WIDENING RIFT, GROWING ANARCHY IN ECUSA’S HOUSE OF BISHOPS News Analysis By David W. Virtue If the armed sheriffs who stood outside the gates of Camp Allen, Navasota to greet ECUSA’s House of Bishops is anything to go by; either the mostly revisionist bishops feared a vast right wing orthodox conspiracy requiring an armed put down, or worse, that the unbiblical decisions made by the HOB might be overturned by a Nazarene wearing prophetic robes with nail prints in his hands, c

Episcopal churches see cut in donations By Carolyn Thompson The Associated Press BUFFALO — Some Episcopal parishes opposed to the confirmation of a gay bishop last summer are withholding financial gifts to the diocese, causing a budget deficit that has already forced one layoff, Bishop J. Michael Garrison said Friday. “The protest is real. It affects real people and that’s sad,” said Garrison, who said parishes had withdrawn an estimated $100,000 in pledges to the Episcopal D

WESTERN NEW YORK BISHOP FACES FINANCIAL BACKLASH TO ROBINSON CONSECRATION By J. Michael Garrison The Fair Share is the means this diocese has chosen to support the Episcopal Church beyond the level of the parish. Each annual convention of our diocese approves the specific amount of money asked of our various communities for the support of the programs and commitments that carry out the work of our community of faith both here in Western New York and beyond. We believe that th

PRIESTS FORCED TO REVEAL SEXUAL PAST By James Murray, Religious affairs editor THE AUSTRALIAN April 01, 2004 PRIESTS in Australia’s largest Anglican diocese are being forced to fill out a detailed and highly personal questionnaire about their sexual history, including relationships outside marriage, as part of a crackdown on child abusers in the church. The Sydney diocese questionnaire also asks about any involvement in the occult, whether priests have been cruel to animals,

By Jonathan Petre, and Graham Tibbetts Daily Telegraph 3/23/2004 British Muslims reacted with anger yesterday at an attack on Islamic culture delivered by Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury. Muslim leaders said his claim that moderates had failed to condemn suicide bombers was totally unjustified, and rejected his assertion that Islam, over the past 500 years, had displayed a “strong resistance to modernity”. Dr. George Carey: claim totally unjustified. In a publ

Muslim culture has contributed little for centuries, says Carey By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent THE TELEGRAPH 3/26/2004 Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, launched a trenchant attack on Islamic culture last night, saying it was authoritarian, inflexible and under-achieving. He attacked the “glaring absence” of democracy in Muslim countries, suggested that they had contributed little of major significance to world culture for centuries and criticised th

Canadian Catholic Bishops Warn Homosexual Hate Crime Bill Could Silence Church OTTAWA, March 26, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) — As the homosexual hate crime bill C-250, proposed by homosexual-activist Svend Robinson, readies for final debate and vote in the Senate, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has issued another warning over the legislation. In a letter sent yesterday, CCCB General Secretary Msgr. Mario Paquette warned the Senate that: “Participation in the c

LIBERAL EPISCOPALIANS UNITE IN ATLANTA MEETING ATLANTA (3/28/2004)- Liberal Episcopalians from 11 dioceses across the United States have joined together to promote unity within the national church. The alliance, named Via Media USA, represents laypeople and clergy from grassroots organizations that hold diverse opinions about many issues facing the church but are solid in their desire to remain in communion with The Episcopal Church of the USA and the worldwide Anglican Commu

The Sermon Was in Arabic A revitalized, if nervous, Christian church in Baghdad. BY FRED BARNES 3/26/2004 BAGHDAD, Iraq--Pastor Jule's church is new and not easy to find. For more than a decade after selling his business, he devoted his life to preaching about Jesus Christ, but not in public in overwhelmingly Islamic Iraq. In 1999, he started an underground Pentecostal Christian church in his home. And when Saddam Hussein was toppled a year ago, he opened an above-ground chur

What does 'Judeo-Christian' mean? By Dennis Prager Townhall.com March 30, 2004 The United States of America is the only country in history to have defined itself as Judeo-Christian. While the Western world has consisted of many Christian countries and consists today of many secular countries, only America has called itself Judeo-Christian. America is also unique in that it has always combined secular government with a society based on religious values. But what does "Judeo-Ch

Visiting C of E bishop wants end to rhetoric on gay clergy By Steve Levin Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 3/28/2004 An influential Church of England bishop visiting Pittsburgh this week believes the crisis in the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion over gay ordination is related to America's unilateralism. The Rt. Rev. N.T. Wright, bishop of Durham in the Church of England and former canon theologian of Westminster Abbey, said "America has been screwing the world into the socket"

By Todd H. Wetzel One week ago, I challenged the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church, USA to commit themselves to a plan for Adequate Episcopal Oversight that displayed true compassion for those who disagreed with General Convention 2003. Their procedure released on 24 March is seriously flawed. It proposes that the only party with any power in the decision making process is the diocesan bishop, not those in disagreement with General Convention. That, by definition, is n

By Lee Buck "Do it our way or get out!" David Virtue recently published an article concerning Walter Righter, the thrice married Bishop, who left his first wife for his secretary. He said in that article, "How can the Bishops 'allow' what the canons and constitution do not allow? How can the Bishops 'cede control' that is not theirs to cede? Even if they wanted to, they cannot. If outfits like the AAC and the Network et al must have a plan cast in concrete, they are stuck wit

By Robert Seitz To witness the descent of the ECUSA mindset to the parish level is a painful experience. The divisiveness that at first was distantly abstract quickly became up close and personal. Suddenly one finds that the parish is composed of the "them" and the "us", and one of the two is no longer welcome. This has occurred recently at Grace Episcopal Church in Tampa, Florida. Here was a relatively small parish (300 communicants, more or less), proud of its family atmosp

A Forward in Faith Response to the House of Bishops' Paper 'Caring for all the Churches' "I could not possibly be more proud of our bishops, who with great care and deliberation sought to articulate our shared ministry of reconciliation in ways that are generous toward those who feel themselves in some sense alienated from our common life," Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold said, commending the House of Bishops' paper 'Caring for all the Churches'. The paper itself lays equal s

News Analysis By David W. Virtue PITTSBURGH, PA-(3/30/2004) The former Bishop of Iowa, Walter Righter, who publicly condemned five dissenting retired bishops for participating in a confirmation service in the Diocese of Ohio, saying that they should leave the Episcopal Church, has been performing sacramentally, without permission or a license in the orthodox Diocese of Pittsburgh bishop Robert Duncan. The revisionist bishop, who walked away from charges that he violated the c

By Robert Seitz To witness the descent of the ECUSA mindset to the parish level is a painful experience. The divisiveness that at first was distantly abstract quickly became up close and personal. Suddenly one finds that the parish is composed of the "them" and the "us", and one of the two is no longer welcome. This has occurred recently at Grace Episcopal Church in Tampa, Florida. Here was a relatively small parish (300 communicants, more or less), proud of its family atmosp

A Forward in Faith Response to the House of Bishops' Paper 'Caring for all the Churches' "I could not possibly be more proud of our bishops, who with great care and deliberation sought to articulate our shared ministry of reconciliation in ways that are generous toward those who feel themselves in some sense alienated from our common life," Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold said, commending the House of Bishops' paper 'Caring for all the Churches'. The paper itself lays equal s

News Analysis By David W. Virtue PITTSBURGH, PA-(3/30/2004) The former Bishop of Iowa, Walter Righter, who publicly condemned five dissenting retired bishops for participating in a confirmation service in the Diocese of Ohio, saying that they should leave the Episcopal Church, has been performing sacramentally, without permission or a license in the orthodox Diocese of Pittsburgh bishop Robert Duncan. The revisionist bishop, who walked away from charges that he violated the c

Quoting Scriptures against homosexual behavior say Catholic bishops and leading evangelicals in that country. Portions of the Bible are in danger of being condemned as hate literature, say religious groups opposed to changes in the Criminal Code to be debated next week by the Senate. In a letter to Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said Friday that Bill C-250 proposes changes that could lead to the church being prosecuted for its teach