ties his lineage and the Episcopal Church to the first European boats to land on American shores. The Episcopal Church descends from the Church of England. And his great-great-uncle was the architect of St. Mary's Cathedral in Memphis; his great-great-grandfather's brother was founding rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbus, Ohio; his great-great-great-aunt founded St. Mary's Convent at Sewanee University. Cairns' father was in the military, and both of his parents were a shining example of their faith, he said. Cairns recalls when he was a small child and his family took in an immigrant Vietnamese family. "Before I ever read it in Scripture -- Take care of the stranger in your land -- it was something my parents did," Cairns said. It was during Cairns' last year at Sewanee, majoring in Third World studies, that, as he describes it, his intellectual life and spiritual life met. The Episcopal Church and its history of fighting injustice was a natural fit for Cairns, who was concerned with hunger in the Third World. He went on to Virginia Theological Seminary but felt he was met with injustice. He said he discovered a hostile groupthink mentality whereby it was difficult to raise objections or ask questions from a conservative standpoint without feeling like a pariah. Cairns' dissidence with the groupthink mentality was only strengthened as he worked in a variety of churches that swung from conservative to liberal. He spent some time at The Falls Church in Fairfax, which also recently realigned with an African province. In May 2006, he was ordained an Episcopal deacon and served on staff at Church of the Ascension in Knoxville -- known for having a congregation that represented all views. But the dynamics were changing as more-conservative congregants left the church, upset with being fed a scriptural interpretation they didn't agree with. A few months after a large split this past summer, Cairns began the process to join under the archbishop of Rwanda, the Rev. Emmanuel Kolini. But the bishop of East Tennessee, the Rev. Charles vonRosenberg, refused to write Cairns a letter saying he was a deacon in good standing. Instead, vonRosenberg inhibited Cairns, forbidding him from ministering in an Episcopal Church. Kolini would still accept Cairns and later ordain him a priest. "What made it much more difficult for me and the bishop of East Tennessee is we like each other. I love and respect the man," Cairns said. Cairns is the first clergy to be inhibited by the diocese in vonRosenberg's tenure of eight years but not the first to feel shut out by it. A group in Chattanooga asked to set up a church for more traditionalists but said vonRosenberg refused to recognize them. The group -- the Anglican Church of the Redeemer -- also now affiliates under Rwanda. VonRosenberg acknowledges the diocese has lost membership in recent years, but he also says the church has gained membership as well. The diversity of the church has always been one of its biggest draws. A variety of viewpoints are represented, vonRosenberg said. Any decisions the church has made were in line with its canons and followed historic procedures that have governed the church from its origins, vonRosenberg said. "I am sad about what has caused people to leave the Episcopal Church, but we continue as the Episcopal Church inclusively and (with) respect for a people of a variety of points of view, and that's something we are not going to give up. Those who are uncomfortable with that sense of freedom or whatever has made them uncomfortable, I wish them well with their spiritual journey," he said. African archbishops 'primitive' The break-offs in East Tennessee are not out of line with what is happening with the Episcopal Church, USA. The Anglican Mission in America was formed in 2000 after bishops of the American Anglican Council made a direct appeal for intervention, according to the Anglican Mission Web site. The concerns were a declining membership and a battle of "competing visions, which are in conflict over the very essence of the Gospel itself." Kolini, among others, answered the call, focusing on reaching 130 million unchurched Americans and creating a means for churches to be "fully Anglican." So far, more than 100 churches nationwide have joined the Anglican Mission under Rwanda and four American bishops. That number doesn't include churches such as the Truro and The Falls in Virginia, which are under the Anglican Province of Nigeria. Nine provinces, including Rwanda and Nigeria, have missions in America. VonRosenberg said the archbishops of these provinces are working outside of their jurisdictions. The archbishop of Canterbury "does not recognize these crossings of jurisdictions," vonRosenberg said. "The ones making these decisions and separating, claiming to be Anglican, are not actually recognized by the one who is head of the Anglican Communion." Bishop T.J. Johnston, an American who oversees 38 churches under Rwanda, including Knoxville's church, argues the opposite. "There is a massive realignment taking place with the Anglican Communion at large," Johnston said. "They (the Episcopal Church) have moved so far away, if any group is not recognized it's the Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church is on probation with the Communion." Another criticism of the mostly African archbishops is that they come from primitive cultures and primitive thinking. Johnston, who has heard this criticism before, said he knows African bishops who speak eight languages and who have given more authority to Scripture than leaders from countries who brought Christianity to them. Cairns said, "I would rather stand with Africans and Latin Americans and Asians who represent the content of the historic faith that we have all vowed in our ordination vows to continue with." Beyond homosexuality The consecration of the Rev. Gene Robinson in 2003 opened Pandora's box. But it only escalated a detachment that had begun years prior, Cairns said. In the 1960s, James Pike, an American bishop, Walter Righter, denied the virginity of Mary and the resurrection of Christ. Later, Bishop John Selby Spong did the same. Other disputes were about the ordination of women and using Elizabethan language in the Book of Common Prayer. Sometimes, the discord was inappropriate, Cairns said, such as that which stemmed from the church's involvement in the civil-rights movement. Other times, people lost faith because their leadership lost faith in the gospel, Johnston said. With the exception of a few, "Seminaries have taken the approach that Scripture is one voice among many in defining truth." So as pleas from throughout the Anglican world -- most recently for the Episcopal Church to slow down on issues surrounding homosexuality -- continued to fall on deaf ears, people such as Johnston and Cairns took heed. "Suddenly the church I was expecting to serve was not the one I signed up to serve," Cairns said. "I can't share this trajectory." So Cairns now sits in his office with a dry-erase board marked with notes on church planting. Membership has grown enough -- to about 100 -- to warrant a permanent structure and name. Until that happens, he shares a building at Middlebrook Christian Ministries with three other faith groups -- a pot of coffee brewing. The tribes of Rwanda who once engaged in genocide against one another now work side by side like brothers in the coffee fields. Cairns is convinced he made the right choice but remains conflicted because of the relationships severed with people he still considers brothers such as vonRosenberg. "I don't put myself in the category of prophets or martyrs and saints," Cairns said. "But at the same time, show me Christian discipleship without a cost." Copyright 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:00:18 -0500 From: David Virtue Subject: FLINT, MICHIGAN: New head of Episcopal diocese sees need for change FLINT, MICHIGAN: New head of Episcopal diocese sees need for change By George Jaksa The Flint Journal January 13, 2007 gjaksa@flintjournal.com FLINT - It was raining steadily Sunday afternoon as Bishop S. Todd Ousley stood outside the door of St. Paul's Episcopal Church to follow an ancient custom for his investiture. Following a prepared text, the new bishop knocked loudly three times. As the door was opened, Ousley said: "Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter them and give thanks to the Lord." The gesture signaled the beginning of a 45-minute ritual in which Ousley, 45, formally became head of the 10,000-member Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Michigan, which stretches roughly from Holly to the Mackinac Bridge. The same investiture service was held Jan. 6 at St. Francis' Episcopal Church in Grayling. Retiring Bishop Edwin Leidel, who had headed the diocese since it was formed 12 years ago, attended the Flint service to hand Ousley his pastoral staff, a symbol of the office of bishop. Leidel, 68, retired Dec. 31, opening the way for Ousley to take over leadership of a diocese that has seen controversy over the ordination of openly gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire and the ordination of women. In a homily before about 150 people, Ousley said - like a traveler avoiding congested traffic, construction bottlenecks or roadblocks of any sort - he must be imaginative and find another way. "This diocese was born as a dream of being a church in a radically different way - a way that breaks down the barriers between clergy and laity, between bishops and congregations, between north and south and east and west," he said in prepared remarks. "The dream continues, but this new way of being, this new order threatens the old ways and the old order." Rectors of Episcopalian churches in Owosso, Flushing, Davison Township and Lapeer quit their posts after the Robinson ordination last September. Another from Clayton Township was ousted from the diocese. Soon after he was ordained Sept. 9, Ousley said he would welcome back priests and people who left the Episcopal Church over Robinson's ordination, which he supported. Before becoming bishop, Ousley, a Texan, was missioner for congregational development and clergy deployment for the diocese. "As we embark upon this new stage in our diocesan journey, may we be emboldened by the gift of the magi, the gift of continued imagination, openness and vulnerability, and a willingness to risk," said Ousley referring to the biblical story of the magi following a star to pay homage to the new-born Christ child. Two of Ousley's three sons participated in the service presided over by the Rev. Martin Field, rector of St. Paul's and dean of the Flint River Convocation of the Saginaw Diocese; the Rev. Elsa Pressentin, rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Otter Lake, St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Bad Axe, and dean of the Saginaw Valley Convocation; and the Rev. Glenn Stone, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in St. Clair, and dean of the Blue Water Convocation. The Rev. Vause Carlsen, a deacon at Trinity Episcopal Church in Flushing, was lector. http://tinyurl.com/y4akwh END ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:01:18 -0500 From: David Virtue Subject: UTAH: St. John's alliance with AMiA 'fit the bill' UTAH: St. John's alliance with AMiA 'fit the bill' By Jessica Ravitz The Salt Lake Tribune Salt Lake Tribune 1/12/2007 http://tinyurl.com/wqmw4 St. John's Anglican Church, a congregation established in May 2004 by former Episcopalians, announced Thursday its formal alliance with the evangelical Anglican Mission in America. The decision makes the group, which meets weekly at Park City Academy, Utah's first AMiA affiliate. "We were looking for an authentic path in the Anglican world that we could join, whose goal was the same as ours," says the Rev. Christopher Seddon of St. John's. The organization's mission, one rooted in outreach to the unchurched and strict adherence to scripture, "fit the bill in so many ways." AMiA, founded in 2000 and based in South Carolina, is an offshoot missionary movement of the Anglican Province of Rwanda. It currently has more than 14,000 members, 95 affiliated parishes and a new church coming on board every three weeks, the organization's spokeswoman, Cynthia Brust, reports. The growth of AMiA stems from what Brust describes as "a crisis of faith and leadership. . .one that's been developing for over 40 years." Both she and Seddon are adamant that splits from the Episcopal Church - the worldwide Anglican Communion's official American branch - are not just about the 2003 election of New Hampshire's openly gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson. Nor are such decisions mere objections to last year's ground-breaking election of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first woman to serve in this capacity in the nearly 520-year history of Anglicanism. It's about theology, about how one views and accepts scripture. In Seddon's world, and among his congregants, scripture is not something to be interpreted, something to be influenced by modernity. "We see scripture as truly the word of God," Seddon, 50, says. "God is unchangeable." The lawyer-turned-priest, originally from England, came to Utah a year and a half ago. He inherited a group of about 20 who had broken away, in 2004, from Park City's St. Luke's Episcopal Church. Today, he says, St. John's members exceed 90. St. Luke's priest, the Rev. Charles Robinson, arrived in 2004 and says by the time he got to the Park City church the polarization was too deep and the opportunity for internal healing shot. He explains the difference between his viewpoint and that of Seddon's as a clash between "modern approach" and "traditional approach." Robinson's church, which has about 300 members, allows for "historical criticism" and takes into account evolving scholarship. "The question is, will we acknowledge the scholarship of the last 150 years, or will we reject it and say 'those scholars, what the hell do they know?' " Robinson, 52, says and laughs. Seddon and Robinson may not see eye-to-eye on these matters, but they refuse to fuel divisions and harp on negativity. In fact, the two lunch together regularly. "We are poles apart, and we don't pretend otherwise," Seddon explains. "But that doesn't mean we can't share fellowship." -- JESSICA RAVITZ can be reached at jravitz@sltrib.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:02:18 -0500 From: David Virtue Subject: CALIFORNIA: South Carolina Bishop Elect Postpones Consecration CALIFORNIA: South Carolina Bishop Elect Postpones Consecration Dear Friends at St. Paul's January 12, 2007 Since our move to Charleston has been twice postponed, and most recently, postponed without a departure date in mind, many parishioners may wonder what is happening with my election as Bishop of South Carolina. It is clear at this point that I will not be consecrated on February 24th. I know this will cause problems for many of you who have scheduled flights and lodging. It saddens me that your plans have been disrupted. This delay has also affected the vestry's ability to plan for the future. But since you are in a parish whose rector has been thrust into the center of a national and, even, international debate within the Anglican Communion, this is a difficult path we shall share for a season. In a way it is an honor to walk this way with our Lord, if, indeed, it proves to issue in the common good of the Church. We know our Lord desires good to come from this. So let me try to explain in an evenhanded manner what is unfolding. When someone is elected as a bishop in The Episcopal Church, he is elected by and for a diocese. While this process may differ slightly from one diocese to another, it usually consists of a procedure made up of clergy and laypersons. Every parish in the diocese has delegates that are sent as representatives to the electing convention. The clergy in the diocese also participate in the election. Various candidates are put forward by the diocese. Usually a candidate must get a majority of votes from both the lay delegates and the resident clergy in order to be elected. It often takes several ballots before a candidate gets a majority in both the lay and clerical orders. When it is noted that South Carolina elected me as their bishop on the first ballot, it means that I got at least a majority in both orders on the first vote. The process of election however does not end with this vote. Since a bishop is elected not only for a diocese, but also for the larger Church, there is a national consent process which is guided by the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church (TEC). A majority of diocesan bishops and diocesan Standing Committees throughout the Church must therefore grant consent to any election held by a diocese. This is usually given without much fanfare or controversy. In fact many have argued in the past that this is merely a matter of certifying that proper canonical procedures were followed. (This was a mantra heard often during the General Convention process when Gene Robinson's election was confirmed.) Frankly, I didn't accept this argument then, nor do I believe it should be applicable in my case. I do suspect, however, that some have changed their position regarding this matter as it applies to me-holding one opinion when it applied to a bishop-elect who held their position on issues, and quite another now. I shall leave that, however, to their consciences. They must live with themselves as I must live with myself. As it has been said, there's no pillow so soft as a clear conscience. It may help you to understand the present situation by knowing that shortly after my election an advocacy group in the Church sent a mailing to every bishop and diocesan Standing Committee. This group misrepresented several of my written statements and attributed intentions to me that I did not have. Once this group's mailing muddied the water it has been difficult to settle the pond. Certainly I have advocated rethinking how we do business in The Episcopal Church and the broader Anglican Communion as we step more completely into the 21st Century. This very thing is implicit in the Windsor Report. Along with this, I have held uncompromisingly to the position that TEC acted inappropriately towards historic Christianity and the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as the teaching of The Episcopal Church, when the Presiding Bishop and others consecrated Canon Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire. This also isn't anything the Archbishop of Canterbury and the collective gathering of Primates in the Communion haven't suggested. Yet even without this group's political interference there may still have been problems. This is because some Standing Committees have objected to South Carolina's request for Alternative Primatial Oversight (APO). I defended this request because, after the General Convention in 2006, I thought many within the Church needed both pastoral space and theological differentiation if we were to remain Anglicans, as well as Episcopalians. Others fear I will lead the diocese out of TEC, or will not work hard enough to keep the diocese from leaving the "national" Church or "denomination." My nuanced statements distancing myself from these fears have not been sufficiently calming for some. Why haven't I assured the disconcerted more categorically? We are in a profound time of transition within the Anglican Communion-a time when important questions regarding the nature of the Church are being asked and need answers sufficient for this era in which we find ourselves-the Windsor Report is the ultimate validation of this position. I want to be a part of answering these questions in a responsible manner that doesn't truncate the discussion by taking refuge in narrow approaches. The ecclesial questions prompted by the present crisis will clearly not be resolved by disregarding the "bonds of affection" within the worldwide Communion. My adherence to this has caused some to question my loyalty to the Church, even though I have neither taught nor acted contrary to the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Episcopal Church for the past 26 years. Then, there is the fact that some dislike my traditional theological convictions regarding the Scriptures, Creeds, and liturgy, especially in that I hold these traditional beliefs with a willingness to rethink the way The Episcopal Church has functioned ecclesiastically within the larger Anglican Communion. This too is nothing more than is requested by the Windsor Report. I am conservative towards the essential doctrine and discipline of the Faith, yet progressive in regard to how the Church needs to change if it is to live out its calling in this age of globalism. Frankly, I find it ironic that those of my generation who were so quick to trumpet the need for non-conformity when they were opposed to the "establishment" are most ungracious towards those whom they think do not conform now that they are holding the reigns of power. It gets harder not to come to the sad conclusion that inclusivity in this "faith community" is becoming more narrowly defined by an exclusivistic agenda. Towards this agenda I am now cast in the role of protesting against the rising tide of dubious conformity-a conformity which, at least in the mind of some, will not be brooked. All of this is to say I will be with you here at St. Paul's until this controversy is resolved. (Dare we hope for an Easter resolution?) I trust it will be resolved in God's time and in a way our Lord Jesus Christ will be honored and his church strengthened. I ask you all to pray for the Diocese of South Carolina. I am assured almost daily that they are praying for us. Yours in Christ, The Rev. Mark J. Lawrence (Rector) St. Paul's Bakersfield, CA FROM TEH DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA Announcement Regarding Bishop-elect Mark Lawrence's Consecration Date Due to the fact that the expiration date for the consent process is not until March 9, 2007, the tentative consecration date of February 24, 2007, for Bishop-elect Mark Lawrence has been postponed until after Easter. This deferment is necessary because of unanticipated delays in the mailing of the Consent Requests to Diocesan Bishops and Standing Committees which did not occur until the second week of November, 2006. We look forward to setting a date certain for Fr. Lawrence's consecration in the near future after consultation with the Presiding Bishop's Office of The Episcopal Church. The Rev. J. Haden McCormick President of the Standing Committee Diocese of South Carolina http://www.dioceseofsc.org/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:03:18 -0500 From: David Virtue Subject: AAC President Transfers Canonical Residency to Anglican Church of Nigeria AAC President Transfers Canonical Residency to Anglican Church of Nigeria AAC Press release 1/12/2007 The Rev. Canon David C. Anderson, President and CEO of the American Anglican Council, recently announced that he has transferred his canonical residency from The Episcopal Church (TEC) of the United States to the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), the U.S. missionary branch of the Anglican Church of Nigeria. The switch, which places Canon Anderson under the oversight of Bishop Martyn Minns, was made Nov. 1, 2006. A lifelong Episcopalian, Canon Anderson served approximately 35 years in ordained ministry in TEC, including service in the dioceses of Washington, D.C.; Montana; Wyoming; South Dakota; Los Angeles; and Springfield. He retired in 2002 from St. James Church, Newport Beach, Calif., where he served for 16 years as the parish's rector. Canon Anderson's decision to move to CANA stems from the growing severity of the theological crisis in The Episcopal Church nationally, which has become, in many places, hostile toward biblical orthodoxy and apostate in belief and practice. In addition to orthodox clergy, hundreds of churches and more than a third of the denomination's members have been driven from the church over the past four decades as the church has persisted in its refusal to repent and return to the faith once delivered. "For nearly 20 years, I worked to reform and renew the Episcopal Church," Canon Anderson said. "Since my retirement from active parish ministry and during my work over the past six years with the AAC, I have watched with sadness as the orthodox church of my childhood has disappeared from the landscape. "Over the past year, I came to realize that TEC was not turning back and that it was time for me to chart my course with the majority of the Anglican Communion," he continued. "The hope of the future of North American Anglicanism lies with the global Anglican Communion and, more specifically, the Global South Primates, who robustly live out the Christian faith in the Anglican model. I am blessed and honored to become part of a church that is excited about sharing the truth of Jesus Christ with others and seeing the church grow, and that is guided by the godly and courageous leadership of Archbishop Peter Akinola." In speaking of his departure from TEC, Canon Anderson said, "I give thanks for the faithfulness of the Network bishops still in The Episcopal Church, and especially for Bishops Peter Beckwith and Robert Duncan, but it was time for me to move." The AAC's work with churches both within and outside of TEC, including those in the midst of departing TEC, will continue despite his move to CANA, Canon Anderson said. He emphasized the AAC's vision and hope for a "soon-to-be-united orthodox Anglican entity in North America," as well as the organization's ongoing desire to join together with other orthodox Christians to "defend the uncorrupted truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." END ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:04:18 -0500 From: David Virtue Subject: TEXAS:Pastor Of Historic Central Texas Church Arrested On Sexual Assault Warrant TEXAS: Pastor Of Historic Central Texas Church Arrested On Sexual Assault Warrants KWTX.COM January 11, 2007 LAMPASAS, TX-Jim Carlton Wooldridge, 61, the rector of the 123-year-old St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Lampasas, was free on bonds totaling $8,500 Thursday night after he was arrested earlier Thursday on warrants charging sexual assault and indecency with a child. A press release issued Thursday evening by the Lampasas Police Department says the arrest warrants issued earlier in the day by Justice of the Peace Andrew Garcia for Wooldridge and a second man, John Christian Wood, 20, of Lampasas, stemmed from an investigation of a report "that a juvenile had been sexually assaulted" in the city. Garcia issued two warrants charging sexual assault and a third charging indecency with a child naming Wooldridge and warrants charging sexual assault, indecency with a child and unlawful possession of a firearm naming Wood. Wood, police said, was arrested during a traffic stop just after 10 a.m. Thursday, after which he was also charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana. Wooldridge was arrested after he surrendered to Lampasas police just after 4 p.m. at the Lampasas County Jail. He was later released on bond. News Ten contacted Wooldridge by phone, but he said he had no statement. The Texas Rangers are assisting with the investigation, the police department said. http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/5169267.html Arrest Of Prominent Pastor Shocks Residents KWTX-TV News (January 12, 2007)-Lampasas residents were shocked Friday by news of the arrest of Jim Carlton Wooldridge, 61, the rector of the community's landmark St. Mary's Episcopal Church on warrants charging sexual assault and indecency with a child. Lampasas County Justice of the Peace Andrew Garcia issued arrest warrants Thursday for Wooldridge and a second man, John Christian Wood, 20, of Lampasas after an investigation of a report "that a juvenile had been sexually assaulted" in the city. Wood, police said, was arrested during a traffic stop just after 10 a.m. Thursday. Wooldridge was arrested after he surrendered to Lampasas police just after 4 p.m. Thursday at the Lampasas County Jail. He was later released on bond. Wooldridge was charged with two counts of sexual assault and one count of indecency with a child. Wood was charged with sexual assault, indecency with a child, unlawful possession of a firearm and misdemeanor possession of marijuana. The investigation that led to the arrests started on Dec. 1, officials said, after a juvenile confided in an adult who took the alleged victim to Lampasas police. Investigators declined Friday to reveal the juvenile's age or sex or to discuss specific allegations, but the affidavit submitted for the arrest warrants says the victim was a teenage boy who alleges he engaged in sexual acts over a period of more than a year in the church rectory and in vehicles during drives. The victim told investigators he was sometimes given money, according to the affidavit. Police said Wooldridge, who was suspended by his superiors during the investigation, lives in a residence attached to the church, which he shares with Wood. News Ten contacted Wooldridge by phone, but he said he had no statement. The Texas Rangers are assisting with the investigation, the police department said. END ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:05:18 -0500 From: David Virtue Subject: Mark Harris' Manifesto For Walking Apart: Part One - by Gary L'Hommedieu MARK HARRIS’ MANIFESTO FOR WALKING APART: Part One By Gary L'Hommedieu www.virtueonline.org 1/13/2007 “The continued participation of The Episcopal Church in the instrumentalities of the Anglican Communion is not essential to our continued faithfulness as a Christian body, nor is it the basis for our fellowship with other Churches in the Anglican Communion. We must not confuse the gift of fellowship for the vocation to which we are called.” (From “Enough: it is time to move on”, by the Rev. Canon Mark Harris, http://anglicanfuture.blogspot.com/2007/01/enough-it-is-time-to-move-on.html). Canon Harris’ recent manifesto (dated January 11) typifies the attitude of quiet resignation emerging from thoughtful circles within TEC. The title of his blog, “Enough: It Is Time to Move On” captures the essence of the moment, and his measured rhetoric models a “new tone” for the public persona of TEC. Harris’ blog, and others like it, reveal that The Episcopal Church realizes, more or less consciously, that she is walking apart from the Anglican Communion – indeed, from catholic Christianity as a whole. Harris strenuously objects to such insinuations, insisting “The Episcopal Church has not walked away or left the Anglican Communion,” but “we have participated fully in its life.” What he means by this, by his own examples, is that TEC has attended meetings and engaged in conversations and joint projects as part of an international consortium of “churches”. What he demonstrates is that the life of Communion and the catholic expression of the Gospel are purely symbolic after all. While Harris’ new tone strikes the reader initially as welcome and refreshing, the reader quickly recognizes a familiar self-pitying mode of self-justification. The author may be sincere in his desire to come clean before friend and foe alike, but his writing reveals more through the murkiness of his thought than through his exposition of a method and practice of ministry. I found myself agreeing with his one clear assertion: it’s time for the “churches” under the umbrella of TEC, each with its respective “vocation,” to move on. What is the substance of this article that speaks rather clearly, even if between the lines? What is so revealing about this recent Manifesto from the Episcopal mainstream? I would like to suggest a response in a series of three articles, this first one focusing on Canon Harris’ illustrative usage of the biblical word “church”. In what he admits is “a long piece” Harris uses the term “church” 90 times, 59 times simply as part of a title (as in The Episcopal Church or The Church of England). For the rest “church” is a word borrowed, not from the New Testament or even from post-Reformation Christendom, but from modern sociology: “church” as a type of human organization. There is one quasi-theological reference to The Episcopal Church as being “ordered as a missionary society,” but even this denotes a type of human society that happens to be religious. Of course there’s nothing unique in the usage of “church” as a sociological term. Each of the Reformation churches acknowledges its existence as a social organization, and in the modern era such social phenomena have legitimately been subjected to scientific analysis. What is striking is the utter absence of theological meaning in Harris’ use of the word. The word “church” in the New Testament, deriving from secular usage as “assembly”, is infused throughout the NT with theological meaning. Indeed “church” invariably elevates the human assembly particularly in its human aspect, and no time more than when the NT writers address its most mundane affairs. Whatever it denotes on the human level, “church” is always and foremost a supernatural organism, coterminous with the Body of the Risen Christ. It must be added that the term “Body of Christ” is taken literally in the NT, particularly by St. Paul (see 1 Cor 12:12). For him the church IS the body of Christ -- the Incarnation post-Pentecost. It is certainly not a religious metaphor, and it is anything but a concept from primitive social theory. It is this supernatural, spiritual connotation of the word “church” that later is carried by the word “catholic”, even before ambitious prelates envisioned “catholicism” in terms of global empire. After all, “there is ONE Body and ONE Spirit: ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptism”, even as there is “ONE God and Father of all.” In Harris’ usage “church” illustrates the method of studied imprecision characteristic of liberal Protestantism since the Second World War. He takes the purely sociological connotation of a “churchy” sounding word (which happens, conveniently, to echo the Bible) and makes this multi-layered juxtaposition the basis for his present theologizing. There’s an art to such cross-fertilization of disciplines. Now “church” takes on a luminous quality as a human institution, and becomes an appropriate setting for “redemptive” social experiments. The substance of the “redemption” invariably defaults to the categories of sociology: it is whatever observable short-term benefit falls to the person being “redeemed”. The very premise of his article, that TEC must above all be true to her unique “vocation”, further illustrates the theological sleight-of-hand that results from the manipulation of sociological categories that happen to be descriptive of religious organizations. Canon Harris insists that TEC has a unique quasi-biblical vocation in the United States. He traces this vocation historically from the earliest days of the American republic, when the new Church defined herself over against the mother Church of England. The fact that the American Church modeled her polity after the American constitutional form of government, over against the monarchical polity of the Old World, was a formative moment for the Protestant Episcopal Church USA. Harris is careful to link the English monarchical system with “patriarchy”, by which he means a hypothetical reactionary anti-feminism. His point is to justify the evolving system of TEC primarily through making negative associations. He knows his readers will have been well trained to fear such associations. Thus he knows from this point on his readers will be on the defensive themselves and not paying close attention to the finer points of argument. He can predict that they will likely capitulate to his premise out of fear for being labeled “patriarchal”, “sexist”, or worse. This is the passive-aggressive mode of discourse which has come to dominate the American political landscape in recent decades, and has gained respectability under the bookish sounding title of “post-modernism”. It is all-powerful against those who lack the strength of their convictions. For the purposes now of theologizing Harris has isolated the American Church from the historic thrust of the Christian gospel. He calls this “contextualizing”. Because each ministry location is unique in terms of its historical circumstances, it is therefore unattached and unaccountable to other times and places. Each unique context is then reformulated in terms of biblical concepts (or jargon), which are pressed into service to generate short-term benefits of “redemption” as described above. Any such result is taken as a self-justification for both the ministry and method that underlie it. After all, they appears to “work”. Harris is correct in identifying “contextual” analysis as basic to the missionary impulse of historic Christianity. But in isolating the American context from that of the catholic project over the centuries, he succeeds at best in affirming the notion that TEC now walks apart as a separate missionary enterprise. Rather than make such a bold admission, Harris, and those who share his method, claim to trump the accountability of Communion, which Drs. Ephraim Radner and Phil Turner have recently demonstrated to be the natural outgrowth of the NT notion of “church”. (See “The Fate of Communion”, Eerdmans, 2006) Here Canon Harris would object strenuously again, citing the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral as the “the basis on which union with other Christian bodies might be achieved”. Since the American House of Bishops are the original authors of that text, presumably the present House of Bishops act in their spirit and with their same authority. He fails to excerpt the following lengthy paragraph from the Quadrilateral which establishes the truly catholic “basis on which union with other Christian bodies achieved”, and which defines the actual context of the Quadrilateral itself: “…Furthermore, we do hereby affirm that the Christian unity can be restored only by the return of all Christian communions to the principles of unity exemplified by the undivided Catholic Church during the first ages of its existence, which principles we believe to be the substantial deposit of Christian Faith and Order committed by Christ and his Apostles to the Church unto the end of the world, and therefore incapable of compromise or surrender by those who have been ordained to be its stewards and trustees for the common and equal benefit of all men.” (See BCP 1979, p. 877.) What Canon Harris has demonstrated conclusively is that The Episcopal Church in its present practice has chosen to walk apart, principally and primarily, from itself. ---The Rev. Canon Gary L'Hommedieu is Canon for Pastoral Care at the Cathedral Church of Saint Luke, Orlando, Florida. He is a regular VOL columnist. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:06:19 -0500 From: David Virtue Subject: MARK HARRIS' MANIFESTO FOR WALKING APART: Part Two MARK HARRIS' MANIFESTO FOR WALKING APART: Part Two TEC's Adolescent Dread of Authority By J. Gary L'Hommedieu "The emergence of instruments for a magisterium and a patriarchy in the Anglican Communion are contrary to our understandings of our vocation and of union in its 'truest and deepest' sense." (Mark Harris, "Enough: it is time to move on", Jan. 11, 2007; http://anglicanfuture.blogspot.com/2007/01/enough-it-is-time-to-move-on.html) ******** Liberal Episcopalians are taking offense that TEC, at long last, is coming under heavy fire for its radical drift of the past several decades. The offense is such that some are thinking the unthinkable -- that "it's time to move on" without the Anglican Communion. More and more are acknowledging that TEC has already, to quote the Windsor Report, "chosen to walk apart". Some are in the throes of denial, but their noisy histrionics are ringing hollow. Canon Mark Harris of the Diocese of Delaware is more reserved in his role of company man putting on a brave face while the organization makes a stab at a new identity. "Eating crow" is not what Episcopalians are known for. Nor, for that matter, are they known for heartfelt acts of repentance, unless it's for the sins of somebody else in another century. In the life cycle of institutions, it's not yet time for Episcopal leadership to admit they were wrong. Indeed, they can still get plenty of mileage out of insisting everyone else is wrong. That is Canon Harris' apparent objective in his Jan. 11 blog, which I have dubbed a Manifesto for Walking Apart. In what appears as a quiet, reflective mood, he makes the case that The Episcopal Church, and in particular its hierarchy, are unfortunate victims. Because he makes his case in such thoughtful tones, one does not sense right away that he is playing a "victim card". But he is, of course. He starts right in complaining about "uninvited and unwelcome efforts to pressure The Episcopal Church", which has been woefully "encumbered" by "ecclesiastically 'foreign' intervention". This is not the voice of one buoyed up by the strength of his convictions. This is the voice of someone waking up in a much larger world than he'd dreamed, in which his own place and his own importance are uncertain. Harris' apologia is symptomatic of the Episcopal Church at a pivotal point in its history. A number of the ideas that have driven recent generations are here on display and worthy of examination. In my first article I commented on the concept of "church" typified in Harris' writing. In this present article I shall comment on the understanding of authority implicit in the same writing. What is noticeable right away is that the concept of authority does not appear at all except with the connotation of "authoritarian" - that is, as something negative. Authority is something bad in principle. Thus Harris illustrates "the adolescent dread" of authority typical of modern American culture and certainly of the Episcopal Church, the chaplain and cheerleader of that culture. Authority is anything that will tell me what to do; or perhaps -- since overt authority is construed exclusively in the negative - authority is anything that dares tell me I can't do whatever I damn well please. This last description of authority is consistent with the examples and the many complaints in Harris' article. Since he is not writing about authority per se, Harris does not use the word in his text. Nonetheless from his use of terms like "magisterium", "monarchy", and "patriarchy" a coherent picture of authority emerges. In spite of the controlled demeanor of his writing one detects a slur in his use of these words. Each has a well developed connotation as a negative, inflammatory term, and it is the latter connotation, derived from colloquial usage, that lends coherence to his thought. For example, in his introduction Harris refers to "organized structures of the Anglican Communion as if they are the voices of a magisterium or a patriarchy, having powers beyond that of recommendation". He might purportedly be arguing a simple matter of history: there is neither Pope nor Curia dictating policy nor doctrine in the Episcopal Church, nor in any of the Anglican Churches. Our Churches are governed, by contrast, by "powers of recommendation" under "bonds of affection". But to suggest that TEC's critics are putting on airs of infallibility, or imposing something other than the well known consensus of all the churches in every time and place, is plain distortion. What the "foreigners" are insisting upon is that TEC be accountable for her actions, like any group of adults living in community. It is at this point that TEC cries "foul". Harris is right about one thing: it is a unique moment in the history of the Anglican Communion. The Communion has never been faced before with one of its member Churches arrogating to itself the power to change doctrine. While TEC has argued that it has not changed "core doctrine" in its recent innovations, member Churches must, for the first time, decide if they agree; and if not, how they will respond. To call such a response "foreign intervention" or "imposing oppressive restrictions" is evidence of paranoia. Harris will recognize as legitimate only "powers of recommendation", which is to say only those "powers" which wield no real power at all. Such "powers" are strictly symbolic without any expectation of holding real people accountable. When questions are pressed beyond mere "matters for our deepest consideration" and become "mandates requiring our acquiescence", someone is "imposing oppressive restrictions" or "exercising lordship over others". And yet quiescence is precisely what Harris deems appropriate for others. Feeling betrayed he asks, why are the member Churches of the Anglican world speaking up now? TEC's affected radicalism is nothing new. Harris traces the present wave of controversy to the crisis surrounding women's ordination in the mid-70's. Here is where Harris' real belief in authority comes to light - the principle of "moral urgency". Harris defends TEC's unilateral action in ordaining women in an offhanded manner, as if the merit of the Church's action were self-evident: "Our decision to ordain women a decision taken as a matter of moral urgency in our own church." When a matter is deemed "urgent", then the action taken in response is self-authenticating. Such decisions are unassailable, or at least nobody else's business. What emerges is a coherent Baby Boomer doctrine of good and bad authority. "Bad authority" is anyone who wants to tell me what to do or hold me accountable for what I've done. "Good authority", by contrast, is what presses me "urgently" to keep in step with the pulse of the times and thereby assures me of my moral legitimacy, or at least my relevance. For the record I am aware that Mark Harris is not technically a Baby Boomer, having been born in 1940. The Baby Boomers represent a generation raised in a permissive affluent society. Two distinctions set them apart from earlier generations: first, money in their pockets, and second, time on their hands. Campus radicalism and popular culture came of age with this generation and assumed its name. Many who preceded the Boomers, including some of their parents, jumped on the cultural bandwagon that rolled out of this formative period. The Episcopal Church as a whole experienced its own cultural revival at this time. In Part Three of this series I will reflect on Mark Harris' gospel of deliverance from American shame and point out how such a gospel necessitates the Church as an adversarial society. ---The Rev. Canon J. Gary L'Hommedieu is Canon for Pastoral Care at the Cathedral Church of Saint Luke, Orlando, Florida. He is a regular VOL columnist. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:07:19 -0500 From: David Virtue Subject: "Let This Day Be Remembered" - by David Baumann "Let This Day Be Remembered" by David Baumann January 16, 2007 The Church of the Blessed Sacrament held its annual meeting on Sunday, January 14. During the course of the Rector's address, I said the following: On Sunday, December 10, I began an announcement by saying, "Let this day be remembered as the day I call the parish to a process of discernment regarding our place in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion." I said that at the Annual Meeting I would ask for volunteers who were interested in serving on a committee that would be charged with doing a careful, thorough, and informed discernment on the issues facing the Episcopal Church and the place of our parish in it. As Senior Warden Robert Bell said to me just a few days ago, "there is a storm coming. We need to decide whether we shall attempt to weather it or change course. But we can't ignore it." In recent years, I have taught repeatedly that "you don't change the faith, and you don't break the Church." Heresy and schism are both great wrongs-they always have been and always will be. But there is a storm coming. Indeed it has been blowing and growing for some time. As its intensity increases, I think that it is now beyond my ability and responsibility to decide alone what course we shall follow. There are many times in a parish family when the father decides, and is charged to do so and has authority to do so. But there are other times when the family must come together. I believe we have come to that time. Many in this parish are concerned and affected by what is confronting worldwide Anglicanism. Though we cannot ever regard schism as acceptable, when, beyond our control, the Church itself is poised to fragment, one must choose a home. The primates of the Anglican Communion will meet next month and quite possibly take action on the status of the Episcopal Church within the rest of Anglicanism, and that action may well include serious discipline to the point of some measure of removal. If we do nothing, then our individual members and families will decide on their own, and our parish leaders and I will have abdicated leadership and proper pastoral care. I know that there are some members who have been greatly alarmed and affected by recent events within the Episcopal Church; I ask all individuals and families to stay with us during this time of discernment. I realize that whatever decision the parish family comes to, it will likely not be unanimous, and that having raised the question, whatever happens the parish family will not be the same. I think this parish has only two options, though discernment may look more thoroughly at what we face. Those choices are either to stay where we are or realign with an emerging, redefined worldwide Anglicanism. This redefinition is already occurring within Anglicanism. Realignment may be very costly to us in a number of ways. I am well aware of the stresses this parish underwent in 1978 when a previous storm hit the Episcopal Church. Four parishes left the diocese at that time, and though this parish did not secede, half or more of its members did so. There are still many here that remember the stresses of that time. I do not raise the issue of discernment lightly. But having raised the issue, we need people to serve on a Discernment Committee. Are you called? What kind of person should be on the committee? We need our past, our roots, our history, our experience. We need people who have been members here for 30-50 years. We also need our future, our hope, our upcoming leaders. We need young people who call this parish their home. We need people who are open to the working of the Holy Spirit-that is, probably not those whose minds are already made up. One may certainly have a preference and even a firm commitment to one way or another, but discernment means seeking the will of God-not coming to the table with a mind already made up and hoping only to persuade others. For discernment to be genuine, I believe that we must involve others beyond ourselves in our process, including the Bishop or his representatives, and members of the Episcopal Church who differ from the convictions of the majority of our own members. We have enormous support in these quarters, and they have much of value to contribute. I think that the Episcopal Church is in crisis now mostly because people-on both sides of the divide-stopped listening to those who disagree with them. We are not facing the issues alone, and genuine discernment will not happen if we try to do it alone. We have always listened to others, and now is not the time to stop doing so. Some of those on the committee will need to do the research to get first-hand, verified information: documents, statements, guidance from others who are in leadership in the realignment. There need to be people on the committee who are versed in theology, especially in understanding the meaning of family-who realize that the Church is not merely a loose confederation of individuals but a communion, a bonded family, as was taken for granted in the days of the Apostles. We need people who know the Scriptures and can apply them to our situation. Indeed, the three young people who spoke at the forum on December 10 did an astonishingly good job of this. I suggest also that a special Lenten program be devised and offered to the entire parish to work alongside the Discernment Committee: Fr. Earle wants to offer a program on apologetics, and I want to offer a program on the nature of Church and the Catholic Faith as held within Anglicanism: we will address history, theology, the strengths and weaknesses of Anglicanism, its traditions of liturgical and personal spirituality, and its deliberative or decision-making structure both past and potential. Before we can decide where we live, we need to know who we are. I would charge the committee to reflect, discuss, pray, research, interview, consult. The work is to be done peacefully, without urgency, without acrimony, and not in secrecy. The charge and its conditions, as well as the membership of the committee, may be subject to refinement. The method I have in mind is deeper and more thorough than most, but not all, of such processes I am familiar with. At all times, they are to seek the will of God. The committee will eventually give us a thorough picture of what is going on within Anglicanism, what are our options, and perhaps make a recommendation with solid reasoning behind it. Perhaps they will go to the Vestry when their work is finished, and then the Vestry will call a special meeting of the parish family for a time of prayerful discernment and finally a decision to be made by consensus. Membership on this committee will likely be time-consuming but of critical importance. If you want to serve, let me know in any way that you want-just give it to me in writing. I want to have a working list of names by the end of this month. I will take counsel with our new Wardens, whoever they may be, to form the initial membership. It may be that not everyone who volunteers will be selected to serve, for I want to guarantee that we have a balance of membership and voices. The committee itself, once formed, will be given authority to chart its course, though I will reserve to myself certain givens. ---The Rev. David Baumann is the rector of Blessed Sacrament in Placentia, California, US. He was born and raised in the Episcopal Church and is a member of Forward in Faith and the Society of the Holy Cross. He has been Rector of Blessed Sacrament Church since October 1978. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:08:19 -0500 From: David Virtue Subject: Reflections on Moving Forward - by David C. Anderson Reflections on Moving Forward by The Rev'd Canon David C. Anderson A few months ago I made a decision that was life-changing for me, but before I share that, let me give you some background. Not that I actually remember it, but some 62 years ago I came into the world, born into a world that was still at war, and into a family separated in distance by the demands of that war. My father and mother had both joined the Episcopal Church in Albany, Ore.; and I was, when time permitted, baptized at the small local Episcopal church. I was raised in a Christian family and we always went to church together, even through my college years. I was confirmed as an adolescent at Ascension and St. Agnes Church in Washington, D.C., by Bishop Angus Dun, and late in my college years felt called to the priesthood. I attended Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) and was ordained deacon and priest by Bishop William F. Creighton of Washington, D.C. As a deacon, I served a curacy at Christ Church, Kensington, Md., and then, as a new priest, I was enticed to go to northeast Montana to take three churches at once. The Bishop of Montana, Jackson Gilliam, played on my youth, desire for advancement, and naivety, and said, "David, I know that you would like to be rector of your own church ... and if being rector of one church is good, being rector of three churches is three