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Editorial from New Hampshire Union Leader     ON THE SUBJECT of abortion, General Wesley Clark simply has no idea what he is talking about. He is in over his head. Worse, his ignorance has led him to an abominable conclusion.     In an interview with The Union Leader on Wednesday, Clark said that life begins with the mother’s decision. He said he would place no restrictions on abortion even up to the moment of birth. He went on to say that neither science nor religion nor law has any role to play in abortion decisions.   He then added that judges must uphold existing law on abortion. But existing law restricts a mother’s right to choose by placing limits on when a baby can be killed. So Clarks own views are inconsistent with the law and with the majority of Americans on both sides of the issue.     Asked whether he would appoint a judge who happened to hold pro-life views, Clark first said he had no litmus test for the federal bench. Shortly after the interview ended, he phoned back to say he would never appoint a pro-life person as a federal judge because people with pro-life views cannot be trusted to uphold existing law.     Well. That automatically eliminates every traditional Catholic from qualification for the federal bench. It also eliminates many Jews and untold numbers of Muslims, many of whom believe that abortion is proscribed either completely or before a certain point in the pregnancy.     If pro-lifers are not to be trusted to uphold Roe v. Wade as judges, we suppose they also aren’t to be trusted with writing the laws or administering the federal government, which means that they should never be elected to any federal office. Sorry, Catholics, you’re just too nutty to be given the reins of government.     Partial birth abortion is a practice that almost all Americans, even pro-choicers, find disgusting and repugnant. General Clark apparently does not, as he would allow abortions up to the very moment of birth.     Medical science has found that babies in the womb feel pain and are even aware of what is happening to them during some of the second trimester, in which the law allows them to be killed. Technology has advanced to the point that abortable babies now can survive outside the womb. None of this sways Clark to consider that perhaps it might be wrong to kill these infants. And that sways us to consider that Clark is either too ill-informed or too cold-hearted to be trusted with the Presidency.   END

First Report By Auburn Faber Traycik The Christian Challenge January 9, 2004     IT WAS CALLED as a follow-up to October Dallas (Plano) meeting--where some 2,700 conservative Episcopalians gathered to stand for the faith and seek a way forward after the watershed Episcopal General Convention--but its registration has well exceeded that of the Texas confab.     Welcome to Plano-East! the Rev. John Guernsey, rector of All Saints Church, Woodbridge, Virginia, near Washington D.C., told the enthusiastic congregation assembled this evening at Woodbridge huge Hylton Memorial Chapel. The January 9-10 gathering, meeting under the theme A Place to Stand, A Call to Mission, is being sponsored by the Virginia and Washington chapters of the American Anglican Council (AAC).   We are nearly 3,000 strong, Guernsey said, with bishops, clergy, laity and seminarians, persons of all ages, from 45 dioceses in 25 states “including, praise God, New Hampshire!“ home to Vicky Gene Robinson, the actively gay cleric the August General Convention approved as the state next bishop.     The turnout is the more remarkable considering that there was less lead time or publicity for  Plano-East. agreed AAC media officer Bruce Mason. IT SEEMS A GOOD GAUGE of the gathering strength of the nascent Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes, the movement of North American faithful that started to take shape in the wake of the convention endorsement of Robinson and of optional same-sex blessings. While the actions capped some 25 years of liberal revisionism in the Episcopal Church (ECUSA), they were for many the most biblically clear-cut. Because they defied what the vast majority of Anglicans see as the plain teaching of scripture--teaching repeatedly affirmed by Anglican leaders in recent years--ECUSA decisions, and the subsequent consecration of Robinson, have led to a crisis and breakdown in communion across the global church.   We are here to worship Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life, and to gather and unite around His leadership,  Guernsey said in his welcome address to Plano-East.. We are here for solid biblical teaching, for fellowship and mutual encouragement, to offer hope to the next generation, and to gain insights into Anglican realignment and the emerging Network, due to be formally inaugurated January 19-20 in Plano, Texas.     We are here to pray for our broken church, he went on.     We are not here because of what we are against, but of what we are for the transforming love of Christ, he said. He welcomed any persons present who may disagree with the AAC.     The evening gathering and worship had begun with robust, foot-tapping praise songs, and, after Guernsey remarks, led into the Eucharist service, with Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan preaching and celebrating.     In his moving sermon, Duncan elucidated obvious parallels between the situation of ECUSA conservatives and the gospel for the day, the story of Jesus walking on the water, and Peter attempt to walk out to Him. The disciple began to sink when he became afraid and looked away from Jesus. The scripture says the Lord  reached out his hand and caught him. `You of little faith, he said, ` why did you doubt? And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshipped him...Saturday session will begin with Morning Prayer and Bible study led by the Rev. Dr. John Yates, rector of the Falls Church in Virginia. Among others featured on the program Saturday will be the Rev. Kendall Harmon, canon theologian of the Diocese of South Carolina; the Rev. Canon Martyn Minns, rector of Truro Church, Fairfax, Virginia; Diane Knippers, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy; A Hugo Blankingship Jr., Chancellor of the AAC; the Rev. Thomas W.S. Logan Jr., rector of Calvary Church, Washington, Andrew C. Pearson, director of AAC Affiliates Ministry     Auburn Traycik is Editor of the The Christian Challenge   END

COMMENTARY   By David Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org October 8, 2025   I have interviewed, listened too, written about and lived through the reign of six Archbishops of Canterbury, starting with Archbishop Donald Coggan in 1974 in western Canada.   Here is what I have learned.   1.     Never trust anyone who desires power and who wants to lord it over you. 2.     Realize that most archbishops’ brains turn to theological mush once they get the job. (The one exception was Rowan Williams who was a liberal catholic to begin with.) 3.     The worst example of all six archbishops was Justin Welby, who quickly abandoned his evangelical faith for a hodgepodge of views and compromise that ended with his downfall. 4.     More often than not the gospel gets lost and most archbishops become ecumenists and managers. 5.     When they talk in interviews they try to placate you with platitudes, prevarications and half-truths. 6.     In interviews they are condescending, irritating and patronizing. 7.     The last thing they are really interested in is telling you the truth on just about anything as it might damage their reputations with their fellow archbishops, patriarchs and possibly a pope. They always have one ear to the ground to make sure they do not offend someone of equal importance. 8.     Placating the left becomes the concern of moderately orthodox archbishops. It never works. The left just wants more and more. Sexuality issues became the marker of 20 th Century orthodoxy and all the archbishops caved. In 1973 Coggan said this: “We must treat them with great sympathy and understanding,” acknowledging the presence of gay clergy in the Church of England. We know how that turned out. 9.     Sooner or later the left wins because an orthodox archbishop doesn’t want to be seen as lacking in compassion, inclusion and diversity. Theology disappears out the window. 10.                        You will never hear “thus saith the lord” on the lips of an archbishop. Way too prophetic and might alienate you from your friends. 11.                        To get along is the highest and noblest value for an archbishop. You will never hear a sermon about sin and salvation, heaven and hell or the last judgement, because it is not nice to tell anyone that rejecting Christ has eternal consequences.   I have lived under, listened too, questioned and interviewed these archbishops with the exception of soon to be Archbishop Sarah Mullally who has not yet begun her reign. For the record I see little point in interviewing her as she has nothing to say worth reporting on or listening too. She has no idea that her views are schismatic to the vast majority of the Global South and that she will probably preside over the dissolution of the church because her views are at odds with 95 percent of the Anglican Communion.   Here is the general theological outlook of the Anglican communion’s archbishops.   Donald Coggan 1974–1980 Evangelical Robert Runcie 1980–1991 Liberal Catholic George Carey 1991–2002 Evangelical Conservative Rowan Williams 2002–2012 Liberal Catholic Justin Welby 2013–2025 Open Evangelical Sarah Mullally 2025– Liberal Progressive   Lord willing, I may live long enough to see a formal schism in the Anglican Communion. Who knows. I do know that at the end truth will triumph because the stones would cry out.   END

Rome Still Doesn’t Get it: Our Hope & Salvation depends on Christ’s Own Righteousness Imputed to us   By Chuck Collins www.virtueonline.org October 11, 2025   The Second Vatican Council began sixty-three years ago, October 10, 1962. This famous meeting changed the face of Roman Catholicism forever, even if their core theology remained the same. Everyone wishes that the universal church of all Christian denominations could unite for the sake of our Christian witness to an unbelieving world - a world dying to know the hope there is in Jesus Christ! Even if I could overlook some of the extra-biblical and unbiblical dogmas of Catholicism (the equal place given the Bible and tradition, the pope as God’s vicar, transubstantiation, the mediation roles of Mary and the saints, mandatory celibacy for clergy, and Purgatory), it is how Roman Catholics answer the most basic human question, “Can mortal man be right and pure before his Maker?” (Job 4:17) that is an insurmountable hurdle for this Anglican to convert to Catholicism.   Catholics believe that justification (salvation) is a process by which a person is incrementally made righteous by the infused righteousness of grace in the sacraments. Protestants, on the other hand, believe that no one is righteous -not even one, not innately and not in this lifetime. Therefore, our hope and salvation depends on another’s righteousness: Christ’s own righteousness credited (imputed) to our account. This is the gospel of which St. Paul is not ashamed (Romans 1:17,18): the power and righteousness of God. Roman Catholics believe in a righteousness that is inherent to the person resulting in his or her holy standing before a holy God. Protestants believe that our best, our righteousness, is as “filthy rags,” and our hope rests fully in what theologians call the “great exchange”: we give Christ our sins and he gives us his righteousness.   Catholics say that those who are baptized “are made innocent, immaculate, pure, guiltless and beloved of God” (Trent, Session V.5). Anglicans affirm that “we are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for our own works or deservings” (Article of Religion XI). Is this important? It is the critical distinction between Anglicans (Protestants) and Roman Catholics. One of Anglican’s best theologians, Richard Hooker, said, “The grand question, which hangeth yet in the controversy between us and the Church of Rome is about the matter of justifying righteousness.” Luther, the chief instigator of the Reformation, said that the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone is “the doctrine by which the church stands or falls.” St. Paul wrote, “Not having a righteousness of my own that comes through the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness of God that depends on faith” (Philippians 3:9). And every Sunday in Anglican churches around the world we acknowledge and pray: “We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies...” (Prayer of Humble Access).   So since our righteousness does not depend on our moral rectitude but on God's word and declaration (“...it was counted/reckoned to him as righteousness” Romans 4:3), how does moral change fit into the equation? Catholics don’t make the distinction between justification and sanctification that Protestants do. The life-long process in which a Christian changes to become more holy is called “sanctification.” But because this process will not be completed in our lives on earth, we will always be simultaneously justified and sinners ( simul justus et peccator ) because “this infection of nature doth remain, yea, in them that are regenerated” (Article IX).   The differences we have doesn’t mean that we can’t appreciate and support our common commitment to life, justice, and the dignity of every human being. However, the big issue that keeps me from becoming Roman Catholic is the age-old problem of the first formal cause of justification: is saving righteousness imputed and received by faith, or infused over time in the grace of the sacraments? Are good works “for” holiness or “from” our holy standing before God? Although I am a convinced Protestant living next door to convinced Catholics, it is not correct theology that saves any Protestant or Catholic, but the undeserved love of a Father who loves both brothers the same (Luke 15), who came to seek and save the lost (Mark 19:45), and whose life and death was nothing to do with improving the improvable, but the means by which God brings dead people to eternal life.   Dean Chuck Collins is a reform theologian and historian. He resides in Texas with his family.

Joshua Askew South East BBC NEWS October 11, 2025   US Vice-President JD Vance has criticised a new installation by marginalised communities and creatives at Canterbury Cathedral.   The artwork features red graffiti-style writing on ancient stone walls, posing questions to God such as: "Why did you create hate when love is by far more powerful?"   Mr Vance wrote on X that the exhibit had made a "beautiful historical building really ugly".   Others have praised the temporary installation, with Dean of Canterbury David Monteith saying it "intentionally builds bridges between cultures, styles and genres".   Mr Monteith added it "allows us to receive the gifts of younger people who have much to say and from whom we need to hear much".   "Above all, this graffiti makes me wonder why I am not always able to be as candid, not least in my prayers," he said.   Canterbury Cathedral Red graffiti-style writing is on an ancient stone church wall. Canterbury Cathedral   One person behind the exhibit said graffiti is the 'language of the unheard'.   Canterbury Cathedral said the exhibit, which officially opens on 17 October, has given visitors "visceral reactions".   "I think it's sacrilegious," said one cathedral-goer, while another questioned if the graffiti makes the historic site "look like an underground car park in Peckham".   Mr Vance said: "It is weird to me that these people don't see the irony of honoring 'marginalized communities' by making a beautiful historical building really ugly."   The cathedral said the project partnered with Punjabi, black and brown diaspora, neurodivergent, and LGBTQIA+ groups.   Through a series of workshops, groups were asked to collaboratively respond to the question, "What would you ask God?"   The installation, created by poet Alex Vellis and curator Jacquiline Creswell, also features questions such as "Why did you create hate when love is by far more powerful?" and "Does everything have a soul?"   The cathedral said the exhibition speaks to the "historical graffiti" within its walls, including masons' marks, crosses and Christograms and marks made throughout the centuries by pilgrims.   "This project, at its core, is about community, using your voice, and change," said Mr Vellis.   "Graffiti is the language of the unheard".

In a resounding display of shared conviction, the parish of All Saints Church in Pawley’s Island, SC, voted tonight to sever ties to the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) and to align itself with another Province of the Anglican Communion. Over 500 were in attendance to vote on two resolutions that will alter the church’s core documents. A congregation that claims over 1,000 parishioners and deep roots to its founding in 1745, All Saints officially amended its charter to reflect a revised statement of purpose, as well as its official affiliation. The vote affirmed the unanimous decision of the church’s vestry, made in October.     The church joins nine international Anglican provinces that recently severed ties to the ECUSA an institution whose revisionist and liberal actions are increasingly placing it at odds with much of the rest of the Anglican Communion.     On two separate ballots, those present voted overwhelmingly to declare a new identity and affiliation as a church. On the first, which called for all references to the Episcopal Church to be removed from All Saints charter, the vote was 464 in favor, 42 against, and 1 abstention. On the second ballot, nearly 94% of those present voted to remove All Saints from the Episcopal Church and transfer its canonical residence to another Province within the Anglican Communion.     That other Province will most likely be the Province of Rwanda, and its missionary movement in this country, the Anglican Mission in America. That decision will be finalized at a parish meeting later this month. As people were leaving the meeting, they had opportunity to transfer their letters of membership individually, and the response was overwhelming.     All Saints Rector Emeritus, the Rt. Rev. Charles Murphy, addressed the gathering before deliberations began. He made it clear that it was not a regular parish business meeting, but a special meeting of the corporation concerned with amending the church’s official charter, adopted in 1902. His comments embraced the following points:     *The Episcopal Church USA of today is very different from the Protestant Episcopal Church of 1902 under which the original charter was drafted   *The Episcopal Church has produced, by its actions, a major realignment in the Anglican Communion whereby two-thirds of the world’s Anglicans are now in a state of broken or impaired communion with ECUSA   *All Saints Church has resisted the revisions of the Episcopal Church for years, working for renewal and change from within   *The Episcopal Church has, in effect, abandoned the Faith and Order of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.   *There are now two strategies for addressing the international crisis: either to remain inside the ECUSA and become part of an orthodox ghetto, or move outside in order to come out from under coercive structures and canons, which is the strategy of the Anglican Mission in America.     The members of All Saints obviously agreed with their longtime leader, voting to follow an outside strategy from this point on.     All Saints and the Diocese of South Carolina have had strained relations for the last three years, due to actions on the part of the Diocese to claim interest in the church’s property, refusal of the Diocese to allow All Saints to vote at recent conventions, and recent efforts on the part of the bishop, Ed Salmon, to take over control of the parish. South Carolina’s Judge Breeden has twice ruled that the Diocese has no interest in the property, which was deeded many years before the Episcopal Church even existed. All Saints will continue to worship in their current facilities, even as the diocese continues its efforts to remove them through the courts.     Overall, it was a peaceful meeting where a few people spoke on each side of the issues, with one person observing that ‘the church was ready for this moment. In a recent statement, the leadership of All Saints reasserted its commitment to its members, the inhabitants of Waccamaw Neck Region, the worldwide Anglican Communion, and Christ’s Great Commission to His church.

Statement of the Bishops of the Anglican Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo on homosexuality and blessings of same-sex unions within the Anglican Communion     We, the Bishops of the Anglican Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, (DRCongo) gathered in Kinshasa, its capital city, on behalf of the clergy and laity from the DRCongo, take this opportunity to officially express our unhappiness regarding the issues which have recently arisen pertaining to the issues of homosexuality and the blessing of same-sex relationships which we believe are contrary to Holy Scripture, and to moral law in the Third World. We therefore strongly condemn:     - the consecration of Canon GENE ROBINSON, a divorcee and an actively gay bishop of the US New Hampshire Diocese of the Episcopal Church on 2nd November 2003     - the access to priesthood of actively gay and lesbian people     - the use of the newly devised Prayer Book published by the Diocese of New Westminster/Canada for the purpose of officiating the blessing of same-sex marriages.     We believe that the above-mentioned acts clearly and deliberately misinterpret:     a) the Word of God     b) the resolution 1:10,98 of the Lambeth Conference of 1998 prohibiting homosexuality, an act contrary to Christian calling in Holy Scripture. In its position of moral keeper, the Church must do all in its power to prevent immorality and itself avoid being corrupted and in turn corrupting the whole world.     c) the work of the Commission established to study in depth the issue of homosexuality. The findings of this Commission initiated by the Archbishop of Canterbury to try and establish proper solutions to homosexuality in the Church is due in October 2004. The bishops from the Third World opposed the consecration of Canon GENE ROBINSON as bishop in their meetings at Lambeth Palace, London in October 2003. We knowingly declare that:     1 the Anglican Province of Congo strongly condemns homosexuality and wishes to disassociate itself from relations with Dioceses and Parishes involved in homosexuality. Therefore, it disapproves the confirmation and consecration     2 of Canon GENE ROBINSON, a man living openly in a homosexual relationship, as bishop in God's ministry.   The Anglican Province of Congo is in fellowship with all Parishes, Dioceses and Provinces of ECUSA and of the Anglican Church of Canada in opposition to homosexuality. It is happy to support both morally, pastorally and spiritually all Christians from every part of the world within the network of theologically orthodox churches and Dioceses in opposition to homosexuality.     3 The Anglican Province of Congo condemns every immoral act which promotes active homosexuality as a cultural norm. The Gospel purifies all culture and must be in agreement with Holy Scripture.     4 The Anglican Province of Congo rejects the newly published New Westminster Diocesan Book of Prayer promoting the blessing of same-sex union. It calls upon each and every woman and man of God to think about Gods Word relating to marriage in Genesis 1:27,28 and encourages abstinence as the appropriate way for those who are not called to marriage. The Anglican Province of Congo therefore invites any person knowingly involved in homosexuality to repent from his/her sin and return to the fullness of relationship with Christ. (Lev.18:23 Mat.19:4-6 Romans 1:23-27).     5 The Anglican Province of Congo seriously warns any of its Dioceses or Parishes that have fellowship with any such groups that are involved in active homosexuality for the purpose of material interest and support.     6 The Anglican Province of Congo calls upon all goodwill Christians to refrain from criticizing, judging or remaining silent on issues pertaining to active homosexuality ravaging the western world and to seriously pray for their return to God in true repentance.     7 The Anglican Province of Congo invites all within the network of the theologically orthodox Anglican Communion to remain firm of faith and be involved in a fellowship based on spiritual, moral, material and/or financial support to each other.     8 The Anglican Communion is a precious gift from Christ Himself that needs to be jealously protected and promoted by each and every faithful Anglican Church.     Kinshasa, 20th December 2003     For the House of Bishops The Most Revd Dr DIROKPA BALUFUGA Fidele Archbishop of the Anglican Province of Congo   END

My consecration will never affect the average Episcopalian. V. Gene Robinson, Bishop-elect of New Hampshire at GC2003     Special Report     By David W. Virtue VIRTUOSITY     The Bishop of New Hampshire is in for a rude awakening. His consecration is affecting not only the entire Anglican Communion causing whole provinces to disassociate themselves from the ECUSA, it is drying up funds to The Episcopal Church from orthodox dioceses, and now it is beginning to affect local parishes as well. Here are the consequences to one parish in Americas Heartland. A lay leader in a conservative congregation in a liberal diocese sent the following report.     The question was raised at a recent parish meeting, where is the Episcopal Church going?     We are really going through a difficult time as a result of the Gene Robinson consecration, he wrote to Virtuosity.     Since September, both our attendance and our giving has declined by at least 20 percent.  We are more than $8,400 in arrears to the diocese--not because we want to withhold it--but simply because we can’t pay it.  In pledges for 2004, we only have about $75,000 which is about half of what we had in 2003 from half as many households and not enough to keep a full-time priest, and part-time secretary, organist-choirmaster, and sexton.     And that’s not all.     He writes: I think everybody on the vestry and about 95 percent of the congregation opposes what the Episcopal Church has done.  The rector tells me there are three or four individuals in the parish who think it was a good thing.  He wants to find a way to hold the parish together and remain in the Episcopal Church, but what are we to do?     Last Sunday the rector told him that four families had recently left the church.  They told him basically, We stayed until the end of the year--liked you asked--but nothing has happened and so were leaving.     I wish Gene Robinson could come and look this congregation in the face on Sunday morning to see what he hath wrought.  Even for those members who supported his consecration, it still affects them because of what is happening to their parish.     If nothing happens--if the powers that be do not provide an alternative for congregations like ours--I fear that we will dissolve and most members will leave before the end of the 2004. At best, I think most people will still leave and we will become a mission congregation with aid from the diocese.  But I have also heard that this same thing is happening in several other parishes in our diocese.     Gene Robinsons consecration affects little congregations like ours in Americas Heartland because we have been told all of our lives that we are a [capital] Church and we do things together and what one diocese or person does affects the whole Church.     Bishops and theologians have told us all our lives that we are not like those congregational churches where congregations and pastors do their own thing.     Now we are learning the truth, our Anglican theology is coming home to roost.     END

By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent THE TELEGRAPH 1/5/2003 The Church of England may have to split in two if women become bishops, one with female clergy and one without, an official report has concluded. An enclave for opponents of women priests could be created to avert a mass exodus when women are consecrated, possibly within five years.     The faction, effectively a church within a church, could have its own archbishop, bishops, parish clergy and training colleges. But it would exclude women clerics.     Proposals for a traditionalist third province have been floated before but this is the first time they have received official recognition.     They are included in a draft report on women bishops by a working party headed by the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir Ali. The report is due to be considered by the House of Bishops this month and could be debated by the General Synod this year.     The proposals for a third province are certain to provoke a fresh bout of infighting in the Church, which is already reeling from the civil war over homosexuality.     Although they are only one of a handful of options suggested in the draft report, they will horrify many in the Church, who will regard them as far too extreme.     Liberal supporters of women bishops will denounce them as officially sanctioned schism, especially as they threaten a new set of divisions in an institution already riven by dissension.     A recent survey suggested that, 10 years after the Church first ordained women priests, up to a quarter of the clergy remains implacably opposed to women becoming bishops.     Moreover, a number of senior bishops is still resistant and the Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, has said that he would resign if women were consecrated while he is in office.     The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has privately made clear that he is sympathetic to the idea of a third province.     The draft report, which has taken three years to complete, outlines a series of strategies that the Church could adopt if, as seems certain, it goes ahead with women bishops.     At one end of the spectrum, it could decide to make no provision for dissenters, although Church leaders recognise that this would create widespread protest. At the other, it could opt for a third province, which would be fiercely opposed by most of the bishops.     A compromise could be tried by building on the present system of traditionalist flying bishops, which was created to minister to dissenters when women were ordained as priests.     But many acknowledge that even that would not placate diehard opponents of female consecration.     END

By Ted Schroder January 4, 04     Last week I received a letter addressed to the churches of Amelia  Island Ministerial Association from Claudia Sovilla, of the Amelia  Island Genealogical Society. She was extending an invitation to the  members of the church’s, who are interested in genealogy and history to  attend the Genealogy Course and Mary Fears program in January. She  wrote, The Churches have great resources for information and members with stories of their ancestors. This area is rich in history. Tracing roots has transformed genealogy from a methodical past-time to a raging  passion for millions of Americans. Wondering who am I, where I came from, and a missing link to the past and heritage. Joan Hackett and  Mary Nelson will be instructors. My parents were not much interested in their antecedents. When I  Asked them questions about the family they gave vague answers that obscured rather than illuminated. It made me wonder whether I was  descended from a long line of undesirables! But I doubt whether they  were that interesting.     I have cousins on both sides of my family who are the keepers of  the family histories. They supply me with information when I need it. I am gathering material to write a fictionalized account of four generations of my family. In discovering what might have happened to them I understand better what formed my parents and grandparents, and influenced me.     Some years ago I participated in a continuing education program on Family Systems Theory, which explored how the dynamics of family histories can repeat themselves in the lives of each generation. The exercise of drawing up a genogram of your family history, which identifies the patterns of marriage, children, divorce, births and deaths, can throw considerable light on your own experience.     None of us is self-made. None of us is a stand alone. Each of us Comes from somewhere. We have continuity to the past. We are the product of generations and our own choices. Erik Erikson describes the stage of Integrity in the Life Cycle as the acceptance of ones own and only life cycle and of the people who have become significant to it as something that had to be and that, by necessity, permitted of no substitutions. It thus means a new different love of one's parents, free of the wish that they should have been different, and an acceptance of  the fact that one's own life is one's own responsibility. It is a sense  of comradeship with men and women of distant times and of different pursuits, who have created orders and objects and sayings conveying human  dignity and love. (Identity and the life Cycle, p.104) Erikson placed Integrity as the last stage in the life cycle.     I am presently reading The Hornets Nest, a novel of the American revolutionary war in Georgia and the Carolinas, by Jimmy Carter. In writing about those times former President Carter is also trying to understand his continuity with  his family members who settled in Georgia. By writing about that period  he is getting in touch with what it must have been like for his ancestors. Some of the characters are based on them. He said that he  began to study his family history in 1998. It was the 100th birthday of his ancestor who moved to southwest Georgia. As he started study the history he got interested in the period .     In Matthew's account of the early childhood of Jesus (Matt.2:13-23) we find that Jesus experienced this continuity with the past. Like his ancestor Joseph he was taken to Egypt. Jesus recapitulated the history of Israel by his sojourn in Egypt. Like Moses he was saved from certain death at the hand of the king of his day. When the time was come to return, the holy family left Egypt and traveled to Nazareth. Israel discovered its identity in Egypt , and the exodus from Egypt was the central point in the history of the nation.     Pharaoh tried to destroy the people in Egypt, but Moses brought them out into the land of promise. Just as Pharaoh failed to kill Moses, Herod, the new Pharoah, failed to kill the Savior. Eventually, Moses brought the children of Israel out of the land of bondage and death, and Moses' successor was to bring the people out of a worse bondage and a worse death, the death of sin. Jesus is seen as the successor of Moses: he came to save his people from their sins. Jesus is going to rescue us. He is going to usher in the new exodus.     Matthew sees Jesus as fulfilling the Old Testaments predictions. The history of God's children is recapitulated in the history of God’s Son. As Israel of long ago was led down to Egypt, so was Jesus. As Israel came out, so did Jesus. He embodies and fulfils the history of the people of God in his own person.     Michael Green, in writing about these stories about Jesus  childhood, concludes: Matthew makes it plain that God works through both surprise and continuity to bring about his purposes. The story of Jesus is utterly continuous with Abraham, with David and with the whole history of the chosen people. But it also bristles with surprises. Perhaps this is to encourage us to expect God to be working in our lives steadily and continuously, making sense of our past history, but also to be on the lookout for God's surprises in our lives, ready to grasp them and follow through their implications when they come. (The Message of Matthew, p.74)     Joseph was surprised by the angel of the Lord appearing to him in a dream and directing him to escape to Egypt. Yet in so doing he fulfilled the prophecies, and repeated the history of his family. When Herod ordered the massacre of the boys under two years old he didn’t realize that he was repeating the sin of the Pharaoh who opposed Moses. At the right time the angel directed Joseph and Mary back to the land of Israel. There they were warned in a dream not to settle in Judaea but to go to Galilee.     How often do we repeat the history of our ancestors? Sometimes we slip into committing the same sins as they did. Joseph was enabled to survive and flourish, to take care of his family, and to move on toward fulfilling divine destiny because he obeyed the guidance that was given him.     God is working in our lives steadily and continuously. He encourages us to make sense of our family histories, to discover patterns of behavior that are to be either avoided or embraced. We are also meant to be on the look out for Gods surprises in our lives, and be willing to grasp them and follow through on their implications when they come.     What surprises will God have in store for you this coming year? Whatever they are, they are meant to be for your good. When you respond to them positively you will find that you will be fulfilling your divine destiny.     The Rev. Schroder is the rector of the chapel on Amelia Island  Plantation. He is an Episcopal priest.     END

The group was formed in protest to the approval of an openly gay Episcopalian bishop.     Tampa, Bay Florida     The group was formed because of disagreement about the approval of a gay bishop. Episcopal churches in the Bay area are now part of a new breakaway network of dioceses.   The new group was formed because of disagreement about the approval of an openly gay Episcopalian bishop.     Mark Sholander, a church leader of the St. Albans Episcopal Church in Polk County, says the approval has left his parishioners feeling that their church has been hijacked by a small group of innovative thinkers.     It’s a very small, but very vocal minority who is trying to impose upon the ancient church new belief systems, so it’s frustrating, said Sholander.     Sholander says the network is a way to preserve their beliefs that have existed for more than 500 years. Leaders of the network want to eventually be recognized as the authentic Episcopalian church by Anglican bishops overseas.       END

BY SUZANNE PEREZ TOBIAS The Wichita Eagle     About 40 members of an Episcopal church in east Wichita have established a new congregation within the Orthodox Church, citing their disapproval of the decidedly liberal drift of the Episcopal Church in recent years. The Rev. John Flora, 57, retired rector of St. Stephens Episcopal Church, will lead the new congregation, which will begin worshipping at St. Georges Orthodox Christian Cathedral in Wichita at 10 a.m. on Sunday.     Flora said he and the group of former St. Stephens parishioners have grown frustrated with the Episcopal Church, including its approval of its first openly gay bishop in August.     When I found the Episcopal Church in college, I really believed I had found something that was connected to the ancient church and was going  to remain steadfast, Flora said. But my experience in the past 31 years as a priest is, there’s been a slippery slide into theological relativism, and that’s not where I’m at.     Officials with the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas, including Bishop Dean Wolfe, were out of town for the holidays and could not be reached for comment.     Melodie Woerman, spokeswoman for the diocese, said that news of Floras new church mission was a surprise, and that church officials would be unlikely to make a comment until they learned more about the situation.     The new church, St. Michael the Archangel Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church, will be the first Western Rite Orthodox parish in Kansas. It will join a growing number of Orthodox congregations that use a Western form for their liturgy, rather than the more characteristic Byzantine Rite.   The liturgy of the new church will be similar to that of the traditional Anglican Book of Common Prayer, Flora said, with some additions to make it conform to Orthodox theology. Becoming an Orthodox priest, which he plans to do on Easter, will complete a personal and theological evolution for Flora.     During seminary, he participated in a dialogue group between Anglican and Orthodox church’s, and he has been interested in Palestinian issues and Orthodoxy ever since. For now, the new St. Michael parish will hold worship services in the chapel at St. Georges Cathedral, 7515  E. 13th St. But Flora hopes the congregation will grow and eventually have its own facility.     Leaving the 2.4 million-member Episcopal Church was a real hard decision, Flora said, but one I felt I had to make.   Other parishioners planning to join Flora agreed. This has nothing to do with St. Stephens itself. It has everything to do with the Episcopal Church USA, said Bill Anderson, head of the St. Michael parish council.     My belief is that we have not left the Episcopal Church, it has left us, he said. This is not a decision we took lightly, nor is it something that just happened.      END