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TRY TO IMAGINE
By Dr. Peter Moore
Special to Virtueonline
November 19, 2009
 It's 10:30 AM. Early morning classes are over. There's a break in the day. Students at this relatively small Midwestern college can bask in the unusual mid November sunshine, hit one of the coffee shops in the adjacent village, or - they can go to voluntary chapel and hear a woman speaker from a seminary somewhere in Minnesota.
Hope is located in Holland, Michigan - a small city settled very largely by Dutch immigrants of a few generations back. It has a noted tulip festival in the spring, and sports architecture reminiscent of Amsterdam. Nearby Grand Rapids is known as the hometown of Gerald Ford, Amway, and a lot of office furniture makers. It's also the location of Zondervan, Baker, and Eerdmans - large and influential Christian publishing houses that produce many excellent books
Hope College is not a fiercely Christian college, although it was founded by worthy members of the Dutch Reformed Church, now known as the RCA - Reformed Church in America. Like many other colleges with a denominational background, it now draws students from all branches of the Christian church, and none. It's faculty, while largely Christian in name, includes atheists as well as believers.
Two Fort Worth Bodies Tout New Unanimity
http://tinyurl.com/ylczrja
November 17, 2009
Now that the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth and the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth (Southern Cone) are separate entities, they are both reporting unanimous decisions by their respective legislative bodies. The decisions move the dioceses away from one another and toward their respective theological commitments.
The convention of the diocese remaining with the Episcopal Church voted unanimously Nov. 14 to:
* Call the Rt. Rev. Wallis C. Ohl as its next provisional bishop. Bishop Ohl succeeds the Rt. Rev. Edwin "Ted" Gulick, who has served as the provisional bishop for 10 months.
BETHLEHEM: Bishop gives permission for same-gender blessings
By Mary Frances Schjonberg,
November 17, 2009
Episcopal News Service
Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem Bishop Paul Marshall said Nov. 16 that he has established "interim measures" to allow clergy to bless same-gender relationships.
Marshall's letter to his clergy is available here. http://tinyurl.com/ydntsc2
"I am not generally broadcasting this decision yet (although I suspect the word will be quickly out) because it is up to the clergy of a place to decide if they are interested, and then to take it up within the parish system," Marshall wrote in his letter.
Appellate Court Stays Proceedings in Ft. Worth
by A.S. Haley
http://accurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2009/11/appellate-court-stays-proceedings-in-ft.html
November 17, 2009
The Court of Appeals for the Second District in Fort Worth, Texas has issued an order staying all further proceedings in the trial court in Tarrant County between Bishop Edward Gulick's rump "diocese" of Fort Worth and ECUSA, on the one side, and Bishop Jack L. Iker and his co-trustees of the Diocesan Corporation of Fort Worth on the other side. The order (which I expect will be posted shortly on the Diocese's Website) comes in response to a petition for writ of mandate filed by Bishop Iker's attorneys, following the order signed by Judge Chupp after the oral arguments I described in this post, followed by this post, and then this one. Although by no means a definitive indication of the Court of Appeal's sentiments in this matter, the order recites the following basis for its issuance:
SEWANEE: University of the South Regrettably Succumbs to Post-Modernism and Pansexuality - Part 1
University Elects Pro-Gay Bishop as Chancellor
Trustees Dump Ft. Worth Bishop's Orthodox Trustees
This is the first in a three-part series on the University of the South, the Episcopal Church's only university with a School of Theology as it transitions into the 21st Century.
Special Investigation and Exclusive Report
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
11/18/2009
 Sewanee: The University of the South, The Episcopal Church's only university with a School of Theology continues undergoing profound and troubling changes as it heads into the 21st Century - changes that most who love Sewanee know compromise both its historic and intellectual character as well as its theological integrity.
The campus, affectionately known as "The Mountain," is owned by the twenty-eight southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church. Its Sewanee School of Theology is an official seminary of the church. Known simply as Sewanee, the school has produced 25 Rhodes Scholars and was ranked 36th in the annual US News & World Report list of liberal arts colleges, having fallen in recent years from a high of 24th. Sewanee is a member of the Associated Colleges of the South.
The renaming of The University of the South to "Sewanee: The University of the South" in 2004 was an official attempt to recruit and retain more minority and non-Southern students. Most students and alumni were, and continue to be, offended by the "distancing" University from its historic association with the best of Southern culture.
WASHINGTON, DC: Catholic, Episcopal Bishops Clash Over Meaning of Marriage
News Analysis
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
11/17/2009
 The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington and the Episcopal Bishop of Washington are at odds over same-sex marriage.
Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl issued a Pastoral Message for Homosexual Catholics in the Archdiocese of Washington saying that of the many teachings of the Catholic Church, perhaps some of the most challenging for Catholics in today’s culture involve human sexuality, including homosexuality.
“Modern cultural pressures and assumptions are often at odds with the teachings of Christ handed down through the centuries. For some parishioners the issues are deeply personal. Living out the Church’s teaching can be a difficult challenge. Yet, no one needs to do this separated from the grace and love of the Church.
“It is important to affirm that the Catholic Church is and always will be welcoming of any person who seeks who seeks a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ….The Catechism of the Catholic Church upholds the human dignity of every person and condemns any form of unjust discrimination (2358).”
Muslim academics and students are turning against Darwin's theory
by Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
The Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6919413.ece
November 17, 2009
Muslims in many countries are increasingly rejecting Darwin's theory of evolution, under the influence of conservative elements in Islam, a science conference was told yesterday.
Nidhal Guessoum, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, told the conference, being held in Egypt by the British Council, that in too many places students and academics believed they had to make a "binary choice" between evolution and creationism, rather than understanding that one could believe both in God and in Darwin's theory.
Baiticum et Switchorum: Unspinning the new constitution
by Robert Hart
www.virtueonline.org
November 17, 2009
On a website of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) we find this report of Archbishop John Hepworth's address to the Forward in Faith people (with analysis):
The Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion addresses Forward in Faith. Here's a recap of what he said.
Archbishop Hepworth made a very successful speech praising the Holy Father's generosity, assuaging doubts and taking naysayers. He actively put the best possible face on the future for the delegates saying that they had be [sic] assured that they would be treated as Anglican Catholics, just as there are Roman, Ukranian, and Maronite Catholics--that while the ordinariates were not a rite, they looked an awfully lot like one. He said that they had been offered an ecclesial body for Anglicans that protects those crucial elements of spirituality, liturgy, theology, history, and discipline, that are part of the distinctive Anglican patrimony. He says that TAC national synods will be asked to begin voting their acceptance of the Holy Father's offer immediately.
LONDON: Archbishop backs higher taxes
By Daily Express Reporter
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/140810/Archbishop-backs-higher-taxes
November 17,2009
ARCHBISHOP of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams sparked fury yesterday by claiming higher taxes could be a way to create a better society.
His backing for new levies on financial transactions and carbon emissions enraged low tax campaigners.
Susie Squire, political director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "The Archbishop is showing yet again how out of touch he is with the British taxpaying public."
NEW YORK: Bishop Christopher Epting comments on the Vatican's Apostolic Constitution
November 16, 2009
Bishop Christopher Epting, Deputy for Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations of The Episcopal Church, has issued the following:
Now that the full text of the Vatican's "Apostolic Constitution" dealing with certain former Anglicans who wish to become Roman Catholics has been released, it is clear that what is being touted by some as an 'ecumenical gesture' may be understood as 'pastoral' but is not necessarily very ecumenical. Even though Cardinal Walter Kasper has now given one newspaper interview, there has otherwise been a noticeable silence on the part of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity on this matter. This appears to be a unilateral action on the part of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which flies in the face of the slow, but steady progress made in the real ecumenical dialogue of over forty years.
FT. WORTH: Appellate court issues stay in response to Mandamus filing
Stay buys time for Bishop Jack Iker
http://www.fwepiscopal.org/news/courtordersstay.html
Nov. 17, 2009
The Fort Worth Court of Appeals has ordered the suspension of further proceedings in a suit brought against the diocese last April. The stay was issued late on Monday, Nov. 16, in response to a Petition for Writ of Mandamus filed by the diocese on Friday, Nov. 13. The suit is pending before the 141st District Court. The Hon. John P. Chupp is the trial judge.
Monday's order, issued by the Court of Appeals for the Second District of Texas, says, "The court has considered relators' [the diocese's] petition for writ of madamus and motion for stay and is of the tentative opinion that relators are entitled to relief or that a serious question concerning the relief requires further consideration." The order sets a deadline of 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 30, for any response to be filed by parties of interest, who could include Judge Chupp and attorneys Jonathan Nelson and Kathleen Wells. The stay is in effect until the Court of Appeals issues a decision.
Cardinal Kasper says provision for Anglicans is not anti-ecumenical
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The establishment of special structures for Anglicans who want to enter into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church absolutely is not a signal of the end of ecumenical dialogue with the Anglican Communion, said the Vatican's chief ecumenist.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said the visit Nov. 19-22 of Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, primate of the Anglican Communion, to the Vatican "demonstrates that there has been no rupture and reaffirms our common desire to talk to one another at a historically important moment."
UK: REFORM Group Blasts Revision Committee on Women Bishops
Overlooked Evangelicals could move to alternative Anglican affiliations
by Paul Dawson
November 16, 2009
Reform regrets a 'lost opportunity for peace and unity' over Revision Committee's decision on Women Bishops
The decision of the General Synod's Revision Committee to back away from proposals to give opponents of women bishops a way of staying in the Church of England has "overturned the will of Synod, created the spectre of confrontation, and risks extending the controversy for another five years," according to the chairman of Reform, the Rev'd Rod Thomas.
LONDON: It's time for Dr Rowan Williams to square up to a rampant Rome
On Thursday, Dr Rowan Williams makes his own journey to see Pope Benedict in Rome Dr Williams must challenge the Pontiff over his raid on Anglo-Catholics
OPINION
By George Pitcher
The Telegraph
http://tinyurl.com/yhqu66m
November 16, 2009
I've lost count of the times I've been asked joshingly over the past couple of weeks whether I'm going over to Rome. I'd love to go to Rome, I reply, not least because my daughter has promised to buy me a Bellini in her favourite bar by the Pantheon. But there is about as much chance of me taking up the Vatican's offer of conversion to Roman Catholicism, under its new Apostolic Constitution, as there is of Pope Benedict XVI subsidising free condoms for Africa.
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