The first victims of the first crusade. This issue is better judged from the other side of the looking glass. What we actually see today is a standard of medieval behavior upheld by modern fanatics who, like the crusaders, seek both religious and political power through violent means. They offer a ghastly and ghostly reminder of what the Western world might look like had there never been religious reformations, the Enlightenment and, above all, the separation of church and state. --- Susan Jacoby in the New York Times.

Bishop Heather and the Diocese do not deserve our forgiveness or sympathy for her wanton behavior. She appears to be a likeable, sick, ambitious minister's daughter who had very bad luck. --- The American Spectator

Our martyrs are crying out: we are one. This is what the ecumenism of the blood is. We must follow this path courageously and carry on moving forward. If we wait for theologians to reach an agreement, that day will never come!" --- Pope Francis

But what are we to make of this "gender reassignment" surgery? Insofar as such a surgical procedure involves the intentional damaging and mutilating of otherwise perfectly functioning bodily faculties by twisting them to an end toward which they are not ordered, such a thing cannot, in principle, possibly be considered a medical procedure. And because love compels us to seek the good for another, it is thus a grave evil to condone such surgical procedures. --- Carlos D. FLores

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
February 20, 2015

The battle for properties in South Carolina continues. Victories come in doses for Bishop Mark Lawrence and his diocese. Nothing is for certain until the last court (and highest court) decides.

The Episcopal Church in South Carolina filed a Motion for Reconsideration asking Circuit Court Judge Diane S. Goodstein to reverse a ruling that a breakaway group can keep the name and property of the "Diocese of South Carolina," even though it has left the church.

According to the Motion for Reconsideration, the February 3 order "fails to consider the true nature of this dispute and the real parties in interest." It also fails to take into account that a substantial number of people in the diocese opposed the actions taken by the breakaway group.

Canon lawyer Allan Haley weighed in on this with a headline that read, ECUSA to Judge Goodstein: "We, not You, Get to Say What Is Ours"

"As predicted in this space, the Episcopal Church (USA) and its rump group have, precisely on the last possible day to do so, filed a motion asking Judge Goodstein to "reconsider" (actually, replace wholesale) her decision and order of ten days ago. The motion and its statement of reasons are 182 pages long."

Most agree that this will go nowhere as neutral principles is dealing deathblows to the Dennis Canon in at least three states.

You can read the full story in today's digest.

*****

The recent killing of a cyclist in Maryland by Bishop Suffragan Heather Cook got Maryland legislators exercised about drunk drivers. They are taking action in response to a manslaughter case involving a bishop accused of killing a cyclist while driving drunk and texting.

State lawmakers would provide restitution to victims by fining drunken drivers; Episcopal Church leaders are considering tougher scrutiny in church elections.

A bill outlined Tuesday could fine people who cause injury or death while driving with a blood-alcohol content of twice the legal limit, or driving on a suspended or revoked license. The fines also could apply if injury or death is caused by someone with a prior arrest resulting in a conviction, plea, or sentence of probation before judgment within the last five years.

Bishop Suffragan Heather Cook, now on leave, faces 13 counts in the death of bicyclist Thomas Palermo in Baltimore in December, including automobile manslaughter, manslaughter by vehicle, homicide by motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, texting while driving, and failure to remain at the scene.

"That accident has moved the General Assembly to action on drunk driving, again," said Sen. Jamie Raskin, a Montgomery County Democrat who is sponsoring the bill.

Separately, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori announced on Tuesday that she is further restricting Cook's ministry while the denomination investigates her case. Cook, the second-ranking bishop in the Diocese of Maryland, cannot present herself as a priest in good standing during the inquiry, according to the new restriction.

The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, an officer of the Episcopal Church's legislative body, urged her fellow deputies to develop a new process for selecting bishops. Cook's election was a "seeming failure of the process," according to Jennings, since not all those voting knew she had been convicted before of drunken driving.

The head of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland apologized Wednesday for failing to recognize "warning signs" that Bishop Heather Elizabeth Cook -- now facing drunken-driving and other charges in connection with a crash that killed a bicyclist -- suffers from alcoholism.

"I regret that my sister in faith, Heather, apparently caused so much damage and suffering due to her disease of alcoholism, and [I'm] sorry I was unable to recognize warning signs of her illness," the Rt. Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton said in a message to church members on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, a 40-day season of repentance.

Sutton added that he regretted shortcomings in the selection process by which Cook was made the No. 2 bishop in the diocese last year, despite an earlier arrest on a DUI charge. He pledged to work to "revise a process that failed us at some crucial points."

Sutton's statement was the most explicit apology a diocesan official has made in relation to the case.

*****

Across the pond news comes that Thatcherism should be consigned to history because it no longer has the answers to Britain's problems, or so the Church of England claims.

In a highly political pre-election intervention, which has angered Conservatives and prompted a response from David Cameron, the Church's most senior clerics believe the free-market ideas embodied by Margaret Thatcher are "fragmenting" society and "entrenching" inequality between rich and poor.

They urged Christians to resist the power of big business as much as that of any over-mighty state. They threw their support behind efforts to bolster Britain's place in Europe amid growing calls to leave the EU.

The intervention came in the form of a 52-page pre-election pastoral letter from the House of Bishops, amounting to an unofficial election manifesto from the established Church.

It calls for a new approach to politics, moving away from ideas of left and right, and an end to "politics as an extension of consumerism" in which policies are spliced together to appeal to narrow groups of voters.

Here are Press reactions to the CofE House of Bishops Pastoral letter.

The Guardian approves: The Guardian view on the church and the election: talking sense

The Daily Mail does not: Preaching politics as the pews empty
(See also Mac Cartoon)

Neither does the Telegraph: Church gives a pulpit to political prejudices

Further commentaries:

Church of England calls for 'fresh moral vision' in British politics, by Esther Addley, Guardian

Church of England bishops' pastoral letter: key points by Aisha Gani, Guardian
Blinkered and out of its depth -- the Church of England is in danger of becoming ludicrous by Steven Glover, Mailonline

Meddling bishops' left-wing manifesto: Tory fury as Church of England releases 'shopping list' of policies three months before General Election by Steve Doughty and Jason Groves, Mailonline

Church tells Christians how they should vote including scrapping Trident nuclear deterrent and calling for closer European integration by James Chapman and Tamara Cohen, Mailonline

You can read the full HOB statement here: https://www.churchofengland.org/media-centre/news/2015/02/house-of-bishops%27-pastoral-letter-on-the-2015-general-election.aspx

*****

The Church of England is to begin talks on whether to authorize prayers to mark same-sex relationships.

The question is raised in resources published this week to go with the "shared conversations" on sexuality that are about to enter their second stage.

The "second circle" of the shared conversations, set up last year in an attempt to resolve the Church's crisis over sexuality, will begin regionally in April. The dioceses will meet in 13 "clusters" of between three and five dioceses at venues across England between April this year and March next year.

The groups will consist of gay and straight clergy and laity.

One of the questions the groups are being asked to consider is: "Should the church offer prayers to mark the formation of a faithful, permanent, same sex relationship? If so, what is the right level of formal provision that should be made?"

Although the question is explicit, that this was in no way meant to infer there is an "intended outcome" of any kind.

A further question asks: "More specifically, given that same sex marriages are now taking place, what should our pastoral and missional response be to married same sex couples who seek to be part of the life of our church locally?"

The Church of England's position has traditionally been that, whatever their faith, a couple is entitled to be married in the parish church of either, although marriage after divorce is less straightforward.

When same-sex marriage became legal in Britain last year, the Church of England, which opposed the legislation, won "protection" in law for itself from ever having to perform one.

This means that some couples who are legally entitled to marry cannot now do so in their own parish Church, even if they are practicing Christians and have been churchgoers all their lives.

*****

This is a case of pouring good money after bad. The Roanridge Trust Award, a TEC inspired hand out program, has awarded grants "for new and creative models for leadership development in small communities." The 2015 grants, totaling $160,369, were announced by Sam McDonald, deputy chief operating officer and director of mission of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society. They will be used in Episcopal dioceses across the United States and in the Dominican Republic and Honduras.

The TEC diocese in South Carolina will get a $19,000 grant to start a Lifelong Formation Training Program for clergy and laypeople in the rural sections of the diocese. The program is designed to offer programs for smaller churches to start or enhance Christian formation programs for children, youth and adults.

One wonders if these people read what is really going on in this diocese and do they know that's its future is decidedly limited as it is now a mere shadow of its former self. Whatever "vision" it has, will have to include something called the gospel, but don't hold your breath, that was coopted by Bishop Mark Lawrence's diocese.

*****

The Archbishop of Canterbury this week issued an extraordinary apology for the British bombing of Dresden during the Second World War.

In what was immediately criticized as an insult to the young men who gave their lives to defeat the Nazis, the Most Rev Justin Welby told the German people of his "profound feeling of regret and deep sorrow" over the attack.

His comments at a ceremony in Dresden to mark the 70th anniversary of the bombings came amid a growing row about BBC coverage of the commemoration in which Britain is described as "worse than the Nazis" over the raids that killed thousands at the end of the war.

Former defense minister Sir Gerald Howarth criticized the Archbishop, saying, "I do not hear Angela Merkel apologizing for the Blitz." Historian Professor Anthony Glees said it was wrong to take a single incident in the war and say sorry for it. Archbishop Welby said the bombing of Dresden, which killed an estimated 25,000, "diminished all our humanity."

He made no reference to the 55,573 British aircrew killed in the struggle to overthrow Hitler, nor to the German bombing of London and Coventry.

Tory MP Philip Davies noted, "These remarks do sound to me like an apology. For the Archbishop to make an apology for our defeat of Hitler is bizarre. I would have thought the last thing we should be doing is apologizing. We should be praised for defeating Hitler. These words are an insult to the young men who gave their lives in the defeat of Germany."

The Archbishop -- whose great uncle Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal was one of the main architects of Britain's campaign of bombing German cities -- told the congregation he thought it was "miraculous" that they were welcoming him, given the "brutal and devastating" nature of the attack.

*****

The Twitter hawk Archbishop of Canterbury responded to the murders in Denmark, Libya and Nigeria by issuing a press release that said, "The terrible cruelty of the murders in Denmark, Libya and Nigeria call for deep compassion for the bereaved and killed. The killers seem to rejoice in ever more extreme acts carried out to inflict ever greater terror. We must all weep with those affected, and know that in the love of Christ all evil will be overcome.

"In Egypt and Libya, the home of Christian faith, of saints and martyrs since the earliest centuries, more suffering has been perpetrated. The Coptic Church has responded with courage and as always with faith. The darkness which ISIS seek to spread will be overwhelmed by the faithful lives of Christians shedding the light and peace of Christ. I have been in touch with the Anglican Church in Egypt to express solidarity.

"Let us pray for the triumphant peace of Christ to be evident, and for governments affected to be wise and courageous."

*****

Flooding, climate change and the power of community in Malawi has been described by the words of the Rt. Rev. Alinafe Kalemba, Bishop of Southern Malawi. "In Malawi people were anxious and worried waiting for the rains, which came a little late. Then, when the rains started, they started very well -- just as normal -- and crops came up healthy and beautiful. But then it started pouring for days.

"There are not many trees [which absorb water and prevent flooding] -- because they have been cut down for fuel and other purposes -- so the rivers and marshes started to flood, and the water ran into people's homes.

"It was terrible. In some places the flooding came up to window level. Many houses are mud-construction, so they collapsed. Crops were washed away. We lost human life, livestock, roads, [and] infrastructure.

"We lost more than 200 lives, and more than 200,000 have been left without homes, without clothes, with nothing except for being alive. It's a really bad situation. There are people with no food or clean water or proper sanitation. People need shelter, and we are praying we do not have an outbreak of cholera because then we would lose even more lives."

*****

Uganda Archbishop Stanley Ntagali called this week for Archbishop Janani Luwum Day to be declared a national holiday. His appeal was made before more than 20,000 people gathered in Mucwini, Kitgum, to honor and celebrate the life, ministry, and martyrdom of Archbishop Janani Luwum, the Church of Uganda's 2nd Ugandan Archbishop. After arresting him on false charges, former President Idi Amin Dada assassinated him on 16th February 1977. There have been local celebrations of his life and martyrdom around the country since 1977, but today's commemoration marks the first national and international celebration. His Excellency, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the President of the Republic of Uganda, was the Guest of Honor.

Ntagali presided over the worship service and function. Roman Catholic Archbishop John Baptist Odama led the intercessions, while the Church of England's Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, preached. Archbishop Sentamu, who was born in Uganda and knew Archbishop Janani Luwum personally, fled Uganda during Amin's time.

*****

Anglican leaders in New Zealand have said that a banned, offensive T-shirt being displayed in Canterbury Museum should prompt a nation-wide debate about freedom of speech versus respect.

The T-shirt, produced for an English extreme metal band, was part of an exhibition of 1000 T-shirts at the museum. It features a graphic image of a nun and explicit abuse of Jesus.

So strong has been the reaction to it that the T-shirt is in a separate corner, with a large warning sign. Museum staff are checking people's ID before they are allowed to see it.

NZ faith communities targeted

The T-shirt and furor around the garment prompted diocesan and national Anglican leaders to speak out. Archbishop Philip Richardson is one of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia's three Primates.

He opined, "Muslim New Zealanders are becoming the targets of reaction to Islamic State and Al Qaeda, police are this week investigating the desecration of Jewish graves in Dunedin -- and the Canterbury Museum is now showing a T-shirt which the censor's office has described as not only 'aggressive and misogynistic' but also as representing Christians 'as inherently inferior'."

These three examples, said Archbishop Philip, illustrate the need for an "urgent national conversation" to be held on how "we celebrate and live respectfully with diversity.

"Freedom of expression and freedom of speech are rights cherished in democratic societies -- but we need careful debate about whether there are any limits on such freedoms. Because freedom brings with it the responsibility to exercise wisdom.

"True freedom is not cherished when the exercise of freedom degrades, demeans, humiliates or denies the dignity of any individual or group. We are our brother and sister's keeper.

"Christians need to enter fully into this debate, with humility, and with a determination to help build a respectful, tolerant society where freedom of expression and human dignity are held together."

Why include the T-shirt at all?

Diocese of Christchurch's Bishop Victoria Matthews was quoted on the website stuff.co.nz as asking why the T-shirt needed to be included in the exhibition at all.

"At a time when we are seeking ways to reconcile extreme views in the international community, this exhibit could feed the accusation that the West is morally bankrupt," she inquired.

"The inclusion of this T-shirt as art in an exhibition is a conversation for the wider community with issues of mutual respect, common decency and what the public wants and does not want."

In 2008, the T-shirt was banned from being sold or worn in public by the Office of Film and Literature Classification. It ruled that the T-shirt would "degrade, dehumanize and demean the woman depicted, and women more generally, to such an extent and degree" that the sale or wearing of the T-shirt in public "is likely to be injurious to the public good".

It also wrote that the T-shirt "represents Christians as inherently inferior by reason of their religious belief."

*****

The Rt. Rev. Barbara Darling, Melbourne's first female bishop and the first woman to be ordained into the Anglican clergy in Australia, died of a stroke on Sunday aged 67. She ministered to the Eastern Region of Melbourne.

"Her sudden and untimely death has shocked and saddened all who knew her and enjoyed her loving pastoral support, friendship and encouragement, within the diocese of Melbourne, with her fellow bishops, amongst the staff of the diocese and throughout Australian Anglicans," the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne wrote in a statement.

*****

Talk show host Bill O'Reilly on Fox News recently featured a Roman Catholic Priest and a Presbyterian Clergyman discussing the inadequate response of the POTUS to the mass murders of Christians in Libya, Iraq, Syria & other mid-East countries by the ISIS Forces.

O'Reilly closed this part of his broadcast by asking that ALL Pastors, Priests, & Rabbis across the whole USA announce at their services this next weekend that the members of their congregations MUST contact the President, asking him to lead the US in organizing a massive world-wide operation with armed forces personnel from Europe, S. Africa & Australia to aid the Middle Eastern countries with adequate Armed Forces and equipment (led by our Generals & Admirals) to take whatever measures are necessary to combat and destroy the whole ISIS organization.

He said present measures are totally inadequate, since murders of innocent Christian individuals are increasing. It must be stressed that the only way to achieve a much needed (and permanent) victory is to totally eliminate all ISIS personnel. The two Clergy agreed wholeheartedly with this request.

*****

Fifty Shades of Grey or is it 50 Shades of Shame or 50 Shades of Depravity, surprisingly, 68% of the audiences seeing the movie is female and 58% over age 25, reports Mike McManus of Marriage Savers. Why? One hates to ask. Why are women (more than men) into this film based on an infamous novel that has sold 100 million copies! Why are women interested in a young woman who falls for a rich, handsome man who has "engaged in sadomasochism with a string of mistresses and wants her to become his next mistress," as MOVIEGUIDE summarized it. Christians should not see this movie. VOL has posted two strong reviews on this movie in today's digest.

*****

I am in England covering a major trial of the leader of one of England's leading Christian ministries. I will be writing more about this on the weekend.

*****

VOL needs to convince first time donors to contribute to our existence. We have thousands of potential donors that we need to convince. I ask, what will it take to get you to step up to the plate forward and support VOL. Apparently people think VOL is, or should be free?

In truth, it isn't. We must pay salaries to a small staff. We have web development fees, insurance, accounting, taxes and other routine administrative fees to pay.

We take stewardship seriously, it is not a joke. It is fundamental to running our ministry. We have proven ourselves over the years. We are not going anywhere but we need basic funding to survive.

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In Christ,

David