The life of discipleship is oscillating between rest in God, and fruitful action in the world; both undergirded by active, unhurried, worshipful, compassionate, sometimes agonized prayer. It constantly moves between the two poles of wonder at the sacrifice of Christ dealing with my sin and winning my forgiveness, and engaging sacrificially with others, enabled by the indwelling divine living presence. --- Andrew Symes of Anglican Mainstream

Prayer is a subversive means of freedom, at once consoling, engaging and efficacious throughout time and space. It has power, and that power holds, when everything else falls apart. --- Elizabeth Scalia

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
August 22, 2014

The Rt. Rev. Eric Menees, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin, announced his intention this week to continue the fight for the properties in his jurisdiction and will appeal the final judgment once the Fresno Superior Court Judge Donald Black signs it.

The Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church has ruled out a settlement and has refused to allow the provisional bishop of the rump San Joaquin group, the Rt. Rev. David Rice (a New Zealander who knows nothing of the court battles except what he is being told to do), to enter into negotiations to settle the longest-running legal dispute currently open between TEC and one of its dioceses. She told Bishop Rice that he could not negotiate to allow the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin, headed by the Rt. Rev. Eric Menees, to keep, or even to repurchase, the properties it already owns.

The judgment will direct the defendants to turn over all of the Diocesan bank accounts and real properties to Bishop Rice's corporation sole (an entity which the court also ruled had to remain with the rump group), because of his decision to defer to ECUSA's claim that dioceses are permanent members of General Convention, and may not withdraw unilaterally. In doing so, he accepted the rump group's position that his hands were tied by a single phrase in the Court of Appeal's 2010 decision in the case.

Menees' lawyers are hopeful that the Court of Appeals will set Judge Black straight on what they meant by the phrase in question, but it will take anywhere from 18 months to two years to find out which side read the decision correctly. In the meantime, the results from the Quincy and Fort Worth cases should establish precedents which could assist the Anglican Diocese's case on appeal, writes Allan Haley a constitutional lawyer.

The good news for Menees is that the longest running legal case (since 2008) will probably be decided long after she has left office. A new PB might even wish to settle with Menees. Meanwhile, the battle goes on.

If things are decided favorably in Ft. Worth and Quincy, Menees' case will look a lot stronger.

*****

You may recall the 223rd Diocesan Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina meeting at Christ Church in Mt. Pleasant on March 14-15, 2014, which unanimously accepted the offer of the Global South Primates Steering Committee for Provisional Primatial Oversight.

That became a reality this week. Bishop Mark Lawrence got a letter from the Global South Primatial Steering Committee saying they have accepted his request for this relationship. "I trust you will be heartened as I have been by their welcome of us...as an active and faithful member within the Global South of the Anglican Communion, until such time as a permanent primatial affiliation can be found. It is my joy to share it with you," wrote Lawrence to his diocese.

If he finally wins the property battles, and that seems certain, the rump Episcopal diocese under Bishop Charles von Rosenberg could well be history in a decade.

*****

Another historic Episcopal parish went on the chopping block this week in the Diocese of Connecticut. Bishop Ian Douglas sold off the landmark Bishop Seabury Church to an independent evangelical Baptist church after a long drawn out legal battle with former rector Fr. Ron Gauss. The property, valued at $3 million, went to Stedfast Baptist Church after the diocese couldn't find a good social or spiritual reason to keep it open.

Bishop Ian Douglas said that, after consulting with half a dozen parishes, the collective parishes could not even come up with a soup kitchen to keep the doors open.

The fight for the property was over the usual issue of Scripture's authority and pansexuality which Fr. Ron Gauss, now the rector of Bishop Seabury Anglican Church refused to compromise on. He fought in the courts and lost. Now, irony of ironies, the church property is being sold to an evangelical church whose theology the diocese abhors. Such delicious irony should not be missed. Douglas set a policy, reinforced by the national Church and Mrs. Jefferts Schori of "no negotiations for properties and no sale to Anglican churches." God clearly has a sense of humor.

Said Fr. Gauss, "If the building was not going to be used by our congregation, it couldn't have been put to better use. One note is that Bishop Seabury Church in all of its 140 years of existence was never called Bishop Seabury Episcopal Church. The original name was Bishop Seabury Memorial Church, and later shortened to Bishop Seabury Church. The Diocese has removed The Seabury Window, and all other memorial items (The Seabury Pulpit, Altars and Lecterns) from the property. It is my prayer that they are put to good use and not just stored away somewhere or sold. Hopefully the funds obtained from the "short sale" of Bishop Seabury Church will be used to present the REAL Gospel of Jesus the Christ, and not the socially correct Gospel that caused Bishop Seabury Church to depart the Episcopal Church."

Can I have an AMEN?

*****

Tony Magliano of the National Catholic Reporter says we are making bad situations worse in the Middle East. In a bylined article he writes, "The heart-wrenching tragedies throughout the Middle East are not the United States' fault; that is, at least not entirely.

"The fact that many Sunni Muslims and Shiite Muslims distrust each other, that the Allies established artificial national boundaries to suit their interests after World War I, and that ruthless dictators past and present have often oppressed their people are major reasons why much of the Middle East is broken and bleeding.

"But the U.S. has made several bad situations in the Middle East far worse.

"In Egypt, according to the Congressional Research Service, since 1987 the U.S. has given that nation $1.3 billion per year in military aid, despite the fact that it was long ruled by the dictator Hosni Mubarak.

"Israel's illegal occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, its refusal to allow subjugated Palestinians to form an independent nation, and the strangling blockade and brutal invasion of Gaza would not be possible without the approximate $3 billion in annual American aid and the U.S. refusal to demand that Israel reverse course there.

"While it is a sad truth that under the dictator Saddam Hussein many Iraqis suffered, it is an even sadder truth that the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, caused even greater suffering to countless Iraqis.

"After nearly nine years of war, hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi children, women and men are dead from war-related causes, about 4,500 American troops have been killed, and Iraq overall is in a far worse state. Furthermore, the Iraq War unleashed deadly Islamist attacks upon thousands of Iraqi Christians."

In a 2007 CBS 60 Minutes segment, the Rev. Andrew White, an Anglican priest who has a long history of ministry in Iraq, said the situation was "clearly worse now" for Christians than under the Hussein regime.

According to a Fox News report earlier this year, White said that in the past five years, 1,096 of his own parishioners were killed, and that of the 1.5 million Christians living in Iraq in 2003, only roughly 200,000 still remain.

Now with the Islamic State controlling a large part of Iraq, the suffering of the remaining Christian population continues and grows.

"There can be no doubt that the U.S. invasion of Iraq made a bad situation far worse," White said.

Magliano urges people to contact their congressional delegation and President Barack Obama to grant emergency asylum to as many as 300,000 Christians fleeing the barbarism of the Islamic State.

Yes, this would be a major undertaking, but the U.S. is capable of doing it. It's mostly just a matter of will -- good will.

*****

And this from Amel Nona, Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, now exiled in Erbil (via Rorate Caeli):

"Our sufferings are the prelude of all Europeans and Western Christians"

"I lost my diocese to Islamic radicals"

"Your liberal and democratic principles are worth nothing here"

"You are welcoming in your countries an ever growing number of Muslims - you are in danger"

"You think all men are equal, but that is not true: Islam does not say that all men are equal"

"Your values are not their values"

"You will become the victims of the enemy you have welcomed in your home"

Is this a wakeup call to Muslim immigration to America? Some politician should take a long hard look at Dearborn, Michigan, which now has the largest single concentration of Arab Muslims in North America. There are 32,000 Arab Muslims from Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq living in East Dearborn, making up almost 1/3 of the population. In some districts it is common to see store signs and billboards written in Arabic. The Islamic Centre of America in Dearborn has a Shi'a mosque frequented mostly by Lebanese Muslims. It is the largest mosque in the US. Mosques and Islamic Centres play an important role in the life of American Muslims. They are places of refuge and of rest; places where a Muslim can experience the Islamic community and learn about Islam. Many Muslims feel safer and more relaxed within the centres which are somewhat isolated from outside influences. Dearborn is one of the few places in the US where one can actually hear the call to prayer publicly over a loudspeaker.

There have been a number of efforts to make Christ better known to Muslims in Dearborn. However, many believers say that in general, it can sometimes be even harder to discuss believing in Jesus with Muslims in Dearborn than elsewhere. Muslims in Michigan have a fortress mentality manifested in community pressure to conform to Muslim ideals. They can also be places where sedition is preached and un-American activities fostered and where Sharia law on family matters can be practiced without the prying eyes of civil authorities. Just ask Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali about the "no-go" places in cities like Birmingham in England where Moslems are so intensely populated that the authorities won't go near them. The foolish former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams recently said that "Islam is reviving British values", and that the religion promotes a sense of duty and community belonging. A Christian preacher was recently arrested there for preaching the gospel on the sidewalk.

He might want to take a look at the above photo, which was shot in Ferguson, Missouri, this week and ask if Muslim vales will help that city.

*****

Episcopal Diocese of Virginia Bishop Shannon Johnston said this week that he supported clergy in his diocese who want to bear witness to their sense of justice and equality in marrying gay persons when and if that becomes legally possible in Virginia. He also noted that, as is the case with heterosexual marriage, clergy who might officiate at same-gender marriages outside the pastoral relationships of our communities of faith do so as agents of the commonwealth, and not in the context of the liturgical life and witness of our Church.

*****

The Bishop of Leeds, Nicholas Baines has written a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron asking him what is the United Kingdom's strategy in Iraq and Syria?

"I am conscious of the speed at which events are moving in Iraq and Syria, and write recognizing the complexity and interconnectedness of the challenges faced by the international community in responding to the crises in Syria and Iraq.

"However, in common with many bishops and other correspondents here in the UK, I remain very concerned about the government's response to several issues. I write with the support of the archbishop of Canterbury to put these questions to you.

"1. It appears that, in common with the United States and other partners, the UK is responding to events in a reactive way, and it is difficult to discern the strategic intentions behind this approach.

"Please can you tell me what is the overall strategy that holds together the UK government's response to both the humanitarian situation and what Islamic State is actually doing in Syria and Iraq? Behind this question is the serious concern that we do not seem to have a coherent or comprehensive approach to Islamist extremism as it is developing across the globe. Islamic State, Boko Haram and other groups represent particular manifestations of a global phenomenon, and it is not clear what our broader global strategy is -- particularly insofar as the military, political, economic and humanitarian demands interconnect."

Baines added, "The Church internationally must be a primary partner in addressing this complexity."

He also blasted Cameron saying, "The focus by both politicians and media on the plight of the Yazidis has been notable and admirable. However, there has been increasing silence about the plight of tens of thousands of Christians who have been displaced, driven from cities and homelands, and who face a bleak future. Despite appalling persecution, they seem to have fallen from consciousness, and I wonder why. Does your government have a coherent response to the plight of these huge numbers of Christians whose plight appears to be less regarded than that of others? Or are we simply reacting to the loudest media voice at any particular time?"

Baines calls for an asylum provision for those Christians needing sanctuary from Iraq in the UK.

The full letter can be reads in today's digest.

*****

ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach is calling on North American Anglicans to pray for the persecuted Church in Syria and Iraq.

"Earlier this month I called upon the members of the Anglican Church in North America to pray and support our Christian brothers and sisters in Iraq and Syria. I am calling our churches to include a special time of prayer for the persecuted church during their services this Sunday, August 24th.

"A prayer resource has been created to assist you and your congregation this week and you are welcome to use it as long as you deem appropriate."

*****

The EBOLA crisis in Africa found the Most Rev. Daniel Sarfo, primate and metropolitan of the Church of the Province of West Africa (CPWA) and bishop of Kumasi in Ghana, calling on Christians around the world to dedicate one Sunday as a day of prayer for the deadly Ebola disease that has struck the west African region.

In an interview with ACNS, Sarfo commented, "We encourage Anglican churches world over to express solidarity by observing one Sunday as Ebola Sunday and to mobilize resources for the sub-region."

The archbishop reiterated the important role that Anglicans in other countries can play in as far as mobilizing and bringing resources to the region. "Anglicans should challenge their governments to send resources, especially medical supplies to the affected areas," he noted.

Recently, Archbishop Jonathan Bonaparte Hart of the Internal Province of West Africa in CPWA, of which the affected countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea are a part, also raised the need for material support, "We need disposable surgical gloves, chlorine and basic hygiene kits to safeguard against Ebola."

*****

The Anglican Diocese in Christchurch said it wants to demolish the earthquake-damaged Christ Church Cathedral and build a contemporary replacement on the site within 10 years.

Those fighting to save the city's earthquake-damaged cathedral have criticized a call by the most senior Anglican bishop while in Christchurch to stop clinging to the past.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby made the comments during a visit to Auckland last week, saying the city should not "be boring" and should look to England's Coventry Cathedral as something to aspire to.

Coventry Cathedral incorporated the ruins of the city's old cathedrals when they were destroyed by time and war.

The Anglican diocese in Christchurch has said it wants to demolish the earthquake-damaged Christ Church Cathedral and build a contemporary replacement on the site within 10 years.

Bishop Brady said the cathedral could easily be restored, but that the silence from New Zealand's own archbishops on the cathedral issue had been "deafening."

"They've kept their nose out of it, so it's a pity the Archbishop of Canterbury couldn't do the same."

*****

The Diocese of El Salvador has announced five nominees, including two priests of the Episcopal Church, in seeking its next bishop. An election on August 23 will choose the successor of the Rt. Rev. Martin de Jesús Barahona, Bishop of El Salvador since 1992, writes Doug LeBlanc of The Living Church.

The five nominees are:

The Rev. Ricardo Bernal, a priest of the Diocese of El Salvador who represents Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central de America in the Episcopal Church's work on Anglican and Global Relations

The Rev. Juan David Alvarado of San Salvador

The Rev. Juan Antonio Mendez

The Rev. Vidal Rivas, senior priest at St. Matthew's/San Mateo Parish in Hyattsville, Maryland

The Rev. Lee Alison Crawford, a priest in the Diocese of Vermont who has served as a canon missioner to El Salvador since 2004

Barahona was the first elected Bishop of El Salvador. He drew criticism from other Central American bishops after attending Gene Robinson's consecration as Bishop of New Hampshire. He escaped unharmed in 2010 when a man tried to shoot him. He has served as primate of the Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central de America for eight years.

Crawford has served as a deputy to General Convention since 1997, is a member of the church's Executive Council, and is a prominent advocate of blessing same-sex couples.

Rivas, a native of El Salvador and a former Roman Catholic priest, was received into the Episcopal Church in 2008.

They are all liberals so there is no expected change in the theological direction of the church in this diocese.

*****

Pope Francis weighed in on the Crisis in Iraq this week. In an airborne press conference on the way back from Korea, Pope Francis addressed the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Iraq. In response to a question about the American bombing of ISIS targets, the Holy Father made three important points. One, according to one commentator on Catholic issues was not helpful.

First, the Pope opined, under Just War theory, it is "licit" for third parties to intervene in order to "stop" the "unjust aggression" by ISIS. Pope Francis emphasized that he did not endorse bombing, specifically, but action to stop ISIS generally. Second, the decision of how best to deal with ISIS must be made by nations acting together in consultation at the United Nations. Consultation is necessary, he said, in order to prevent any one nation--implicitly, the United States--from succumbing to the temptation to become an occupying force.

There isn't very much danger of the U.S. seeking to occupy Iraq at this stage, frankly. If anything, Americans in 2014 are disposed to avoid the region altogether. But the Pope's statements are consistent with Just War theory and entirely appropriate. Perhaps Pope Francis feels justified in offering an oblique criticism of the U.S., which ignored his predecessor's plea to get U.N. approval for the 2003 Iraq invasion, and reaped the consequences.

The Pope seems to have gone a little astray, though, in his third point. Responding to a question about religious minorities, including Catholics, he answered,

"Secondly, you mentioned the minorities. Thanks for that word because they talk to me about the Christians, the poor Christians. It's true, they suffer. The martyrs, there are many martyrs. But here there are men and women, religious minorities, not all of them Christian, and they are all equal before God."

Pope Francis is right that minorities other than Christians are suffering in Iraq. And Christians would not object to the idea that God loves all people equally, Christians and non-Christians. But the implication of the Pope's statement--at least in the way his remarks have been translated and transcribed--is that the suffering of Christians gets disproportionate attention, and that it's necessary to widen the focus to make sure other groups are not forgotten.

With great respect, this misstates the situation. The danger is not that the outside world pays too much attention to Christian suffering, but too little. The media routinely downplays that suffering, notwithstanding the fact that Christians--as Pope Francis himself recently stated--suffer the greatest share of religious persecution in the world today. As for the great powers, they typically look the other way. The United States, for example, did absolutely nothing to help the 100,000 Christian refugees displaced by ISIS in recent weeks, but sent in helicopters to distribute relief to 40,000 Yazidis.

*****

DEATH OF A JOURNALIST. Militants from the group Islamic State released a video Tuesday that showed the beheading of American journalist James Foley in an act of retribution for U.S. airstrikes on the group in Iraq.

The graphic video raised new dangers for President Barack Obama's Middle East policy. It showed a masked militant, in British-accented English, threatening to kill more Americans if the U.S. military campaign continued.

"You are no longer fighting an insurgency," the militant said in the 4 1/2-minute video. "We are an Islamic army."

The video was posted online one day after Mr. Obama commended American and Iraqi forces for routing Islamic State fighters who had seized Iraq's largest dam.

Most of the initial news stories I've read -- including those by the Washington Post and the New York Times -- ignore Foley's own faith background.

At Foley's family home in Rochester, a light burned yellow in a center upstairs window and a yellow ribbon adorned a tree at the foot of the driveway. The Rev. Paul Gousse of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, where the Foleys are parishioners, spent about 45 minutes at the house but left without commenting.

In the city where Foley graduated from Marquette University -- a Catholic and Jesuit institution -- the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel nails the faith angle.

The Journal Sentinel notes that Foley previously was among "four journalists kidnapped by Moammar Gadhafi loyalists in Libya in April 2011." The Milwaukee story describes a letter Foley wrote to his alma mater after 44 days in captivity.

The letter tells of Foley saying the rosary with a fellow prisoner in a Tripoli jail and being allowed to make a phone call home while in captivity. His mother answered.

"Oh Jimmy, so many people are praying for you," she tells him. "They're having a prayer vigil for you at Marquette. Don't you feel our prayers?"

"I do, Mom, I feel them," he tells her, and then adds, "Maybe it was others' prayers strengthening me, keeping me afloat."

The letter ends with Foley describing how, in his last day in Tripoli, he was able to watch (former classmate Thomas) Durkin via the Internet speaking about him to a room full of Marquette supporters.

*****

Two of Pope Francis's great-nephews and their mother, the wife of his nephew, were killed in a car crash this week, the Vatican has announced. Their car collided with a truck carrying grain just after midnight near Cordoba, central Argentina, according to the Vatican and local media. One great-nephew was two; the other was only eight-months. The age of their mother wasn't immediately available.

*****

Young Christians, Muslims and Jews works for climate justice. However these students in the WCC interfaith summer course are oddly silent on ISIS murders. An ACNS story this week says that this interfaith group of Christian, Muslim and Jewish youth has formed a multi-faith community sponsored by the World Council of Churches (WCC), to work for the protection of creation -- a concern they say is common to all faith traditions.

This community of 19 Christian, Muslim and Jewish students from 12 different countries is hosted by the WCC's Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland, from 4 to 22 August.

Among participants in the course is Tariq Abdul Akbar, a 21-year-old Muslim from the United States. A convert to Islam at the age 18, and a student at the Community College of Baltimore, Akbar realizes the importance of working together as religious communities for climate justice.

No word about converts to Christ and how He can change lives. Better to worry about earth keeping than soul saving. It's a bit like resurrecting the Garden of Eden before the Fall.

*****

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