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SC Goes to Trial*California Bishop Arrested*Southwest Florida Weighs SS Blessings*Andrus Supports Cosmic Mass

"We sowed in tears. We reap in joy" ---- ACNA Archbishop Robert Duncan at the recent ACNA Assembly

The Christians in the West are very weak. There are good Christians there who support us with their prayers and in material terms. But their influence is slight. On the whole the West is doing nothing at all. We are very disappointed. They are just uninvolved observers. They find football more interesting than the situation here or in Syria. Western policy only pursues economic interests. --- Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq

A Christian life work. We often give the impression that if a young Christian man is really keen for Christ he will undoubtedly become a foreign missionary, that if he is not quite as keen as that he will stay at home and become a pastor, that if he lacks the dedication to be a pastor, he will no doubt serve as a doctor or a teacher, while those who end up in social work or the media or (worst of all) in politics are not far removed from serious backsliding! It seems to me urgent to gain a truer perspective in this matter of vocation. Jesus Christ calls all his disciples to 'ministry', that is, to service. He himself is the Servant *par excellence*, and he calls us to be servants too. This much then is certain: if we are Christians we must spend our lives in the service of God and man. The only difference between us lies in the nature of the service we are called to render. --- John R.W. Stott

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
July 4, 2014

The religious right remains one of the most potent forces in American politics, but Northeasterners (where I live) could be forgiven for forgetting. Evangelical Christians and Mormons, the two religious groups who most consistently espouse conservative political and cultural views, are basically absent in the Northeastern corridor, said a report in The New York Times this week.

There are many religious and cultural conservatives who do not regularly attend church, perhaps especially in West Virginia, where reported attendance is unusually low.
There are also many deeply religious and conservative Catholics, non-Evangelical Protestants and Jews. The High Plains and West Virginia, for instance, have large numbers of Lutherans and Methodists who are undoubtedly conservative, but not Evangelical, Christians. And on the other hand, not every Evangelical Christian or Mormon is a political or cultural conservative.

Yet there is not much doubt that Evangelical Protestants and Mormons are at the core of the religious right, and they’re overwhelmingly concentrated in the South and interior West.
The pull of Evangelical Protestants and Mormons is weaker elsewhere, including in New England and the rest of the Northeast.

It is also weaker in the Driftless Area of eastern Iowa and western Wisconsin, which holds the key to the Democratic advantage in presidential elections. When Democrats win these two states, as they usually do, it is with the help of margins from these voters. Without these states' combined 16 electoral votes, the Democratic pathway to 270 electoral votes would require victory in Florida, or the combination of Ohio and either Virginia or Colorado.

All this is by way of saying that if evangelical and Anglo-Catholic Anglicans want to influence American culture and life they need to re-evangelize the Northeast US.

The Roman Catholic Church understands this. They know better than anyone else that if they capture the intellectual centers so goes the Catholic Church in the rest of America. However Catholicism in large US cities is in big trouble. In Philadelphia, for example, the archdiocese has closed 48 churches with more to follow. And it is not just about sex scandals that has little to do with it. Pray, pay and obey Catholicism is not capturing the hearts and minds of Millennials or anyone much under 50 for the simple reason that religion that does not touch the core of their being (where so much else does) and therefore does not capture their hearts and minds. Giving assent to Catholic dogma is not enough. Being baptized is not enough. Young people need to know why Jesus is worth following.

Anglicans who have a real personal faith in Jesus Christ have a window of opportunity here. We bring to the table Jesus himself, his atoning death on the cross for our sins, a liturgy that stretches back in time and so much more.

We are in evangelistic/discipleship moment for the church captured so ably at the recent Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) Assembly in Latrobe, PA.

The heartfelt cry of newly elected Archbishop Foley Beach was “forward, forward, forward,” and the theme of the Conference was “Thy Kingdom Come: Conversion, Compassion, Courage”. Preaching at the opening Eucharist, outgoing Archbishop Robert Duncan spoke on this from the Gospel reading of Matthew 10 on God’s agenda to supplant the Kingdoms of the world with his own rule which Jesus has inaugurated. This Kingdom, a visible alternative to a broken world, comes about as people turn from sin through repentance and faith in Christ, devote their lives to compassionate service, and have courage to confront evil.

*****

The Obama Administration failed. Religious Liberty prevailed. In a 5 to 4 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled Monday the federal government cannot require companies like Hobby Lobby to provide potentially abortifacient contraceptives to their employees in violation of their owners' religious beliefs.

Instead, the government has to offer Hobby Lobby and other similar companies the same accommodations it has already given to faith-based non-profits.

The majority said that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), passed by Congress in 1993, does apply to closely-held corporations like the family-owned Hobby Lobby.
The government failed to live up to RFRA's standard of using the "least restrictive means" to ensure that employees had access to all approved forms of contraception, according to Monday's ruling.

"We hold that the regulations that impose this obligation violate RFRA, which prohibits the Federal Government from taking any action that substantially burdens the exercise of religion unless that action constitutes the least restrictive means of serving a compelling government interest," Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority.

Just hours after the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision for Hobby Lobby and fewer than 24 before the IRS could fine several corporations for HHS mandate violations, federal circuit courts granted last minute relief to Wheaton College and six Catholic organizations, including a television network, a college, and a children's home.

At least 50 cases involving nonprofit organizations, many of which had been on hold, should be affected by the Supreme Court's narrow decision to side with Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties in the debate over whether they should be required to pay for some forms of birth control that are possible abortifacients, according to the Becket Fund. A total of one hundred cases, involving both nonprofit and for-profit firms, have challenged the HHS mandate, which requires employers with more than 50 employees to provide health care insurance including 20 kinds of contraception.

Some cases ask for broader exceptions than Hobby Lobby and Conestoga did. For instance, the court document granting an injunction to the Catholic Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) notes that "The Network refuses to provide, subsidize, or support health insurance that in any way encourages the use of artificial contraception, sterilization, or abortion, all of which it considers 'grave sin.'"

"Just as the for-profit company known as the New York Times enjoys the right to freedom of the press under the First Amendment, so Hobby Lobby enjoys the right to religious freedom protected by RFRA," says Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University. "Protection for religious liberty doesn't stop where commerce begins."
Wheaton and the Catholic organizations — EWTN, Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne, Catholic Charities of Wyoming, St. Joseph's Children's Home, St. Anthony Tri-Parish Catholic School, and Wyoming Catholic College — are all protected with temporary injunctions that prevent the government from fining them while they argue their cases in court.

*****

What hath the state wrought? This is excerpted from the Northern Colorado Gazette:

Using the same tactics used by “gay” rights activists, pedophiles have begun to seek similar status arguing their desire for children is a sexual orientation no different than heterosexual or homosexuals.

Critics of the homosexual lifestyle have long claimed that once it became acceptable to identify homosexuality as simply an “alternative lifestyle” or sexual orientation, logically nothing would be off limits. “Gay” advocates have taken offense at such a position insisting this would never happen. However, psychiatrists are now beginning to advocate redefining pedophilia in the same way homosexuality was redefined several years ago.

In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. A group of psychiatrists with B4U-Act recently held a symposium proposing a new definition of pedophilia in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders of the APA.

B4U-Act calls pedophiles “minor-attracted people.” The organization’s website states its purpose is to, “help mental health professionals learn more about attraction to minors and to consider the effects of stereotyping, stigma and fear.”

In 1998 The APA issued a report claiming “that the ‘negative potential’ of adult sex with children was ‘overstated’ and that ‘the vast majority of both men and women reported no negative sexual effects from childhood sexual abuse experiences.”

Read more at http://patdollard.com/2013/07/it-begins-pedophiles-call-for-same-rights-as-homosexuals/#ojZceTfDumPm20ic.99

*****

The trial between the Diocese of South Carolina and The Episcopal Church in South Carolina will begin on Tuesday, July 8 after 18 months of delay. Through this trial we will be asking the South Carolina courts to protect the property and identity of our Diocese and all our parishes from being claimed by The Episcopal Church, said a spokesperson for Bishop Mark Lawrence. VOL will be covering this event and will bring you the latest news as it breaks.

*****

The Archbishop of Canterbury has apologized for the Church of England’s ill-treatment of its first African Bishop, Samuel Ajayi Crowther, this week.

Preaching at a ‘thanksgiving and repentance’ service marking the 150th anniversary of Bishop Crowther’s ordination, Archbishop Justin Welby said: “This is a service of thanksgiving and repentance. Thanksgiving for the extraordinary life which we commemorate [and] repentance, shame and sorrow for Anglicans who are reminded of the sin of many of their ancestors.
“We in the Church of England need to say sorry that someone was properly and rightly consecrated Bishop and then betrayed and let down and undermined. It was wrong.”

Regarded as the father of Anglicanism in Nigeria, Bishop Crowther, who was born as Ajayi in western Nigeria in 1807, is credited with bringing many Nigerians to Christ. So great was his impact that he was ordained the first African Anglican bishop in 1864, despite great protest.

A former slave, Bishop Crowther became a great linguist, translator, scholar and mission teacher. He is also credited with producing the Yoruba Bible and greatly influenced how government’s improved their view of Africa in the 1800s.

But despite his passion and high achievements, Bishop Crowther’s mission was undermined and dismantled in the 1880s by racist white Europeans, including some of his fellow missionaries.

Historians said prejudiced fellow Anglican missionaries wrongly questioned the moral values and competency of Bishop Crowther and his African staff- and systematically dismantled his mission and undermined his work. In the end, he resigned.

*****

The Episcopal Church Office of Finance has issued a mid-year report on diocesan commitments. N. Kurt Barnes, treasurer and chief financial officer, announced that all Episcopal dioceses located in the United States and nearly all non-domestic dioceses have committed to the church’s 2014 budget, adding that:

42 dioceses have committed to the full 19 percent asking level adopted by General Convention in 2012

39 dioceses are contributing between 10 percent and 19 percent

Commitments have been received from all but one diocese

“The commitments from the dioceses for 2014 total $26.8 million,” Barnes said. “The revised budget assumed $25.8 million. We are especially thankful for those dioceses that are able to make commitments at the full 19 percent asking level established by a vote of the General Convention, and we appreciate those dioceses that are striving to increase their commitments each year.”

*****

The Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast, which comprises southern Alabama and the panhandle of northwest Florida is accepting nominations for its fourth bishop.
The diocese will accept nominations until September 1 “from a lay person, bishop, priest or deacon” of the Episcopal Church. “You need not have the consent of the person whose name 
you submit,” the profile says. Self-nominations are acceptable as well.

When constituted from the Diocese of Florida in 1970, the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast was based in Mobile, Alabama. The Rt. Rev. George M. Murray, seventh Bishop of Alabama, became the new diocese’s first bishop.

Central Gulf Coast’s annual convention approved moving the diocesan office to Pensacola in 1988, at the recommendation of the Rt. Rev. Charles F. Duvall, who had succeeded Bishop Murray in 1981. The Rt. Rev. Philip M. Duncan II has been bishop since May 2001.

The diocese took a huge beating in the early 2000s when the AMIA took a large number of parishes away from the diocese under Duvall was bishop. The diocese has never fully recovered from the losses.

*****

The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida may soon announce that he will allow priests to bless same-sex relationships. The Episcopal Church approved the provisional rite back in 2012, but it’s up to bishops to decide whether to offer it.

Early this year, Episcopal Bishop Dabney Smith stood before a crowd of about 175 people who wanted him to authorize same-sex union blessings.
The meeting, in the parish hall of St. Peter's Episcopal Cathedral in downtown St. Petersburg, was of particular significance.

It took place at the "mother church" of Smith's diocese, which stretches from Brooksville to Marco Island and includes Tampa, St. Petersburg and Plant City. St. Peter's also is home to an energized group of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members with strong support from congregational leaders and parishioners.

Smith fielded questions that January evening, but was not ready to offer a decision on a topic that has roiled his and other denominations. His answer could come soon.
The cathedral's hopes, meanwhile, are on display in a recent newsletter announcing that St. Peter's will "move toward offering" the blessings.

"There are still a number of details to be worked out, but we are prepared to take this step," the Very Rev. Stephen B. Morris, dean of St. Peter's, states in the newsletter article.
A task force Smith appointed met for its final time last week, and Smith said he will discuss its recommendations with church leaders before rendering a decision that could unsettle his flock of 31,000 baptized members in the Diocese of Southwest Florida.

There is no doubt in VOL’s estimation that he will approve such blessings despite any kickback from a handful of Anglo-Catholics and evangelicals left in his diocese. He’s a lightweight bishop who will not go against the status quo and prevailing cultural mood of the national church.

*****

Northern California's Episcopalian leader, the newly elected Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus, was arrested Thursday afternoon for blocking the front door of the San Francisco federal building to protest the Iraq war.
Andrus, carrying a shepherd's staff and singing "Down by the Riverside," was among about 200 protesters who had marched from Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill to join the weekly anti-war rally on Golden Gate Avenue near City Hall.

The bishop celebrated communion at the entrance plaza before Federal Protective Service officers began arresting protesters shortly after 2 p.m. for lying down and blocking the two main doors.

The officers passed Andrus in their first round of arrests because he was not positioned in front of the doors. After Andrus, in his purple robe, got up, moved a few steps and lay down again directly in front of the entrance, the officers returned and placed him in handcuffs -- while one said, "How are you?" and shook the cleric's hand.
Protesters applauded, cheered and sang as Andrus was photographed by another officer and led inside the building.

"God is with all who have suffered in Iraq," the bishop said. "This war needs to be opposed. Even though there is widespread sentiment against the war, we need to continue to push for peace. There is good reason to believe this is an unjust war."

Andrus is also known for his open support of homosexuality and this week at the San Francisco Pride Week he held a Mass followed by a gospel drag party followed by an after party at the Beaux Bar, on Market St., S.F. To top off the occasion a Cosmic Mass was held featuring a ceremonial dance ritual celebrating life and honoring the Divine Feminine in Pride Week with Matthew Fox, Jennifer Berezan, Christian de la Huerta, DJ Dragonfly and more at, of all places Grace Cathedral, in San Francisco. One wonders how much longer God will tolerate these blasphemies.

*****
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