CofE Archbishop will not be orthodox // Pope Leo must address sexual abuse & attendance decline // North American Journal Scandal // 60 churches in Scotland blast assisted dying bill //
- Charles Perez
- 13 hours ago
- 12 min read
Majority of Christians Reject Trinity // Trinity Anglican Seminary opens new center
The Bible isn't about people trying to discover God, but about God reaching out to find us. Christianity is not just about what we believe; it's also about how we behave. – John Stott
Hate never wins the final victory, "freedom does" -- the freedom of respect for one another and to "love thy neighbor as thyself." --- UK Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
According to a YouGov survey, 41% of churchgoers aged 18 to 35 in England and Wales identify as Catholic, while 20% belong to the Church of England. In London, Catholics make up 35% of the city's Christians, more than Anglicans at 33%. The growth is spearheaded by younger churchgoers who outnumber Anglicans by more than two to one.
America doesn’t need a left-wing version of Joe Rogan. What it needs is our parents, pastors, teachers and coaches to fill the void in young men’s hearts. Our sons should not have to turn to books or podcasts or social media to hear this simple and powerful message: I like you. I want you to live a good life. Let me show you how. – David French
The Church is not a replacement for Israel wrapped in your national colors. It is not a religious booster club for your side of the political aisle. It is not America’s chaplain or moral validator. The Church is the Body of Christ: crucified, risen, and set loose in the world to witness to something far bigger than any political project. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
May 30, 2025
It took two weeks to elect a new pope. It is taking one year to elect a new Archbishop of Canterbury. The Roman Catholic Church looks like they got it right. Whoever the Church of England elects will be wrong. There is not a prayer they will elect a person who is orthodox in faith and morals. That day is done.
The Church of England’s moment has come and gone. When they elected Justin Welby over Michael Nazir-Ali then Bishop of Rochester, the mistake proved fatal. Like a wounded Serengeti lion, the death of the Church of England is only a matter of time.
Of course, the CofE carries on like nothing matters more than itself. It pays no mind how their choice will impact the Global South. The front runner is an Iranian-born refugee who could be first female archbishop of Canterbury, according to a report in the Telegraph. The job has not been held by a woman in its 1,428-year history.
Dr Francis-Dehqani has been an outspoken critic of the immigration policy of successive governments. She is also pro-gay and would like the LLF report to be fully implemented in the Church of England. You can read more here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/church-of-england-may-get-its-first-female-archbishop-of-canterbury
A source in the CofE described the process as a complete and utter farce. “They are playing chess on the deck of the Titanic. There are just three orthodox members – one clergy, two lay out of 17 people in the selection process. The Good Ship Lambeth is about to go the same way as The Episcopal Church, led to the cliff’s edge by Welby, and pushed.”
“Only diocesan bishops have any power. Only 2 or 3 have any claim to orthodoxy. One is living with another man in a flat down the road from his cathedral. There are several suffragans holding Provincial Visitor roles but they don't have any votes or influence. Three out of the 17 on the new Commission for appointing the ABC are orthodox. It will require 14 votes for a candidate to cross the finishing line and be nominated.”
“It is all over. Welby filled the House of Bishops with his liberal management stooges. They voted for the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) report, without going through the legal requirements for any change, and they will get one of their own for ABC. Someone who ticks as many diversity boxes as possible has the best chance.”
The source says those who remain in the Church of England have choices - They can stay and hope that their own local church remains unaffected and untainted. (It won't). They can leave and join one of the church plants set up by the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) or GAFCON, but it is not Anglicanism as we know it. And we know the difficulties with ACNA. They can become Roman Catholics with a much greater optimism now that Leo XIV is in charge. And there is a growing suggestion that the Great Schism may soon be over.
They can join one of the many Orthodox churches now present in the UK, but many of them have close ties with Moscow. And the language and Eastern liturgy pose formidable obstacles. There are even smaller groupings which may cater for some former Anglicans, but the question is whether they are truly Anglican or episcopal. Many will simply cease to attend organized worship.
“The Church of England, like the historic Conservative Party here in the UK, has been led into trackless wastes by a series of disastrous leaders. It is not going to recover its dominant role in England, as the number of those seeking ordination is plummeting; many are retiring, unreplaced; the astonishing financial waste and incompetency of dioceses means that they are selling off clergy housing, amalgamating churches into ever larger groups, and nobody is left to lead worship.”
He believes that Leo XIV may be about to preside over a golden age for his Church here in England. Whatever the problems, it remains largely orthodox and protected from cultural Marxism.
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Pope Leo must address clergy sexual abuse and massive US decline in church attendance. “Your Eminence, ‘Which has greater value...the combined and total financial value of all our Archdiocese’s assets, or the value of a girl’s life lost to evil’?”
By all accounts the new Pope Leo XIV is getting rave reviews from Catholics and Protestants alike. He comes across as humble, self-effacing, and approachable with a non-celebrity, non-mega church humility-like approach to his job. He seems to be without a flaming ego that needs constant reinforcement by an adoring public.
That he is an American is clearly a plus at a time when everything seems topsy turvy in America with a government and president having imbibed a winner take all approach to life. Pope Leo is a breath of fresh air.
He is steering the Catholic ship between the Charybdis of MAGA and the Scylla of Woke with skill and alacrity.
He turned his back on a Gay PRIDE flag waved at him in a walkabout; and then spent only 17 seconds shaking hands with vice-president J.D. Vance, preferring to hold long meetings with other leaders.
He has made the right noises on abortion and gay marriage. He outlined a clear Catholic teaching on marriage and abortion, noting that family is based on a "stable union between a man and a woman" and that the unborn enjoy dignity as God’s creatures.
But he has yet to address the twin issues of clergy sexual abuse and declining Catholic attendance in the U.S. You can read more here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/pope-must-address-clergy-sexual-abuse-and-massive-us-decline-in-church-attendance
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In an exclusive report, VOL uncovered The North American Anglican Journal, (TNAA) an online forum for theological and historical discussions in the Anglican tradition for Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) clergy and laity, is apparently being underwritten at least in part by an extremist far right person who wants America to be a Christian nation while excoriating “Jews who need to apologize to the world.”
The TNAA print publisher is a C. Jay Engel who holds extremely disturbing political views that can only be described as xenophobic, racist, antisemitic and unchristian.
He is on record arguing that Jews "have largely operated at odds with the Old American way of life." The editor-in-chief of TNAA, Jesse Nigro, is apparently aware of Mr. Engel's offensive beliefs. (Engel has made no secret of them.) Nigro appears to attend a LCMS congregation.
In a small office building purchased by developers, two men, including Engel are trying to build a Christian nationalist community in rural Jackson County, Tennessee, while attempting to build a right-wing podcasting business.
The two-part expose can be read here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/north-american-anglican-online-journal-is-underwritten-by-far-right-political-extremist And here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/north-american-anglican-journal-has-deep-ties-to-alt-right-that-threatens-the-acna-part-2
***
Leaders from over 60 churches across all Scottish Parliament constituencies signed a letter to Scottish Parliament members (MSPs) asking them to stop the bill on assisted dying.
‘The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill’ is expected to be debated and voted on at ‘stage 1’ on Tuesday, 13 May. If it passes, it will progress to ‘stage 2’, where it can be amended. If it doesn’t pass, the bill won’t progress any further and won’t become law.
This draft law for Scotland describes terminally ill people as those who “have an advanced and progressive disease, illness or condition from which they are unable to recover and that can reasonably be expected to cause their premature death”.
Such a definition, say the church leaders, opens a “potential wide eligibility” which “does not include a prognostic timescale”.
Despite being addressed by the bill, the risk that patients are coerced into asking for assisted dying remains real because neither the text of the law nor a Policy Memorandum specify how doctors and nurses should assess potential coercion, these Christian leaders say. “Vulnerable patients may feel pressured by family members or caregivers, whether explicitly or implicitly, especially given the rising costs of care. Capacity assessments for assisted suicide are complex, and the individuals closest to the patient may be reluctant to carry them out due to the implications”.
***
NOTABLE DEATHS. Two men died recently; both were significant in their respective spheres of influence. The first was Samuel Escobar, a Peruvian pastor and theologian whose passion for social justice and evangelization resulted in a new field in missiology. He died aged 90 in Valencia, Spain.
In 1970, Escobar and fellow Latin American theologians René Padilla, Orlando Costas, and Pedro Arana coined the term misión integral to refer to a theological vision that sees evangelism and social justice as inseparable components of Christian life. They saw this principle as a way to apply the evangelical faith to the injustices they saw, highlighting that care for the poor was at the center of Jesus’ message.
At the inaugural Lausanne Congress in 1974, Escobar gave a plenary address to more than 2,000 Christian leaders from 150 countries, arguing that the church had a responsibility to address the poverty and deprivation affecting its most vulnerable members. I met him at Lausanne and corresponded with him over the years.
The second prominent death was Old Testament scholar Gordon Wenham, best known for his commentaries on the Pentateuch and the Psalms. He died in Cheltenham, England, May 13, 2025, at the age of 81. You can read more here: https://anglicanmainstream.org/article/gordon-j-wenham-1943-2025/
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Calvin Robinson found a way to tick off four archbishops in a matter of months pleading nolo contendere, refusing to admit his guilt for the way he has behaved but neither admitting nor disputing the charges.
Robinson is a man who loves the spotlight, but is not at all in love with those in authority over him telling him what to do.
His vocational journey would terrify a modern-day HR person. After the Church of England refused to ordain him, he was ordained as a deacon in the tiny Free Church of England, a conservative Confessing Anglican denomination with less than 20 congregations. In 2023 he joined the Nordic Catholic Church, “a conservative Old Catholic denomination of High Church Lutheran patrimony.” In 2024, he came to the U.S. and was a priest in the Anglican Catholic Church. Following a controversial gesture that some said looked too much like a Nazi salute, The Anglican Catholic Church removed Robinson from ministry four days later. Robinson then went “bishop shopping,” and was granted a temporary license by the Reformed Episcopal Church, part of the Anglican Church in North America. That ended up badly and nine days later the Reformed Episcopal Church revoked his license to be a priest. That’s five denominations in three years. The only good news here is that Robinson announced he would resume his priestly duties at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Grand Rapids, where he has been serving as rector since last fall. But his license has been revoked so what is his future?
He might want to think about returning to England and have another crack at politics to which he is best suited, as clearly the pastoral ministry does not suit his massive ego needs for public attention. Perhaps the Brexit Party will take another look at him. One doubts that even the Ordinariate would have him. He is not yet 40, he still has time, but not, it seems for the pastoral ministry.
***
If you want to know just how theologically vacuous Christians have become in the U.S. a recent survey revealed that an overwhelming majority of Christians reject the fundamental teaching of the Trinity.
A striking new study from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University reveals a sharp divide between Americans’ self-reported Christian identity and their belief in a core doctrine: the trinity, where the God of the Bible exists as one inseparable deity in three persons—God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
Though two out of three Americans call themselves Christian, only 11% of all adults—and 16% of self-proclaimed Christians—affirm this foundational tenet.
This new data, part of the American Worldview Inventory 2025 from veteran researcher Dr. George Barna, highlights a growing disconnect between Christian identity and theological understanding. While the trinity has been a cornerstone of Christian doctrine for centuries, the latest findings show that even among churchgoers, this foundational truth is largely misunderstood or rejected.
The report reveals that:
Only 40% of adults believe the God of the Bible exists and is active in their lives.
Just 59% believe in the existence and influence of Jesus Christ.
Only 29% believe in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
When combined, these statistics show that very few Americans hold a trinitarian view of God. Even among the most devout population segment—those with a biblical worldview—just 62% affirm the doctrine of the trinity.
Barna, CRC’s Director of Research and creator of the study, expressed concern about its implications. “These findings about America’s ignorance or rejection of the trinity are simply another in a long list of examples of people living without the truths and life principles of God shaping their life,” he said.
The data suggest a cultural drift not only away from biblical beliefs but from any clear understanding of who God is. Two earlier reports from the American Worldview Inventory 2025 show Americans are redefining God in their own image and are minimizing the role of God in their lives.
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At a time when Episcopal seminaries are merging, closing and dying, Trinity Anglican Seminary announced the official opening of The Trophimus Center in Ambridge, PA with a ribbon cutting ceremony followed by a dedication and consecration service on May 16, 2025.
The space will serve as a place for Trinity students to engage in liturgical formation, hosts classrooms and events, and invite the local community to participate in worship. It also supports the wider Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and other mission partners as a keystone institution for leadership conferences.
The Rev. Cn. Dr. Bryan Hollon, Dean and President, said, “The Trophimus Center’s opening is a major advance in Trinity Anglican Seminary's mission to be a global center for Christian formation in the Anglican tradition. With its beautifully restored worship and meeting spaces, the Center equips our students in the beauty of Anglican liturgy while providing our community and the entire Province a central gathering place for learning, worship, and fellowship.
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The Anglican Church of Canada is collapsing. In the year of our Lord 1967, the Anglican Church of Canada had 1,218,666 members and 272,400 worshippers on a typical Sunday. In a recent report, the church found 294,382 members on parish rolls and 58,871 people attending Sunday worship services.
“The religious institution many of us have long known and loved does not look now as it did even 20 years ago, and it will not look the same 20 years from now,” noted the report, “Creating Pathways for the Transformational Change of the General Synod.”
Waves of declining statistics will "evoke grief, fear and longing. ...This report does not seek to reverse current trends, but to respond to them to empower a much smaller church to thrive as it proclaims the gospel today and in the future.” You can read more of Terry Mattingly’s take here: https://religionunplugged.com/news/2025/5/28/on-religion-the-collapse-of-the-anglican-church-in-canada
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LOVE FOR THE LEAST, an outreach Christian ministry to Muslims, and one of the most effective evangelistic ministries in the world, estimates that Iran is now 10 to 15% believers. That’s 8 to 12 million people. “It’s moving so fast and hard to verify without endangering them,” the source told VOL. Of the 50,000 mosques, a majority are empty. Islam holds little sway among the people, only its leaders are fanatically Muslim and equally Jew hating.
I personally saw the beginning of a huge Iranian movement in Istanbul. Love for the Least is now in five countries. The Iranians in Armenia are adding a new church every week, I was told.
Love for the Least leaders say the latest disciple-making training class on the Swahili Coast by local leaders and the Anglican archbishop reports training 300 new Muslim background believers.
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My Substack on the Middle East continues to grow. It is drawing a lot of attention from across the globe. You can access my Substack here: https://davidvirtue2.substack.com/ I am a strong supporter of the state of Israel’s right to exist and prosper while confronting her enemies both foreign and domestic.