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The revisionist Bishop of New Westminster, Michael Ingham, faces a triple crisis that could derail his plans to depose, at the minimum put on hold, his desire to toss 11 biblically orthodox priests out of their parishes and seize their properties. He faces a legal ultimatum with the leaders of St. Martin's parish in North Vancouver who argue that unless the parish is allowed to control its own finances and staffing, it will ask the B.C. Supreme Court to overturn the firing of two church wardens last year. In a letter delivered to Bishop Michael Ingham on Friday, former Trustee and spokesperson Linda Taunton said, "we want our church and we want to be able to control our own destiny. Ingham has until Feb. 23 to respond," she told Virtuosity. Last September, Ingham invoked an obscure piece of church law to remove the wardens, St. Martin's parishioners say. The parishioners maintain that as a legally incorporated organization, they have the right to make decisions for themselves. They contend Ingham's actions violate the provincial Societies Act. The parish has voted twice to seek alternative episcopal oversight. Late last year, Ingham closed one church. The second crisis the bishop faces is that four parishes have now obtained Temporary Adequate Episcopal Oversight from four international Anglican primates with immediate oversight of the Canadian parishes by a US-based AMiA bishop. The offer is temporary measure until a more permanent solution can be found. Seven of the parishes have not signed as yet, but sources tell Virtuosity that they are weighing their options. They are not ready to jump ship but all 11 of them still support the Anglican Churches in New Westminster (ACiNW) coalition, with none having fled. "Those parishes who have not immediately accepted TAEO want to continue the Canadian process set up by the House of Bishops to look for a way to provide alternative episcopal oversight." All the conservative Canadian bishops have been informed of the TAEO offer as well as Yukon Bishop Terry Buckle who had offered alternative Episcopal oversight and then withdrew it. "Everybody is acting in good faith, some parishes just felt they could not wait any longer," said the source. We should not view this as a break-up of the ACiNW coalition. It isn't." Ingham faces a third crisis with the Canadian House of Bishops Task Force that could recommend some sort of oversight for the beleaguered 11, which, if he doesn't accept, will put him at odds not only with the Anglican Church in Canada but with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the 38 Primates of the Anglican Communion. To date Ingham has not responded to either crisis. But those close to Ingham say he will never accept a recommendation from the Canadian House of Bishops to grant alternative oversight, because basically he believes he is the bishop and that is the end of the story. "He will never go for it. He will never accept AEO because it would be a diminishing of his ecclesiastical authority, and he is a power driven person, not gospel driven," said the source. The following Anglican clergy have already accepted the four Primates' offer of TAEO: The Revd Charles Alexander, Timothy Institute of Ministry, Calgary, Alberta; Dr David Bowler, Comox, Vancouver Island, a Church Plant; Revd Paul Carter, Immanuel Church, Westside; Revd Ron Gibbs, St Simon's, Deep Cove; Revd Ed Hird, St Simon's, Deep Cove; Revd David Hollebone, Living Waters Church, Victoria, Vancouver Island; Revd John Lombard, St Simon's, Deep Cove; Revd Barclay Mayo, St Andrews, Pender Harbour; Revd Silas Ng, Emmanuel Church, Richmond. These clergy come from two Canadian dioceses. St. Martin's, North Vancouver, St. Matthias & St Luke, Vancouver, St. Matthew's, Abbotsford, Church of the Good Shepherd, St Andrew's, Pender Harbour, St Simon's, North Vancouver, St. John's, Shaughnessy, Church of Emmanuel, Richmond, Holy Cross, Vancouver, Immanuel Church, Westside, and Vancouver Holy Cross, Abbotsford, still have not agreed to outside Primatial oversight.

U.S. Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) delivered the following statement on the floor of the United States Senate addressing several social issues facing the country: "The Old Testament prophet Amos was a sheep herder who lived back in the Judean hills, away from the larger cities of Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Compared to the intellectual urbanites like Isaiah and Jeremiah, he was just an unsophisticated country hick. "Amos had a unique grasp of political and social issues and his poetic literary skill was among the best of all the prophets. That familiar quote of Martin Luther King, Jr. about 'Justice will rush down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream' are Amos's words. "Amos was the first to propose the concept of a universal God and not just some tribal deity. He also wrote that God demanded moral purity, not rituals and sacrifices. This blunt speaking moral conscience of his time warns in Chapter 8, verse 11 of The Book of Amos, as if he were speaking to us today: That 'the days will come, sayeth the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land. Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. 'And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east. They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.' "A famine in the land'. Has anyone more accurately described the situation we face in America today? 'A famine of hearing the words of the Lord.' "But some will say, Amos was just an Old Testament prophet – a minor one at that – who lived 700 years before Christ. That is true, so how about one of the most influential historians of modern times? "Arnold Toynbee who wrote the acclaimed 12 volume A Study of History, once declared, 'Of the 22 civilizations that have appeared in history, 19 of them collapsed when they reached the moral state America is in today.' "Toynbee died in 1975, before seeing the worst that was yet to come. Yes, Arnold Toynbee saw the famine. The 'famine of hearing the words of the Lord.' Whether it is removing a display of the Ten Commandments from a Courthouse or the Nativity Scene from a city square. Whether it is eliminating prayer in schools or eliminating 'under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance. Whether it is making a mockery of the sacred institution of marriage between a man and woman or, yes, telecasting around the world made-in-the-USA filth masquerading as entertainment. "The Culture of Far Left America was displayed in a startling way during the Super Bowl's now infamous half-time show. A show brought to us courtesy of Value-Les Moonves and the pagan temple of Viacom-Babylon. "I asked the question yesterday, how many of you have ever run over a skunk with your car? I have many times and I can tell you, the stink stays around for a long time. You can take the car through a car wash and it's still there. So the scent of this event will long linger in the nostrils of America. "I'm not talking just about an exposed mammary gland with a pull-tab attached to it. Really no one should have been too surprised at that. Wouldn't one expect a bumping, humping, trashy routine entitled 'I'm going to get you naked' to end that way. "Does any responsible adult ever listen to the words of this rap-crap? I'd quote you some of it, but the Sergeant of Arms would throw me out of here, as well he should. And then there was that prancing, dancing, strutting, rutting guy evidently suffering from jock itch because he kept yelling and grabbing his crotch. But then, maybe there's a crotch grabbing culture I've unaware of. "But as bad as all this was, the thing that yanked my chain the hardest was seeing that ignoramus with his pointed head stuck up through a hole he had cut in the flag of the United States of America, screaming about having 'a bottle of scotch and watching lots of crotch.' Think about that. "This is the same flag that we pledge allegiance to. This is the flag that is draped over coffins of dead young uniformed warriors killed while protecting Kid Crock's bony butt. He should be tarred and feathered, and ridden out of this country on a rail. Talk about a good reality show, there's one for you. "The desire and will of this Congress to meaningfully do anything about any of these so-called social issues is non existent and embarrassingly disgraceful. The American people are waiting and growing impatient with us. They want something done. "I am pleased to be a co-sponsor of S.J. Res. 26 along with Senator Allard and others, proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to marriage. And S.1558, the Liberties Restoration Act, which declares religious liberty rights in several ways, including the Pledge of Allegiance and the display of the Ten Commandments. And today I join Senator Shelby and others with the Constitution Restoration Act of 2004 that limits the jurisdiction of federal courts in certain ways. "In doing so, I stand shoulder to shoulder not only with my Senate co-sponsors and Chief Justice Roy Moore of Alabama but, more importantly, with our Founding Fathers in the conception of religious liberty and the terribly wrong direction our modern judiciary has taken us in. "Everyone today seems to think that the U.S. Constitution expressly provides for separation of church and state. Ask any ten people if that's not so. And I'll bet you most of them will say 'Well, sure.' And some will point out, 'it's in the First Amendment.' "Wrong! Read it! It says, 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.' Where is the word 'separate'? Where are the words 'church' or 'state.' "They are not there. Never have been. Never intended to be. Read the Congressional Records during that four-month period in 1789 when the amendment was being framed in Congress. Clearly their intent was to prohibit a single denomination in exclusion of all others, whether it was Anglican or Catholic or some other. "I highly recommend a great book entitled Original Intent by David Barton. It really gets into how the actual members of Congress, who drafted the First Amendment, expected basic Biblical principles and values to be present throughout public life and society, not separate from it. "It was Alexander Hamilton who pointed out that 'judges should be bound down by strict rules and precedents, which serve to define and point out their duty.' Bound down! That is exactly what is needed to be done. There was not a single precedent cited when school prayer was struck down in 1962. "These judges who legislate instead of adjudicate, do it without being responsible to one single solitary voter for their actions. Among the signers of the Declaration of Independence was a brilliant young physician from Pennsylvania named Benjamin Rush. "When Rush was elected to that First Continental Congress, his close friend Benjamin Franklin told him 'We need you. . . we have a great task before us, assigned to us by Providence.' Today, 228 years later there is still a great task before us assigned to us by Providence. Our Founding Fathers did not shirk their duty and we can do no less. "By the way, Benjamin Rush was once asked a question that has long interested this Senator from Georgia in particular. Dr. Rush was asked, are you a democrat or an aristocrat? And the good doctor answered, 'I am neither'. 'I am a Christocrat. I believe He, alone, who created and redeemed man is qualified to govern him.' That reply of Benjamin Rush is just as true today in the year of our Lord 2004 as it was in the year of our Lord 1776. "So, if I am asked why – with all the pressing problems this nation faces today – why am I pushing these social issues and taking the Senate's valuable time? I will answer: Because, it is of the highest importance. Yes, there's a deficit to be concerned about in this country, a deficit of decency. "So, as the sand empties through my hourglass at warp speed – and with my time running out in this Senate and on this earth, I feel compelled to speak out. For I truly believe that at times like this, silence is not golden. It is yellow."

The Anglican Primate of Australia, Archbishop Peter Carnley, has made a stinging attack on the leadership of the Sydney diocese. In a new book, Reflections in Glass, Dr Carnley warns the diocese itself might split because of the extremism of the ruling group. The archbishop, who is to retire next February, said that while the leadership of the diocese resisted most of his ideas, they were not universally rejected. "The diocese of Sydney contains as much diversity of thought as most of the other Anglican dioceses, even if is to be frankly admitted that a distinct and characteristic kind of evangelicalism predominates," he said. "It is reported that up to 50 Sydney parishes might consider approaching the college of Australian bishops to seek a form of 'alternative episcopal over sight'." If Australian Anglicanism split, the "first divide" might be "within the diocese itself". Dr Carnley writes that given Australia's diversity, "inter-faith dialogue seems inevitable". But the Sydney diocese was quite cold on recognition of other faiths. The Dean of Sydney, Phillip Jensen, had denounced other faiths as false. "This is certainly not the most helpful approach," Dr Carnley said. FOUR PRIMATES: AN OFFER OF TEMPORARY ADEQUATE EPISCOPAL OVERSIGHT WHEREAS, a crisis of faith and leadership has been created in the Diocese of New Westminster by the passing of a motion to bless same-sex unions, and the actual performance of the same in a church with the authorization of Bishop Michael Ingham; and WHEREAS, a special October 2003 meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion called upon the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada to provide "temporary adequate episcopal oversight" to those churches and clergy who, because of their refusal to accept the revisionist direction of the diocese, are now in a state of broken communion; and WHEREAS, said episcopal oversight was to have been offered in consultation with the global Primates through the Archbishop of Canterbury; and WHEREAS, to date no such episcopal oversight has been offered, but instead church members have been lost, leadership has been threatened, and churches have been closed and their standing threatened; and WHEREAS, the clergy and congregations of New Westminster cannot be left to fend for themselves while the task force of the Canadian House of Bishops and the Commission appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury are doing their work. BE IT RESOLVED, that the undersigned Primates of the Provinces of Congo, Central Africa, Rwanda and South East Asia hereby jointly offer temporary adequate episcopal oversight to the clergy and congregations of New Westminster, and to other Canadian clergy and congregations who seek such covering, on the following basis: The temporary adequate episcopal oversight, as contemplated by the Primates Meeting of October 2003, will be offered in consultation with the Primates and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Most Rev. Datuk Yong Ping Chung has been requested and will serve as Chairman of the sponsoring group of Primates. The Rt. Rev. Thomas Johnston, with the support of the administrative resources of the Anglican Mission in America, will coordinate the provision of this oversight on behalf of the undersigned. Representatives of the Canadian clergy and congregations seeking oversight will meet with Archbishop Yong and/or Bishop Johnston to work out the administrative details of this offer. TRUSTING IN THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD, the undersigned present this offer of temporary adequate episcopal oversight to the faithful Canadian Anglican clergy and congregations. Signed by the Primates

By Archbishop Russell McClanahan New Orleans, Louisiana — October 3, 2025 — The Evangelical Episcopal Communion (EEC) gathered in New Orleans, Louisiana, from October 1–3, 2025, to celebrate its 30th anniversary and to reflect on three decades of God’s faithfulness and growth. Founded in 1995, the EEC has developed into a vibrant global communion that integrates evangelical faith, sacramental worship, and apostolic order. The 30th Anniversary Synod welcomed archbishops and bishops from across the United States, India, South Africa, and other regions, marking a significant milestone in the Communion’s international expansion. During the synod, leaders celebrated the official inclusion of the Province of India, representing over 9 million members, and the reception of a new African jurisdiction with more than 3 million members. With these additions, the Evangelical Episcopal Communion now embraces a global fellowship of approximately 15 million believers engaged in ministry, education, and mission across numerous nations, including outreach efforts in several closed and restricted-access countries. The three-day synod featured a series of workshops, plenary sessions, and worship gatherings addressing timely topics such as preaching to Generation Z, church-based nonprofit work, financial stewardship, apostolic succession, and global missions. The highlight of the gathering was the Thursday evening Eucharist, during which two deacons and two priests were ordained, an archbishop was consecrated, and the Province of India was formally established within the Communion. Reflecting on the milestone, Archbishop Russell McClanahan, Primate of the Evangelical Episcopal Communion, stated: “I stand amazed at what God has done over the last three decades. Who could have imagined that from our humble beginnings we would see such a global family of faith—working together to proclaim the Gospel and advance God’s kingdom in so many parts of the world?” The Evangelical Episcopal Communion continues to build on its founding vision of unity in diversity, fostering partnerships among churches, ministries, and leaders committed to the Gospel, the sacraments, and the historic episcopate. For more information about the Evangelical Episcopal Communion, upcoming events, or to connect with EEC leaders worldwide, visit www.eec1.org. Archbishop Russell McClanahan is the Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Episcopal Communion (EEC).

by John Sandeman Thedothercheek.com November 5, 2025 New attendance stats released by the Church of England are in marked contrast to the Bible Society’s report of a quiet revival in the UK. The Bible Society “Quiet Revival” report claimed that “Church attendance has risen by 50 per cent over the last six years,” according to stats from a You Gov survey in England and Wales conducted for the Bible Society. “In 2018, just 4 per cent of 18–24-year-olds said that they attended church at least monthly. Today, says The Quiet Revival, this has risen to 16 per cent, with a notable rise in the proportion of young men attending. “Attendance at Church of England churches rises for the fourth year in a row” is the headline on the offical Church website. “The overall number of regular worshippers across the Church of England’s congregations rose to 1.009 million in 2024, a rise of 0.6 per cent, according to the annual Statistics for Mission findings,” the Church of England “Statistics for Mission” report says. But the eagle-eyed Madeleine Davies of the Church Times contradicts the official optimism. “The data, published on Tuesday, record that in 2024 attendance rose for the fourth year, but that recovery since the Covid-19 pandemic has slowed. Increases in attendance since 2023 were smaller than in previous years. In 2019, a “middle-sized” church had an all-age average weekly attendance (AWA) of 34.5; in 2024, the equivalent figure was 26. The median church has just one child in attendance, compared with three in 2019. “Adult AWA (based on in-person attendance in October) was 18 per cent lower than in 2019, and 1.8 per cent higher than in 2023. This was five per cent below the projected pre-pandemic trend.” Davies’ subhead in the Church Times reads “Figures appear to contradict claims of ‘quiet revival’”. A different reading could be that any revival in the UK is occuring outside the Church of England. Ian Paul, a prominant Evangelical in the CofE, suggests a more realistic headline for the official news release. “This is the real headline: on nearly every measure, the figures are now back in line with the long term trend of general decline and ageing established before the COVID pandemic.” He points to two graphs from Statistics for Mission that paint a realistic picture of a church continuing to decline.Another graph in Statistics for Mission reveals the demographics of decline, examining the number of children in churches each October The Statistics for Mission report gives a picture of the dynamics of some growth amid declines:”more Church of England churches became smaller from 2019 to 2024 than grew. As an illustration: in approximately 12% of churches the usual Sunday attendance, average Sunday attendance, and average weekly attendance were all higher in 2024 than in 2019; in approximately 48% of churches the usual Sunday attendance, average Sunday attendance, and average weekly attendance were all lower in 2024 than in 2019.” Reply 05/11/2025 Dr Craig L Hall (Research Fellow) The figures for attendance at C of E churches may need some nuancing. Statistics can be misleading unless carefully considered. Attendance at churches may vary for a number of reasons: 1) Covid is central to these reported figures especially often quoted as “pre-Covid” and “post-Covid”. The central issue of Covid was of course closure of churches. That is, closure of physical attendance, yet many continued with an online format. This inculturation of congregations to online church, meant many continued that form of attendance after Covid, replacing physical attendance in church. Therefore the definition of “attendance” is a factor. 2) Congregation transfer – if a church of 20 closes and four other churches increase by 5, the data will show most churches increasing and only one decreasing, but overall attendance is the same. If four churches of ten close and two churches increase by 20 each the data will show most churches declining and some increasing. In today’s market the target of stability is a congregation of 50, if a church can’t reach that, it is at risk of its people migrating to a bigger church. 3) Various socio-economic trends influence attendance. Individual mobility is a major one today. The average renter will need to move location due to rent hikes, job, or getting married. Some renters are forced to move once each year. Of the young people getting married a significant number move to another church, joining his, or hers. This can mean not only moving to a different church of the same denomination, but to a different denomination. It has been notable in my experience of church Executive, manifestly a flow of Catholics to Pentecostal, Pentecostal to Anglican, and Anglican to Baptist. Pentecostal growth was noted due not to new conversions, but congregation transfer from other denominations. With the collapse of mega-churches in Australia, there is a transfer of congregation between all denominations. People are looking for authenticity and are not finding it, therefore shopping around as is done on an internet dating site, is apparent. 4) Internet attendance- although a church can identify how many are watching online, this only shows the log-ins. A family of 5 could be watching at home. It won’t be evident as it would be if they all attended in person. 5) Double counting – churches with multiple services may have members attending two or more services in one day. The numbers attending for each service will therefore include double counting of the same person/s – but with the pressure for increasing results from KPIs no one will be too keen to deduct the duplicate attendance. This is just one of the major flaws and culture distortions KPIs produce. The problem was experienced with College attendances. If one student enrols in one subject per year, and another in eight subjects per year, do you have 2 students or 1.125 students attending? The issue is resolved with Colleges counting students equal to FTE – full time equivalents. In the above example a full time load is 8 subjects, so you have 1.125 students. Historically Anglicans would have been expected to attend three services per day. Attendance was the roll of church members, not each service. Attendance is not a straight forward calculation and the number of full or empty seats is not an absolute indicator.

Ash Wednesday, 2004 Learning to Live with an Audience of One Rev. R. William Dickson St. John the Divine, Houston, TX Introduction: There's a quip about public speaking which I have always found quite startling and provocative. It goes this way – "The first thing an inexperienced novice speaker does upon being invited to speak somewhere is to inquire about the topic –"What is it I am to talk about?"; but the first thing a really expert speaker asks is 'Who is my audience?" It is simply impossible to communicate effectively without giving some serious consideration to the matter of your audience. You dare not address a group of fourth graders as you would a group of mature adults. It would be quite wrong-headed to address a gathering of scholars the same way you would speak to a group of blue-collar workers. You cannot communicate effectively without considering your audience. I doubt that anyone who has ever spoken publicly or anyone who has ever thought carefully about the task would dispute it. It is certainly true. But I wonder if we have given adequate consideration to the critical importance of the audience of our lives. Before whom are we really living our lives? Who is the true audience before whom our time on the stage of life is performed? In our gospel text for today Jesus suggests there are but two options, and only one is acceptable to those who would be his disciples. [Sermon continues with full theological reflection on living before God as our primary audience, including discussion of spiritual "gyroscopes" and concluding with an Ash Wednesday meditation] Amen.

Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjack's wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church's inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the Cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods… Costly grace is the Gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it costs God the life of His Son: "ye were bought at a price," and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon His Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered Him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God. Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs… — Dietrich Bonhoeffer (February 4, 1906-April 9, 1945)

"It is sometimes said that conduct is supremely important, and worship helps it. The truth is that worship is supremely important, and conduct tests it." Archbishop William Temple Dear Brothers and Sisters, If there is one lesson the revisionists have learned and learned well it is that if they win the bishoprics they not only control the direction of the church, they have the majority vote in the House of Bishops and who will eventually succeed Frank Griswold. They also know that a revisionist bishop can control who comes into the diocese, beat up on faithful Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics who disagree with them on the 'faith once delivered', control the money flow to 815 to keep the national church's agenda alive, intimidate faithful rectors and much more. They also know that the bishop is capable of ripping up parishes if need be, deposing the rector and turn a once thriving parish into a mission. Just ask the folk in Versailles, Kentucky. The revisionists will do whatever it takes to win. They will employ every sleazy tactic in the book to get their man or woman elected. Consider what they did in the Diocese of North Dakota, Rio Grande, Colorado and more. The worst case is currently going in the diocese of the Rio Grande, where the godly Terence Kelshaw retires in 2005 and a single revisionist priest got hold of the entire diocesan mailing list and used it to promote his revisionist cause. So the lesson is this. First of all control the process. Make sure that the Search Committee chosen to investigate the candidates has several homosexual or pansexual believers on it. Then make sure that every candidate answers a question or two about the limits (or non-limits) of inclusivity, diversity and the usual buzzwords about sexual orientation, support of 815, abiding by the canons and constitutions etc. and then weed out any orthodox contenders. Then make sure that whoever is elected, and it really doesn't matter at this point if he or she believes in the creeds or 39 Articles, prays regularly, reads the Bible regularly, if at all, but will they make the appropriate noises about God's promiscuous love for all peoples between whatever sheets are available at the moment, preferably Versace, as he had pretty good idea about the non-limits of homoerotic behavior. The most important thing is learning how to dress up, put on a good show when you go visiting a local parish, mouth platitudes, pat a few heads, baptize and confirm a few adults (while still remaining dressed up), sit in a fancy chair and look good. Whatever you do don't say too much if the congregation just happens to know what the Bible teaches, but breathe the air of inclusivity and God's promiscuous love for all peoples, and tell the rector (privately) that if he doesn't cough up more money to keep the diocese afloat he will remove him. Do it all with a smile, and then leave in your limousine. [Content continues with full editorial commentary by David W. Virtue about church politics and conflicts]

By the Rev. Dr. Joseph Murphy In Mel Gibson's new film, The Passion of the Christ, the Aramaic text of the account from the Gospel of Matthew is provided in English subtitles, except for Matthew 27:25. That verse is not included because of the potential for misunderstanding given the history of Jewish-Christian relations. The passage reads, "And all the people said, "His blood shall be on us and on our children!"(NASV). In one sense, its meaning is simple enough. Using a common biblical idiom, the crowd was taking responsibility for the execution of Jesus, just as a jury and a judge today take responsibility for the execution of a criminal guilty of capital offense. It is no trivial matter, in either case. What compounds the problem, of course, is that Jesus was no ordinary criminal; in fact, no ordinary man, and no criminal at all. At least, that is what we Christians believe. What's more, we believe it passionately, because the message of salvation through Christ goes deeper in us than any passion we have. "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free," Jesus said (John 8:32). His hearers, "the Jews" according to the Gospel of John, were incredulous at this statement, because they did not consider themselves anyone's slaves. Indeed, they were not. From the days of Judas Maccabeus, the Jews were a thorn in the side of the Roman Empire, a people most difficult to force into subjection. Freedom is dear to the heart of the Jews. It is part of their heritage. The freedom Jesus spoke of, though, was freedom from sin, freedom to live before God without being controlled by our passions, our hatreds, our vices--an inner freedom in and of the Spirit of God allowing us to love and serve others. In Jesus' ministry recounted in the four Gospels, we see again and again Jesus being misunderstood and the conflict it caused, as He spoke about a kingdom which is not of this world, in the midst of a kingdom very much in this world, which was very disagreeably held under the cruel thumb of Rome. In the account of Jesus' Passion, we see it come to a head as He stands before Pilate, the Roman ruler of the Jewish state whose ignorance of Jesus' true Kingship is complete, though he acts in effect as Jesus' judge. It is Pilate's authority that executes Jesus, since the Jews had no authority to do so apart from Rome. Who then is "all the people" who, in effect, comprise the jury that takes the responsibility for Pilate to kill Jesus? Through the history of the Church, it has been interpreted variously as being all the Jews at all times since that day, all the Jews alive at the time of Christ's death except those who believed, or all of that generation of Jews except those who believed in Jesus, since the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 by Rome would have fulfilled the reference to Jesus' blood coming upon "our children," the following generation. In the limited context of the meaning of Matthew's Gospel, the latter is probable: only those people capable of hearing and responding to Jesus during His life and ministry. But in the context of the entire message of the New Testament, to identify who is responsible for Jesus' death, the question we must first answer is, who speaks for us when we are identified corporately? Identity politics is the order of the day in these postmodern times. The Croatian theologian Miroslav Volf in Exclusion & Embrace describes the particularities of our human identity and the resulting differences between us, behind the current global problems of race, ethnicity, and culture, which are "tribal realities" brought to the foreground by the new global economy and technology. The question of who speaks for "us," as we are so identified, is, therefore, of the greatest importance. If you are "white," or "Christian," did Hitler speak for you? The question is germane, since it is exactly this kind of authority to speak for "all" by perpetrators of evil that is brought into question by Matthew's passage. Did those people there present at the crucifixion speak for all Jews when they took responsibility for Pilate to execute? It is the attribution of the murder of Jesus to "all the Jews" by Christians historically that has rightly concerned many Jews today in respect to Mel Gibson's movie. They fear fresh anti-Semitism, and history shows their fears to be rational. Hitler's unspeakable atrocities came at the end of centuries of mistreatment of the Jews in Christian Europe. Christians today who dismiss those fears do not serve the Jewish community well. And, for the Church now finally shorn of the corrupting power of rulership in this world, the only thing that demonstrates the love of Christ our King, if we listen to Jesus at the time of His Passion (John 13:1-17) and follow Him, is humble service. Had the Church been serving the Jewish community in the freedom of Christ all these years, refusing to do violence to them and seeking their well-being, we would hear no such fears expressed today. At one time, in the days of Jesus and His disciples, it was possible for believers in Christ, Jew or Gentile, and Jewish non-believers in Christ to discuss and argue the truth of Jesus' claims. Now, we have two thousand years of the Church's failure to act like Jesus toward the Jews that horribly complicates the relationship. We Christians must ask ourselves, who has the right to speak for us? The only credible person who claims the right to speak for us all, the Pope, is specifically not granted that right by all of us! How is it that those Jewish persons at the crucifixion had the right to speak for all Jews everywhere then and since? Some people might reply that the New Testament assigns the blame--that God has spoken through Matthew so that the Jews are all to blame. Without questioning that God has spoken through Matthew, we can and must ask if we have understood the New Testament correctly if we hear it assign blame to the Jewish people as a whole. The concept of corporate identity is not a postmodern phenomena, despite our preoccupation with it today in social politics. It is evident in the Hebrew Bible in the writings of the Jewish prophets, and particularly in the writings of Isaiah, which were of primary importance to the early Jewish Christians in arguing the claims of the Messiah Jesus to their fellow Jews (e.g. Acts 8:26-39). Isaiah describes the Servant of the Lord in chapters 40 to 53 of that book in a way that accentuates the corporate identity of Israel. Sometimes, the Servant is clearly the people of Israel. Sometimes, however, the Servant is an individual, but as an individual standing for the whole people, in the unity of their corporate identity. This is presented as God's work, not a definition of unity that we impose upon Israel. The suffering of Messiah, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and graphically portrayed in The Passion of the Christ, is the suffering of the Servant of the Lord of Isaiah chapter 53. Jesus' fellow Jew and disciple Peter refers to that chapter in describing Jesus' suffering: "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed (I Peter 2:24)." Jesus died for us. This death for us is at the heart of the gospel, because Jesus died in our place, so that our sins were nailed to His cross. This makes the gospel the proclamation of a truth that brings inner freedom in a life of loving service to God, because we are freed from both the power of sin and from the fear of death—the greatest power that can be wielded against us in this world. But, isn't that what we heard Jesus say to His Jewish hearers, that the truth would set them free? Was Jesus Himself, then, being anti-Semitic? Or, to state it differently, is His death any different from His life, a stumbling-block Peter calls it, again citing Isaiah? Doesn't the charge of anti-Semitism in the New Testament reduce to the challenge of faith in Jesus that Jesus Himself put before His own people of Israel, distorted and obscured in the history of the Church by Gentile racial hatred of Jesus' own race? What the gospel of Christ tells us is that we, all, have sinned, and fallen short of what God has created us for, which is nothing less than His own glory in living union with Him. The death of Jesus, followed by His resurrection, offers us a way out of that dilemma, a way through faith in Christ in which His blood cleanses us from all of our sins. The blood of that Passover Lamb of God, according to the New Testament patterned after the Hebrew Testament, causes the judgment of God in His separation from us, to pass. All those who believe in Jesus, then, want to be washed in the blood of the Lamb, to have His blood upon us! The divine irony of His blood being upon us who believe in Him extends to those who killed Him that day, who cried out for His blood to be upon them. If Jesus' death is our life, is their killing Him not a service to us? In other words, did not Israel, the Servant of the Lord, act in unison that day, the One and the many, in a sacrifice to end all sacrifices? Who is guilty, then? Jesus bore it, all. Jesus makes that clear: "No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord" (John 10:18). The Jews did not kill Jesus. The Servant of the Lord laid down His life for us, at the hands of "the kings of the earth," as Psalm 2 puts it, or as we might say, "the powers that be." Christians, who believe the story of Jesus' Passion, are actually forever indebted to those Jewish men and women who acted on behalf of us all, in agreeing to put Jesus to death. Not that we commend their motives. No, in an ultimate sense we share their motives, every day, in every one of our lives. Failure to acknowledge that human unity in complicity simply reflects a lack of repentance on our part. In a very specific sense, any Christian that is angered at the Jews for killing Jesus falls into the very profile of the spiritually bankrupt religious leadership that were offended by Jesus, a portrait also given to us by Matthew: "And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. (Matt. 23:30-31)" The murder of Jesus is our story, man and woman against God, unwilling to accept Him as He presents Himself to us. God offers us all forgiveness through the life and death of Jesus. The people of Israel, the Servant of the Lord, have served us all, in corporate unity with Jesus Whom God appointed to speak for Him in an ultimate action of God's love toward us all. The unavoidable implication of Jesus' Passion is that humanity itself is united before God, and that Israel as God's Servant has served us all for His sake. If the Jews, represented in this story by Caiphas and the crowd, are one in the horrible, unjust execution of Christ, Gentile Christians, represented by Pilate in his abuse of power, are one in their horrible, unjust killing of the Jews through history. No, it was we, all humanity, who killed the Servant of the Lord, and God who has forgiven us of all through that very act of Jesus' Self-giving. If anti-Semitism increases as a result of Gibson's film, its viewers will have seen and not understood. In Jesus' words, "In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.' (Matthew 13:14)" Such is the blindness of Pilate, and all Christians who have stood in his place of power, executing the Servant of the Lord at any time in history. Any Christian like Pilate washing their hands of complicity in the death of Christ in order to blame the Jews, only proves that they do not understand what they see. It is not accidental that Pilate is the one who dismisses the possibility and value of knowing the truth: he did not see Jesus for Who He is. Miroslav Volf accurately describes the Victim of the incredible violence shown in The Passion of the Christ: "Jesus, who claimed to be the Truth, refused to use violence to "persuade" those who did not recognize his truth. The kingdom of truth he came to proclaim was the kingdom of freedom and therefore cannot rest on pillars of violence." If the graphic violence portrayed in this film inflames anyone's ire against the Jewish people, they have seen and not understood, nor has the truth freed them to love and serve. The violence is not the point of Jesus' story, not at least as it was written. Cinema, for all its visual splendor, is an ineffective medium for communicating the written word. As always, to appreciate the full story, one needs to read the book. © 2004 The Rev. Joseph P. Murphy, Ph.D.

It was the greatest miracle that ever happened to Brother Duan, and he would not have experienced it had his bus not broken down. En route from a northern to a southern province of China in December, he happened to be passing through Henan province when the engine of the bus expired in its futile battle with the cold. On a whim, Duan trudged off through the fields, leaving the other passengers huddled inside the bus. He was a house church leader in northern China. Now 77 years of age, he still had no home to call his own. Truth is, he was deeply depressed. He was on his way to mediate a dispute among some leaders and was weary of all the infighting that seemed to be harming the house churches. And he was lonely. As he crossed the frozen field, Duan though longingly of his beloved wife, who died long ago. He wished she were alive to listen to him and give her sweet counsel. And then the thought came into his tired mind of his little son, and an even darker cloud settled over his heart. He found a village and knocked on a door. A little cross was notched on the doorpost. "Is there anyone here who loves the Lord?" he asked. "I would love some fellowship tonight." The door was opened by a man in his fifties, and Duan was warmly welcomed. His feet were washed in a basin -- the custom of welcoming a stranger among the house church movement -- and was fed hot congee and steaming vegetables. He noticed that the people were all excited. It turned out that they would be traveling to a neighboring town to hear a dynamic Bible teacher from one of the bigger cities. "What's his name?" asked Duan. "Brother Wang." LIFE OF GIVING As they made their way to the meeting, they told him some of the stories about this mysterious Brother Wang. It was clear they loved him dearly, and one of the men explained why. "We were once holding a training seminar here and heard the police were coming. Brother Wang got everyone out, except our main pastor. When the police arrived, Wang dared to bargain with them. He would go to jail if our pastor -- whose wife was eight months pregnant - could go free. The policeman accepted his terms, and Brother Wang spent three years in prison." "How old is Brother Wang?" Duan asked. When told he was in his early 40s, Duan's face showed great pain. "What's the matter?" he was asked. "Are you ill from the cart trip?" "No, I'm not ill," he replied, "just very sad. I once had a son, whom I knew for just two months. He's dead now, but if alive he would have been 42 today. "My wife called him the 'Christmas Child,' since he was born at Christmas time. I called him 'Isaac,' because we had despaired for so long of having a child." There was silence as they rode in the open cart under the stars. Brother Duan told the incredible story of how he and his wife had been evangelists in the 1950s. They refused to join the Three Self church, and Wu, an old school bully, kept accusing them of political and criminal offenses. It was only a matter of time before they were jailed or killed, but what would happen to their boy? One night, Duan's wife heard a strong voice in a vision, saying, "Give your son to your enemy." Knowing nothing about this, Duan read Genesis 22:2 the following morning: "Go get Isaac, your only son, the one you dearly love and sacrifice him to me." Sharing their impressions, the couple decided on a course of action that caused Duan to wince in pain every day since. They gave their boy to Wu and his wife -- who were childless -- even as Wu arranged for the couple's arrest. It wasn't until 1978, when Duan was released from jail, that he learned what happened to his wife and son. She had died in the terrible famine of 1958, and his son had disappeared along with the Wu family under the rubble of a devastating earthquake in 1975. Said Duan sadly as the little cart approached the meeting place, "God judged me for being so irresponsible with my little son." INCREDIBLE MEETING As they arrived where the evangelist was to speak, a crowd of 200 people was already packed into the house. Like many others, Duan had to sit in the courtyard and listen to the teacher through the open window. When Brother Wang began preaching, Duan felt a terrible shock. It was like hearing himself! He began to tremble with fear. Was he dying? Even the phrases the teacher used sounded familiar. Confused, he staggered up to the window to see the preacher, causing a commotion as he fell over people. The preacher stopped and there was a moment of shocked silence as the men looked at each other. The crowd was hushed as they realized the amazing physical likeness. "I'm sorry for interrupting your excellent message," Duan began. "You see, I had a son who would be your age right now. If he had lived, he would have looked and sounded just like you." Brother Wang began to tremble violently. Suddenly, his legs buckled under him and he had to be caught before he fell. Clutching his pounding chest, he sobbed, "Are you Daddy Duan?" Everyone wept as father and son were reunited. The preacher told how he had indeed been brought up by Wu, who was so impressed by Duan's act of giving that he had become a strong Christian. "I'm not your real father," Wu used to say to him. "He's a great man of God, full of grace and love. He gave you to me, and I give you all my love and the encouragement to put God first, just like your real father." Wang's adopted parents had moved away from the earthquake zone before the tragedy, but both died of cancer in their 60s. Wang became an evangelist and tried to find his real father, but Duan had changed his name so many times to avoid arrest that he had proved untraceable. As father and son continued to hug and weep, the elder of the church stood up and declared, "It's December. We have seen our sermon tonight: Christ came into the world to save sinners -- that is Christmas. Just as Duan handed his only son to the care of his enemy, so God handed over His own Son to us sinners. Let us rejoice in their reconciliation and ours too."

News Analysis By David W. Virtue PAOLI, PA--Doug, (that's not his real name) is now 17. He started taking drugs at the age of 12. He was quickly hooked, and was fast heading toward an early grave. Then he encountered some young Christians who took an interest in him and told him there was a way out. Desperate, Doug took it. Through an encounter with Jesus Christ at a Faith Alive weekend, Doug surrendered himself to Jesus, and thus began the long journey back to a drug-free life. He told his story before some 500 Episcopalians at the Church of the Good Samaritan in Paoli, Pennsylvania recently at a lay witness weekend put on by Faith Alive, a 100 percent Episcopal organization involved in renewing the church, changing people's lives from the inside out. Faith Alive is one of the still thriving (after 30 years) evangelical ministries within the Episcopal Church. A Faith Alive weekend program embraces adults, youth and children with a program of music and the telling of faith stories with a direct connection to the service of baptism: "I renounce the evil powers of this earth, the sinful desires that draw me from the love of God, and I put my whole trust in His grace and love..." said Tom Riley, President of Faith Alive who speaks glowingly of the organization he leads. "We continue to focus on the baptismal covenant while steering clear of church politics," said Riley. "It is a policy that has rewarded Faith Alive with registrations for its 'lay witness weekends' from a broad range of Episcopal Churches seeking spiritual refreshment," he told Virtuosity. How it works is this. A parish must invite Faith Alive into its life. Faith Alive never pushes itself on anyone, says Riley. After dinner there is a general session of music and introductions with sharing by the visiting team many from other parishes who come in with their own fresh testimonies to relate. People then break up into small groups where people tell their faith journey stories and personal testimonies of what God is doing in their lives. Clergy are asked not to participate in group discussions. Laity lead it. At the end of the weekend there is an altar call, a call to renewal, commitment to Christ and for some a recommitment to Christ. For Vincent Czepu Continue kaitis, a weekend coordinator for Faith Alive and an active Episcopal layman, its an opportunity for him to tell his story of how he was raised a strict Roman Catholic. "I knew all about control and since the church was the No. 1 control in my life I wanted to control all the other areas of my life." Barbara his wife picks up the story. "We had been married for 13 years. I met the Lord at a Marriage Encounter weekend even though I was raised an Episcopalian. Vince saw what I had received and wanted it for himself." Thus began a new chapter in their marriage relationship and a new ministry beckoned on the horizon. Vince was a lector in the Roman Catholic Church and Barbara sang in the choir of the local Episcopal Church. We found a godly Episcopal Church in Massachusetts, but later we moved to Yardley and then New Hope, PA. "Faith Alive was a natural place for us to use our gifts. We got into Scripture and this volunteer renewal movement naturally evolved into a ministry for us," he said. There are some 100 coordinators nationwide, and Faith Alive can be found almost every weekend of the year in one parish or another. Tony Walter, Diocesan Youth Coordinator for the Diocese of Milwaukee lends his support to Faith Alive weekends and travels around the country handling the youth side of these three-day Faith Alive weekends. At 58 he doesn't seem the right age group, but he gravitates to youth as they gravitate to him. His joy is leading young people to Christ. Barbara Czepukaitis describes a Faith Alive weekend as "close as it gets to heaven on earth. We are absolutely focused on Jesus not issues. In time issues pass away. We look for the perpetuation of the ministry through weekends like this." Lucia Englander and Heather Niedland Good Samaritan parish coordinators say that the parish has been blessed by the visit of the Faith Alive team who come at their own expense to share the love of Jesus. "We see people renewed in their faith, some coming to faith for the first time, marriages healed and restored, and much more," said Englander. Faith Alive was launched in 1970 by members of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew who had participated in a Methodist Lay Witness Mission. To date Faith Alive has held its weekend program in more than 2,400 churches nationwide. In addition to holding Faith Alive Weekends in Episcopal Churches - the ministry expects to hold 40 in Year 2004 -- while being active in Anglican churches in the Bahamas. Faith Alive has also held its program in other denominations, including Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic. Asked how the present controversy within the Episcopal Church, following last summer's action by the General Convention, has affected the ministry, President Tom Riley said, "Churches in virtually all dioceses of the Church continue to look to Faith Alive as a resource for spiritual refreshment. Already this year we have held Weekends in the dioceses of Central Florida, Eastern Carolina, Southwest Florida, Arizona, Western Louisiana, and Pennsylvania. In March, Faith Alive Weekends will be held in churches in the Diocese of New Jersey, Washington, South Carolina, San Joaquin, Chicago, West Virginia and Springfield. "In the early days of Faith Alive there was considerable pressure from parishes and from our own board members to take a stand on the Charismatic Movement that was sweeping through our Church. Our founder and longtime president, Fred Gore remained adamant, 'The mission of Faith Alive is to bring individuals into an encounter with Jesus Christ that results in their recognition of Jesus as their Savior and their commitment to Him as Lord of their lives. We cannot accomplish this if we take sides on this issue or any other." "On the contrary, we must be sensitive to the rector and parish we serve, which means that we respect the piety of that parish, watch our vocabulary, and probably avoid raising our hands in worship. In some churches, we may use songs exclusively from the Episcopal hymnal. We accept these people where they are, we provide a climate in which the Holy Spirit can move, we make ourselves available to be used by the Spirit, and we give God the glory for the great works accomplished." "That continues to be our policy," Riley said, "and it works! Literally thousands of Episcopalians each year discover on Faith Alive Weekends that they have not yet made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives - 'Wherever you would have me go, however you call me to serve, Lord, the answer will always be yes.' Rectors are thrilled at the large number of parishioners participating in a Weekend -- generally two-thirds of the average Sunday attendance -- as well as the numbers of parishioners on the periphery of parish life. The altar ministry on Sunday, and the small-group ministry in homes of parishioners continue to make lasting impressions. Follow-up is an integral part of the Faith Alive program, spawning men's ministry, house churches, youth programs, a refreshed children's ministry, varied music ministries, mission and outreach. And with personal commitment to Jesus Christ comes a whole new approach to giving. Tithing becomes the norm, the starting point of Christian stewardship. The church's annual financial report a year after a Faith Alive Weekend is a tangible example of the program's impact on a parish!" NOTE: Anyone interested in having a Faith Alive team come to their parish should drop a line to Tom Riley at FAweekend@AOL.COM Faith Alive is on the Internet at www.faithalive.org

Episcopal clergy at odds over vote on gay bishop BY VALERIE ZEHL AND WILLIAM MOYER Press & Sun-Bulletin [Binghamton, NY in the diocese of CNY] While two local Episcopal priests have pulled away from the church hierarchy over the consecration of an openly gay bishop, other Southern Tier rectors remain solidly behind the decision. In the balcony overlooking his congregation, the Rev. Mark Giroux accompanies the St. Mark's Episcopal Church choir Sunday in Epiphany Carol, the offertory during the Chenango Bridge church's service. The Rev. Mark Giroux serves Communion during Sunday worship at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, on River Road in Chenango Bridge. As his congregation looks on, the Rev. Mark Giroux holds the Gospel Procession during Sunday worship at St. Mark's Episcopal Church. Now, months after the General Convention voted to make the Rev. Gene Robinson the church's first homosexual bishop, those rectors say it's time for healing within the worldwide Anglican community. "The way the decision was made was the way all our decisions are made in the Episcopal Church, in a democratic way," said the Rev. Mark Giroux, rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Chenango Bridge. "I'm personally supportive of the decision," he added. "I feel as though the arguments being used by those who oppose this decision are similar to those used against women, or going back earlier still, against those of color." The church's top governing body consecrated Robinson last November as New Hampshire bishop. He is a divorced father who lives with a same-sex partner. The action ignited a firestorm of controversy within the worldwide Anglican church, which has 77 million members. About 22,500 members are on the rolls at 100 Episcopal churches in the Central New York Diocese, which covers an area from Alexandria Bay near Canada, south to the New York-Pennsylvania border, east to Utica and west to Waterloo. But the consecration isn't a volatile issue for some local Episcopalians. "Some think this issue is critical, others think it's less critical," said Don Carlin, who has been a member of St. Andrew's in Vestal for 30 years. "For me right now, it's not critical." Others said the decision just shows the Episcopal Church's diversity. "About 13 years ago I made a conscious choice to begin attending the Episcopal Church," said Karen Van Kleeck, who goes to St. Mark's in Chenango Bridge and sits on its vestry. "Part of my reasoning is that the belief system is based on tradition, Scripture and reason," she said. "People who are black, white, evangelistic, gay, straight -- we are all welcome in that church." Van Kleeck said she has no problem with Robinson being a bishop. But she believes the church did things backward. By Anglican tradition, she said, an unmarried person who has a sexual partner wouldn't be welcome to live in the rectory and lead a parish. "So until they change tradition, we're speaking out of both sides of our mouth," she said. But some local rectors remain upset by Robinson's consecration. The Rev. Anthony Seel resigned as dean of the 10-parish Binghamton district. He remains pastor of St. Andrew's, while the Very Rev. Noreen Suriner of Trinity Memorial Church in Binghamton now serves as dean. And the Rev. Anne Kennedy, assistant rector at the Church of the Good Shepherd, has asked Central New York Diocese Bishop Gladstone B. "Skip" Adams III to stop paying her salary. Kennedy works with her husband, the Rev. Matthew Kennedy, who is Good Shepherd's rector. But she said the diocese paid her for work in the Binghamton parish and for other Episcopal ministries. "Fundamentally, I resigned because of the bishop's position on this issue," Anne Kennedy said. "Part of my trouble with the bishop is he voted directly for (the consecration)." Seel and Anne Kennedy have sent letters to Adams indicating their position. Neither the bishop nor his assistant were available for comment last week. Local parishes of many denominations often show their dissent with higher church decisions by withholding the money they are expected to give for regional or national ministries. Episcopal parishes are required to give an assessment and a pledge that represent about 15 percent of the church's income, Matthew Kennedy said. He doesn't intend to pay Good Shepherd's full assessment to the diocese. Kennedy has given church members the choice of using their money to pay the assessment or keeping their offerings within the parish. Many have chosen to keep their pledges in the parish, he said. Seel said St. Andrew's vestry voted to send a portion of its assessment to the diocese. But some parishioners indicated they want their offerings to remain in the parish, he said. Seel and the Kennedys intend to stay in the Episcopal Church. But the rectors don't attend the monthly meeting of the Episcopal clergy group in the area. St. Andrew's joined the American Anglican Council, which has declared itself in "impaired communion" -- a broken relationship -- with the Episcopal Church in the United States. "(After) the bishop's vote at general convention, I felt like I didn't want to be getting money directly from him and I felt he didn't really want to be giving it to me," Anne Kennedy said. "I feel he has walked away from historic orthodox Christianity, and I find that really grievous." Added Matthew Kennedy: "We have not made the decision to leave the institutional framework of the Episcopal Church or this diocese. We're not ready to leave the institution yet, but we feel the institution has left us." He won't predict the denomination's future. "We don't really know what the Episcopal Church, what the diocese will look like five years down the road," he said. "But it seems increasingly clear to me the two positions are irreconcilable.