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Anglican communion will be reformed and reordered. We are now the Global Anglican Communion, says GAFCON chairman Archbishop Laurent Mbanda   By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org October 16, 2025   The future has arrived, declared GAFCON chairman Archbishop Laurent Mbanda. “Today, GAFCON is leading the Global Anglican Communion. As has been the case from the very beginning, we have not left the Anglican Communion; we are the Anglican Communion,” he declared.   “Our Gafcon Primates gathered this hour to fulfil our mandate to reform the Anglican Communion, as expressed in the Jerusalem Statement of 2008.”   We resolved to reorder the Anglican Communion as follows: 1. We declare that the Anglican Communion will be reordered, with only one foundation of communion, namely the Holy Bible, “translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading” (Jerusalem Declaration, Article II), which reflects Article VI of the 39 Articles of Religion.   2. We reject the so-called Instruments of Communion, namely the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), and the Primates Meeting, which have failed to uphold the doctrine and discipline of the Anglican Communion.   3. We cannot continue to have communion with those who advocate the revisionist agenda, which has abandoned the inerrant word of God as the final authority and overturned Resolution I.10, of the 1998 Lambeth Conference.   4. Therefore, GAFCON has re-ordered the Anglican Communion by restoring its original structure as a fellowship of autonomous provinces bound together by the Formularies of the Reformation, as reflected at the first Lambeth Conference in 1867, and we are now the Global Anglican Communion.   5. Provinces of the Global Anglican Communion shall not participate in meetings called by the Archbishop of Canterbury, including the ACC, and shall not make any monetary contribution to the ACC, nor receive any monetary contribution from the ACC or its networks.   6. Provinces, which have yet to do so, are encouraged to amend their constitution to remove any reference to being in communion with the See of Canterbury and the Church of England.   7. To be a member of the Global Anglican Communion, a province or a diocese must assent to the Jerusalem Declaration of 2008, the contemporary standard for Anglican identity.   8. We shall form a Council of Primates of all member provinces to elect a Chairman, as primus inter pares (‘first amongst equals’), to preside over the Council as it continues “to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).   The Rwanda Archbishop said the absence of repentance by the mostly Global North meant the need to advance a future for faithful Anglicans, where the Bible is restored to the heart of the Communion. Today, that future has arrived, he said.   “At our upcoming G26 Bishops Conference in Abuja, Nigeria from 3 to 6 March 2026, we will confer and celebrate the Global Anglican Communion.”   END

Abortion and America's Churches: A Religious History of "Roe v. Wade" (Faith, Governance, and Civil Society in American History) By Daniel K. Williams (Author) 384 pages $33.54   BOOK REVIEW   By Gillis J. Harp Christianity Today October 9, 2025   It was already unraveling by 1973. Repairing it today won’t be easy.   After the Supreme Court’s polarizing Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, the liberal Protestant organ, The Christian Century, sometimes expressed deep ethical concerns about freer access to abortion. Though generally supportive of the ruling, some of the magazine’s contributors were willing to express serious qualms about its potential impact.   Writing in 1975, Kenneth Vaux, a theologian and ethicist at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, lamented that the majority opinion “opened the floodgates for thousands of thoughtless and unwarranted abortions.” Four years later, United Methodist chaplain J. Claude Evans argued that the pro-choice movement needed to respect the consciences of those who considered abortion tantamount to murder. The government, he added, should ensure that public monies never fund abortions. Liberal Protestant unease of this sort is one of the many illuminating themes in Daniel K. Williams’s new book Abortion and America’s Churches: A Religious History of “Roe v. Wade”. Williams offers a thorough and insightful study of how American churches—Protestant and Catholic, white and Black—grappled with the ethics of abortion before and after the Supreme Court’s momentous decision. In particular, he seeks to show how different Christian denominations formulated positions on abortion that “reflected a particular theological framework” rooted in convictions that preceded Roe and persisted well after the landmark case.   Along the way, Williams questions at least a couple common assumptions. First, denominational defenders sometimes maintain that their traditions’ positions have never changed over time. Second, some scholars argue that evangelicals shifted their views suddenly for pragmatic partisan reasons. Here, Williams has in mind Randall Balmer’s thesis that white Southern Baptists adopted pro-life perspectives because of racial and political considerations rather than theological convictions.   Prior to the mid-20th century, American Protestants and Catholics hardly differed on matters of abortion. While historian James Mohr has maintained that first-trimester abortions were common and widely accepted during the 18th century, Williams inclines toward studies maintaining that abortions were relatively rare during this period due to widespread disapproval.   By the mid-19th century, that disapproval became more explicit, with Protestant bodies passing resolutions (like the Northern Presbyterians’ 1869 statement) that issued strong condemnations. By the turn of the century, the social gospel movement softened attitudes toward birth control among some Protestants, and this tended to liberalize their approach to questions of abortion. Despite this gradual trend, however, ecumenical organizations, including the National Council of Churches, expressed ethical reservations as late as the early 1960s. A few prominent liberal Protestants, such as Princeton University’s Paul Ramsey, remained firm opponents. But by the early 1970s, virtually every mainline Protestant denomination supported liberalizing America’s abortion laws.   Indeed, Justice Harry Blackmun’s majority opinion in Roe echoed an official statement crafted by the United Methodist Church that framed legalized abortion as a matter of individual rights. The similarity was no accident; Blackmun was a faithful UMC member. “One could even call Roe v. Wade itself a liberal Protestant decision,” Williams concludes.   As for American Catholics, Williams highlights the deeply rooted theological and philosophical arguments, stretching back to early- and medieval-church traditions that prevailed in the pre-Roe era. The church’s position regarding the appropriate penalty for abortion changed over time, but its conviction that abortion was a serious sin did not.   Historic church teaching helped American Catholic leaders understand opposition to abortion within a broader social context. Detroit’s cardinal John Dearden, for instance, connected the pro-life cause with larger concerns about poverty and opposition to the Vietnam War, and many Catholic politicians (including Democratic senator Ted Kennedy) embraced such an approach—at least initially.   Meanwhile, white evangelicals’ more individualistic understanding of sin militated against this kind of broader social perspective. American Protestants, both theological conservatives (like Billy Graham) and theological liberals, had come to accept artificial birth control by the mid-20th century. Although independent fundamentalist Baptists had a long record of opposing abortion, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) continued to espouse a moderate or centrist position as late as 1971.   Christianity Today sharply criticized the Roe decision, though, and many evangelicals came to interpret legalized abortion as a disturbing sign of a larger moral decline in American culture. Both the SBC and Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority (founded in 1979) issued jeremiads about national decay, justifying their activism with concerns about liberal hostility toward the traditional family. As Williams observes, “This new understanding of the pro-life campaign as a quest to restore Christian values in the nation’s law” had been less central in pro-life discourse before Roe, and it generated some debate within the movement.   During the 1980s and 1990s, debates over abortion emerged even within liberal mainline Protestant denominations, such as the United Methodists, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and Episcopalians. Pro-life groups within the mainline forged alliances with renewal movements that sought to pull their communions away from theological liberalism in general. When these movements failed, Williams notes, the resulting denominational splits produced bodies that were “more homogenously liberal” on abortion.   Some liberal theologians recognized that pro-choice arguments were based upon individualistic Enlightenment assumptions. Even so, Williams observes, the position of liberal Protestants soon hardened as pro-choice advocates “reframed [abortion] as a healthcare equity issue.” Moreover, by the 1980s, Black Protestant leaders increasingly assumed an unqualified pro-choice stance. Take, for instance, the civil rights leader, minister, and presidential hopeful Jesse Jackson. In 1977, he had staked out a firm pro-life position. Yet his views shifted in 1983, gravitating toward what had become the mainstream posture of the Democratic Party.   As liberal Protestants retreated from earlier convictions, conservative evangelicals and Catholics increasingly recognized each other as co-combatants in the pro-life cause. In 1992, representatives from both traditions began crafting an ecumenical agreement, published in 1994 as “Evangelicals and Catholics Together.” The joint statement deepened their alliance on the abortion issue while laying the groundwork for further cooperation.   By the early 2000s, Williams notes, many American Catholic bishops intensified their focus on abortion itself as distinct from a broader ethic of human dignity. Some asserted their right to deny Communion to pro-choice Democratic politicians who attended Mass, though Pope Francis later discouraged such a confrontational approach. When, in 2022, a conservative Supreme Court majority finally overturned Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, it was not surprising that four of the five justices were Catholics.   The demise of Roe underscored the diminished role of mainline Protestants in shaping religious attitudes toward abortion. Indeed, the entire framework of the abortion debate had changed profoundly since 1973. As Williams explains, “The fusion of the pro-life movement with a campaign to return the country to Christian principles turned the abortion debate into a referendum on the religious identity of the nation.”   Like all good historical works, Abortion and America’s Churches provides invaluable context, complicating our understanding of the past in enlightening ways. But the book also raises difficult questions about the viability of Christian pro-life witness going forward. Williams believes that a “pro-life ethic [that] demands self-sacrifice and a commitment to marriage, sexual chastity, and care for others” is unlikely to prevail in an increasingly unchurched and intensely individualistic society.   This is undoubtedly true. But the presumed moral divide—between a pro-life movement grounded in religious values and a largely secular opposition—isn’t quite so clear, especially in light of Donald Trump’s pronounced reshaping of conservative political coalitions. How should one understand the pro-life movement’s transactional decision to support a figure as ethically compromised as Trump? How much damage has the movement sustained to its reputation and wider influence on account of this alliance?   In the wake of the Dobbs decision, as Williams notes, the Republican Party—under Trump’s sway—dramatically weakened the pro-life elements of its platform. Moreover, some American Christians (Protestant and Catholic) find Trump’s transgressive behavior appealing. In recent election cycles, a good number gave him electoral support, despite the presence of bona fide pro-life evangelical alternatives like Ted Cruz (in 2016) or Mike Pence (in 2024). Admittedly, scholars might need more time to assess these developments in their fullness.   All told, however, Abortion and America’s Churches succeeds in tackling a difficult subject with a consistently fair and even-handed approach. Between its admirable objectivity and its extensive reliance upon primary sources, the book is likely to become the standard treatment of how different Christian traditions have wrestled with abortion.   Moreover, unlike many academic works, Williams’s book can serve as a helpful guide for productive dialogue on this emotionally charged subject.   Gillis J. Harp retired as professor of history at Grove City College in January 2025. His most recent book is Protestants and American Conservatism: A Short History.

01/10/2004 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1055546/posts   Today was started with a wonderful historical service in the Episcopal Church, Morning Prayer. This daily office is said daily by Priests in our Church and we don’t celebrate it often enough in the Church. There are times I wish every Eucharist started with Morning Prayer as did the Cathedral of my childhood.   Opening comments were again delivered by The Rev. John Guernsey of All Saints, Dale City, who welcomed us to a thoughtful consideration of today speakers.   The day was a composite of panels presenting various topics for our consideration. The call to Orthodoxy was a thread throughout them all, and amazingly so, since they were given different topics with the instruction Come up with 3 questions - which most followed and answered with Biblical text, or song, or with Anglican precendent or history, or a call to remain strong, that those who have embraced the results of GC 2003 have LEFT the church; that WE are the Church.   The final panel of the day included a young man from Christ the Redeemer who delivered an impassioned plea for us to remember who we are, and to get on with the central tenet of our faith - doing the work Jesus has us on earth to do. This from one so young with almost stinging words, was received with a standing ovation followed by prayer for all those 22 and younger. Hands were laid on those who were in attendance by groups of those around them, and prayer was spontaneous and repentant for having ignored the future of the Church, our youngsters.   The theme throughout today was ever constant - do the work that Jesus sent us here to do, and the business of the Church, how we will align will come out of that but not at the sake of it.   The Rev. Canon Martyn Minns summed this up at the end, giving as the parallel stories of Tex, Ruth and Emily - redemptive inclusivity, radical transformation. Redeeming work done at the risk of reaching out to the unclean, unwashed and outcast, but because they received the love of Christ through one of us, they came to believe in God, accepted His Son as the living Christ, and whose lives were radically transformed as a result.   Today, whether it was epistemological, historical, analytical, musical or rhetorical, the love of Jesus and the focus on Him was made clear. Over and over, we were urged to place our faith in the Bible, the Trinity, and get on with getting on. These discussions interspersed with prayer and then with song, drove the message deep: There is hope, there is life in this Church (us) after all; there is meaning to all of this when we keep our eyes on the One who came to earth to show us how it done, and that mission - the kind of mission that evolves out of each and every one of us, is central to our existence because living the great commission is more important than living the social life of meaningless Sunday Church services.   With the focus back on Jesus, with the emphasis on mission and service, there was a release of anxiety over where do we go, what do we do now which morphed instead into this is what we do, this is how we proceed, we keep doing the work of Jesus and the mechanics of our Anglican Communion here in America will be worked out. Time will help us work this out. The pressure to see something, almost anything happen NOW was released into peace and patience and commitment to doing the work on earth that God has for us to do.   When I entered the building this Morning, I wondered how I would ever feel peace, ever feel contentment in being an Episcopalian in America. As the day progressed, any anxiety or pressure to have something resolved today or even tomorrow faded away, in to the certainty that our leadership is pursuing with all alacrity that which would make us central to Anglicanism, without worrying about splitting off from or or splitting up ECUSA. Who knew where this would end today? With teenagers performing skits that showed the peer pressure they could face about that homosexual Bishop thing which the central character worked out to be the issue of Biblical authority rather than a homosexual issue.   A fantastic witness was given by a man who is involved in a ministry to those trapped in the homosexual lifestyle, as he told us his story and let us see the pain of what he experienced, followed by the healing and love and wholeness that Jesus has called him into. It was one of the most powerful testimonies of God mercy and grace I think I’ve ever heard. Like all of us, his is a process of healing, but also like us, one that he has recognized the choices he has to make and the fight he has to wage daily.   This is simply and remarkably, the kind of healing and wholeness that God calls us all into.   In the theme of the day, I have 3 questions.   What did I like best? The singing. No, the panels. No, the skits the teenagers did. No, the stories Canon Minns told. No, the congregational prayer we were led in, in small groups. Okay, I liked everything.   Starting with the Festival Eucharist last night, to the Morning Prayer, panel discussions, congregational prayer, group prayer, teenager skits, each had a part to play in the fabric of the day that wove us to the final conclusion - we can retain our rich Anglican heritage by standing firmly on the Word of God and doing His work.   What did I Learn? I learned that we aren’t headed to some major schism, leaving consecrated property, splitting parishes apart, abandoning Priest and Bishop retirement monies, and introducing incredible amounts of doubt.   We can continue with who we are, claiming the Biblical authority that we have, and making some requests about our future that will progress slowly, with thought and with care (and with legal help!).   What touched me most? Two things. One, the availability of the Priests and Bishops, to talk with us - at breaks, at lunch, after the last session. With so many white collars around, people could approach them and ask them their most burning concern. If they didn’t feel something had been answered for them (most likely, it just hadn’t been answered yet), they could address it with the nearest Priest. I thought this openness and availability was spectacular. No pedestals, or barriers to questions here.   Second, the pace of the day. I don’t know how they did it, but the time from 8 AM to 4:30 PM just flew by, but instead of feeling like it whizzed past, there was this sense of accomplishment, of peace, of contentment, of renewed passion for ministry. I wanted to thank the heretical Bishops who voted for the consecration of the errant Bishop in NH to say a loud thank you. Why?   Because bringing this many of us together in No. VA was a treat. The comfort of familiar liturgy, the rhythm of treasured hymns and songs, the cadence of the leaders prayers, the assurance of steadfastness in our faith through humorous stories and Biblical quotes led to a peacefulness that our denomination is not teetering on the precipice of destruction, but instead is focusing on a new emphasis, a call to righteousness. A call of faithfulness. No matter what you call us, we are Episcopalians.   One final note. I heard two different numbers for attendance today. From the panels, from the introductions by The Rev. Crocker, an Assistant at Truro, I heard 3000 several times. From someone who did the computer print out for name badges, I heard the number 3275.   So, let's just call it 3000+. Quite a turnout in this busy No. VA area where there was supposition that not many would bother showing up. 3275 people bothered to show up, and were rewarded for it.

AMIA Wave-on-line News Anglican Mission in America   The small African nation of Rwanda has suffered much loss in the last ten years.  The genocide of 1994 cost it an estimated 800,000 lives, and left it to walk a difficult road of rebuilding and restoration.  It has also paid in other ways.  When the Anglican Province of Rwanda came to the aid of orthodox Episcopalians in the United States, it was threatened with the loss of financial support from the powerful Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA).  When the province went ahead, on principle, to establish the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA), it felt the wrath of the ECUSA hierarchy in the forfeiture of much needed  financial support.   In one instance, Trinity Church Wall Street withdrew a promised sum of funds to theological education in Rwanda an amount of over $150,000 that was subsequently raised by the fledgling AMiA. Today, Theological Education by Extension, or TEE, is thriving in Rwanda, having trained nearly 2,000 candidates since 1999.  The Rev. Canon Martin Nzaramba, TEEs Coordinator, is clear about the vital role the program fills: Our immediate vision is to help the Episcopal Church in Rwanda to grow numerically and spiritually.  We also desire to offer theological education to all levels of our church leaders, that our churches would have abundant life. Nzaramba was beaten in the early stages of the genocide, presumed killed and buried alive.  He regained consciousness, got out of the grave and walked to safety in Burundi!   Last year the TEE program trained Diocesan coordinators and facilitators across the country that oversee the local programs and administrate the appropriate examinations each term.  They hope to train 60% of church leaders by the end of 2007.   The House of Bishops in Rwanda has declared that it has a goal to establish a residential theological college that would also be home to the extension program.  Several Anglican Mission congregations have expressed interest in assisting with this goal, and attendees of the AMiAs Winter Conference in Destin will have opportunity to contribute to this project through the conference offerings.   For Canon Nzaramba, it is a partnership that is paying important ministry dividends in Rwanda, We are pleased that the program is progressing so well, and were very thankful for the support we have received.   END

Church of England Newspaper Number: 5699     Jan 8, 2003   The truce brokered by the Canadian House of Bishops on Oct 31 between Bishop Michael Ingham and traditionalists in the diocese of New Westminster has collapsed following the closure of Holy Cross Church in Abbotsford, British Columbia, by the Bishop.   On December 18, Bishop Ingham banned the Rev James Wagner, vicar of Holy Cross, from ministering to the three-year-old congregation of 50 forcing it to close. Archdeacon Ronald Harrison told the National Post Holy Cross brought the closure upon itself. At its October meeting, the New Westminster diocesan council voted to disestablish Holy Cross and terminated its funding for having requested alternative Episcopal oversight. Bishop Ingham told Holy Cross that funding would be restored if the congregation rescinded its request for alternative Episcopal oversight. On December 5 the wardens of Holy Cross rebuffed Bishop Ingham saying they would remain part of the Anglican Communion in New Westminster [ACiNW], a traditionalist coalition of parishes within the diocese of New Westminster that comprise 23 per cent of the dioceses communicants, and would soldier on without diocesan financial involvement.   In response Bishop Ingham wrote to Mr Wagner on December 18 stating he may not undertake any continuing or permanent Anglican ministry for which a licence would be required . The diocese also declined to offer another priest to Holy Cross.   Though it withstood having its funding cut off, Holy Cross could not continue without a priest and the mission closed. Holy Cross last service took place on Christmas Eve at Mr Wagner’s home.   By refusing to submit, Archdeacon Harrison said the mission had declared itself independent of the diocese forcing the decision upon Bishop Ingham.   Holy Cross senior warden Bill Glasgow denied the congregation wanted to be independent asking whether it is our church or the Diocese of New Westminster that has in fact declared itself independent.   The blessing of same-sex unions is the tip of the iceberg , Mr Wagner told The Church of England Newspaper. The issues at stake were the revelation of God, inspiration of Scripture, uniqueness of Christ and the ministry of the Spirit .   Bishop Inghams introduction of same-sex blessings creates a sixth lesser sacrament that our Lord didn’t institute or practice, Mr Wagner noted.   The demand that Holy Cross accept this new theology and submit to Bishop Inghams unconditional authority was at odds with the Primates October 15 and the Canadian Bishops October 31 statements endorsing an adequate provision for Episcopal oversight for traditionalist congregations, Mr Wagner stated. A spokesman for the ACiNW denied that the request for alternative oversight was, in itself, schismatic. Chris Hawley told The Church of England Newspaper: the request for ˜alternate episcopal oversight is not leaving the Diocese of New Westminster or the Anglican Church of Canada, or a declaration of independence. Holy Cross wants to remain in the Anglican Church of Canada and the Anglican Communion.   Bishop Ingham’s new policy, critics charge, is at odds with his earlier statements of latitude. Addressing the Anglican Consultative Council in Hong Kong on September 18, 2002, on the situation within his diocese Bishop Ingham assured the ACC that, There will be no discrimination in terms of employment or advancement or licensing or ordination against any person who in conscience cannot support the decision of the diocese to support same-sex blessings.   His primary concern was to care for people of every point of view within the diocese; to make sure that everyone was pastorally supported.   Acting Warden Church of the Holy Cross, Abbotsford responds   Letter To the Editor Church of England Newspaper   Dear Editor,   I would like to clarify a few points with regard to your recent article on the closing of our Mission church, Church of the Holy Cross.   The Christmas Eve service which you referred to as taking place in Rev. Wagner home actually took place on Christmas Day. It was held there because our usual meeting place, a local recreation centre, was closed for the holiday. Secondly, and more importantly, this was not our final service. We have continued to meet for Sunday morning services and have made arrangements for a clergy presence during these services.   Contrary to the declaration of Bishop Ingham, we consider ourselves genuine Anglicans and see no reason why we should cease to act as such. Church of the Holy Cross is a community, not simply a legal entity. Every decision we make is designed to keep us in full communion with the worldwide church. We have been in contact with a number of Bishops and at least one Primate to explain our situation and seek a way forward through this difficult time.   I feel strongly that this is a critical time for the Anglican Church of Canada. The unilateral declarations initiating rites which are contrary to the proclaimed mind of our national church and international communion display remarkable arrogance and insensitivity. The self-destructive actions taken by our leadership, such as the declaration of the closing of our church amidst a time when restraint and patience have been agreed upon, will eventually lead to the severe crippling and probable dissolution of our diocese. Clergy and laity, straight and gay are all fearful and confused as to the course mapped out and actions taken by the bishop of New Westminster.   Bishop Ingham has demonstrated by his words and actions that he has no interest is honouring the clear statement from the Primates, and the Anglican Church of Canada is unable to hold him to account for failing to do so. At a January 7, 2004 gathering of laity and clergy in the diocese of New Westminster which I attended, one question that was raised repeatedly to a visiting primate was: why wont the Archbishop of Canterbury help us?. Our options are running out.   Bill Glasgow Acting Warden Church of the Holy Cross, Abbotsford formerly of the Diocese of New Westminster British Columbia, Canada P.O. Box 102 Abbotsford, B.C. V2S 4N9   END

About 2,600 Episcopalians will meet in Woodbridge today and tomorrow to discuss the future of the denomination   By JESSICA ALLEN Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star 1/9/2004   A conference this weekend sponsored by the American Anglican Council could give area Episcopalians a first-hand view of how deep the division over last summer's vote to approve an openly gay priest as bishop of New Hampshire really is. About 2,600 Episcopalians are expected to attend the Plano-East conference in Woodbridge, a follow-up to a meeting among conservative members of the denomination held in Dallas in October.   Unlike the Texas gathering, this event, to be held at the Hylton Memorial Chapel on Gideon Drive, will be open to all members of the Episcopal Church USA, without a requirement that they sign a statement in opposition to the election of the Rev. Gene Robinson last August.   Some Episcopalians opposed that election and threatened to leave the church.   The Woodbridge conference will serve as an outlet for those who object to the decision, said Bruce Mason, spokesman for the American Anglican Council in Washington.   This is an opportunity for many to respond to the actions [of the General Convention] and move forward, he said. We will discuss where we stand today and where we are headed in the future.   The American Anglican Council is a network consisting of conservative bishops, clergy and laity within the Episcopal Church. It is not part of the structure of the Episcopal Church.   The group helped form the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes, which aims to realign itself with the worldwide Anglican Communion without separating from the Episcopal Church, Mason said.   The network is providing a home within the Episcopal Church for those who are still totally in line with the worldwide teachings of the Anglican church, he said. Last year, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury in London, suggested creating a church movement or network in America to deal with the issue, Mason said.   Down the road, it will be up to the Anglican primates--international church leaders--to decide whether they want to recognize the network as the official expression of Anglicanism in the United States, Mason said.   One of the network goals is to create a program called adequate episcopal oversight. It will assist people in orthodox parishes who feel their bishops aren’t in line with their beliefs to work with an orthodox bishop outside their diocese.   Mason said the details have not been discussed yet.   The network plans to meet again on Jan. 19-20 in Plano, Texas.   The Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, bishop of Pittsburgh, who is helping to lead the network, will also participate in the Woodbridge conference.   The Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, Episcopal bishop of Virginia, agreed to invite Duncan to attend the event. Before preaching in another diocese, a bishop must be approved by the bishop of that diocese.   Lee, who was one of the 62 bishops who voted to confirm Robinson, said last summer after the vote that he received hundreds of phone calls and letters from people expressing their discontent over the matter. He will not attend the conference.   As a way to clarify its stand, the Richmond-based Diocese of Virginia adopted a policy in 1994 that states: The normative context for sexual intimacy is lifelong, heterosexual, monogamous marriage.   The controversy has taken a financial toll on the church.   Many Virginia Episcopalians asked that their church contributions not be sent to the diocese. About $188,000 in pledges from parishes went unfulfilled in 2003, said Nancy Jenkins, director of communications of the diocese. A hiring freeze has been imposed as a result, she said.   We are anticipating a 20 percent reduction in budget, Jenkins said. However at this point, 83 churches have pledged the same amount or increased pledges as compared to the 51 churches that reduced or zeroed out their pledges. Not all the pledges are in.   Most pledges from the Episcopal churches in the Fredericksburg region have remained the same or increased, Jenkins said.   The Diocese of Virginia--one of three dioceses in the commonwealth--stretches from Richmond to the Washington suburbs and over to Charlottesville.   With 86,000 members and 188 churches, the diocese is the largest in the country, Jenkins said. Lee said he can’t predict the conference outcome, but knows a number of leaders in the American Anglican Council who don’t want a schism.   I hope people who are gathering [at the conference] will understand they are valued members of the Diocese of Virginia, Lee said. And that they can respect people of different points of view who are also members of diocese.   But some local Episcopalians fear that the conference true intent is to split the denomination.   The Rev. Kent Rahm, senior rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Fredericksburg, said he isn’t attending the conference because he thinks separation is high on the agenda.   It seems to me the family of church ought to stay together, discuss their disagreements and allow the Spirit to guide us, Rahm said.   The Rev. James Reed, who is a member of the American Anglican Council and plans to attend the conference, said the conference is a way to discuss the issue.   Reed, vicar of the Church of the Messiah, an Episcopal mission church in Spotsylvania County, said he felt hurt and betrayed when the church confirmed Robinson's election as bishop and the blessing of same-sex unions.   Reed said the election of Robinson was schismatic because it didnt represent the beliefs of the majority of Episcopalians or Anglicans worldwide.   At the root of the debate is the authority of Scriptures. There are at least seven references in the Bible that call homosexual practice a sin, Reed said.   The church interpreted the Scriptures to prohibit homosexual practice, he said. But there are a number of progressive scholars who reinterpret it to say that those Scriptures don’t apply to homosexual practice today.   Reed didn’t attend the Texas conference, but he, his vestry and a number of his congregation signed the document supporting its stance.   I don’t want to leave the Episcopal church, he said. AAC is simply making a stand for those who are orthodox in the Episcopal church.   END

by Pat Ashworth CHURCH TIMES   THE Church of England’s Bishops will look at a draft report on women bishops this month, at its first meeting of 2004, but it is likely to be the end of the year before anything is published. A motion before the Synod in July 2000 asked the Bishops to initiate further study on the episcopate focusing on the issues that need to be addressed in preparation for the debate on women in the episcopate in the Church of England and to make a progress report on this study to Synod in July 2002 .   No View from Rochester The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, who chairs the working group, would make no comment this week in advance of the Bishops’ meeting.   His chaplain, Canon Chris Stone, said on Monday that all options for the future were being examined in the draft report. It is setting out the issues rather than trying to answer them, he said. The document had no official status, and the House of Bishops could send it back to the working group to ask for more work to be done.   Speculation is centred on the possibility of creating of a third province in England to accommodate those opposed to women bishops. The Archbishop of Canterbury is on record as looking with some sympathy on the option.   Dr Williams told the Church Times in an interview before his election as Archbishop was confirmed: You can’t indefinitely perpetuate a situation in which, in one body, the ministry of some is regarded wholly negatively(29 November 2002).   Scots view   The Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church voted in June 2003 to admit women to the episcopate. Women candidates are thought to be on the nominations list for the current vacancy for the Bishop of Argyll & the Isles, but are less likely to be on the shortlist, which is due to be announced in February or March.   It could well happen that a woman was nominated from the Church of England, said the Revd Alison Wagstaff, co-ordinator of the Movement for Whole Ministry, a Scottish group campaigning for women’s involvement, on Tuesday.   There was no debate on a further province or alternative episcopal oversight in the Scottish Church. We had a very strong College of Bishops, led by Richard Holloway, who were all exceedingly against any idea of flying bishops, said Mrs Wagstaff.   END

The Anglican Church of Australia faces a major change of direction in the wake of Archbishop Peter Carnley announcement this week to retire as Primate next year.   The church evangelical wing - based in the biggest diocese, Sydney - has its best chance in years to elevate a member to the top job. At 59, Archbishop of Sydney Dr Peter Jensen is a relatively youthful bishop.   The most senior contenders for the position, Archbishop of Adelaide Dr Ian George, and Archbishop of Melbourne Peter Watson, are set to retire in the next few years.   The church other senior bishop, Archbishop of Brisbane Dr Phillip Aspinall, has only been in the job for two years, but could be a compromise candidate.   In a strange twist, Dr Jensen is almost certainly guaranteed support from two wings of the church - the low church evangelicals and the high church Anglo-Catholics.   The two wings have come together on a number of issues in past years, most notably opposition to the ordination of women clergy and the leadership of homosexuals in the church.   In essence, the evangelicals see women clergy as being contrary to the Bible and the Anglo-Catholics see them as not in keeping with the long-standing, God-inspired traditions of the church.   Both have also been critical of liberal elements in the church accepting homosexual clergy and gay marriage.   The Primatial Election Board comprises all 23 diocesan bishops, as well as 12 clergy and 12 lay people elected by the General Synod to be held later this year.   At the last election in 2000, Dr Carnley won narrowly from former Archbishop of Sydney Harry Goodhew.   Then Archbishop of Brisbane Peter Hollingworth was eliminated on the third of four ballots, and Dr Carnley defeated Archbishop Goodhew by 24 votes to 17 in the final ballot.   Archbishop Goodhew had received the most votes of all candidates in the first two ballots, but it was believed his imminent retirement influenced voters in the end.   With a number of key changes to the bishops frontbench in the past two years, the vote is likely to have shifted away from the moderate rump of the church.   Handing leadership of the Australian Anglican Church to Dr Jensen, who was elected Archbishop of Sydney in June 2001, could have far-reaching consequences.   A profile posted on his website quotes him as saying: Our fundamental aim should be to address the secular challenge by providing flourishing Bible-based, gospel-centred, people-nurturing churches in as many places as possible.   Moves to incorporate women into leadership, including women bishops, embrace changes in secular society and extend a friendlier welcome to homosexuals - all issues championed by Dr Carnley - are likely to flag.   But, given recent national church life statistics, which show strong growth in the so-called happy-clappy churches which feature strongly in Sydney, Dr Jensen could in fact lead the church to renewal. As national leader, he could also be influential in the world-wide Anglican Communion, which is struggling to remain united in the face of difficult issues.   In the lead-up to the 2005 primatial elections, the church will need to consider what sort of future it wants and what sort of leadership it needs to thrive in that future.   ÂP 2003

BY DAVE MUNDAY Of The Post and Courier Staff   PAWLEYS ISLAND--One of the biggest Episcopal churches in South Carolina voted itself out of the denomination Thursday night.   The 1,000-member congregation of All Saints Episcopal Church of Pawleys Island called a special meeting to sever ties with the Episcopal Church and amend its charter to delete references to the denomination and the Diocese of South Carolina.   The motion to amend the charter passed 464-42 and the one to sever ties 468-38. Of 507 voting members present, two stood to voice objections. What the rush? said Guerry Green. We need to keep trying.   The denomination's approval of an openly gay bishop last summer might have been the last straw, but the separation had been coming for a long time.   We've been feeling for years like the liberal side of the Episcopal Church USA has hijacked the church we know and love, Russ Campbell, a vestry member, said before the vote. S.C. Bishop Ed Salmon, also a vocal critic of the Episcopal Church, has been urging members to stay put while awaiting intervention from the primates of the Anglican Communion, the worldwide body of which the Episcopal Church is a member.   All Saints wants to work outside the national church. We want to work within the national church, to try to reform, Chancellor Ned Zeigler of Florence, the diocesan attorney, said before the vote.   Were all working for the same thing. It hard to understand why we don’t just work together.   All Saints had to leave the Episcopal Church because many parishioners were threatening to leave otherwise, Campbell said.   We are already seeing the potential for the erosion for what has been a strong and vibrant church here by not standing up for what we believe, he said. We certainly don’t want to leave the Diocese of South Carolina, which we consider not to be representative of the Episcopal Church. But how do you reconcile going along with this revisionist theology and political correctness, which is based on culture and not on Scripture?   The diocese plans to continue a three-year legal battle to regain control of the property, Zeigler said.   The canons of the Episcopal Church say that members hold the property in trust of the denomination. In other words, members can choose to leave, but they can’t take the property with them.   A judge already has ruled that the church deed, which is older than the denomination, invalidates the denomination claims on the property. The diocese has appealed that ruling.   Salmon recently said he will replace the leadership at All Saints, but getting a new vestry into the building may require another court order.   Were still functioning, and we have possession of the property, Campbell said. We have a court order that says neither the diocese nor the  denomination has control of the property.   There also the problem of who would pay the bills on the multimillion-dollar, 50-acre property if Salmon deposes the vestry, which would likely cause most of the members to leave.   That would present a plethora of interesting questions, said the church rector, the Rev. Tim Surratt, who is also a target for replacement. If a small minority wishes to remain, how could they pay the bills?   The local church, rather than the diocese, pays a priest salary, he said.    All Saints has already had two priests leave the Episcopal Church and remain at All Saints. The Rev. Chuck Murphy resigned in 2000 after becoming a bishop of Rwanda. A year later, his successor, the Rev. Thad Barnum, also became a bishop of Rwanda.   All Saints is headquarters of the Anglican Mission in America under Murphy leadership. The network includes about 60 congregations who have left the Episcopal Church and affiliated with the leaders of Rwanda and South East Asia.   AMIA was preceded by a movement at All Saints called First Promise. The charter document in 1997 rejected the authority of the Episcopal Church USA where it contradicts the traditional gospel and vowed to set up alternative Anglican networks where necessary.   END

Perspectives from a lay leader directly impacted by recent developments between ACNA and SJAFC .   By Danielle Shillingstad Adams www.virtueonline.org October 15, 2025   Three years ago, my husband and I walked into a stranger’s house with 3 kids, a piano, and a crockpot full of ziti to help out with a Sunday service targeted towards students at a local college and military families in the Virginia Beach area. Six weeks later, we left our local Anglican church, a place where we had been faithful members for five years, to help build what would become St. Alban’s Anglican Church. The mission of St. Alban’s called to us personally.   My husband and I found the ACNA when we were leaving the evangelical church in our college years, and I knew how deeply impactful it was to have a parish willing to care for me when I brought barely anything to the offering plate and not much more than baked beans for the monthly potluck. Among young individuals leaving the evangelical church, the harvest is plentiful, and the reapers are few. Most young, Protestant, evangelical Christians seeking a traditional, historic church are also hoping to remain in communion with those who faithfully raised them up in the way they should go. Few liturgical historic churches allow this, and none cares about catholicity or church polity the way Anglicans do. At its best, the Anglican tradition offers them a table where their family members are still welcome while providing a uniquely faithful expression of historic Christianity.     St. Alban’s fell under the JAFC due to affiliation of both our university chaplain and the (then) active-duty navy chaplain who served as the rector.  I valued the good counsel of both chaplains leading the mission and saw strong episcopal oversight that cared about orthodoxy.    I stepped in wherever there were gaps to fill. My most unexpected role was being the church flower lady. We had no outside support - no stipends, funds, or even a roadmap telling us what the next step was as we grew. Yet we grew. The church has a group of over 50 students and families who meet and eat faithfully every Sunday, and we have as many young children as we do young adults. I have a seat on the Bishop’s Council and remain part of the lay leadership.   Two weeks ago, our fledgling parish became essentially homeless. With JAFC out of the ACNA, St. Alban’s somehow remained in both; the future is less than clear for our group. The parish met and grieved, not only for the rending of our communion and church, but alongside the families and chaplains who have come to call our church home.   Our community has leaned into each other, leaned into prayer, and leaned into personally caring for our clergy who are most affected by this.  At one time, we had 4 priests and 3 deacons with us on a given Sunday. To most people reading the news, these chaplains are people whom they will never meet as civilians. For us, they are faces and friends we worship with each week.     Our clergy have given of their personal time and treasure to make church happen while continually defending the ACNA to parishioners frustrated by the lack of strong leadership willing to stand for orthodoxy. Our rector is a faithful servant of Christ who has led us well, and every parishioner I have spoken with has expressed the desire to have him continue to lead us. He regularly stands for and preaches to us that which is Good, True, and Beautiful.   So how do we reconcile the lived testimony and witness we have in the light our communion has cast our leadership in? The situation and facts are discordant. With St. Alban’s deep ties to the SJAFC, it feels like our mission and clergy have become radioactive stepchildren wandering around in a room, and none of the adults are willing to look us in the eye.   Yet this is not the larger problem. Our homelessness will end; I fully believe that the apparent fruit in our mission and its clergy will testify to the goodness of the work that has been set before us. We will find a diocese to call home that loves and cherishes the work we do and the people who do it.   The problem is the testimony our larger church is giving to the 20 young adults new to our communion, some of whom are postulants. These young people have come to the Anglican church at the cost of familial relationships and harmony.  I worry about the witness that my children are seeing, watching leaders blunder about for the sake of ego, acting in ways we would admonish them as parents.   What then do I say to the questions about the polity, catholicity, and constancy of our Anglican communion after these few weeks? Do I show them the vitriol on one side, or the silence on the other? The public statements? The emails?  The other sources that have voiced concerns about our leadership and gone unheeded… or worse yet… silenced? Is anyone who chooses not to be a sycophant to be deemed “fussy?”   I don’t seek to have a perfect church here on earth, but merely one that is willing to converse and acknowledge its faults. The leadership structure designed to facilitate this conversation has either silenced or inflamed it. Rather than serving as a beacon of unity and love, the College of Bishops has given laity a witness of division and confusion and leaving us with disillusionment. Instead of modeling Christ’s love and reconciliation, this season has unfortunately become an example of discord and strife.   We desire to continue in the communion from whence we came, but also to continue in orthodoxy. This becomes more difficult by the day with the ACNA. Those considered conservatives are quiet or chastised for speaking out while the organization remains silent of the consecration of a new female archbishop. We are becoming the uncommon voices in our communion.   I am thankful and continue to pray for God’s protection of the young hearts in our community. I pray for our bishops, and our clergy. It is a blessing that despite the personal hurt and separation and loss our own clergy has endured the past few weeks, they still pour themselves out to our flock. I am encouraged by them even as I have tried in the feeble ways I can to care for them in their hurt. May God bless them for this. I pray that as we discern where we will find communion, these are the priests whom the episcopate sees when we arrive, ones who love Christ, his church, and desire orthodoxy. No one ought to be judged poorly or penalized for striving to serve faithfully where God has called them.   Our Lord called us to be one so that the world may believe. Division and schism undermine our witness and make it harder for others to see Christ in us. What I have seen is that the work of Christ is alive and well at St. Alban’s Anglican Church, and for this I am richly blessed. Bishops, show us how to walk forward together.   With humility, Mrs. Danielle Adams

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1055144/posts 01/09/2004   Ok, just come home from the most glorious Festival Eucharist I’ve been to since The Holy Spirit conference in New Orleans, August, 1997.   Magnificent. The procession was several hundred Priests long, and 2 Bishops in attendance: Bishop Duncan and Bishop MPango of Tanganyika, who attended VTS and was married at Truro Church (by Rt. Rev. John Howe, I believe, well, it was during his time at Truro).   The sermon by Bishop Duncan was on the text of Peter and Jesus walking on the water and Jesus reached out and helped him into the boat - that in the same way, the Holy Spirt, Jesus, God - the Trinity are reaching out to us as a group. I heard the doctrine of orthodoxy but not to Griswold or Williams although at the announcement time, Bishop Duncan had 3 announcements one of which was that Griswold and Williams would be informed of this conference, and the last was flyover Bishops that those who want to have Confirmations, or send candidates for Holy Orders, or for Seminarians, these Bishops would be available. Means to us at Church of the Apostles, Truro, Christ the Redeemer, The Falls Church and Church of the Holy Spirit, Dale City, that Confirmation can now proceed without having to invite Bishop Lee!   YES!   After the service ended, there was prayer in front for those wishing to receive prayer, and the lobby/narthex was filled with clergy in informal receiving lines welcoming those from their Churches or just those who wished to have a word with them.   I confess that I went for prayer - during the end of the service I realized that I was furious with Bp. Lee for doing this to us - anger that welled up and spilled out of me. Having had a childhood friend who left the Episcopal Church to become a Jewess, sent me the article on Truro Church, Martyn Minns and the Bishop from the Sunday New York Times Magazine section. There was nothing in the envelope with the article - nothing but it might as well have had one that said, Nah nah nah na!. And it was in this article that I read that Bishop Lee was prodded to take this position by his wife who said, Peter, do you want to be part of the past, or part of the future? And ON THIS SCRIPTURAL BASIS of wifely reminders, he based his decision? Oh joy, this just thrilled me to tears. NOT. BTW, the Bishop has gained a significant amount of weight. He has always been trim and fit, and this picture showed a double chin, a puffed face, and a belly! Must be eating to salve the pains of dissension he feeling, eh?   Tomorrow, 8:25 AM Morning Prayer starts, then there are panels of 5 – 10 clergy/lay throughout the day.   Interestingly, Martyn nodded in the procession in my direction - I was standing in the narthex, to watch the procession - and saw David Harper who of course never sees anyone except the person back in front to him. Saw Tom Herrick, vicar from Christ the Redeemer, the Mission Church from Truro - in tough times because of disassociating ourselves from Bp. Lee. I have no idea where they got their money to make the Jan. salary budget. Hmm – saw John Guernsey from Dale City, Phil Ashey formerly of Apostles, then Pittsburgh somewhere, is now vicar at South Riding (an entire planned community you’ve never seen off of Rt. 50 hard to pick a mile marker for you to know where it is, when all you remember is forest, followed by more forest, which is now houses, condominiums, and very expensive tony townhomes and single-family homes, and a golf course designed by someone impressive for very costly club fees.   I plan on taking notes during tomorrow's panel discussions as this is where the ideas of separation will be presented.   I have had a foretaste of Heaven - the service was glorious, the synchronized responses marvelous, and the rafters just rang with the precise amen of about 3000. I would estimate that the place was 75% full, meaning about 3000 in attendance. Parking confirmed this, as busses were required from 3 distant parking/hotel/motel locations! I arrived in time to get one of the last spaces within the confines of the Hylton Chapel parking lots without being in the extended area!   It was a joy to be among so many devout, joyful, orthodox conservative Episcopalians. The Episcopal Church lives!   Freeper Report on Second Day of Plano East in Northern Virgina   01/10/2004 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1055546/posts   Today was started with a wonderful historical service in the Episcopal Church, Morning Prayer. This daily office is said daily by Priests in our Church and we don’t celebrate it often enough in the Church. There are times I wish every Eucharist started with Morning Prayer as did the Cathedral of my childhood.   Opening comments were again delivered by The Rev. John Guernsey of All Saints, Dale City, who welcomed us to a thoughtful consideration of today speakers.   The day was a composite of panels presenting various topics for our consideration. The call to Orthodoxy was a thread throughout them all, and amazingly so, since they were given different topics with the instruction Come up with 3 questions - which most followed and answered with Biblical text, or song, or with Anglican precendent or history, or a call to remain strong, that those who have embraced the results of GC 2003 have LEFT the church; that WE are the Church.   The final panel of the day included a young man from Christ the Redeemer who delivered an impassioned plea for us to remember who we are, and to get on with the central tenet of our faith - doing the work Jesus has us on earth to do. This from one so young with almost stinging words, was received with a standing ovation followed by prayer for all those 22 and younger. Hands were laid on those who were in attendance by groups of those around them, and prayer was spontaneous and repentant for having ignored the future of the Church, our youngsters.   The theme throughout today was ever constant - do the work that Jesus sent us here to do, and the business of the Church, how we will align will come out of that but not at the sake of it.   The Rev. Canon Martyn Minns summed this up at the end, giving as the parallel stories of Tex, Ruth and Emily - redemptive inclusivity, radical transformation. Redeeming work done at the risk of reaching out to the unclean, unwashed and outcast, but because they received the love of Christ through one of us, they came to believe in God, accepted His Son as the living Christ, and whose lives were radically transformed as a result.   Today, whether it was epistemological, historical, analytical, musical or rhetorical, the love of Jesus and the focus on Him was made clear. Over and over, we were urged to place our faith in the Bible, the Trinity, and get on with getting on. These discussions interspersed with prayer and then with song, drove the message deep: There is hope, there is life in this Church (us) after all; there is meaning to all of this when we keep our eyes on the One who came to earth to show us how it done, and that mission - the kind of mission that evolves out of each and every one of us, is central to our existence because living the great commission is more important than living the social life of meaningless Sunday Church services.   With the focus back on Jesus, with the emphasis on mission and service, there was a release of anxiety over where do we go, what do we do now which morphed instead into this is what we do, this is how we proceed, we keep doing the work of Jesus and the mechanics of our Anglican Communion here in America will be worked out. Time will help us work this out. The pressure to see something, almost anything happen NOW was released into peace and patience and commitment to doing the work on earth that God has for us to do.   When I entered the building this Morning, I wondered how I would ever feel peace, ever feel contentment in being an Episcopalian in America. As the day progressed, any anxiety or pressure to have something resolved today or even tomorrow faded away, in to the certainty that our leadership is pursuing with all alacrity that which would make us central to Anglicanism, without worrying about splitting off from or or splitting up ECUSA. Who knew where this would end today? With teenagers performing skits that showed the peer pressure they could face about that homosexual Bishop thing which the central character worked out to be the issue of Biblical authority rather than a homosexual issue.   A fantastic witness was given by a man who is involved in a ministry to those trapped in the homosexual lifestyle, as he told us his story and let us see the pain of what he experienced, followed by the healing and love and wholeness that Jesus has called him into. It was one of the most powerful testimonies of God mercy and grace I think I’ve ever heard. Like all of us, his is a process of healing, but also like us, one that he has recognized the choices he has to make and the fight he has to wage daily.   This is simply and remarkably, the kind of healing and wholeness that God calls us all into.   In the theme of the day, I have 3 questions.   What did I like best? The singing. No, the panels. No, the skits the teenagers did. No, the stories Canon Minns told. No, the congregational prayer we were led in, in small groups. Okay, I liked everything.   Starting with the Festival Eucharist last night, to the Morning Prayer, panel discussions, congregational prayer, group prayer, teenager skits, each had a part to play in the fabric of the day that wove us to the final conclusion - we can retain our rich Anglican heritage by standing firmly on the Word of God and doing His work.   What did I Learn? I learned that we aren’t headed to some major schism, leaving consecrated property, splitting parishes apart, abandoning Priest and Bishop retirement monies, and introducing incredible amounts of doubt.   We can continue with who we are, claiming the Biblical authority that we have, and making some requests about our future that will progress slowly, with thought and with care (and with legal help!).   What touched me most? Two things. One, the availability of the Priests and Bishops, to talk with us - at breaks, at lunch, after the last session. With so many white collars around, people could approach them and ask them their most burning concern. If they didn’t feel something had been answered for them (most likely, it just hadn’t been answered yet), they could address it with the nearest Priest. I thought this openness and availability was spectacular. No pedestals, or barriers to questions here.   Second, the pace of the day. I don’t know how they did it, but the time from 8 AM to 4:30 PM just flew by, but instead of feeling like it whizzed past, there was this sense of accomplishment, of peace, of contentment, of renewed passion for ministry. I wanted to thank the heretical Bishops who voted for the consecration of the errant Bishop in NH to say a loud thank you. Why?   Because bringing this many of us together in No. VA was a treat. The comfort of familiar liturgy, the rhythm of treasured hymns and songs, the cadence of the leaders prayers, the assurance of steadfastness in our faith through humorous stories and Biblical quotes led to a peacefulness that our denomination is not teetering on the precipice of destruction, but instead is focusing on a new emphasis, a call to righteousness. A call of faithfulness. No matter what you call us, we are Episcopalians.   One final note. I heard two different numbers for attendance today. From the panels, from the introductions by The Rev. Crocker, an Assistant at Truro, I heard 3000 several times. From someone who did the computer print out for name badges, I heard the number 3275.   So, let's just call it 3000+. Quite a turnout in this busy No. VA area where there was supposition that not many would bother showing up. 3275 people bothered to show up, and were rewarded for it.

AMIA Wave-on-line News Anglican Mission in America   The small African nation of Rwanda has suffered much loss in the last ten years.  The genocide of 1994 cost it an estimated 800,000 lives, and left it to walk a difficult road of rebuilding and restoration.  It has also paid in other ways.  When the Anglican Province of Rwanda came to the aid of orthodox Episcopalians in the United States, it was threatened with the loss of financial support from the powerful Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA).  When the province went ahead, on principle, to establish the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA), it felt the wrath of the ECUSA hierarchy in the forfeiture of much needed  financial support.   In one instance, Trinity Church Wall Street withdrew a promised sum of funds to theological education in Rwanda an amount of over $150,000 that was subsequently raised by the fledgling AMiA. Today, Theological Education by Extension, or TEE, is thriving in Rwanda, having trained nearly 2,000 candidates since 1999.  The Rev. Canon Martin Nzaramba, TEEs Coordinator, is clear about the vital role the program fills: Our immediate vision is to help the Episcopal Church in Rwanda to grow numerically and spiritually.  We also desire to offer theological education to all levels of our church leaders, that our churches would have abundant life. Nzaramba was beaten in the early stages of the genocide, presumed killed and buried alive.  He regained consciousness, got out of the grave and walked to safety in Burundi!   Last year the TEE program trained Diocesan coordinators and facilitators across the country that oversee the local programs and administrate the appropriate examinations each term.  They hope to train 60% of church leaders by the end of 2007.   The House of Bishops in Rwanda has declared that it has a goal to establish a residential theological college that would also be home to the extension program.  Several Anglican Mission congregations have expressed interest in assisting with this goal, and attendees of the AMiAs Winter Conference in Destin will have opportunity to contribute to this project through the conference offerings.   For Canon Nzaramba, it is a partnership that is paying important ministry dividends in Rwanda, We are pleased that the program is progressing so well, and were very thankful for the support we have received.   END