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Bennison Will Make Forced Visit to Largest Parish in Diocese Special Report By David W. Virtue PAOLI, PA—The Bishop of Pennsylvania, Charles E. Bennison will make a forced visitation to the Church of the Good Samaritan, the largest parish in the diocese, despite being told by the rector, Fr. Greg Brewer that he should not come. From other sources Virtuosity has learned that the Standing Committee has also told Bennison that he should not make an unwelcome visit to the parish. Bennison's position is that he will attend the 9am service on June 6 arguing that his "overriding concern is with the unity of our diocesan family." In a letter to the congregation from the vestry of the Paoli parish, they wrote, "we grieve because of Bennison's refusal to send Bishop Clarence Coleridge (assisting bishop) on his behalf. We believe that Bishop Bennison's visit will be viewed by many in our congregation as detrimental and harmful." The letter said that Fr. Brewer had written the bishop three letters requesting he not come and requesting Bishop Coleridge come and preside. Bennison steadfastly refused. "It was our prayer that a workable solution to our plea be possible within the context of our diocese," wrote the vestry. "It is difficult to understand his insistence on making this visit when it comes at the expense of the pastoral well being of our congregation." The vestry said Bennison's methodology was "flawed." Because Bennison is forcing his way onto the parish the rector said he will not present any candidates for confirmation. Instead they will be presented to Bishop Franklin Turner (former PA suffragan bishop) on Sunday 13th at All Hallows, Wyncote, PA. The vestry then asked the congregation not to attend the 9am service and should choose instead to attend either the 7:30am service or the 11:15am or 11:30am services to celebrate the Eucharist. The vestry said that while the church staff and they themselves have an "obligation" to attend the 9am service but the vestry will not receive communion from the bishop. "We take these actions under duress; not because we want to separate ourselves from the Diocese, but because we believe it is our Biblical obligation to stand in prayer for a bishop, called to be 'one with the apostles,' whose teaching and actions are contrary to the plain meaning of Holy Scripture." Bennison is on record as saying to members of the Church of the Good Samaritan that, "we wrote the Bible, we can rewrite the Bible." Bennison also wrote in the April 2003 Easter letter in the Pennsylvania Episcopalians that, "He (Jesus) acknowledges his own sin. He knows himself to be forgiven." In his January 2004 letter in the Pennsylvania Episcopalian Bennison wrote, "Moses smashed the tablets brought down from Mount Sinai to free the Word of God to be heard not seen." The parish has more than 1,500 members and is the largest in the Diocese of Pennsylvania. END

Archbishop Attacks 'Pop Idol Worship' By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent THE TELEGRAPH May 24, 2004 The Archbishop of York, Dr. David Hope, launched a fierce assault on his own Church yesterday, accusing it of abandoning the mysterious for the banal and indulging in ineffective debate. The Archbishop, who is second in the Church of England's hierarchy, said that while Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings were increasingly popular, worship was failing to connect with people's imaginations. Dr. Hope: Churches should provide 'space and silence' Dr. Hope's blunt criticism, delivered in a sermon at Mirfield theological college in Yorkshire, reflects his fears that bureaucracy and internal divisions are undermining the Church's mission. He said that the "makeover/Changing Rooms/Pop Idol culture" exposed the superficiality of a society that "increasingly and paradoxically seems to be yearning for the things of the spirit—a yearning that apparently the Churches are failing to satisfy." Dr. Hope said worship had to be accessible, but also had to convey a sense of the awesome. "The temptation, indeed the reality, I experience in quite a number of churches is simply to ape the passing styles of the times," he told the students. "Worship as entertainment; worship as distraction quite other than what it truly is or should be, namely the giving of worth to God. "It is ironic that just at the time when not only so many young people but older people too have been captivated by the Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings genre of literature and film, the Church in its worship seems to have abandoned the mysterious in favour of the banal." The archbishop, a leading traditionalist, also called on the Church to recapture the power of prayer and to offer people space to be silent. "The most important witness that I believe is needed today more than ever is the witness of 'being' rather than 'doing,'" he said. "That is not in any way to minimise the quite proper role both of conversation, discussion and debate as well as what might be described as the Christian social agenda—the reaching out in service to those most in need around us. "But the danger is that we are becoming too much a busy Church and a chatty Church at the expense of being an effective Church. "No wonder that people are wary even of entering within in case they are so suddenly snapped up by some ardent vicar or churchwarden or PCC member and at once enlisted on to some committee, working group or tea-making rota. "More than ever, people are looking both for space and for silence, the space and silence that our churches could and should provide." Meanwhile, the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, the Rt. Rev. John Packer, broke ranks with his colleagues on Saturday to demand that the Church delay no longer in consecrating women as bishops. He said a survey in local parishes had found a high degree of confidence in the ministry of women and a feeling that they should be appointed to many more senior posts such as archdeacons and deans. Bishop Packer said women must now be allowed to break through the "stained glass ceiling" and the General Synod should start drawing up legislation to allow this within months. There has been growing concern among liberals that the process is being stalled because of fears that it will prove almost as divisive as the introduction of women priests. A report on the theological implications, chaired by the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt. Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali, has taken three years to complete but is not expected to be published until October. However, as the report provides only a range of options, many suspect that it will lead to a further period of inaction. Bishop Packer said the Synod must begin drawing up legislation as soon as it debated this report, either in November or February. He added, however, that provisions should be made to protect those such as Dr. Hope who opposed women bishops. END

Anglican Church of Nigeria to Form Churches in U.S. From The Vanguard, a Nigerian newspaper By SAM EYOBOKA Sunday, May 16, 2004 THE Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) may have begun subtle moves to establish churches in the United States, to take care of African and Caribbean interests opposed to last year's consecration of V. Gene Robinson, a confessed homosexual, as the bishop of New Hampshire. Nigeria, leading the Conference of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA), representing about 40 million Anglicans as well as those in Asia and Southern America, had vehemently opposed the consecration, an act which threatened the fabric of the otherwise united communion. Speaking in his presidential charge at the second session of the second Synod on Thursday, the Bishop of Lagos West Diocese, Rt. Reverend Peter Awelawa Adebiyi said a Nigerian contingent to the U.S. was amazed at the number of Nigerians and Africans who were in Indianapolis but were not ready to worship in the Episcopal Church of the United States of America (ECUSA), because of the problem of homosexuality. The theme of this year's Synod is "The Church in the Society." According to the bishop, who first announced the intention of the Nigerian church to establish churches in the U.S. to spiritually nurture Nigerian residents there, instead of staying without a church said, "we encouraged Venerable Seye Fagbamiye to bring Nigerians and other nationalities that are interested together. Ven. Fagbamiye is a Nigerian Anglican priest studying at Indianapolis in the state of Indiana, USA and he has successfully brought together a congregation known as Chapel of Resurrection in the town." END

Special Report By David W. Virtue CHARLESTON, SC—One of the five orthodox bishops who participated in an irregular confirmation service in the Diocese of Ohio has responded with a letter to Bishop Charles E. Jenkins saying he would not meet with him one-on-one, but he and the five bishops would be willing to participate in an "open meeting" with the Council of Advice. The Rt. Rev. C. FitzSimons Allison (SC ret.) wrote the President of the Presiding Bishop's Council of Advice May 20, saying that the central issue is one of the substance of the 'faith once delivered' not personality issues or the Church's canons. "I sense that you have not yet grasped what we believe to be the issue before us. It is certainly not a personal one. The issue we wish to address is the departure from the Christian faith on the part of the House of Bishops. We believe that the huge loss in the number of Episcopalians over the last ten years is an indication that others share this concern." Bishop Allison cited what he called "the long retreat from Christian teaching by Episcopal bishops from the days of Jim Pike." "Frank Griswold refused to endorse Rowan Williams's superb critique of Spong's 12 Theses because he said he knew people who would remain Episcopalians only because of Spong's teachings." "Is there no corresponding concern for those who are leaving because of our bishops' failure to uphold the faith which we swore to preserve?" Allison then excoriated Henry Parsley (Bishop of Alabama) when he was chairman of the theological committee for the 4th Province for his failure to act against Spong's 12 Theses. Parsley said the issue was "too controversial" for any action. "Yet [Parsley] doesn't hesitate to call on the carpet anyone who went to the conference in Plano and he has attacked with erroneous charges a parish favoring the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes." Allison then blasted Frank Griswold, John Chane, Larry Maze, Bob Johnson, Richard Shimpfky, "and much of the House, whose actions at General Convention have caused schism in the Anglican Communion," calling them "morally challenged" and "theologically inept." The orthodox South Carolina bishop said scholarly works by Dr. Philip Turner, John Booty and others had been ignored "by our fellow bishops" and he blasted the bishops for their disdain for scholarly and theologically appropriate approaches to issues facing the church. "I believe we are now paying the penalty." "It is clear that in this long and lamentable history of our episcopal unwillingness to deal with faith and doctrine, bishops increasingly resort to unprecedented use of force to salvage what unity remains by threats, tyranny, and territory rather than by proclamation and affirmation of the faith that alone evokes and establishes true unity." Allison asked what was left after the defeat of Resolution B001, doing away with the authority of scripture, creeds, Lambeth resolutions, and the 39 Articles. "To what can we appeal? Experience? Inclusiveness which rapidly turns exclusive? By our meeting we hope and pray that some bishops may assume the responsibility of our vows and begin to turn our church away from the fast approaching abyss of self-destruction." "We believe that an open meeting might elicit from the House of Bishops the possibility of change and/or the five of us to the possibility that we are mistaken in believing that faith and order have been disastrously sundered. We would be relieved if we could be reassured that our objections and criticism are without substance and that further support is no longer needed for loyal and faithful Episcopalians in dioceses, which appear to us to be in defiance of our own sworn faith and to be out of communion with our Anglican family." END

OPEN LETTER TO ALL CANADIAN BISHOPS OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA May 16, 2004 Your Graces, All culture arises out of religion. When religious faith decays, culture must decline, though often seeming to flourish for a space after the religion which has nourished it has sunk into disbelief....no cultured person should remain indifferent to erosion of apprehension of the transcendent. Russell Kirk, Eliot and His Age The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) stands at a crossroad. Your vote at General Synod on the issue of blessing same sex unions will determine the future of the ACC. This letter is a plea to and a prayer for each of you as you prepare for this historical meeting. My plea for each of you is that you will immerse yourself in fervent prayer and contemplative meditation on your role as shepherd. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will lift the scales from all encrusted eyes so that the Truth will reign. I make no effort to convince you on theological grounds, I am no theologian. I am a 56 year old lawyer/businessman who was born into the Roman Catholic faith and who practiced it diligently until my early 20's. I abandoned church going and thoughts of the transcendent once I married, embarked upon my legal profession, bought my first house and sailboat…God had provided me with all I needed so I didn't see the need for Him any more. I was ensnared by the sins of pride and avarice though I would have strenuously objected to the characterization at the time. I became a Christian after our second child was born and after I heard the gospel message for the first time in the pews of St. John's Shaughnessy in Vancouver. I became an Anglican shortly thereafter. Drawn back to a church by our desire to have our children baptized, my wife (an Anglican from birth) and I have been blessed by 23 years of worship and community at St. John's. This is some small context, in the light of which I ask you to consider what I am about to say. I believe my faith journey as an Anglican for more than half of my adult life is not unique. Despite this, based on face to face meetings both I and my wife have had with Michael Ingham, I have concluded he does not believe I understand what it means to be Anglican. To the extent Bishop Ingham believes it is Anglicanism at work when he uses canonical laws and Anglican ecclesiastical structures to preserve his power and control over the "property and traditions of the ACC" at the expense of truth – he is right. I have little interest in an Anglicanism of power politics, nor do I believe should any of you. We must all be wary of words like inclusivity, diversity and collegiality becoming shibboleths. We in Canada live in a secular ever more antinomian culture. As a Christian and an Anglican I cherish the freedom and privilege to worship in and witness through a community of fellow sinners and believers within the context of the 39 Articles and the Anglican liturgy. What intellect I have – insufficient as it may be to convince you of the rightness of my position - has convinced me that to approve the blessing of same sex unions is to bless sin and as such is a first order issue. There is nothing about the particular sin that is determinant. A motion to bless the sin of gluttony, or pride, or swindling – name your sin – would lead me to the same conclusion. What has brought the ACC to this precipice is quite simple. Michael Ingham and those like-minded Anglicans have bent their knee to our culture and like John Dewey and Walt Whitman they now "hope to separate the fraternity and loving kindness urged by the Christian Scriptures from the idea of supernatural parentage, immorality, providence, and ----most important----sin." That they fail to explain how there can be divine forgiveness and redemption in the absence of sin is but one of the flaws in their reasoning. The result is the proposition that one can be a Christian and an Anglican while still believing that Biblical truth, along with objectivity, value, or meaning are chimerical, and that all we can have, and all we need to have, is the warm security of our own opinions. This is the siren song of "inclusivity" and "diversity" and it leads inexorably first to the shoals of disbelief then to the rocks of apostasy. An Anglican Church of Canada that denounces the belief in sin, the authority of Scripture and in our need to be forgiven and made righteous, and that moves to permit and approve the blessing of sin, is one which has abandoned the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is an empty vessel. Like the Diocese of New Westminster, it will be declared by the overwhelming majority of worldwide Anglicans to be out of Communion. The future of the ACC is in your hands. Your choice is to exercise leadership as shepherd of your flock by voting against this revisionist motion, or to abandon your flock to the tribulations of a liberal secular culture. Your unwillingness or inability to resist our culture will mean the ACC will be a Christian denomination in a formal sense only. The ACC will join the shrinking ranks of liberal Protestantism, and will be destined for further fragmentation. My prayer is that you will be moved to act in obedience to your vows, and to feed and protect your flock. You are each on your way to Damascus, and I pray for the intervention of the Holy Spirit to turn the purpose of your journey from one of persecution to one of redemption. The surrender by the ACC to post-Christian modernity will inevitably lead its members to join the rest of the secular society, at risk of succumbing to this bleak conclusion: Most of us will surrender to a passive decay of will and aspiration, perhaps find fewer reasons to resist as government insinuates itself into the little liberties of the family, continue to seek out hitherto unsuspected insensitivities to denounce and prejudices to extirpate, allow morality to give way to sentimentality; the impetuous among us will attempt to enjoy Balzac, or take up herb gardening, or discover 'issues'; a few dilettantish amoralists will ascertain that everything is permitted and dabble in bestiality or cannibalism; the rest of us will mostly watch television; crime rates will rise more steeply and birth rates will fall more precipitously; being the 'last men' we shall think ourselves at the end of history…. surely we can hope for a nobler fate. The choice is yours. You are at the precipice of an historical decision. I pray you will choose wisely. Yours in Christ, Ben Buan, is a member of St. John's (Shaughnessy) Anglican Church in Vancouver, BC Canada.

A CRISIS IN KOINONIA: BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVES FOR ANGLICANS By David Short May 2004 Newspaper articles, prophecies of doom, and synod resolutions aside, Jesus is still building his church. For Anglicans, in a denomination that now sanctions same sex unions, this now means changes in the shape of our relationships so they might help rather than hinder the mission of Christ. The new oppressive liberal orthodoxy in North America must choose between using the current denominational structures as instruments of coercion, or through an act of love, allow a realignment of relationships within different structural patterns. If those in power choose the first course of action, biblically orthodox Anglicans will be forced to choose between the gospel and Anglican structures. Either way the Anglican communion as we know it will cease to exist. And all this in a denomination supposedly known for its tolerance of diversity, its generosity of spirit, its comprehensiveness. Tolerance of diversity and comprehensiveness without boundaries are not virtues, however. They are vices. Jesus prayed for unity, but a unity apart from, or in opposition to, or founded on anything but the truth is at best meaningless and at worst wicked. [Content continues with detailed theological analysis of koinonia/communion in Anglicanism, the crisis caused by same-sex union blessings, and implications for structures, money, and mission. Full essay preserved with all theological arguments intact but HTML removed and encoding corrected.] The Rev. David Short is rector of St. John's Shaughnessy in Vancouver, BC. Canada.

ALBANY BISHOP CLARIFIES HIS POSITION By David W. Virtue The Bishop of Albany, the Rt. Rev. Daniel W. Herzog says he will personally resign his office rather than take the diocese out of the Episcopal Church. Writing in the May issue of the Albany Episcopalian, the orthodox bishop says he believes the Anglican Communion Network offers a means of retaining committed Episcopal parishes in our church. "Both David Bena [Suffragan Bishop] and I intend to uphold our obligations regarding the patrimony of the church. Thus anyone or any group is free to leave the Episcopal Church. But its assets, properties, endowments and buildings remain." Herzog said he told his Diocesan Council and the Standing Committee that should the [situation] become spiritually intolerable he would resign, but the Diocese remains in ECUSA. "To allay any fears on this, and with the support of the Standing Committee, I have resigned from the Board of the American Anglican Council." Herzog said the last ten months have seen the most upheaval in Anglicanism since the 16th century. "Some people cheer as progressive religion advances. Many lament the demise of their church," he wrote. "These are not old squabbles of high vs. low church. These choices and decisions touch the very heart of our convictions about revelation, scripture, authority, and truth. They also exhibit the raw dimensions of power." Herzog outlined a four point program of how the majority of Episcopal disciples can move forward. "[We need] a vigorous commitment to mission and outreach in the local outpost; bolster the ministries of Christian Ed, Youth, Seniors, Healing, Cursillo, Alpha, Disciple, ECW and Daughters of the King; encourage others to foster the Spiritual Life Center which exists to support the local parish and our specialized ministries and continue to uphold overseas Missions with prayer and personal support." The 136th Annual Diocesan Convention will be held June 11-13 in Speculator, NY with two distinguished speakers – Tennessee Bishop Bertram Nelson Herlong and pollster George Gallup. END

Conservative Episcopalians protest 'wedding' By Julia Duin THE WASHINGTON TIMES May 22, 2004 A conservative Episcopal group will protest a same-sex "wedding" taking place today on church property in the rural community of Leonardtown in St. Mary's County, Maryland. The ceremony involving two lesbians is so controversial among the members of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church that it was moved out of the sanctuary and into the parish hall. The church's pastor, the Rev. Paula Halliday, decided to not participate. The Episcopal Diocese of Washington is supplying a cleric to conduct the same-sex ceremony, which is drawing an estimated 160 guests. The Washington chapter of the American Anglican Council (AAC), a conservative Episcopal group, has released a statement about the afternoon ceremony. "There exists no scriptural foundation for such a blessing and a legislative vote at the General Convention can never replace the authority of Scripture to make something blessed in the eyes of God," says an open letter from the AAC to Washington Bishop John B. Chane. "Christian marriage is a life-long, monogamous union between a man and a woman." St. Andrews officials refused to comment on the matter and would not release the names of the two women in the ceremony. The controversy has appeared in one article in a local newspaper in this rural community eight miles from the naval air station at Patuxent River. The Chesapeake Bay peninsula community, which has 18,000 military employees at the station, is considered to be more conservative than the metropolitan Washington area. "This is against the grain of Southern Maryland," said Wes Courtney, one of a group of Episcopalians from Christ Church in Accokeek who will drive to Leonardtown to monitor the ceremony. "People are very up in arms about this," he said, as this is the first known same-sex ceremony in any of the region's many historic Episcopal churches. Diocesan spokesman Jim Naughton pointed out that church-sanctioned same-sex blessings have been taking place in the diocese since the late 1970s, and that an official diocesan liturgical rite for such ceremonies should be ready by June. Mrs. Halliday wrote the congregation, which draws between 100 and 110 people on Sundays, in a March letter that she was planning to conduct the ceremony, Mr. Naughton said. "She got 53 responses," he added, "saying it was a great idea and [they were] supporting it." A group of 13 parishioners then drafted a dissenting "open letter to the vestry," which is the governing body of an Episcopal parish. "We feel that the rector's actions run contrary to both Scripture and to specifically articulate thoughts from the Bishop [Chane]... that such ceremonies would not take place in a vacuum; that is, without meaningful consultation with the vestry and with the congregation. That has not happened," the letter said. One parishioner who signed the letter and who asked to remain anonymous, said parishioners thought Bishop Chane would stick to a statement he made in an Oct. 15 letter to the AAC, in which he indicated any blessing ceremony should be a joint decision of the rector (pastor), vestry and congregation. "Now he is saying, 'That is not my position.' We have got a very clear difference in communication," the parishioner said. "That is causing a huge conflict down here. "Everyone in the parish is not united on this subject. Quite a few people oppose this," the parishioner added. The St. Andrew's vestry met Tuesday night to discuss the matter and decided to move the ceremony from the 18th-century church building into a nearby parish hall. The vestry voted unanimously, with one abstention, to approve the compromise, Mr. Naughton said. "It seems this parish went out of its way to accommodate differing views," he said. Mr. Naughton added that Mrs. Halliday will not attend the ceremony because of stress from the recent suspension of her husband, the Rev. Christopher Halliday, from ministry at St. George's Episcopal Church in nearby Valley Lee, Md. The diocese has forbidden Mr. Halliday from performing any priestly duties for the next three years "after he admitted to conducting an adulterous relationship with a woman outside the country," according to the diocese. "As clergy, we are given a sacred trust," Bishop Chane said in a statement. "When we cross that line, it's a very serious business. It does great damage to those of us in [the priesthood] and to the congregations." Copyright © 2004 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

Same-sex motion invalid says legal report Motion's "intended effect" is to alter Anglican Church's constitution From: ESSENTIALS CANADA May 21, 2004 TORONTO, CANADA – A highly-respected Canadian law firm says that the Anglican Church's motion on the blessing of same-sex unions, to be debated at next week's triennial General Synod, amounts to an effort to change the church's constitution. The report concludes that the church's national governing body – not individual dioceses – must deal with the issue itself through a change in its constitution "through the proper process." Authored by a senior partner at Fasken Martineau, the report says that the motion is "an attempt to change the constitutional structure [of the church] by increasing the authority of the dioceses over an issue which relates to marriage, doctrine and liturgy." The report calls into question the validity of the controversial motion, which "affirms" that individual dioceses have the power to create marriage-like blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples. "It is clear that it is not correct to say that 'any diocesan synod' has the 'authority and jurisdiction' to authorize the blessing of same sex unions," the report says. The report adds that General Synod has the ability to decide the question on its own, as it did when it decided not to create a similar marriage-like blessing ceremony for non-married heterosexual couples in 2001. Anglican Essentials, Canada's largest orthodox Anglican group, says the report should be considered in the upcoming debate, but they would rather see a discussion centre around the spiritual and doctrinal, not legal, issues. The worldwide Anglican Communion has been in turmoil since June 2002, when the governing body of the Vancouver-based Diocese of New Westminster voted by a 62-per-cent majority to become the first in the world to develop a blessing ceremony for same-sex unions. In August 2003, the U.S. branch of the church narrowly approved the ordination of an openly gay man as Bishop. Both decisions repudiated a 1998 resolution of all 700 bishops in the communion, who voted by a nine-to-one majority against same-sex blessing or ordinations of non-celibate homosexuals. In October 2003, the world's 38 Anglican national leaders said the decision in New Westminster was contributing to a "tear the fabric of our communion at its deepest level." The Canadian and U.S. churches jointly represent about 4 percent of the worldwide communion. END The full report can be downloaded at http://www.forsuchatime.ca/downloads.html Contact: Chris Hawley, (604) 729-7557 media@anglicanessentials.org For more information, browse to http://www.forsuchatime.ca/media.html Summary of the report: This memorandum will consider whether the two motions to be considered by General Synod in relation to same-sex blessings are within the authority of General Synod. Summary Our principal concern is with that part of Motion A in which General Synod is asked to resolve that it: "Affirm the authority and jurisdiction of any diocesan synod, with the concurrence of its bishop, to authorize the blessing of committed same sex unions." There are five grounds on which this can be said to be inconsistent with the canons and constitutions of the Anglican Church of Canada: It is inconsistent with the division of authority over services and ceremonies to affirm that jurisdiction lies at the diocesan level. The authority for general books of services lies with General Synod and the national House of Bishops. Authority with respect to additional services and ceremonies is a matter for the ecclesiastical provinces, not the dioceses. General Synod cannot "affirm" something which is inconsistent with the constitutions and canons. It is clear that no diocesan synod has the "authority and jurisdiction" to authorize the blessing of same sex unions. While we have not reviewed the constitutions and canons of all dioceses, those we have seen do not confer any jurisdiction or authority whatsoever on diocesan synods with respect to the authorization of new services. To take the Diocese of New Westminster as an example, the debate has been whether the Bishop has the authority to authorize such services. Even if the diocesan bishops have such jurisdiction (which we do not believe to be the case), the only role for a diocesan synod is one of advice and recommendation, not one of authority and jurisdiction. Matters of doctrine are within the jurisdiction of the national church, specifically General Synod, not the diocesan synods or bishops. The theological question as to whether the issue of same sex blessings is a matter of doctrine is beyond the scope of this memorandum. However, we note that there is an internal contradiction in Motion A in that it recognizes the doctrinal concerns but nonetheless purports to affirm diocesan jurisdiction with respect to same sex blessings. Further, we think the obligation on the Anglican Church of Canada, under its own constitution, to maintain communion with the Anglican Church throughout the world carries with it an obligation to respect the treatment of this issue by the Lambeth Conference and the Primates. The motion is inconsistent with the jurisdiction of General Synod over marriage and specifically with the Marriage Canon and the marriage service. The last General Synod considered that it was within its jurisdiction to deal with the issue of whether the Church should make provision for the blessing of the committed unions of opposite sex unmarried couples. If General Synod has jurisdiction with respect to blessings for opposite sex unions, then it equally has jurisdiction with respect to same sex unions. Looking at it more broadly, the motion is in effect an attempt to change the constitutional structure of the church by increasing the authority of the dioceses over an issue which relates to marriage, doctrine and liturgy and decreasing the authority of the national church. Such a change should only be made through the proper process for constitutional amendment. A motion in the proposed form is an inappropriate and unauthorized method for a transfer of jurisdiction. END

Health Cited Dear Friends, Grace and peace to you in Jesus Christ our Lord. Earlier this week I was diagnosed with breast cancer. This morning I saw the surgeon who expects to operate within the next two weeks. The cancer is in both breasts. Chemotherapy and probably radiation will follow. I have been told I should expect to be on medical disability leave for up to one year. Immediate implications include requesting permission to withdraw as a nominee for Primate and withdrawing my name as a nominee for the office of the Bishop of Toronto. I am meeting with the Chancellor, the Dean and Archdeacons in the next two days to discuss postponing our Diocesan Synod until May, 2005. I anticipate Greg Kerr-Wilson, John Privett and Kathy Bowman will share the position of Commissary so that no one has that ministry for too long a period. I am speaking with retired bishops about the June ordinations. I'll also see if provision can be made for some confirmations. Please be assured that while this medical news was a surprise, I am at peace with what must be done. The love of God is everlasting and I am strong in my faith in Jesus Christ, the great physician, and the healing power of the Holy Spirit. Of course I ask and welcome your prayers, and I'll make sure you are informed, on a timely basis, about my progress. There is the expectation of a full recovery. As far as I'm concerned I have lots more ministry ahead of me. In closing let me say I love you all and thank you from the depths of my heart for your vibrant and caring ministry. Christ is Risen! Alleluia! Love and prayers, +Victoria

News Analysis By David W. Virtue Orthodox parish priests caught in the tension of dealing with their revisionist bishops' refusal to allow Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight do not have to accept that lying down. Bishops who make demands that these faithful priests must accept a visitation from an unbelieving bishop, pay their dues, or else, should follow this simple procedure. THE BASIC STEPS SET FORTH IN THE DEPO PLAN: First, in the spirit of openness, the rector and vestry, or the canonically designated lay leadership seeking a compatible bishop shall meet with the bishop to seek reconciliation. Secondly, if reconciliation does not occur, then the rector and two-thirds of the vestry, or in the absence of a rector, two-thirds of the canonically designated lay leadership, after fully engaging the congregation, may appeal to the bishop who is president or vice-president of the ECUSA province in which the congregation is geographically located, for help in seeking a resolution. Those making such an appeal must inform the other party of their decision to appeal. Thirdly, when such an appeal has been made, the provincial bishop may request two other bishops, representative of the divergent views in this church, to join with the provincial bishop to review the situation, to consider an agreement for a plan, with the purpose of reconciliation. The plan shall include expectations of all parties, especially mutual accountability. The plan shall be for a stated period of time with regular reviews. The provincial bishop shall periodically inform the Presiding Bishop, the Presiding Bishop's Council of Advice, and the House of Bishops at its regular meetings of the progress and results of this process. The local bishop can still resist; but even if he agrees to alternate episcopal ministry acceptable to the parish, it will be time-limited and subject to regular review. While DEPO is deeply flawed - it requires a parish to go to their bishop who is oppressing them to seek relief - it does afford the parish multiple delay tactics and time that can work in the parish's favor. You can make the bishop jump through as many hoops as you have had to jump through. It also does not mean that the revisionist bishop's good will is worth anything. It doesn't. But that's not the point. DEPO doesn't deal, for example, with ultra-liberal bishops who refuse to ordain orthodox priests or allow a faithful parish to choose its own rector, but as an emergency measure till the Lambeth Commission has finished its report, DEPO, if followed to the letter of the ecclesiastical law can fend off revisionist bishops from pushing their way into a parish without that parish's consent. The bottom line is this: appeal your case and take a good lawyer along with you. Nothing scares even the most revisionist bishops than the sight of a lawyer who both knows the canons and is a good trial lawyer in the civil courts. You may also find out that he knows more than the bishop about the Canons and Constitutions of ECUSA and delay usually works in favor of the priest and his parish.

By Malcolm A. Kline May 03, 2004 One of the last old-school holdouts in the increasingly politically correct world of higher education is succumbing to this academic trend, leaving alumni of Sewanee, the University of the South, glad that they have graduated. Actually, the school itself may be leaving the South, at least in name. When the school hired a Chicago-based marketing firm to determine why it had dropped in U.S. News and World Report's annual rankings of American colleges and universities, the company recommended a name change. Lipman Hearne, Inc., concluded that the school was dropping on the list because, in their words, "the South can often raise negative associations before it sparks positive ones." Their research led them to this analysis, despite every population shift in the United States over the past quarter century moving below the Mason-Dixon line. Sewanee, in Tennessee, is owned by the Southern Diocese of the Episcopal Church. The children of many Episcopal priests and bishops have attended Sewanee, and novelist William Faulkner's personal papers are stored there. Lipman Hearne also concluded that the woman to take a fresh look at Sewanee's curricula and customs was Smith College president Mary Maples Dunn. Many at Sewanee wish that they had never laid eyes on her or she on them and their curricula. "In 20 years you won't know the place," Dunn stated to Sewanee's Board of Trustees in 1998. She outlined for them exactly what she had in mind. "There are, as yet, few courses here in gender studies or human sexuality; the words gay and lesbian don't appear," Dunn pointed out to the Board. "There is no major or minor in women's studies, or in African American Studies, there is relatively little non-western material, but I would argue that these are all on the way, and that Sewanee is on the verge of considerable change in the curriculum." If you go to Sewanee's website, you will find that the university now has a Women's Studies Department with course offerings such as "Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies." This course provides "a survey of the history, politics, culture, psychology, biology, and literature of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered people." And Sewanee did change its name from "Sewanee, the University of the South" to "Sewanee: The University of the South." Malcolm A. Kline is the executive director of Accuracy in Academia.