December 2003     Dear Friend of Ekklesia,     The decision of the Presiding Bishop and others to proceed to consecrate V. Gene Robinson despite the unanimous voice of opposition from other Anglican provinces, the Archbishop of Canterbury, other denominations, and even other faiths has wounded the Christian faith around the globe and isolated the Episcopal Church. Approximately 52 million Anglicans are in church each Sunday around the world. Already, the leaders of 50 million have declared impaired communion. Some have even gone beyond that. Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, West Africa, Rwanda, Central Africa, South East Asia, and Tanzania have formally broken communion. Those provinces represent about 35 million Anglicans. I have been dispatched with a diplomatic pouch of documents to consult with Anglican Primates and Archbishops about finding their way forward. They are deeply committed to Biblical faith. They are also committed to those of us who maintain historic teaching and have rejected the actions of the Presiding Bishop and the General Convention.     Working with faithful Anglican primates is a two-way street. There is no question that we need their leadership and help, but they also live in circumstances of great need. To help address that in recent months your gifts to Ekklesia have helped accomplish many vitally important-even lifesaving-projects. Together this year we have:     Provided more than twenty tons of grain for famine relief in Central Africa     * Bought and outfitted a small fleet of commercial fishing boats for Lake Malawi. These boats will provide food for starving people, jobs, and income to the diocese for ministry.     * Been building two radio stations in Tanzania that should be going on the air-any day. They will provide Christian teaching, English classes, health education information, and advertising income for ministry from advertising revenue. Helped primates travel to critically important Anglican Communion meetings.                                        * Provided bicycles for all the clergy in Antsiranana Diocese in Madagascar as a memorial gift in thanksgiving for the ministry of Bishop Keith Benzies who died in office last year.     * Helped replace grants, scholarships, and other gifts that have been withdrawn or refused as a result of the crisis.     * Played a critical role in bringing continuing Anglicans together and helping to facilitate an emerging federation of jurisdictions.     Though the situation is grave, there is cause for rejoicing. Not only is Ekklesia working closely with the American Anglican Council, Forward in Faith, and Anglicans United, we are actually bearing fruit. Our labor has helped provide a spiritually secure future. Many questions remain about institutional life an d property, but faithful primates have committed to provide Episcopal oversight for those of us who remain committed to the Anglican Way in America. Ekklesia has been at the center of the conversations and commitments to provide faithful oversight for you. To go on, though, we need your help.     We must raise about $100,000 by Easter in order to operate, travel, and answer the poignant and urgent requests that come to us almost daily from overseas. Obviously, we do not receive any support from the national church. Overseas primates are deeply committed, but do not have financial resources. It is partners like you that that have helped us accomplish miracles over the last  eight years. Now, a Biblically faithful Anglican church in North America is within reach! Will you help?     Yours in Christ,     The Rev. Canon Bill Atwood, D. Min. General Secretary     PS. Please check out our website ( www.ekk.org ) and order my new book about the crisis. Wild Vine-Fruitful Vine: Crisis in the Anglican Communion. You can order them through Forward in Faith at 1-800-225-3661   END

By Adelle M. Banks RELIGION NEWS SERVICE     Bishop V. Gene Robinson, elected in June as the first openly gay bishop of the Episcopal Church, was named the Religion Newsmaker of the Year by members of  the Religion Newswriters Association. His approval and consecration, and the ensuing threats of schism in the U. S. church and the wider Anglican Communion, were collectively cited as the top religion news story of 2003 -- a ranking shared with criticism of the Anglican bishop of Vancouver, British Columbia, who approved same-sex unions.   About a third of the 240 members of the Religion Newswriters Association took part in the annual survey. More than 80 percent of these selected Robinson as the top newsmaker.     The top 10 religion news stories were ranked as follows:   1. Turmoil mounts within the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion after Robinson approval and consecration, and Vancouver Bishop Michael Ingham action.     2. The pending war in Iraq split religious communities, with mostly mainline Protestant denominations opposing it and many evangelicals supporting it.     3. The definition of marriage becomes a key area of controversy after Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules gay couples have a right to civil marriage and the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down a ban against homosexual sodomy.     4. A Ten Commandments monument is removed from Alabama State Judicial Building and the man who got it installed there, Roy Moore, is removed from his post as the state chief justice.     5. Roman Catholic Church efforts to implement plans combating priestly sex abuse draw praise and criticism. Archbishop Sean OMalley succeeds Cardinal Bernard Law as leader of the Boston Archdiocese.     6. Pope John Paul II marks the 25th anniversary of his election amid growing concerns about his health and debate over his eventual successor.     7. Slumping economy prompts budget cutbacks in many denominations. 8. Presbyterian Church (USA) keeps fidelity and chastity clause, maintaining its ban on noncelibate gay clergy. The denomination elects its first woman pastor as moderator.     9. The U.S. Supreme Court decides to hear a California case challenging the inclusion of the words under God in the Pledge of Allegiance.     10. The suspension of Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod official David Benke of New York, for participating in a post-9/11 interfaith service, is overturned.     Officials of Valparaiso University issued an apology to the denomination members after holding an interfaith service marking the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.     END

AS EYE SEE IT:   Dear Bishop Lee;   Please read this carefully through until the end.  This is a hard e-mail, tough love, and I know that you have been getting many hard e-mails, sadly even hateful e-mails.  This message is not one of hate but words of one man speaking straight to another.  I have labored long on this message in love believing that you are an adult and old enough to take hard truth.  Please prayerfully consider what I have said.  Time is short. Much has happened in the life of the church since I shook your hand at Olivet Episcopal Church 150-year anniversary earlier in 2003. As part of our family ministry to historic re-enactors (see www.historicfaith.net http://www.historicfaith.net/> ; ), Rev. Harper had asked us to help with preparations and we were there in 1850 clothing (I have attached a photo from the event).  I was touched when you stated that you found a power in the old (1845 vice 1928) liturgy, but was not convinced.  There has been twenty years for me to judge your words by.     In 1984 as bishop, you received me into the Episcopal Church. I believe that this confirmation service at Truro was your first confirmation service as bishop of the Diocese of Virginia.  Later, you were the Bishop that licensed me as a lay preacher when my family and I were at Christ the Redeemer.  You were the bishop who I looked to when I began the local discernment process for ordination.  While talking with you at a dozen after-church receptions does not make a deep friendship, you have been my bishop since you became bishop in Virginia.     As you have been my bishop, I have carefully read much of what you have written and listened carefully to what you have said. You are an intelligent and articulate man and I believe that you have some love for the Episcopal Church.  From what I have read, heard, and seen, I am deeply concerned for your soul.  It seems clear that you have valued the game of church politics and opinions of fellow bishops over your sworn duty to uphold the faith outlined in scripture and our catholic tradition.     I shook your hand at Olivet but I was a little guarded for I believed that when the clear decision point came to choose between the Apostolic faith and the progressive, world loving, rationalistic apostasy that has come into vogue within ECUSA, you would choose the atter.  I was right.     Years ago, you wrote in the Virginia Episcopalian that you saw your duty as Bishop to avoid clarity (what I call fuzzing up) on issues that would divide, such as the immorality of homosexual acts.     This is not the position of a bishop defending the faith.  Your duty is to make spiritual truth clear not to obscure it.  You have acted like a shepherd that will not divide wolves from sheep.  I could give you many scriptural references including the words of Jesus that show that light should not unite with darkness.  Lovingly, and actively, we are to engage the world so that those who sin are come from darkness to light but that is not to have common cause with them.  Scripture set a different course for those who are believers and even higher standards for those who are leaders among Christians.     Some time after that article on your commitment to be fuzzy in the Virginia Episcopalian, I believe around 1997, you instituted the Call to Holy Life at Virginia Theological Seminary to open the school to active homosexual partnerships in lieu of the previous policy that forbade sexual intercourse outside the bonds of marriage, adulterous relationships, and the practice of homosexuality.  By this action (and actions do speak louder than words) you clearly demonstrated that even within your own diocese, you would be go with the flow even it that meant jettisoning the moral teachings of Jesus.  You used your skill at turning phrases to fuzz up this issue.  At the time you instituted the Call to Holy Life you stated you were seeking a policy more in keeping with Anglican comprehensiveness than the previous statement and more in keeping with the biblical balance of the Christian tradition. Fine words, as I would expect from a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Duke Law School, but VTS, since your action and under your leadership, has become a hotbed of homosexual activism.   VTS is the place in your Diocese where church leaders are  training and you are responsible for the type of leaders you train there.  At the time of A Call to Holy Life, in my deep concern and as part of my discernment process, I exchanged a series of e-mails with you in an attempt to find out where you stood on the authority of scripture and the nature of sin, in particular on the sexual sin, which was being promoted by the apostate.  It was not easy to get a clear answer from you to this fundamental question - did you believe that homosexual practice was sin.  I was at first hopeful when you read my e-mails and took time to reply.     The ongoing exchanges with you, as courteous as they were, eventually convinced me that you did not have a moral compass that would enable me to seek ordination under your leadership.  In my heart, I knew then that when a vote on accepting same-sex immorality would come, you would choose Sodom rather than Zion.  Thus, I left off the ordination process and after subsequent statements and actions by you, left off active life in a local Episcopal Church for a couple of years, moving instead to support our non-denominational ministry.  Recent actions of yours has shown that I made the right decision.  Since you put The Call to Holy Life into place, VTS students who hold the orthodox faith have told me repeatedly how they feel under siege for their beliefs.     Your recent vote and past actions are clearly destroying our diocese.  Unless you publicly and proximately repent for your part in this apostasy, the diocese you claim to love will fall to pieces, to the despair of the many faithful priest and laity who have stood by you through your past moral fuzziness.  Through your actions, the Episcopal Church, USA has become a scandal within the historic, orthodox, catholic faith.  You stated that in your recent votes:     I had a difficult, even wrenching time deciding. I prayed a lot. I consulted widely, with clergy and lay colleagues, with other professionals, more formally with the deans of the regions, and the Standing Committee. I studied scripture anew.  I was particularly struck by the 15th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles where the apostles and elders of the church in Jerusalem adapted the requirements of Jewish law to the reality of the situation of gentile converts in Antioch.  My reading of scripture convinces me that the Gospel is ever-increasing its power to erase the barriers that we human beings erect among ourselves.     Did you prayerfully read what the Apostles decided in Acts 15:20?  One of the minimum requirements that the Apostles placed on the Gentiles was to avoid sexual sins - no compromise, no fuzziness.  The requirement for the gentiles was a beginning not the end.  The Apostles' decision also had the assumption that God ministers would teach the Gentiles to live a life of increasing righteousness through faith, not a life of wantonness masquerading as righteousness.  Again, in your reading of scripture as in past actions as bishop, you cling to the politics and ignore the requirements of faith.  You also stated, I was also struck anew by the centrality of a theology based more on grace than on law.  In Philippians 3:8-14, Paul wrote to the Philippians yearning for a righteousness that comes not from the law but for a righteousness that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.  Paul continues, I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.     Philippians 4:9 states, The things which ye both learned and received and heard and saw in me, these things do: and the God of peace shall be with you.  Do you, a bishop, understand the grace that Paul preached? Do you understand how repentance, the complete turning away from Sin, and Grace are related in Paul teaching?  Romans 6:1-7 shows this clearly:     What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?  God forbid.  We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein?  Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him through baptism unto death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection; knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; for he that hath died is justified from sin.   God Forbid indeed!, and you should have done all in your power to forbid the consecration of Vickie Gene Robinson and the acceptance of same-sex blessings.  What did Paul tell Titus that a Bishop should do? Holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict the gainsayers (Titus 1:9).  As a bishop you took the vows, and have been supported comfortably by the Church as bishop, but you are NOT holding to the faithful word and 2000 years of church doctrine. You are undermining, not defending the faith.  You seemed to stated with pride:     Since I was consecrated in 1984, I have consented to the consecration of nearly 200 bishops.  I have not voted against a single one, not those who were divorced and remarried, not the poor administrators and preachers, not even those bishops who now threaten to leave the church.     I believe strongly that the people of a local diocese, when the election is properly and fairly held, are the best people to determine who will best lead their diocese.  Just as the apostles respected the local circumstances of the people of Antioch, so the General Convention respected the circumstances of the people of New Hampshire.     The apostles clearly set limits and conditions (faith and repentance) on God grace and even stricter conditions for Church leadership.  Why can't you?  The Church gave you the vote of consent to defend the faith as a faithful steward.  The pride you have in never having shown leadership, not once since 1984, in the consecration of 200 bishops is shameful.     If, in 1984, you found that you did not have the judgment or moral fortitude to vote down unworthy candidates for bishops, then you should have stepped down then.  If you cannot see the problem with your actions now, you should step down now.  A sea captain who never steers a ship or a medical board than never denies a medical license to a medical student is acting criminally, even murderously.  Your action or in this case inaction is killing the Episcopal Church and more importantly hindering the work of the Gospel to turn people from death to life.  Do you so disrespect the Church and your calling that you believe that anyone who walks in the door will do as a bishop?  Even the non-spiritual, political wisdom of the business world understands the concept of checks and balances, and of the criticality of selecting competent leaders.     Do you understand what apostasy is?  Do you realize that you are joining with those who are actively seeking to turn the Church away from the authority of scripture and the faith delivered by the Apostles? Second Peter Chapter Two clearly talks about people wedded to  apostasy. Verses 18-21 (Message version) is especially clear: They are loudmouths, full of hot air, but still they’re dangerous. Men and women who have recently escaped from a deviant life are most susceptible to their brand of seduction. They promise these newcomers freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, for if they’re addicted to corruption--and they are--they’re enslaved.  If they’ve escaped from the slum of sin by experiencing our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ, and then slid back into that same old life again, they’re worse than if they had never left.  Better not to have started out on the straight road to God than to start out and then turn back, repudiating the experience and the holy command.     Recent statements by the revisionists, clearly demonstrate that they have no loyalty to the Christian faith.  In his Christmas Day message, your fellow bishop, John Bryson Chane stated the following And what was God thinking... when the Angel Gabriel was sent by God to reveal the sacred Quran to the prophet Muhammad?  And what was God thinking... when the Angel Gabriel was sent by God to reveal the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God?  (see http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral/worship/jbc031225.html ).     Do you really want to throw your lot in with the ECUSA proponents of Islam religion that worldwide continues to martyr more Christians in its name than any other.  This is so much more than promoting slavery to deviate sexual practice, as terrible as that is; this is collaborating with those who are anti-Christ. Islam does not accept that Jesus is Christ and fights against or enslaves those who do - Muslims are not fuzzy about what they believe. I know of what I speak.  I have read the Quran.  I have talked at length to both moderate and fundamental Muslims.  Having preached to and talked with Sudanese Anglican refugees when I was in Cairo with USAID and here in the United States, I have heard first hand accounts of what our Christian brothers and sisters have endured, and this death, rape, and torture is a worldwide reality, even under advanced Islamic governments. I worked in Jordan, West Bank/Gaza, Turkey, and Egypt.  I have watched Saudi state television present the master plan of converting the world to Islam and have visited many places where historic churches were converted forcibly to mosques (they don't switch back).     I have reviewed government assessments on the views and actions of Islamic Jihadist (Christian fundamentalist are NOT like Islamic fundamentalists).  I have read the words of American Mullahs and Imams. Now your fellow bishop has proclaimed the truth of Islam in our national cathedral and his fellow bishops remain silent.  This fact will not be lost on the Islamic world.  It will be used to justify the murder of thousands.     Would you consent to the elevation of a Islamic Mullah as Episcopal Bishop if a diocese put him forward?  Do you believe that Jesus would accept the teachings of Islam?  Jesus cannot be Lord is what Muhammad said in the Quran is true and from the Angel Gabriel. To accept Islam is to deny the Jesus of the Gospels.     Peter, will you choose to be light or darkness?, hot or cold?, sheep or wolf?  There is no more time for sitting on the fence, no middle way of inclusion with evil, no more time for fuzz-ing up truth. This is not to say that there is not room in Anglicanism for differences of opinion or understanding but there are limits to how broad the Anglican road is.  It is a wide highway, but you have helped drive the Episcopal Church through the guardrail straight for a cliff--an abyss. You must turn 180 degrees immediately to avoid the crash and the resulting death in flames.     Do you not fear the judgment of God in this matter?  Being a bishop is no defense, if you believe the Gospel accounts and Epistles; judgment will be stricter for those in Spiritual leadership, whether they are legalistic, fundamentalist Pharisees or rationalistic, humanist Sadducees.     The last time I saw you at Olivet you stated that you were moved by the power of the old 1845 version of the liturgy.  I quote that liturgy now in the hope that you will be moved by its power to publicly repent.     I exhort you, in the Name of God, to remember the profession which you made unto God in your Baptism. And forasmuch as after this life there is an account to be given unto the righteous Judge, by whom all must be judged, without respect of persons, I require you to examine yourself and your estate, both toward God and man; so that, accusing and condemning yourself for your own faults, you may find mercy at our heavenly Father hand for Christ sake, and not be accused and condemned in that fearful judgment.     Should you decide that your pride or your convictions will not allow you to make a public confession of sin and repentance in this matter, I will no longer be able to offer you the hand of fellowship. Until I see that you have repented of your recent heinous actions, I will not accept communion from your hand though this deeply grieves me. Should you decide to humbly and clearly repent, then I with saints and angels will rejoice and weep tears of joy.     I will continue to pray for you, as hundreds of others are, that you will turn back to the faith.   If you wish to meet one-on-one to discuss these matters, I will gladly work to meet your schedule, come to Richmond, and meet with you.  The one occasion that I feel that I can still break bread with you is if we came together to privately discuss this issue.  As one who has been saved by grace from my past evils, I am more than willing to go to some length to see your considerable gifts and talents recovered for the kingdom and to see our beloved Diocese of Virginia turned from wreaking at the bottom of the abyss.     Please think twice and pray about what I have said before hitting the delete key...     Your brother in Christ,   Jim Craft Manassas, Virginia     END

Dear Brothers and Sisters,     As this tumultuous year draws to a close in the life of the Anglican Communion we might well reflect for a moment on why it is necessary to uphold the Faith once delivered.     We are not playing word games here. Words have meaning and they change how we think and view the world. Think what Das Kapital and Mein Kampf did to a generation before us. Words matter. They change the way we think, influence our decisions and more. We act upon words every day of our life. We make decisions for good or ill on what we hear and learn, and words influence what directions we will take, what we support with our money and much more.     Virtuosity whole purpose is to defend the gospel of Jesus Christ as it is practiced within the context of the Anglican Way. There is nothing particularly new or startling about this, no mind-shattering revelations or illuminations, just the solid, defense of something that is true for us today as it was 2,000 years ago. It is a message that has not changed with time, the passage of history, passing cultural fashions, the findings of science, advances in education, the new morality, or more.     Human nature we now know has not changed appreciably over aeons of history. Regardless of how well-educated we might be, however advanced in our understanding of how the mind and body works; that intractable thing we call the ego rears its ugly head and we sin.     For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish, said the Great Apostle, and he is right. The pull of power, the urge of libidos, and the false security of money pulls us down to equalize us all. None of us is exempt, including this writer.     I love words. I love what they do, how they influence lives, and more. Perhaps one day when I come to die someone will carve on my tombstone; He used words well. I should be so lucky.     For most of you who have endured VIRTUOSITY for another year, will note that many of my writers and contributors, essayists and columnists have used words far better than me, for they are better writers than I am, and know their subjects better than I do.     I am truly grateful for each one of them. I suffer from the sin of envy (among other sins), that God has enabled them to put together sentences more illuminating than my own, more powerful in their ability to persuade, and so I sit in awe of them. Still we must press on.     Virtuosity is a calling and a ministry and it will go on into the New Year vigorously proclaiming, defending, and building up, at the same time pulling down strongholds of satanic influence. We will leave no stone unturned in the search for truth and exposing the lies and half-truths, the pomposity and venality of revisionist hegemony found in The Episcopal Church. We will reveal, expose and bring to the light, those things which we have done and those which we ought not to have done.     That does not mean that this writer comes covered in a mantle of perfection, far from it. I will make my own mistakes and hopefully you the reader will tell me so I can correct them. I expect that. I would be shocked if I did not hear from you.     IN TODAY LEAD STORY we continue to look at the implications of what a New World Anglican Order could look like if the Episcopal Church becomes, in effect, two churches. A church within a church or para-church, a church that is, that comes alongside the main body, drawing the good from it and leaving a dead carcass behind.     Events are shaping up fast. Two conflicting views over the future of the ECUSA is beginning to emerge and you can read the substance of that in today lead story.     TED MOLLEGEN, the point man for The Episcopal Church hoped for growth with General Convention 20/20 has written a propaganda piece at those who opposed Vicki Gene consecration. I have taken this apart for your edification. This man has managed to turn truth so violently on its head that cranial damage has ensued and now seems permanent. His blasphemous attack on orthodoxy and those who defend it is exposed for all to read.     ONCE AGAIN, THE DIOCESE OF PENNSYLVANIA LEADS THE WAY. The Rev. Douglas G. Scott, rector of St. Martin Church, Radnor has issued a stirring call to action on page 28 of Episcopal Life. It is an outrage, he writes, that Christianity seems to have little tolerance for the suffering fat. We should ask the obese to share with their faith community what it means to be at the margins of societal acceptance and learn from them.     I kid you not. The obvious solution, Virtuosity believes is to consecrate an openly fat man who is in a committed relationship with his refrigerator. Do you Douglas take Kelvinator to be your awfully wedded significant other, to have and to hold, till high cholesterol do you part... Dear friends, it is utterly impossible to out-satirize this stuff. With the removal of the twin sins of gluttony and sodomy it just gets easier and easier to become an Episcopalian. Will we abandon the Prayer Book in time? Perhaps we will all live long enough to see a fat bisexual with bestial proclivities who has a hankering for non-neutered Dalmatians publicly consecrated in a NYC bathhouse. Frank Griswold will preside. ECUSA has become a lunatic asylum and the lunatics are in charge.     And our Bible reading today is taken from First Bennison (Pennsylvania Episcopalian Page B) chapter 1 verse 1: Moses smashed the tablets brought down off Mount Sinai to free the Word of God to be heard not seen.  How long will the Standing Committee put up with this lunatic?     IN A RECENT NEWS ARTICLE THE PRESIDING BISHOP Frank Griswold gave some instructions to his Executive Council on the relationship between truth and community. This is what he said: Truth is discovered in communion.   Schism is the shattering of communion. In order to discover God truth, everyone has to be at the table.   The Rev. Lawrence D. Bausch, rector of Holy Trinity Church, San Diego, begs to disagree. He argues the exact reverse. He offers four examples when leaving the table has occurred because truth had been discerned and not agreed to.     First, the calling out of Abraham and his descendants as followers of Yahweh, separating them from their neighbors. This is a recurrent theme throughout the Old Testament. Secondly, the separation of Christians from Jews over the identity of Jesus. Third, the conciliar definitions including the creeds and canon of Scripture which determined acceptable parameters for communion. And fourth, the English reform under Queen Elizabeth I, which resulted in separation from the Catholic Church.   It is amazing how much rubbish Griswold manages to get away with unchallenged by his fellow bishops.     RECENT REPORTS in newspapers like the Church of England newspaper and on the Internet that Anglo-Catholics and groups like the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) are ready to run to Rome are exaggerated and premature. In discussions with various leaders in Episcopal Anglo-Catholic circles, word is that while talks and visits to Rome have been undertaken no one is going anywhere. The TAC under the leadership of Archbishop Falk and more recently the newly anointed Archbishop John Hepworth admit that while seeking unity to the fullest degree is desirable no one is going to abandon the Anglican tradition. Merger with Rome is not imminent. Furthermore Rome never acts in a hurry, even to embrace hurting Anglicans under siege from revisionist forces. All in good time.     THE REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH has had a defection. Bishop Gregory Hotchkiss has resigned over the REC stance against gay marriage. Even the most orthodox of jurisdictions are not immune, it would seem, from all this craziness over homo-erotic behavior.     SPRINGFIELD BISHOP PETER BECKWITH reports that no presentment charges have been made against him despite coming under heavy fire from a group of hard-line revisionist gay and lesbian priests and laity in his diocese who want him gone. (Virtuosity exposed their tricks in a secret chat room where they used anonymous names to blast the bishop). Beckwith wrote to VIRTUOSITY, I have heard there has been some interest/desire/attempt to present me for 1) Teaching against the doctrine of the Church; and 2) Abandoning the Sacrament of the Church.  I’m told 1 is because I will not recognize Gene Robinson ministry, allow blessing of same sex relationships or likely to welcome clergy into the Diocese who would.  I’m told 2 is because I did not visit a new mission initiative in our Monroe County before I pulled the plug on it.  After 15 months of preparation we were aiming at having 200 at the first service.  20 showed up.  In the seven weeks of operation, it was reported between 13 and 20 people participated per service.  We had about 80K left to invest after which the congregation would have to raise the 100K annually to support the operation.  That seeming most unlikely led to my decision. Frankly I consider their efforts to present me laughable! Thank you Bishop.     AND IT WILL COME AS NO SURPRISE, that the Religious Newswriters Association picked the Gene Robinson consecration as the top news story of the year.     But it is very revealing that not one of the bishops who supported Robinson has expressed any concern that he accepted a Person of the Year award from a gay soft porn website, PlanetOut, and a gay magazine, The Advocate.     Second top story is Michael Ingham attempted slaughter of 11 godly parishes in the Diocese of New Westminster. They are still open for business and thriving.     And in the DIOCESE OF COLORADO the bishop there one Jerry Winterrowd now expresses regret for supporting the election of the nation first openly gay bishop. He says the church was not ready. Winterrowd, who retires on Dec. 31, said he went into August General Convention of the Episcopal Church USA intending to vote against the election of Gene Robinson as New Hampshire bishop. His rationale: Robinson election would fly in the face of the church desire to delay setting policy on blessing same-sex unions. But Winterrowd said he became convinced that each diocese had the right to elect its own bishop. Subsequently, I would say that I am on very thin ice there, Winterrowd said. Indeed you are bishop. Very thin.     IN CANADA, the Bully of Vancouver, Michael Ingham closed down the fledgling mission parish of Holy Cross in Abbotsford, BC. The timing of the Anglican Bishop pre-Christmas closure of the church is ironic. In attempting to include new ideas, the Anglican Church is making sure there is no room in the inn for traditionalist thinkers. The parishioners must defend their faith. If this was happening in another country, Holy Cross would be listed under the persecution of Christians. That it should be persecuted at the hands of its own infrastructure is alarming, wrote one priest.     The parish priest James Wagner remains committed to his congregation, saying, we will continue to worship, even though were apparently not recognized formally. We hear a lot about tolerance and diversity and how diverse views should be respected. It seems to me a strange way to resolve conflict, said a parish layman.     Holy Cross is a mission church, which is distinct from an incorporated parish. Holy Cross voted by overwhelming majority to accept the offer of Bishop Terry Buckle of Yukon to lead them. The Bishop later withdrew.     Ten years ago when the small parish of St. George Anglican Church in Hamilton, Ontario, was disestablished, it was re-born immediately as St George Reformed Episcopal Church and functions as a traditional Anglican parish. It is flourishing. There is hope.     And this from WASHINGTON BISHOP JOHN CHANE KORANIC CHRISTMAS MESSAGE:   And what was God thinking . . . when the Angel Gabriel was sent by God to reveal the Law to Moses? And what was God thinking . . . when the Angel Gabriel was sent by God to reveal the sacred Quran to the prophet Muhammad? And what was God thinking . . . when the Angel Gabriel was sent by God to reveal the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God?     Virtuosity thinks that God thinks that Bishop Chane should be tossed out of his bishopric for talking rubbish.     DEMOCRATIC FRONT RUNNER HOWARD DEAN was once an Episcopalian in Vermont. But owing to a squabble about the construction of a pathway on a nine-mile stretch of land along Lake Champlain opposed by a group of Episcopalians, he left the Episcopal Church. Apparently the much vaunted Doctrine of Inclusion hit a snag and the wannabe next president left the ECUSA.     I WROTE TO CANON PATRICK MAUNEY, the Episcopal Church Director of Anglican and Global Relations this week asking if the Episcopal Church was still planning to go ahead and send money for the poor Gulu in Uganda, even though Frank Griswold has been disinvited to attend the consecration of their new archbishop. I got no answer. Unless Virtuosity hears otherwise you can safely assume the gift will not be going out to these poor starving Ugandans, which goes to prove that money and politics are inextricably twined in The Episcopal Church.     THE BISHOP OF OHIO CLARK GREW went on the offensive this week about a group of parishioners who left a parish in Hudson, Ohio. This is what he said on radio WKSU: I think the tension I feel is, and I don’t want to devalue the authenticity of scripture claim that people make that this is a matter of scriptural authority, but I think, deep within that posture is a deep-seeded homophobia and an inability for people to see gay and lesbian people as children of God. Other members on the panel took him to task and you can read the he said/she said into today digest. He has some very revealing thoughts about a parallel jurisdiction in the ECUSA.     RE: CHRIST AND CIVILIZATION article. I received a mountain of e-mails expressing anger and disgust at the turn the article took in the latter quarter of the four-part series in its attack on Orthodox and Catholic Christians. Virtuosity regrets such attacks and maintains that the thrust of the article, which is that without Christ we would not have Western Civilization, as we know it, still stands. I am publishing a number of LETTERS reflecting various views on the article, and Virtuosity invites anyone with a knowledge of the origins of Western Civilization to write a contra piece for publication.     I HAVE POSTED A NUMBER OF STORIES today for your interest and edification.     This will be the last digest for the Year 2003. When next I write it will be in the first week in January with a YEAR IN REVIEW story. With that will come a new website makeover for 2004. It will be easier to navigate with a full explanation coming from Virtuosity webmaster, Mr. Robert Turner.     I WANT TO THANK ALL OF YOU who contributed so generously to Virtuosity this past year. By doing so you made it possible for me to travel and write the stories you needed to read to keep abreast with events as they unfolded in The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. I am indebted to all of you who supported me with checks both large and small. Thank you.     The year 2004 will be even more turbulent Virtuosity predicts than this past year. It will certainly be break point for The Episcopal Church. What will all the alphabet soup of groups do within and without ECUSA?   How will they coalesce? Will they? Who will still be standing at the end of the day? Will it be full-blown schism or a parallel church within a church? We shall know more in due course. Stay tuned.     Please keep this writer in your prayers, and if you can support this ministry, please do so either by going to PAYPAL at my website www.virtuosityonline.org , or by sending a donation via snail mail to VIRTUOSITY, 1236 Waterford Rd., West Chester, PA 19380. Thank you for your support     God bless you all and have a very happy New Year.     All blessings,   David W. Virtue DD   END

Ethics & Religion   by Michael J. McManus     Pollster George Barna reported recently that three-fifths of Americans believe cohabitation is an acceptable behavior.  In fact, two-thirds of Catholics see no problem with unmarried couples living together, nor half of all Protestants and even 49 percent of born-again Americans. What more, Barna says, the moral perspectives of Americans are likely to continue to deteriorate. Compared to surveys we conducted just two years ago, significantly more adults are depicting such behaviors as morally acceptable.     Certainly, the number of couples living together has soared from only 520,000 in 1970 to 5 million today, a ten-fold increase in a generation. That double the number who marry in a year. Cohabitation, not marriage, is the primary way male-female unions are formed.     However, Scripture is clear.  Flee fornication, St. Paul wrote (I. Cor 7:18).     I cited that quote in England, and a very dignified dowager interrupted me to exclaim, Jesus never said anything about it.     Yes he did.  Remember the woman at the well, who Jesus said had five husbands and the man you now have is not your husband (John 4:18).     The problem, as I see is two-fold: ignorance of cohabitation consequences by the general public, and a willful avoidance of the issue by American clergy.   Sociology backs up Scripture on the evil of cohabitation. Since men and women living together begin with minimal commitment, there is greater unhappiness - more infidelity, more conflict and even violence, more illness and depression.     Sociologist Pamela Smock estimates that 45 percent of such couples undergo premarital divorce, which can be painful and complicated.  A woman at a Christian publishing company told me she lived with a man for six years, and desperately wanted to leave, but felt trapped: We bought a house together and he doesn’t want to sell it.     Many live together to test their potential for marriage. Big mistake. Marriages that are preceded by living together have 50 percent higher disruption rates than marriages without premarital cohabitation, according to the National Survey of Families and Households.     St. Paul sagely wrote, Test everything. Hold onto the good. Avoid every kind of evil.     Cohabitation may be perceived as a test, but it is an embracing of evil. A stunning 43 percent of unmarried couples have children, vs 46 percent of married couples.     Yet have you ever heard a sermon on cohabitation?  I bet not. In scores of cities, I’ve asked pastors if they have preached on it. One hand in 50 goes up. This moral abdication is perhaps the major reason why Barna found Christians have a higher divorce rate than atheists.     There is an alternative.  A third of America churches now provide a more appropriate way for couples to test their relationships - with a test called a premarital inventory.  The man and woman are asked if they agree or disagree separately to 150+ one sentence statements:     At times I am concerned about the silent treatment I get from my future spouse.     I am concerned that my future spouse sometimes spends money foolishly.     I am hoping that after marriage my future souse will change of his/her behaviors.     A computerized report is prepared comparing what the man and woman said on each issue. Result: a tenth of couples decide not to marry. Studies show that their scores are equal to those who marry and later divorce.  So they are avoiding a bad marriage before it has begun!   In 1992, my wife and I added another component, having couples in solid marriages administer the inventory. Clergy will normally provide only an hour of feedback. They do not have time to talk through scores of issues that a couple aged 50 can provide. With both genders present, mentor couples can actually do a better job than clergy or counselors.     From 1992-2000, 302 couples were mentored at our home church.  Of that number, 21 dropped out part way through, mostly to break up. Another 34 couples met with their mentors six evenings, but decided not to marry.     Thus, more than 50 couples avoided a likely divorce.  But of those who did marry, there have been only seven divorces or separations in a decade.  That is a 3 percent failure rate, or a 97 percent success rate.     That not just marriage preparation - but marriage insurance. What more, we created an organization called Marriage Savers that has trained 3,000 mentor couples across the country, whose churches often have even lower divorce rates. To learn more, see marriagesavers.org .     Why doesn’t your church, synagogue or mosque set a goal in 2004 to radically reduce your congregation divorce rate?     END TXT Copyright   2003 Michael J. McManus

By TREVOR KAVANAGH Political Editor     TWO top bishops last night warned Tony Blair must answer to God for toppling Saddam Hussein.     The Bishop of Durham and the Archbishop of York blasted the war in newspaper interviews.     In an astonishing grab for the moral high ground, they admitted Saddam was wicked but claimed the allies were not the right people to oust him.     Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham, accused the PM and President George Bush - both devout Christians - of a strange distortion of Christianity to justify action.     He compared them to white vigilantes going into Brixton to stop drug dealing. Dr David Hope, Archbishop of York, reminded the Prime Minister of the higher authority he will have to face one day and urged churchgoers to pray for his soul.     Referring to Saddam, he said: Undoubtedly a very wicked leader has been removed but there are other wicked leaders. His words echoed Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams warning that Mr. Blair would be called to account.   END

The Rt. Rev. Cpt. Jerome R. Cayangyang By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org September 26, 2025   Bishop Jay Cayangyang has been appointed as suffragan bishop in the Anglican Church in North America's Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy (JAFC), replacing Bishop Derek Jones.   The appointment was announced by ACNA Archbishop Steve Wood.   Due to recent statements by the Right Reverend Derek L.S. Jones, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF, Ret., declaring his disaffiliation and separation from the ACNA, the ACNA College of Bishops met this afternoon to pass a resolution declaring a vacancy in the position of Bishop of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy. The College then voted to elect Bishop Cayangyang to fulfill this role.   The Bishop of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy oversees The Special Jurisdiction for the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy, a canonical ministry of the ACNA established under Title 1, Canon 11 of the Province’s canons. Bishop Cayangyang will provide leadership, pastoral care, and oversight for Anglican clergy serving as chaplains in the United States Armed Forces, federal and state agencies, hospitals, and other specialized institutions to ensure these chaplains remain connected to the wider church in their unique callings and provide spiritual covering for their families and ministries.   Bishop Cayangyang previously served as Suffragan Bishop of the Special Jurisdiction under Bishop Derek Jones and brings rich experience in both pastoral ministry and military chaplaincy. He currently serves as Deputy Chaplain of the Marine Corps for Reserve Matters, and most recently served as the Rector of Bishop Seabury Anglican Church in Gales Ferry, Connecticut. Bishop Cayangyang has more than 35 years of active and reserve military service, including two combat deployments in Iraq. He has walked alongside service members and their families ashore, at sea, and in the field, ministering in times of deployment and crisis.   “I am humbled to be entrusted with this responsibility to care for our chaplains and their families,” Bishop Cayangyang said. “Chaplains embody the love of Christ in some of the most challenging and demanding environments. My prayer is to support them faithfully so the good news of Jesus Christ continues to be shared where it is most needed.”   Archbishop Stephen D. Wood, Primate of the Anglican Church in North America, welcomed the new bishop to his role: “We give thanks to God for Bishop Cayangyang’s willingness to serve in this critical role. I have every confidence his courageous leadership, pastoral heart, and long military experience will strengthen the vital ministry of our ACNA chaplains who serve courageously at the unique intersection of faith and public service.”   Chaplains are also encouraged to note that in correspondence with Archbishop Wood dated September 24, Chaplain (COL) David Wake, Executive Director of the Armed Forces Chaplains Board in the Office of the Deputy Secretary of War for Personnel & Readiness recently noted, “At no time should any [ACNA] serving chaplain or chaplain candidate be concerned about their endorsement or ability to serve the Armed Forces. My expectation is all should be able to continue their service without interruption, and I know all three Chaplaincies are committed to the same goal.”   Archbishop Wood has also been in touch with the Executive Director of chaplaincy services in the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.   The investiture and seating of Bishop Cayangyang will be determined and announced at a later date. Clergy and laity across the province are invited to join in prayer for him as he begins this ministry of oversight, encouragement, and shepherding within the Special Jurisdiction for the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy.   Any ACNA chaplains who would like to be added to the ACNA Chaplains Email Distribution List to receive news and updates can sign up here. Information is also available on the ACNA website located here.   An insider told VOL that while Bishop Jones has withdrawn from representing the ACNA, “he still maintains himself for the JAFC as an Anglican endorser, covering all the chaplains who are sticking with him and who do not care a wit about ACNA.”   We have yet to see how all this plays out with who belongs to whom at the end of the day.   END

Some years ago, the main-line Christian denominations were taken over by leftists; the process is even more far gone in Europe than in America.   Hence this utterly bizarre news story: Two Top Bishops Last Night Warned Tony Blair Must Answer to God for Toppling Saddam Hussein. Yes, that's right. God was in Saddam corner all the way. The Bishop of Durham and the Archbishop of York blasted the war in newspaper interviews. In an astonishing grab for the moral high ground, they admitted Saddam was wicked but claimed the allies were not the right people to oust him.     Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham, accused the PM and President George Bush - both devout Christians - of a strange distortion of Christianity to justify action. He compared them to white vigilantes going into Brixton to stop drug dealing.     If anyone understands that reference, send us an email; I’m completely in the dark. And if England and America weren’t the right people to oust Saddam, who were? All those other nations who have been lining up to do the dirty work all these years, I guess.     Dr David Hope, Archbishop of York, reminded the Prime Minister of the higher authority he will have to face one day and urged churchgoers to pray for his soul. Referring to Saddam, he said: Undoubtedly a very wicked leader has been removed but there are other wicked leaders.     Meaning, I guess, that God will fault Tony Blair for not removing the Mullahs, Kim Il Jong, and a few others. Well, Reverend, give him time. Meanwhile, when it comes to removing very wicked leaders, the score is: Tony Blair and George Bush--(remember the Taliban), Church of England clerics. END

By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org September 25, 2025   The Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy (JAFC) claims that a press release from the archbishop of the ACNA “presents a false and misleading account of the events concerning both the JAFC and Bishop Derek Jones.”   In a hard-hitting response to ACNA Archbishop Steve Wood, the JAFC and Bishop Derek Jones described the archbishop’s account as an “inaccurate account of events” and has cut off all communication with the ACNA withdrawing its jurisdiction from the ACNA.   In a video explaining his situation and the charges leveled against him, Jones said he had been wrongfully charged with violating Title IV of the canons and using Title IV disciplinary proceedings to manipulate clergy. He said two people had produced evidence of his backdating official church documents. At least one person said they had evidence of fabricated official church documents. At least two people had claimed that he had disciplined or attempted to discipline persons not under his canonical authority. At least two people claim he had wrongly interfered when employment opportunities were sought outside the SJAFC. Six people accused him of misusing his ecclesiastical authority by inflicting financial, emotional, and psychological stress upon persons under his care. One person claimed that he had been wrongfully released as a priest from his orders. Bishop Jones angrily denies all the charges. You can see the video here: (Start at 20 mins): https://www.anglicanchaplains.org/post/clarity-and-candor-amid-clandestine-claims   Jones claims that procedures regarding the allegations were not followed and that ACNA canons demand an investigator be assigned before charges are made. This was not done, he maintains. To date no presentment has been received by Jones.   “Regardless of whether you're disciplined or not, every person is briefed and told that they have recourse within the system to where if they want to make a complaint back; they can.”   Bishop Jones maintains that he was issued a “godly admonition” that has no basis in canon law, it was wrongfully administered, it was manipulating and included the fabrication of church documents. Discipline was done under wrongfully followed processes, he maintains. Jones says the charges are without context and asked that the godly admonition be lifted.   Jones angrily denied backdating official church documents. “No documents were ever produced that do not go through multiple hands,” he said.   “When this was delivered to me by the archbishop, my initial response was what are you going to do. There was no presentment it was going to be “handled pastorally.”   Jones took a swipe at the archbishop insisting on his following the canons like (Bishop) Ruch, who has been charged with several offenses, including habitual neglect of the duties of the bishop's office and conduct giving just cause for scandal or offense.   A number of people have come to Bishop Jones’ defense and believe the letter from the archbishop's office inaccurately portrays the sequence of events and conflates distinct matters. Most notably, it misrepresents the relationship between the JAFC and the composition of the ACNA’s Title I, Canon 11. It was mutually understood and agreed upon during the JAFC’s transition from the Church of Nigeria to the ACNA that Canon 11 would be inoperative. This agreement was made in recognition of the JAFC's unique history and structure, which was established in 2007, prior to the formation of the ACNA.”   The chaplains point to the video which addresses all these charges here: https://www.anglicanchaplains.org/post/clarity-and-candor-amid-clandestine-claims   “Bishop Jones has consistently stated his full cooperation with any lawful investigation or accountability process. His only requirement is that such proceedings be conducted in accordance with established legal and canonical norms.”   Several ACNA Bishops reached out to Bishop Jones, requesting that he consider having a conversation with Archbishop Wood with the aim of initiating reconciliation. Bishop Jones readily agreed, encouraging these ACNA Bishops to move forward. Regrettably, Archbishop Wood vehemently refused their requests for attempts toward reconciliation.   Archbishop Wood’s office says they received a report from its Safeguarding Office of credible complaints against Bishop Derek Jones who serves as bishop for the ACNA’s Special Jurisdiction for the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy (SJAFC).   The complaints alleged abuse of ecclesiastical power. They do not involve any accusations of physical or sexual abuse or doctrinal concerns. The Safeguarding Office determined that the complaints were considered credible enough to require further investigation to determine if any rose to the level of a presentable offense.   FORMER ACNA ARCHBISHOP ROBERT DUNCAN WEIGHS IN   Former ACNA Archbishop Bob Duncan weighed in and said in an email to Jones; “Dear Derek, I am saddened beyond words at the course you have elected to take. Instead of ending as a hero, you will be remembered as a scoundrel. Your end in this will be like Chuck Murphy's, [Murphy led the Anglican Mission in America - AMIA], somebody surrounded by only a remnant of what was once among the greatest of the ACNA treasures. You could still turn back. Don't go down in flames. Admit that your chancellors did a mistake today. Retire now and pass this amazing achievement that was the jurisdiction on to the next generation. End as one who shaped and led a great movement or be remembered as a villain. You who stood against godly authority and illustrated what not to do when challenged by the laws you had agreed to paternally and with all humility.”   Jones responded; “Your grace, I can sense your anger and disappointment. By the way, that's a very vicious email and I want you to know how measured I am. How about a little information from the victim in this matter? My initial response to Archbishop Steve was to move with the process. Unfortunately, when I informed them of my admonishment, it was revealed that they had reliable information that this was possibly going to happen before my meeting with Steve, that I was going to undergo a targeted attempt to remove my by reinvigorating past issues that had already been resolved and to damage my reputation. Thus, as far as this affects me, it would be the outcome is predetermined whether we allow this non-canonical process to continue or not. I'm no Chuck Murphy. Chuck held an iron fist on his ministry. This ministry isn't structured that way. And when the chancellors say I'm being directed by the ETS leadership, it is true. I don't think you have been given the whole story. I remain committed. What is the reason I should retire? These charges can't be substantiated other than the woke charges that can easily be waged against the archbishop himself or anyone for things done just last week. It is utterly silly. Of course, I am willing for them to be looked at. I say again, despite being informed that this is targeted against me personally, I am absolutely willing for them to look into the allegations made by these formally disciplined chaplains, but not in a manner outside of how it is outlined in the canons. actively seeking for a year to find individuals to bring charges against me. “   Jones concluded saying that he would like a peaceful solution, but the leadership of this jurisdiction has had enough. “For them, it is not about me. They see this as yet another event in a long chain of events that leads them to conclude that the ACNA is nothing more than a power-hungry, litigious minded, increasingly woke TEC 2.”   As of now, Bishop Jones and the JAFC College of Bishops have officially disaffiliated with the college of ACNA bishops. The vice chancellor will continue to lead the JAFC and that Archbishop Wood’s inhibition has no effect given the affiliate status of the JAFC with the ACNA and the fact that his consecration originated elsewhere. The JAFC is an independent 501© 3 corporation with its own governing board of which the ACNA has no control. Any attempt to appoint another person, whether bishop, or to temporarily lead the JAC, is illegal and will be of no effect.   END

By Toby Cohen http://www.religiousintelligence.org/ June 10th, 2010     Episcopal vacancies are opening up across the Church, and in the next few years the House of Bishops could have a very different complexion. With the Church teetering on the brink of some major changes, there is particular curiosity about the mentality of the new men under the mitres.     The Assistant Area Dean of Southampton, the Rev Canon Geoffrey Annas, was announced last week as the next Bishop of Stafford. As his new Diocesan Bishop, the Rt Rev John Gledhill, makes clear, Canon Annas has just the right sort of credentials: He has won the respect of the whole community and many attribute a drop in serious crime to the neighbourliness and vision of St Christopher [Thornhill, where he was made vicar in 94].He has overseen the establishment of the Southampton Street Pastors Scheme and a new Academy school, under the auspices of the Diocese and Oasis Trust. More recently he has been assistant Area Dean in the large Southampton Deanery, caring for clergy and lay leaders.     Canon Annas expertise in important frontline Church initiatives qualifies him well for service in any part of the organisation, as he acknowledges in an interview during his return to Lichfield last week, 25 years after his only previous visit there on a diocesan retreat. My background has obviously been very much in ministry in the urban setting, but I spend a lot of time today with people in the rural setting and that been fascinating. The links between the two [are fascinating] as well. There not as much diversity between the two as people make out.     He will miss the people he has worked with in Southampton, but is confident in their ability to carry on the good work; he is aware of great achievements being made in Lichfield, but is confident in the call of God and the help of his supportive team.     So far there is little to distinguish him from the other humble and enthused servants of the Church who have been selected for elevation. But Canon Annas himself detects a shift: There a general change in culture at the moment. It not just in the Church, I think the result of the General Election is an indication that people generally are looking now more towards consensual ways forward rather than being competitive all the time.     We sometimes make the mistake that everyone wants something new but there a lot that good about the traditional ways we’ve always done things and it just about bringing the two together really, which is what I meant by the consensual thing.     That might not be the change others in the Church are talking about. And if they are talking about it at Synod this summer, they may have to look hard to find that spirit of consensus which the Archbishop of Canterbury was pleading for in February.     So how has that culture of consensus affected Canon Annas own stance on disputed issues?     I haven’t compromised at all, in that I am totally supportive of women bishops and I very much value the ministry of my female colleagues. And I look forward to the time when they exercise Episcopal ministry as well.     Although I’m 100 per cent behind the ordination of women to the episcopate, I’m also incredibly sensitive to those who find it difficult, and this is again where the consensual thing comes in. The last thing that I want is for anybody to feel alienated, I think the Church should be inclusive and so I think we have to work within that.     So perhaps traditionalists needn’t be too worried just yet. The new Bishop of Stafford joins the large gang of Church liberals who believe in incremental development rather than table-turning reform. He plays the same line on gays: My feelings about openly gay clergy - I personally have no issues with that at all, but I think again like the ordination of women to the episcopate it something where there needs to be enormous sensitivity.     I’m not somebody who will overthrow rules and regulations for the sake of it, because I think if you do that you get chaos and anarchy, but I am somebody who will work to build a consensus to change rules and regulations and I would hope that in the future at some point people could be allowed to be true to themselves.     It is not a sin to be a homosexual, and that is very much the teaching of the Church of England. What the Church does teach is that actually whether you’re heterosexual or gay, outside of a committed married relationship, there should be no physical sexual activity.       Well, as you realise, unless you’re saying to me that gay people should marry, which I personally wouldn’t agree with, you’re going to deprive gay people of that possibility of having a physical relationship, which to my mind seems contrary to what being in a creative loving relationship is all about.       This is where traditionalists and liberals alike may wish to interject. No one is asking him to overthrow rules and regulations for the sake of it. Liberal society is asking him to do it, primarily, for the sake of those still suffering at the sharp end of our culture homophobic heritage. The Church might not like being seen as the great curator of that heritage, but at least this shows that some of that society has not laughed and walked away.       Traditionalists are asking why, if he feels women are entitled to be bishops and people who are gay entitled to physical relationships without being excluded, he doesn’t take a stand and openly challenge the Church, instead of sneakily undermining it.       Talk about a poisoned chalice. At least he is in good company as he steps out on to this tightrope, on which the Archbishop of Canterbury is another balanced with his crosier. Canon Annas is steeled to face these challenges while preserving strength to concentrate on the issues most dear to him, such as climate change and the damage of the recession.       On one line he is united with a great many in the Church: All too often newspapers are focussing on these two particular issues, when there are so many issues... A lot of the Church agenda is dictated by the media so I encourage you and urge you to start broadening it a bit.     Who can blame him?   END

December 2012     Dear VOL friend and loyal supporter,     2013 was another tumultuous year in the life of the Anglican Communion.     In March 2013, an evangelical, Justin Welby was enthroned as the new Archbishop of Canterbury, putting behind eight years of liberally minded Rowan Williams and what many viewed as a disastrous period in the life of the Anglican Communion with unresolved sexuality issues and a failed Covenant.     The year ended with some 1400 Evangelical and Anglo-Catholic Anglican leaders meeting in Nairobi under the banner of GAFCON II to forge a new way ahead for the Anglican Communion that is orthodox in faith and morals. They left no doubt as to where they stood as guardians of the faith. They greeted the archbishop’s brief presence in Nairobi with polite applause; he offered them nothing that assured them of Canterbury’s commitment to biblical faithfulness in the area of sexual fidelity to marriage between a man and a woman. They were unmoved by his less than sterling support of them and they proceeded to setup the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE).       The polarization within the Anglican Communion only heightened during the year with the Episcopal Church pushing the boundaries on sexuality issues in an attempt to redefine marriage in order to accommodate a handful of men and women who wanted to marry their same-sex partners. Gay Rites were put forth for experimentation by liberal bishops so clergy could legitimize same-sex unions even though gay marriage is still technically off the table. The Washington National Cathedral announced that they would be the first in line to use experimental Rites. Everyone, of course, knows where this is ultimately going. The Episcopal Church decision to endorse marriage equality follows the approval of a Rite for the Blessing of a same-sex relationship at the 2012 General Convention.       Lawsuits against four dioceses continued in 2013 and will continue on in 2014. The roughest and toughest calls will be made in South Carolina where the laws favor Bishop Mark Lawrence and TEC has experienced the most pushback. Tens of millions of dollars worth of real estate are at stake. An estimated $22 million has been spent to date on litigation by The Episcopal Church in an effort to retain or take back church properties in these dioceses. When TEC legally wins properties, the bishop of the Diocese of Connecticut, for example, is forced to sell them off to other denominations and to Muslims for conversion into mosques because they cannot financially support them.       The Global South, which is growing and vibrant, is committed to crossing boundaries and rescuing churches in the West under siege by liberal and revisionist bishops.       The Episcopal Church will continue to splinter in 2014 though at a slower pace. TEC will continue to wither and the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) will continue to grow. The theological divide will only widen in 2014. There will be triumphs and tragedies, winners and losers in the real estate battles. Aging and small TEC congregations will continue to shrink and there will be more diocesan mergers in 2014 (Ex. Quincy to Chicago). There will be ongoing realignment among the Continuers as well. VOL will document it all for you.     Given that we continue to live in a period of confusion and sometimes misinformation regarding the tragic state of the Anglican Church as a result of the unilateral and non-biblical decisions and actions of the North American church we are more grateful than ever for the clarity and relevance of Virtueonline. We thank God for this important and faithful ministry to the worldwide communion. -- Gregory James Venables, Bishop of Argentina and former Archbishop of the Southern Cone     Virtueonline remains a crucial source of information and analysis in the larger Anglican Communion.  I recommend it for its insight and breadth.  In our day it is critical to have news sources that are reliable and conservative. -- Rt. Rev Frank Lyons, Bishop of Bolivia     There is no one except David Virtue who provides us with timely and essential news, as well as searching biblical analysis of that news. In this he serves not only the biblically faithful in North America but throughout the Anglican Communion. It is my prayer and hope that he will be able to continue his service to us for years to come. -- The Right Reverend John H. Rodgers Jr. ThD. AMIA (ret)       The Anglican Communion is in the midst of a complex and critical time in its history and life. The situation is highly fluid at many levels and the events and decisions made impact deeply our mission and ministry. VOL has its finger on the pulse of the Communion, it knows the players and it goes where the action is. It is an essential resource for understanding and navigating the times in which we live. -- Rev. Jerry Kramer, Anglican Missionary to the Muslim World       I have been following his regular news and commentary for more than 10 years.  I continue to do so.  VOL pulls no punches and David is relentless in pursuing truth, particularly when people are abusing God Church.  David does not suffer despots in the Church and takes great trouble to expose their conduct.  Amongst the orthodox who write about the Anglican Communion David is guaranteed to have a strong opinion, take a strong stand and sometimes rub people the wrong way.  David never counts the cost so long as what is hidden may be exposed to the light of truth. -- Rev. 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By The Denver Post     Colorado Episcopal Bishop Jerry Winterrowd expressed regret Thursday about supporting the election of the nation first openly gay bishop, saying the church was not ready. Winterrowd, who is retiring Dec. 31, said he went into August General Convention of the Episcopal Church USA intending to vote against the election of Gene Robinson as New Hampshire bishop.     His rationale: Robinson's election would fly in the face of the church desire to delay setting policy on blessing same-sex unions.     But Winterrowd said he became convinced that each diocese had the right to elect its own bishop.     Subsequently, I would say that I am on very thin ice there, Winterrowd said Thursday.     Winterrowd said he supports same-sex blessings, but some people perceive Robinson's election as tacit approval of such blessings.     That, Winterrowd said, is not the right forum for weighing same-sex blessings.     We have ordained a gay man as bishop, Winterrowd said. Personally, I favor that. But this diocese, and the whole American church, was not ready for that, and a lot of damage has been done.  Asked if he would vote for Robinson again, Winterrowd said he was not sure.   END