WO is a greater threat to the Church than homosexuality

A gay priest is still a priest a woman priestess has never been a priest

By Mary Ann Mueller

Special Correspondent

www.virtueonline.org

August 28, 2025

The Anglican Communion is going apoplectic over the elevation of Cherry Vann to the Archbishopric of the Church in Wales just as it did in 2003 when Vicky Gene Robinson became the new bishop-elect in New Hampshire.

Article XXVI of the Thirty-Nine Articles clearly states that the unworthiness of the celebrant does not impact the efficaciousness of the Sacrament. The Grace of God still flows through because Christ is the High Priest in Whose Name and Authority the Sacrament is being celebrated on earth.

Article XXVI reads: “Of the Unworthiness of the Ministers, which hinders not the effect of the Sacrament – Although in the visible Church the evil be ever mingled with the good, and sometimes the evil have chief authority in the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments, yet forasmuch as they do not the same in their own name, but in Christ’s, and do minister by His commission and authority, we may use their Ministry, both in hearing the Word of God, and in the receiving of the Sacraments. Neither is the effect of Christ’s ordinance taken away by their wickedness, nor the grace of God’s gifts diminished from such as by faith and rightly do receive the Sacraments ministered unto them; which be effectual, because of Christ’s institution and promise, although they be ministered by evil men.”

The Article also calls for such priests to be adjudicated for their open sinfulness and deposed – stripped of their orders.

“Nevertheless, it appertaineth to the discipline of the Church, that enquiry be made of evil Ministers, and that they be accused by those that have knowledge of their offences; and finally being found guilty, by just judgement be deposed.”

Does the Anglican Communion – albeit The Episcopal Church, the Church of England or the Church in Wales – follow the dictates of the Thirty-Nine Articles? No! Such “evil” men are elevated to the episcopate in the name of the unholy trinity of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI). Starting with Vicky Gene Robinson in the Episcopal Church.

Today there are six living out and proud homosexual bishops in the Episcopal House of Bishops: three sitting gay bishops Thomas Brown (X Maine); Jeffrey Mello (XVI Connecticut); Deon Johnson (XI Missouri); one lesbian bishopette – Bonnie Perry (XI Michigan); and two retired from the active bishopric – Mary Glasspool (New York assistant); and Vicky Gene Robinson (IX New Hampshire).

Homosexuality is a moral failing. That failing becomes a sin when acted upon. The late Bishop Thomas Ely, SSJE (XV Massachusetts) was a member of the religious order Society of St. John the Evangelist. And as such he took his monastic Vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience seriously. Even though he was gay, he remained celibate and did not act out his sexual urges but continued to live out his Vow of Chastity until death.

Bishop Robinson on the other hand, not only acts out on his homosexual urges and tendencies, he flaunts them plunging the Episcopal Church into chaos. He lived in what used to be called a “state of sin.” Unmarried couples also fell under that banner.

Today cohabitation – shacking up for either the straight or gay – doesn't even raise an eyebrow. That attitude is "Big deal, so what.”

Women's Ordination, on the other hand, is not a personal moral failing. It is an action which renders the Sacraments not just illicit but invalid.

The Church of Rome and Orthodoxy are striving mightily to hold the line against WO in their ranks.

When a Roman Catholic woman says she has been somehow “ordained” a Catholic priest, the Church of Rome steps in immediately to declare that “ordination” null and void and to excommunicate the new so-called “Catholic priest.”

It's not just the Catholic Church which bars women from the pulpit and the altar several Protestant denominations do too including: the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, the Wisconsin Synod Lutheran Church, the Presbyterian Church in America, the Evangelical Free Church, Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the American Baptist Association. Other non-Christian religious bodies, such as the Mormons, Orthodox Jews and Islam, also bar women from ministerial service.

Basically, Anglicanism started to fall in 1974 when the Philadelphia 11 were irregularly ordained. That became the camel's nose under the tent allowing the smoke of Satan to enter.

Only Baptism and Marriage can be validly celebrated by a priestess since any Anglican can baptize using water in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; and it is the couple themselves – one man and one woman – who confer marriage upon each other through the recitation of their marriage vows. The minister is merely the official witness for the Church while offering the Church's blessing on the new union.

How a Sacrament is celebrated is important – very important.

The Eucharist using Coke and toast does not produce Holy Communion. Baptism in the name of the Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier while pouring beer over the baby's forehead does not cut it. The giving and receiving of rings between a same-sex couple is not a marriage made in heaven.

Five things are necessary to make the religious ritual a valid Sacrament or Sacramental Rite: the proper elements (bread and wine for Holy Communion); the proper words (the words of Baptism pronounced in the Name of the Triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit); the proper intention (desiring to remain married “unto death us do part” rather than participating in a simple marriage of convenience needed to secure a green card); the proper recipient (you can hold a dog under water until it quits kicking, and it is not baptized); and the proper minister (a woman is not the proper minister to celebrate the Service of Holy Communion; nor to ordain).

It is very grating to hear a female's voice pronounce the words of Consecration. To hear a woman say: “This is My Body” … “This is My Blood” … “Do this in remembrance of Me” is a huge disconnect. That voice does not match those Sacred Words.

Cherry Vann may be a deaconess. But she is not a priestess nor bishopette even if the Church in Wales elevated her to the primacy of the Welsh church.

The deaconess is a Scripturally based feminine order of ministry and service.

But, not of preaching and teaching. The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) have revived the ancient Order of Deaconesses.

The Apostle Paul writes: “I want this letter to introduce to you Phoebe, our sister, a deaconess of the Church at Cenchrea. Please give her a Christian welcome, and any assistance with her work that she may need. She has herself been of great assistance to many, not excluding myself.” Romans 16:1-2

Historically, depending on the English translation, Paul refers to Phoebe as a deaconess. Although, some translations call Phoebe a “deacon” and a “Servant of the Church.”

But Paul is adamant about women preaching and teaching in an ecclesial setting. They are called to a ministry of humble service.

In 1 Corinthians 14:34 he writes: “Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.”

Then in 1 Timothy 2:12 Paul fleshes out: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.”

He then continues to instruct Timothy on the basic qualifications of being a bishop: “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach …” (1 Timothy 3:2)

Paul was not thinking of Vicky Gene Robinson nor Cherry Vann when he fleshed out the qualifications for higher clerical office. He couldn't even foresee such a thing as “gay marriage” would become seemingly acceptable in the church.

Bishop Robinson left his one and only wife and “married” a man who was not his “wife.” They separated a decade ago as the bishop was retiring from his New Hampshire bishopric. The gay bishop's high-profile activity was just too much for the relationship to survive.

Remember when Vicky Gene said he was looking forward to becoming a “June bride” as his gay nuptials approached in 2008?

Then, of course, Cherry Vann is not a husband. She can't be, she is a woman. But she is living in a “civil union” meaning the government sanctions her same-sex relationship, giving her the same legal rights as a married person would have, but the church has not put its imprimatur on her living arrangement in a lesbian household.

And Paul had already explained to Timothy in the second chapter of First Timothy that women are not allowed to teach or assume authority over men. So, the new Church in Wales primate is disqualified as a bishop on several aspects outlined in Paul's epistle to Timothy.

Other Episcopal bishops who fail to live up to Paul's teaching on bishops and their marital relationships include: Maine Bishop Thomas Brown, Connecticut Bishop Jeffrey Mello, Missouri Bishop Deon Johnson, Michigan bishopette Bonnie Perry and retired bishopette Mary Glasspool. All are in same-sex “marriages.” Something Paul would challenge.

Even the 1998 Lambeth Conference has declared that same-sex relationships are "incompatible with Scripture.” But that late 20th century Anglican teaching now falls on deaf ears and hardened hearts.

There is another major aspect of the Anglican embrace of WO.

Women’s ordination has thrown a monkey wrench into the Anglo-Catholic ecumenical movement. Before 1974 Anglicans were moving closer to inter-communion with the Church of Rome and the mutual recognition of Holy Orders within the Church Catholic.

ARCIC (1967) predates Pope John Paul II’s Pastoral Provision (1989) and Pope Benedict XVI’s Anglicanorum Coetibus (2009) which birthed the Anglican ordinariates.

Under the leadership of Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey and Pope Paul VI the Anglican – Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) was created and was making great strides in helping to heal the fractured Church Catholic and to bring about the unity that Christ so earnestly prayed for in John 17 on the night He was betrayed.

But, alas, that common unity cannot or will not happen now that women's ordination shattered the long sought for understanding of priestly ordination and episcopal ministry.

As a classically trained Jew Paul bases his understanding of the role of men and women in the church upon creation order in Genesis and the cause of Original Sin.

In 1 Timothy 2:13-14 Paul explains: "For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor."

Genesis 3:6 explains how sin first entered the world through Eve. “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.”

Then she enticed Adam: “She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”

This is clearly seen in the postmodern worldly church. Women act emotionally. Men are more concrete in their thinking but can be easily swayed by a woman's wiles.

Priestesses and bishopettes sometimes quickly go off the narrow spiritual path in their attempt to be motherly. Making allowances for questionable activity and theology.

Women clergy are the push – the driving force – behind inclusive language, LGBTQ initiatives, and the DIE (diversity, inclusion and equality) propaganda.

WO is based not upon what Scripture teaches but it is grounded in the social gospel which erases the line of demarcation between men and women.

Basically, WO is a political and societal answer to a Scriptural and spiritual question.

Advocates of WO say that female clergy are necessary to fully promote “ecclesial unity,” to honor “feminine giftedness,” and to dismantle “patriarchal oppression.” In addition, Paul's first century prohibitions are not considered “relevant” in the postmodern 21st century.

As a result, the Church is slowly being feminized with the strength and masculinity of Christ and His Disciples being undermined and stripped away.

Men and women are both made by God with set complimentary roles within the Church, in the home and in society.

But the female sex demands to be made equal, not complimentary to their male counterparts. If a man can be a truck driver, so can a woman. If a man can fly fighter jets, so can women. If a man can go to West Point to be trained as a soldier ready to go to war, so can a woman. If a man can be a priest, bishop or Anglican primate, so can women. Just ask Barbara Harris (Massachusetts suffragan) in 1989 and Katherine Jefferts Schori (XXVII PB) in 2006 and, now, Cherry Vann (Church in Wales) in 2025.

The traditional barriers are broken down and the stained-glass ceiling is shattered. And the entire Anglican Communion is suffering because of it. Members are fleeing for more traditional Scripturally-based denominations. Numbers are down. Churches are closing. Souls are being lost.

Today, in 2025, there are 156 bishopettes in 17 Anglican provinces spanning the Anglican Communion starting with Barbara Harris in 1989. WO has spread through the Anglican world like venom spreading from a snakebite.

However, Christian worship is not about elevating oneself. It is about worshipping God in spirit and in truth. It's about being willing to give up self-interest to glorify God and Him alone.

Three times Jesus, Himself, asks His followers to “deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Me.” He makes that request in Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, and Luke 9:23.

But with women in the priesthood and bishopric the focus is shifted from God to self. Regardless of the spiritual damage being done to other souls with the WO’s self-righteous attitude and the offering of empty sacraments.

The same self-righteous attitude is taken by the LGBTQ crowd. Just ask Vicky Gene Robinson. For him his homosexuality is paramount. He is gay first then he is an Episcopal bishop second. He preaches about gay-pride instead of the Gospel unless he tries to use the Holy Writ to justify his lifestyle. He, and others like him, champion their cause rather than proclaim the unvarnished truth of the unwavering Gospel message.

Both Vicky Gene Robinson and Cherry Vann fail to adhere to Jesus' demand of self-denial for the Kingdom’s sake.

In Robinson's case it's a personal moral failing which damages his soul. In Vann’s case it becomes a communal sin which drags others down with her to the detriment of their souls making WO a greater threat to the ecclesial Body of Christ than homosexuality.

Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline