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Ed: The news below comes as no surprise to us, given the ongoing issues with integrity and clergy discipline in Episcopal Church, as well as lack of accountability and lack of urgency. We cannot overstate the importance of the Episcopal Church cleaning up its act. In my eighteen years of parish ministry, I have had a bit of an eye roll every time new statistics come out. Don’t get me wrong, I think we all need markers of measurement to see what our church is doing well, and where we need to improve. I was not ready to receive the last set of numbers that I received from my bishop. At the House of Bishops meeting in March, the bishops gathered received some truly telling statistics that I will unpack and propose what I think we need to consider to address the issues: First, what does Sunday look like in the Episcopal Church right now? The last decade has been rather disastrous. In 2014, our  in person average Sunday attendance (ASA) was 604,938 . A decade later, the  latest statistics place it at 398,887 . Over a third (34%) of those regularly worshipping with us ten years ago were lost to death, indifference, or simply got out of the “church habit’ during the COVID-era lockdowns. Those same lockdowns gave us a new metric which really has too little data to be an effective tool – online average Sunday attendance. To be clear, one only needs to watch a portion of the service online in order to be counted. For 2024, 113,698 appear to have worshipped online as opposed to in-person. I do not wish to disparage this, since for the first time in the history of the Church, most congregations are finding ways to reach outside of their four walls and bring their services to living rooms and dens across the world. The congregation I serve even has those who worship online from other states and still provide needed pledge dollars for the work of the parish. The real question is, what does this metric really measure – and I’m not sure we can even figure that out for a few more years. Next, let’s consider Easter attendance. In  2014, 1.37 million  worshippers joined in our celebrations of the risen Jesus. Ten years later that number had fallen to  859,241 (a 37% decline) . It would seem as we dip further into a post-Christendom culture, even the tradition of twice yearly attendance in church for those with the most marginal of commitments is failing. I am among others who have noticed that the great number of pastoral sized parishes that dotted rural and county seat towns all over America have shrunk to the point where they can no longer retain one full-time clergy presence. In fact, the number of congregations that are now  under 50  on an average Sunday has increased dramatically.  In 2014, those congregations numbered 2,489 . As of last year, that number had climbed to  3,102  (an increase of 613 congregations. Those same congregations have a number of options to weigh ; part-time coverage, licensed lay ministry leadership, long term supply – none of those options really has a statistical bent on growth. In fact  one of the most trustworthy ways of ensuring some stability is a full time resident priest who commits to stay for a long tenure.  With the failing ability of smaller churches to attract, call, and retain a capable rector, the numbers will get only worse. But what about our larger congregations? For many years, I had heard that there was a law of outward tendency. Smaller churches would get smaller and larger ones would tend to grow. The new statistics really are punching a hole in that theory. In congregations reporting over 200 on an average Sunday, the decline is downright shocking. In 2014, there were  679 worshipping communities that had over 200 . By 2024, that number  dropped to 291 . So what is it, money problems? Hardly. The money is there, but it is in some limiting pockets. In 2014, the total dollar amount of endowments throughout the church was  $4.2 Billion . That increased to  $7.9 Billion by the close of 2024.  That figure does not include Trinity Wall Street, as their holdings in Manhattan properties would seriously skew the sample. But 20% of those funds are controlled by only 32 worshipping communities. In a religious environment like the Episcopal church, this is troubling simply because the funds are likely to remain at the parish level while more financially strapped congregations may fail. END

(Part 5) By David W. Virtue VIRTUOSITY In the orthodox DIOCESE OF PITTSBURGH, bishop Robert Duncan was called evil at a special diocesan convention by pro-sodomite revisionist forces with bleeding heart liberal laity writing letters saying that he had stolen the church from them. Duncan had said he would allow parishes who did not agree with General Convention election of Robinson to choose their own pathway. In the DIOCESE OF ALBANY, a small faction of liberal priests unhappy with the way Bishops Dan Herzog and David Bena voted at GC2003 tried to pull off a coup d’etat hoping to turn the diocese towards sexual inclusion (read perversity) with an alternative vision for the diocese. They tried and they failed. And in the DIOCESE OF COLORADO the new bishop Robert J. ONeill who came in on a ticket of moderation and inclusion to replace the compromised Jerry Winterrowd asked two of the most revisionist bishops in the Episcopal Church - Tom Shaw of Massachusetts and the former suffragan Barbara Harris to co-consecrate with James Jelinck at his own consecration. Griswold threw down the gauntlet and told the ANGLICAN COMMUNION DROP DEAD! He told Associated Press that he openly supported Gene Robinsons confirmation because Episcopalians in New Hampshire had overwhelmingly chosen him in their local election and had the right to make that choice. Griswold also argued that Scripture does not condemn same-sex relationships, a position conservatives vehemently reject. In the UK The Church Society, an evangelical organization within the Church of England, called for the expulsion of the Episcopal Church from the Anglican Communion for promoting a non-celibate homosexual to the episcopate. In a letter addressed to the Primates of the Anglican Communion dated September 15, the Church Society argued that the recent action by the Episcopal Church of the USA in agreeing to consecrate Gene Robinson is not an isolated incident but it serves to show how that body acting corporately has set themselves outside historic Christianity. The denomination has become a (North American) sect. Then news came that CANON JOHN PETERSON of the Anglican Consultative Council was attempting to manipulate the agenda of the primates October meeting in order to nullify conservative outcomes. Some classified documents were inadvertently given to Dr. Paul Zahl, an American orthodox Dean and a member of the International Anglican Doctrinal and Theological Commission [IADTC]. This deep-sixed Peterson control of the Primates meeting. AMIA BISHOP John Rodgers said that two overlapping jurisdictions in the ECUSA were untenable. There must be one Anglican Province in the country-region in fellowship with Canterbury, not two the concept of two overlapping jurisdictions is untenable for several reasons. For the Archbishop of Canterbury to remain in communion with those bishops, clergy and congregations that endorse the election and consecration of Bishop elect Robinson would morally and doctrinally corrupt the Anglican Communion itself. SYDNEY ARCHBISHOP Peter Jensen weighed in suggesting that the American arm of the worldwide church be expelled. He said time was running out for the Archbishop of Canterbury to act on homosexual issues dividing the worldwide Anglican Church. A GATHERING OF NEARLY 3,000 ORTHODOX ESPICOPALIANS IN DALLAS still shell-shocked by GC2003 decision to confirm Robinson, heard the Rev. David Roseberry issue a clarion call, we are finally free and we know what is at stake. God still does change lives and that we declare. We declared our support at General Convention on August 5 and we stood up on the votes and we asked for the intervention of the Primates. At Dallas, A PLACE TO STAND - A CALL TO ACTION was distributed to the attendees. The statement upheld the Great Commission, repudiated the actions of General Convention, repented for its part in the sins of the Episcopal Church, and called upon the Episcopal Church to repent and to reverse the unbiblical actions of the General Convention, stating its objection to the consecration of Canon Robinson as a bishop of the Church. FORWARD IN FAITH LEADER Fr. David Moyer called for full cooperation with Evangelical and Charismatic wings of the ECUSA, to achieve the goal of cleansing the Church and working towards renewal and reform. THE POPE SENT PRAYERS TO THE AAC meeting through Cardinal Ratzinger, bypassing  815 and a rebuke to Frank Griswold, a pointed at that did not go unnoticed by revisionists. A wrenching split in the fabric of the Communion if the Primates did not act it was predicted. Courage breeds courage, said the Bishop of Pittsburgh to the 2,700 attendees. THE PRIMATES also said they would intervene in the Episcopal Church then they met in Lambeth, and move to throw Frank Griswold and the Episcopal Church out of the Anglican Communion. THE LAMBETH CONFERENCE Some 37 Primates were ready to act as they gathered in Lambeth. And act they did. What emerged was the most honest, most difficult meeting any could recall reflected Robert Duncan with reports of the power of prayer and the falling of the Holy Spirit reported. Questions of law and constitutionality nearly derailed the meeting. The Communions center and its power shifted to the Global South. The Primates Meeting replaced the Anglican Consultative Council as the Communion’s key decision-making body (between Lambeth Conferences). Rowan Williams achieved presidency on his terms and his turf and the imits of Anglican diversity were clearly delineated. Scripture and Lambeth Conference teaching were determinative and Provinces could break communion with errant partners and Ecumenical and Inter-Faith considerations mattered profoundly. It was also a time to organize provincial responses to schism. Midway into their deliberations an unscripted press conference was held on the grounds of Lambeth Palace. Irish Archbishop Robin Eames told reporters that the Primates were telling their stories representing the cultural differences, while saying that there was a tremendous anxiety to maintain the Anglican Communion on a basis of collegiality, cooperation and the common faith. The UK movement REFORM urged the Primates to stand firm. A Statement at the conclusion of the meeting by the Primates said the actions of New Westminster to authorize a Public Rite of Blessing for those in committed same sex relationships, and by the 74th General Convention of the Episcopal Church (USA) to confirm the election of a priest in a committed same sex relationship to the office and work of a Bishop, threatened the unity of the Communion as well as relationships with other parts of Christ Church, as well as mission and witness, and relations with other faiths, in a world already confused in areas of sexuality, morality and theology, and polarize Christian opinion. The Primates of the Communion were givenenhanced responsibility entrusted to them by successive Lambeth Conferences, and they re- affirmed their common understanding of the centrality and authority of Scripture in determining the basis of their faith. In a unanimously-agreed statement, they strongly reaffirmed the global Anglican teaching on homosexuality, with the Primates concluding that if this consecration proceeds, we recognize that we have reached a crucial and critical point in the life of the Anglican Communion. They said that the future of the Communion itself would, therefore, be put in jeopardy. If Robinson is made a bishop, the statement said, his ministry would not be recognized by most of the Anglican world, with many provinces likely to consider themselves out of communion with the U.S. Episcopal Church (ECUSA). AMERICAN CONSERVATIVES SAW VICTORY AT LAMBETH with Frank Griswold being told in clear and blunt terms that if appeared at, and/or consecrated Gene Robinson he would be declared anathema by the Archbishop of Canterbury and in time expelled from the Anglican Communion. Lines hardened and there was no way back for the leader of the theologically liberal Episcopal Church if he went through with the consecration of Gene Robinson. In an effort to put the best spin on the Lambeth meeting the Diocese of New Hampshire issued a statement saying, we echo their affirmation that what we hold in common is much greater than that which divides us in proclaiming Good News to the world. We commend their resolve to follow the 1998 Lambeth resolution calling for the Church tolisten to the experience of homosexual persons, and ... to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptized, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ. But the Coptic Orthodox Church at its Annual Clergy convention presided by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark formally condemned Homosexuality, the Ordination of Homosexuals and Same-Sex Marriages. In the meantime The AMERICAN ANGLICAN COUNCIL prepared for a realignment. We are beginning the process of realignment of Anglicanism in North America that the Primates laid out for us in their statement. Our course is getting clearer each week, said the Rev. Canon David Anderson, AAC President. With the Archbishop of Canterbury encouragement, the AAC Bishops Committee on Adequate Episcopal Oversight is coordinating requests for oversight, said Canon Anderson. We are proceeding deliberately and carefully to insure that this oversight is available sooner rather than later. The AAC Board also moved forward with the establishment of a Network of Confessing Dioceses and Parishes in the Episcopal Church. In a separate note Archbishop Drexel Gomez who attended the Extraordinary emergency meeting of primates said the appointment of Robinson was  unacceptable by an overwhelming majority of Primates, and said dreadful consequences of sodomy to a state, and on the extent to which this abominable vice may be secretly carried on and spread, we cannot, on the principles of sound policy, consider the punishment as too severe. ROBINSON CONSECRATED Amidst much hoopla Robinson was consecrated on an ice hockey rink in Durham, NH Nov. 2, 2003.  First came the objectors. The Rev. Dr. Earle Fox launched into a statement about the high percentage of homosexuals who engage in anal and oral sex. After he began to talk about rimming he was interrupted by Griswold who asked him to get to the main point of his speech. Fox then talked about the physical and spiritual consequences of homosexual behavior and that God would never bless such a behavior. Next up was a woman parishioner from the parish of St. Mark Episcopal Church in Ashland, NH. Meredith Harwood read a prepared statement that said to press forward with this consecration was to turn one back on almighty God, and the clear teaching that sexual activity outside of marriage was wrong. Inclusivity without transformation is not the gospel of Jesus Christ, she said. Finally the Suffragan Bishop of Albany, David Bena stood up and read a statement on behalf of 38 ECUSA and Canadian bishops, and said the chosen lifestyle of Robinson was incompatible with Scripture and that to proceed with this consecration stands at odds with that teaching. Krister Stendahl read a letter from the Archbishop of Uppsala commending the occasion. In his speech Robinson spoke of those who find themselves on the margins and who have not known the year of the Lord’s favor. Following the objections a group of dissenters left the ice rink and attended an alternate Eucharist at Durham Evangelical Free Church. Worldwide outrage reached fervor pitch. The AMERICAN ANGLICAN COUNCIL protested the consecration and twenty Anglican primates who opposed the ordination of homosexuals announced that they would split from their North American counterparts. The primates made public their decision to break away from the Episcopal Church of the USA. THIRTY-EIGHT BISHOPS signed a letter of objection to the consecration. Their statement read in part said, In keeping with our consecration pledge to guard the faith, we, the undersigned bishops are registering our objection to the consecration of a person whose chosen lifestyle is incompatible with Scripture and the teaching of this church. We endorse the assessment of the Primates of the Communion who wrote that as a result of this consecration...The future of the Communion itself will be put in jeopardy. In this case, the ministry of this one bishop will not be recognised by most of the Anglican world, and many provinces are likely to consider themselves to be out of Communion with the Episcopal Church (USA). A number of Primates of the Global South responded to the consecration of Gene Robinson saying, It is with profound sadness and pain that we have arrived at this moment in the history of the Anglican Communion. We are appalled that the authorities within the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) have ignored the heartfelt plea of the Communion not to proceed with the scheduled consecration of Canon Gene Robinson. They have ignored the clear and strong warning of its detrimental consequences for the unity of the Communion... CENTRAL FLORIDA BISHOP JOHN W. HOWE blasted Griswold saying he should  resign.  My heart is breaking over yesterday consecration of the Bishop Coadjutor of New Hampshire, he wrote. By virtue of this action, we in the Episcopal Church, USA have ignored the counsel of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Meeting of the Anglican Primates (as recently as two and a half weeks ago, which you yourself signed!), the Anglican Communion Council, the most recent Lambeth Conference (in 1998), and the Theology Committee of the House of Bishops. IN THE DIOCESE OF NEW JERSEY a pregnant lesbian priest who runs Diocesan happenings, a sort of Cursillo for youth was exposed by Virtuosity with both bishops approving her position, seeing nothing contrary to Scripture or even common sense, to allow this awful role model to run a youth program. WHILE IN CANADA the New Westminster Bishop came down hard on seven orthodox parish priests and said he was bringing them up on charges. The bully of Vancouver, Michael Ingham, officially charged all seven clergy with disobedience. AND IN THE DIOCESE OF PUERTO RICO, The Rev. David Alvarez was inhibited, one of three orthodox priests including a university professor for standing up to the bishop there, a bishop who supported ECUSA same-sex blessings and the ordination of an avowed sodomite. MEANWHILE ECUSA LEADERS WRESTLED OVER the meaning of Episcopal oversight. The first view, that of adequate episcopal oversight, was being pushed by the American Anglican Council with the blessing of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates. ECUSA Presiding Bishop had a different take on what that means. He argued for alternative Episcopal care, a different notion altogether. What the orthodox wanted was a flying bishop arrangement not unlike that in the Church of England. The AAC created an application process for congregations seeking adequate episcopal oversight.

(Part 4) By David W. Virtue THEN ANOTHER BOMBSHELL EXPLODED. On Saturday, June 7th, the Rev. Canon V. Eugene Robinson was elected by the Convention of the Diocese of New Hampshire to succeed the current diocesan bishop. A practicing homosexual canon who left his wife was the favorite to be the next Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire. Canon Gene Robinson, 53, the second most senior figure within the diocese of New Hampshire beat out three other candidates and was elected bishop coadjutor. He replaced the retiring Rt. Rev. Douglas E. Theuner. Canon Robinson was described as the most dangerous man in the American Church. Seminary Dean Dr. Peter Moore (TESM) opined that the election of an openly gay man to be the bishop of New Hampshire would provide comfort and encouragement to a tiny minority within the worldwide Anglican Communion. Revisionist Washington Bishop John Chane said the election of Robinson would be a challenge to the Holy Spirit. Canon Bill Atwood of EKKLESIA said the Global South majority of Primates and bishops were so offended by the conduct of Canada, UK, and ECUSA in the last ten days, they were no longer going to be willing to have parallel jurisdiction. I’m guessing, he writes, that what will emerge is replacement jurisdiction. By doing so it will not allow for the cancer to continue without being addressed. The Brazilian Diocese of Recife promptly declared itself out of Communion with both the Diocese of New Westminster and New Hampshire. Bishop Robinson Cavilcanti in a letter to VIRTUOSITY said the acts by those two dioceses was contrary to Scripture and the Lambeth Conference resolution. And in the ECUSA the first parish in the DIOCESE OF TENNESSEE left the Episcopal Church for the AMIA. It was the 51st Episcopal Church to  leave the theologically fractured denomination. The new congregation took the name Faith Anglican Church. The parish located itself in the rapidly growing suburb of Memphis. The 15th Annual Assembly of FORWARD IN FAITH, NORTH AMERICA met in Rosemont, at the Church of the Good Shepherd, near Philadelphia and announced that the creation of an orthodox Province of the Anglican Communion in North America was just around the corner. The group also called for the immediate consecration of two orthodox bishops. The Assembly was held at the Evangelical Anglo-Catholic parish in Rosemont, whose rector, Fr. David Moyer has been deposed by ultra-liberal Bishop Charles E. Bennison. Among the dozen bishops from the Church of England, Africa, the Southern Cone, Australia and the Continuum were five bishops from The Episcopal Church including the Rt. Rev. Keith Ackerman, (Quincy) Rt. Rev. William Wantland, (Eau Claire, ret) Rt. Rev. Donald Parsons, (Quincy ret.) Rt. Jack Leo Iker (Ft. Worth) and the Rt. Rev. Edward W. MacBurney (Quincy, ret.). Meeting under the      Banner We have This Gospel to Proclaim - Good News for Today’s World, delegates heard leaders tell them that now was the time for the creation of an orthodox Province of the Anglican Communion in North America. The province must exist and must exist now, said Australian Archbishop John Hepworth, the new leader of the Traditional Anglican Communion, (TAC) a continuing Anglican group that broke with the ECUSA at St. Louis in 1978. We want to consecrate bishops because we are going to the same place and we have the same destination. FIFNA and the TAC have resolved one way or another, to have an orthodox province of Anglicans in the world. The Rt. Rev. John Broadhurst, chairman of Forward in Faith International and Bishop of Fullam (UK) said the situation was just another nail in the coffin of unity. We are divided over women bishops and moral teaching, which different people hold passionately. It is gospel unity verses passionately held beliefs. The CHURCH PENSION GROUP issued a blockbuster report mid-year expressing alarm that not enough young people were being attracted into the ordained ministry, with far-reaching implications for The Episcopal Church itself. A sobering analysis of church attendance revealed that on an average Sunday, 17.5 percent of the people in the pews were attending only 3.3 percent of Episcopal churches. At the same time, only 15.4 percent of Episcopalians attend 47.5 percent of Episcopal churches on an average Sunday. The CPG asked the question, Are we still a denomination of small churches? Nearly 50 percent of the churches are in the family group with an average Sunday attendance of one to 75 people. FOR SOME 3,465 CHURCHES THE ACTUAL SUNDAY ATTENDANCE WAS 37, a startlingly low number, the report said. By contrast there are only a handful of really big churches. In what the CPG calls there source category, those churches with an average Sunday attendance of over 400, there were only 245 churches. Further lamentations about the election of a gay bishop in the Diocese of New Hampshire came from the Bishop of Albany, Dan Herzog and the Bishop of Tennessee, Bertram Herlong. VIRTUOSITY wrote at the time that the battle for the soul of the Anglican Communion, which had been simmering for some years in the Anglican Communion, had now broken out into full-scale war. Revisionists and Evangelicals were now locked in fierce combat over the Church doctrine on what constitutes true morality. The injunction against the former Accokeek rector, the Rev. Samuel L. Edwards was lifted bringing closure to that nasty little battle between the former Bishop of Washington Jane Dixon who had filed a lawsuit against the ECUSA Anglo-Catholic priest. Edwards left ECUSA and joined with the Anglican Province of Christ the King. TWENTY-FOUR orthodox bishops of the Episcopal Church signed an open letter to the primates of the Anglican Communion stating that a crisis of faith and order now existed in The Episcopal Church and they called on them to address the situation under your leadership. In their letter they state that the election in New Hampshire of a man who openly confesses an active homosexual relationship to be Bishop Coadjutor, and the inclusion of a measure affirming the blessing of same-sex unions on the agenda of the upcoming General Convention, served as symbols of a desperately confused, errant and disintegrating Anglican province. At stake were the fundamental doctrines of apostolicity and of marriage.  Separation was now a conceptual reality in The Episcopal Church. The 24 bishops also declared themselves out of communion with the Diocese of New Westminster and Bishop Michael Ingham. GENERAL CONVENTION loomed on the horizon with promises of moral and theological strife. No one was disappointed. An Ad Hoc Committee sponsored petition calling for the rejection of homosexual marriages and the election of New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson garnered 52 Episcopal Church Wardens and 1,000 laity, but it failed to move the powers that be. A meeting of six Primates, 15 orthodox ECUSA bishops, several theologians and a number of concerned clergy met at Truro Episcopal Church in northern Virginia to discuss a strategy if ECUSA General Convention passed either one or both resolutions concerning rites for same sex blessings and consents for Gene Robinson to be the next Bishop of New Hampshire. An official press release said that a constitutional crisis and dramatic realignment would take place if the ECUSA House of Bishops passed either of these two resolutions. Virtuosity was told by Charles Nalls, who heads the Canon Law Institute that at least 100 large ECUSA parishes are seeking legal advice and turning over tough decisions regarding their future. These are parishes with no fixed churchmanship. They range from Evangelicals to Anglo-Catholics, said Nalls. Seeing the crisis facing him PB Frank Griswold plead for understanding in a Letter to the Primates on July 22. The polity of our church places the election of a bishop and the nomination process which precedes it entirely in the hands of the electing diocese. Rowan Williams expressed his own concern and in a letter to the Primates he said anxiety threatened the Anglican Communion common life. He raised the question whether the communion wanted to be a Communion, or just a federation of local churches. The Archbishop launched into the Episcopal Church mess urging Episcopalians not to pick a gay bishop. In a private letter to his fellow primates, Dr Rowan Williams urged individual provinces in the worldwide Anglican Church to delay unilateral decisions that could destroy its unity. His plea was seen as an 11th-hour attempt to persuade the Episcopal Church, the American version of the Church of England, to prevent Canon Gene Robinson becoming Bishop of New Hampshire. His appeal fell on deaf ears. GENERAL CONVENTION OPENED with deep foreboding. The bishops quickly approved a procedure for Robinson to get consents and after all the politicking was over the votes were in from both the House of Deputies and House of Bishops, and Robinson was confirmed among the elect. This despite charges that Robinsons OUTRIGHT website for homosexually oriented youth, exposed by VIRTUOSITY, was only a click away from hard core porn. Robinson also managed to weather sexual harassment charges, paving the way for his election to be the next Bishop of New Hampshire. Following his confirmation some 20 orthodox ECUSA bishops lead by Bishop Duncan decried the confirmation and with deep emotion in his voice he read a statement that said the Episcopal Church would be subject to discipline, and had divided itself from millions of Anglican Christians around the world. But the outcry and outrage from Primates and orthodox bishops from within ECUSA over his election would rage on for several months. WEST INDIES archbishop Drexel Gomez wrote to Frank Griswold saying that you seem not yet to have taken the full measure of the destructive potential General Convention affirmation of a new teaching and order with respect to homosexuality will have for the communion God has granted us, nor do you seem to acknowledge sufficiently that the divine gift itself comes as something with a defined nature for whose integrity we are responsible, individually and collectively.  Griswold ignored his pleas. Some 4500 petitions were received from several conservative ministries opposing same-sex unions and the nomination of Gene Robinson to be the next Bishop of New Hampshire were received at General Convention. This petition is an expression of the grave concern that the overwhelming majority of Episcopalians feel for the items that have become central to this convention over the last 30 years, but do not connect with the real issues of how to keep marriage and family together in the parish. Another story by-lined Gay Rites Would Not Bless Ecumenism Could also Impair Anglican Work Overseas, said that Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, and the formularies of every mainline Protestant denomination except for the United Church of Christ opposed blessings same-sex unions or allowing non-celibate gay clergy. Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan expressed his grief and a Statement from Anglican Mainstream greatly regretted the vote to confirm the appointment of a gay bishop. The Bishop of the Diocese of Nelson, New Zealand issued a statement condemning the confirmation and Australian Archbishop Peter Jensen noted with profound regret the confirmation of the election of Canon Gene Robinson. He said it violated the clear traditional teaching of the Christian Church, which is based on the clear teaching of the Scripture. The Anglican Communion in New Westminster made up of 11 biblically orthodox priests and eight congregations came out in support of Anglican Mainstream over the confirmation of Robinson. The whole Communion roiled in turmoil. Four ECUSA dioceses - Springfield, Florida, Central Florida and South Carolina held special Diocesan Conventions to discuss the crisis in ECUSA. The withholding of funds to the National Church became the new game in town. In a Virtuosity interview with AAC PRESIDENT CANON DAVID ANDERSON, the mainstream president said he would convene a meeting in Plano, Texas on Oct 7, 8, 9 for leaders of dioceses and parishes who are biblically orthodox to come together, take counsel and seek God leading. He also applauded the Archbishop of Canterbury for calling an extraordinary meeting of the worldwide Anglican Primates in London in October. Bishop Duncan, Chairman of the AAC Bishops Network wrote, I am confident that the Archbishop will make adequate provision for mainstream Anglicans in North America. FORWARD IN FAITH wrote a press release with a headline that screamed ECUSA HAS IGNORED CANTERBURY.  Fr. David L. Moyer said the revisionist majority had taken the Episcopal Church out of the Christian religion and severed it from any claim to uphold Biblical, Catholic, Apostolic, and Evangelical Faith and Order. The Episcopal Church had ignored and dismissed the counsel of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and has rejected the mind of Anglican Communion. The Episcopal Church as a denomination had willfully created a new religion. Following Robinson election a raft of international primates, bishops and orthodox diocesan ECUSA bishops came out with statements condemning the actions of General Convention. The most potent came from the Anglican Church of Uganda.  Homosexuality will not be tolerated, said its leaders. Canon Jackson Turyagyenda, the provincial secretary at Namirembe cathedral  said we protest the inclusion of gays in church activities, let alone as church leaders. Our position has not changed, we are not ready to have communion with those who ordain or bless marriages of gay people. In Uganda as in numerous African Provinces and diocese their leaders were furious. Peter Steinfels wrote in The New York Times that the Episcopal Church tottered on the brink of schism even self-destruction, theologically and ideologically fractured, like many American religious groups, over homosexuality and other issues prominent in the nation's culture wars. In a no brainer vote, George Werner handily defeated Louie Crew two to one to continue his role as president of the House of Deputies. But a little reported on RESOLUTION B001 revealed the true state of the ECUSA. It came before the House of Bishops, authored by Bishop Keith Ackerman of Quincy, asking the HOB to affirm their continued belief in two things. The first was the statement found in the Articles of Religion, the church constitution, and in the Ordination Services that we believe The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to contain all things necessary for Salvation. The resolution was voted down. Stunned, Bishop Ackerman asked for a roll call vote. One by one the Bishops rose and were counted.  Eighty-four of them refused to affirm that scripture contains what is needed for salvation. Eighty- four of them refused to affirm the Chicago Lambeth Quadrilateral.  Only sixty-six voted for these core truths. The failure to pass what Scripture and the Prayer Book affirmed spoke volumes more than the issue of sexuality it touched the very core of Anglican faith and practice. Its defeat truly signaled the end of ECUSA as a Christian denomination. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams republished an essay affirming committed homosexual relationships a move designed to ratchet up the anger in the Anglican Communion, making schism seem inevitable. PRIOR TO THE EMERGENCY LAMBETH CONFERENCE a group of Southern hemisphere Primates met in Nairobi. The conservative archbishops were increasingly confident that they could force the expulsion of the American Episcopal Church from the Anglican Communion over its liberal line on homosexuality. Rowan Williams, contemplated for the first time the possible break-up of the 70 million-strong worldwide Anglican Communion. When things looked like they couldn’t get much worse for Griswold, two letters suddenly appeared in Virtuosity written by Griswold to Charles Bennison Bishop of Pennsylvania over Fr. David Moyer saying that Bennison's heavy hand in dealing with the Anglo-Catholic priest was autocratic and monumentally unpastoral. Griswold cited Gerry Wolf and her willingness to let Keith Ackerman make a visitation to her orthodox parishes as an example. The letter fell on deaf ears. A second letter by Griswold to Bennison only ratcheted up the pain on the PA revisionist bishop. Griswold wrote[The Archbishop of Canterbury] made it absolutely clear to me that he regards the situation as very serious in the life of the Communion. He also said that your stance serves to justify the actions of Rwanda and Singapore in the eyes of many around the Communion. THE FALLOUT FROM THE ROBINSON BEGAN TO REVERBERATE with whole dioceses and individual parishes beginning to withhold monies. Griswold himself wrote in a desperate plea to his fellow Primates of the crisis saying, my own sense is that one of our Anglican gifts is to contain different theological perspectives within a context of common prayer. This is not a matter of compromise but of acknowledging that the truth as in Jesus is larger than any one point of view. The Global South Primates did not buy it. IN THE DIOCESE OF NEW WESTMINSTER the eight orthodox ACiNW parishes welcomed three Primates from Africa, India, and South American to a special service to celebrate their unity a special service on September 7, in Tsawwassen, British Columbia. Some1600 attended from across the globe came to celebrate, covenant and commission and to move forward in faith and hope, praying for the sweeping fires of spiritual revival in Canada. They also came to support the Rt. Rev. Terry Buckle the Bishop of the Yukon who was providing ecclesiastical cover for the ten besieged parishes. It was payback time and New Westminster Michael Ingham invoked a rarely used church canon and fired the wardens, trustees and entire parish Synod delegation of St. Martins, a traditionalist parish in North Vancouver, saying the church had an irresolvable pastoral crisis. He attempted on Saturday to change the locks on the doors of St. Martins parish while the conference in Tsawassen was in progress and then sent his archdeacon to read a statement from himself to the congregation in which he alleged the parish was in turmoil because of its failure to replace a biblically orthodox priest who resigned over the Bishops approval of same sex blessings. Bishop Ingham promptly named his own replacements for the parish positions. The Primates promptly condemned his actions. The Yukon bishop was commissioned by two primates to serve the ten orthodox parishes in the Diocese of New Westminster under siege by their bishop. BACK IN NEW YORK a group of ECUSA bishops met with Griswold and gave him an earful about disaffected parishes leaving the ECUSA. He was told a massive rally of orthodox Episcopalians would meet next month in Dallas to consider their future in ECUSA. Griswold responded in a letter on the meeting saying that the Robinson decision clearly caused pain, confusion and disbelief in many parts of the church, and a sense of rightness in other parts. He further said the meeting was very helpful to me in thinking about how we can assist our church in living through this time in faithfulness, taking care not to lose sight of the mission we share as members of Christrisen body, and the fact that our church is everywhere filled with life and a deep desire to embody the gospel. It was total rubbish that nobody was buying. WITHHOLDING FUNDS became the new pastime. The DIOCESE OF FLORIDA and the DIOCESE OF DALLAS both said they would withhold funds from the National Church as did a slew of orthodox parishes around the country. THE HOUSE OF BISHOPS OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN RWANDA issued a statement on the actions of the 74th General Convention of the Episcopal Church saying the life style of a homosexual relationship is not expected of the character and qualification of an ordained man or woman Bishop, Priest or Deacon. The DIOCESE OF FLORIDA decided to uninvite Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold for the much- anticipated consecration of John Howard as our Bishop Coadjutor. He replaces Bishop Stephen Jecko. And the DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA passed three resolutions critical of the Episcopal Church. One declared the Episcopal Church under significant judgment by God because of its drift away from orthodox Christianity, as evidenced by the General Convention approving an openly gay bishop and accepting same-sex blessings. The second called on the top leaders of the Anglican Communion to require Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold to explain why he lobbied for the approval of the Rev. Gene Robinson, who is in a homosexual relationship, as bishop of New Hampshire. The resolution accused Griswold of leading the Episcopal Church into an entirely new teaching of the church in the area of human sexuality and called on the primates of the Anglican Communion -- the top leaders of the Episcopal Church parent body -- to ask him to explain his position. The third resolution promised to help non-Western church leaders who lost financial support for speaking against the Episcopal Church’s approval of homosexual behavior. And in what must have been one of the most interesting newspaper turns, the Philadelphia Gay News, featured a front-page story on Charles Bennison the revisionist, pro-gay Episcopal Bishop of Pennsylvania. In a three-column banner headline, Bishop Warned Not to Remove Priest, the Associated Press article blasted Bennison for attempting to remove Fr. David Moyer from his parish - the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, PA. THE INTERNATIONAL ANGLICAN FURNACE continued to heat up. The feisty hard-headed Primate of Nigeria, Peter Akinola has taken on Archbishop Ndungane of Southern Africa, and blasted him saying ,Isn’t it a paradox that the Archbishop of Southern Africa sees no arrogance in those whose flagrant disregard of the stand of the entire Anglican Communion has plunged us into this sad and avoidable controversy. Akinola also made it clear he would not be influenced by Western money, and he was prepared to cut ties with Western liberal dioceses and provinces that disobey Scripture. Archbishop Akinola was elected president of the Council of African Provinces of Africa (CAPA) this week. IN THE ECUSA itself, in one diocese after another, special diocesan conventions revealed more hidden anger than was ever known. Griswolds notion of graceful conversation was now a bad joke. In the DIOCESE OF CENTRAL FLORIDA five resolutions were unanimously passed overwhelmingly in support of Bishop John W. Howe’s opposition to the confirmation of Gene Robinson and same-sex blessings. In the DIOCESE OF ALBANY, Bishops Dan Herzog and David Bena got resounding affirmations from their people in holding the line on same- sex unions and against the confirmation of Gene Robinson. Five resolutions were overwhelmingly passed. An attempt by an alternative group of clergy and laity to reverse the bishop’s vote, and diocesan thinking, was shot down by orthodox voices at the special diocesan convention. And in the DIOCESE OF VIRGINIA, Bishop Peter Lee, a one-time moderate and now firmly in the camp of  ECUSAS’s revisionist bishops got an earful from biblically orthodox clergy and laity living in the northern half of his diocese about the way he voted for Robinson at GC2003. AND IN THE SPIN FROM ECUSANATIONAL HEADQUARTERS about the effect of lost monies from orthodox dioceses, the revisionists who run the church said that if funds were withheld the national church would cut its budget that benefit children, women, the poor and the underprivileged. Nasty is as nasty does. And in an evangelical Anglican conference in Blackpool, England Oxford theologian Dr. Alister McGrath ripped into New Westminster Bishop Michael Ingham, telling more than 2,300 Evangelicals gathered at a four-day conference on mission, that he had lost the theological war and was forced to use canon law to get his way in the diocese. Ingham should be awarded the Spong medal for liberal bravery in the face of overwhelming theological arguments, he told an approving audience. Ingham would win the award in spades, he said.When I was younger, liberals and conservatives respected each other. In New Westminster we have an intellectually bankrupt liberal, and in desperation he is forcing his will on believing evangelicals, said the Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, an evangelical college that trains ordinands for the ministry. This is the unacceptable face of liberalism and it exposes the harshness, bullying character and dogmatism of this man. END OF PART FOUR *****

Stephen Bates, religious affairs correspondent The Guardian Wednesday December 31, 2003     Evangelicals opposed to gay people within the Anglican communion presented an email petition yesterday to Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, calling on him to provide alternative oversight for those congregations which oppose bishops supporting Gene Robinson, the gay bishop of New Hampshire.     The petition’s organisers claimed it was backed by more than 13 million church-goers. The move was the latest flexing of muscles by traditionalists who have mobilised recently against any relaxation of the church opposition to homosexuals. It came against a backdrop of threats to split the worldwide communion which Dr Williams heads.     But there was some doubt about how many of those who had allegedly signed up either knew of the petition or supported it, since heads of families, clergy, bishops and archbishops were allowed to sign on behalf of all their family members, parishes, dioceses and provinces.   Support for the document rose from about 500,000 to 13 million in the last few days.   The organisers claimed the support of five primates, all from the developing world, eight bishops, though none from English dioceses, 4,013 individuals,  3,192 families, 249 parishes, eight of the communion500 dioceses and everyone in the five provinces represented by the archbishop signatories. That included the entire church in Uganda, south-east Asia, the Congo, Central Africa, Kenya, the Indian ocean and the 22,000 Anglicans living in South America.     Described to those signing it as your Christmas gift to the Anglican communion, the petition was said to be your chance to make the Anglican communion as God intends it to be. The organisers claimed it showed a majority of the church70 million members across the world opposed the consecration of Canon Robinson, whose election by the New England diocese was endorsed by US Episcopalians meeting at their annual convention in Minneapolis in August.     The petition dismissed the majority votes, including two-thirds of US bishops, as showing contempt by a minority group within the church.     Bishop Robinson was consecrated in New Hampshire by the head of the US church, Frank Griswold, in November and will succeed the current diocesan for the state in the spring.     The petition was organised by Anglican Mainstream, a group of conservative English evangelicals, which sprang up following the group successful mobilisation of opposition to the appointment of Jeffrey John, a gay priest, to the suffragan bishopric of Reading last summer.     Dr John was forced to stand down by Dr Williams, who had earlier endorsed his appointment.     The group is centered on the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, which supports evangelical theological training for students from the developing world and has received funding from the Californian fundamentalist billionaire Howard F. Ahmanson.     The petition called on Archbishop Williams to no longer recognise the ministries of any bishop who attended Bishop Robinson’s consecration and to authorise traditionalist bishops to minister to congregations which can no longer20 support their bishops.     The organisers also promised to pray for the archbishop and for all thosewho are confused or living in sin.     END       LATE BREAKING FIGURES FROM ANGLICAN MAINSTREAM     www.anglican-mainstream.net/index2.htm   Support So Far 13,628,200 Including Most Revd Livingstone Mpalanyi-Nkoyoyo and the Church of the Uganda Archbishop Yong Ping Chung and the Province of South East Asia Presiding Bishop Greg Venables, Southern Cone Archbishop Fidelis Dirokpa and the Province of the Congo Rt Rev Dr Bernard Malango and the Province of Central Africa Most Rev Benjamin M Nzimbi and the Anglican Church of Kenya Rt Rev Peter John Lee and Bishops Council, Diocese of Christ the King, CPSA Rt Rev Jack Iker and Diocese of Fort Worth   Rt Rev Stephen K Nyorsok and Diocese of Kitale Kenya   Rt Rev Dr Glenn N Davies, North Sydney   Rt Rev Stephen Hale, Melbourne   Rt Rev Colin Bazley, Former Primate Southern Cone   Rt Rev Louis Tsui Eastern Kowloon   Rt Rev John Junichiro Furumoto, Diocese of Kobe, Japan   Canon David Anderson (AAC)   David Peterson, Principal, Oak Hill College   Peter C Moore, Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry   Rev Ulric Gerry University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania   Evangelical Fellowship of Irish Clergy     Rev Jude Edomwonyi, St Augustine, Bahamas   Preb Richard Bewes and All Souls Langham Place, London   Rev Susan H Crane and Iglesia de San Mat=EDas, Tennessee   Rev Vincent Rakotoarisoa, St PeterAmbanidia, Antananarivo, Madagascar   Rev Ed Hird and St Simons, New Westminster   Rev Paul Harcourt and All Saints Woodford Wells, Chelmsford   Holy Spirit Anglican Church, Recife, Brazil   Church of the Redeemer, South West Florida   Rev Joanne Beacon and Humboldt Parish Saskatoon   4.013 individuals   11,665 in 3,192 families   69,922 in 249 parishes and organisations   198,600 in 8 dioceses   13,334,000 in 5 provinces   As of 1200 GMT, 29/12/03   New Hampshire Consecration Attending Bishops Primates   The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and Chief Consecrator   The Most Rev. Martin De Jesus Barahona   Primate of the Province of Central America and Bishop of El Salvador     International     Bishop Krister Stendahl, Lutheran Church of Sweden, Bishop Emeritus of   Stockholm and Co-consecrator   The Rt. Rev. Bruce Stavert, Bishop of Quebec (Anglican Church of Canada)   The Rt. Rev. Michael Ingham, Bishop of New Westminster (Anglican Church of   Canada)     Episcopal Diocesan Bishops     The Rt. Rev. Joe Burnett, Bishop of Nebraska   The Rt. Rev. John B. Chane, Bishop of Washington   The Rt. Rev. George Councell, Bishop of New Jersey   The Rt. Rev. Thomas Ely, Bishop of Vermont   The Rt. Rev. James J. Jelinek, Bishop of Minnesota   The Rt. Rev. Chilton Knudsen, Bishop of Maine and co-consecrator   The Rt. Rev. James A. Kelsey, Bishop of Northern Michigan   The Rt. Rev. Jack=A0 M. McKelvey, Bishop of Rochester   The Rt. Rev. M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE, Bishop of Massachusetts   The Rt. Rev. Andrew D. Smith, Bishop of Connecticut   The Rt. Rev. Douglas Theu

By MICHAEL MASSING The New York Times January 4, 2004     Throughout his nearly 19 years as the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, Peter James Lee has been an unwavering centrist and consensus builder. His diocese, the largest in the Episcopal Church, is diverse, with giant urban churches and tiny rural ones, liberal mainline congregations and conservative evangelical ones, and Lee has managed to hold them all together by astutely finding the midpoint on any controversial issue and luring both sides toward it. At the Episcopal Church general convention last summer in Minneapolis, Lee oversaw publication of a daily newsletter that offered a middle-of-the-road perspective on the many contentious issues facing the church. He called it Center Aisle.   The most contentious of the issues, of course, was the nomination of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, an openly gay priest who had been living with another man for 14 years, to be the bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire. For the 107 bishops in attendance, their vote on his confirmation would be the most scrutinized of their careers. And, based on Peter Lee record, there seemed little doubt about where he would come down. On matters of sexuality, his diocese was largely traditional, and Lee, throughout his reign, had resolutely refused to bless same-sex unions or to ordain noncelibate gay or lesbian priests. Under his leadership, in fact, the diocese has adopted an explicit statement that the normative context for sexual intimacy is lifelong, heterosexual, monogamous marriage.     In the weeks leading up to the vote, though, Lee reflected back on the nearly 200 bishops whose candidacies he voted on over the years. Some were divorced and remarried. Others held theological views that were sharply at odds with his own. Some had refused to ordain women, a practice Lee endorsed. Yet he had voted for them all. Lee did not know Gene Robinson personally, but the Episcopalians of New Hampshire clearly felt he would make a good bishop. And so, on Aug. 3, the day before the vote, Lee sent a letter to his diocese indicating his intention to confirm. I am convinced of the need to respect the Diocese of New Hampshire decision, in spite of my personal reservations and our current diocesan policy, which would not permit Canon Robinson to be ordained in Virginia, he wrote. It was his prayer, he added, that the people of Virginia would unite in the mission we share, even as we acknowledge respectfully differences among us.     The next day, Lee became one of 62 bishops to vote to confirm Robinson (with 45 against). However, his hope that the people of Virginia would unite behind him proved in vain. His vote set off a furor of an intensity and duration that stunned Lee. Since the end of the general convention in August, there have been forums and workshops on the issue of the gay bishop, and also protests. Rectors (as church heads are known) have been overwhelmed by phone calls from angry and confused parishioners. Hundreds have left their churches, and thousands more have insisted that none of their church contributions be passed on to the diocese. Already the diocese has lost more than $250,000 in anticipated revenues, forcing Bishop Lee to impose a hiring freeze.     Lee himself has received more than 1,000 letters and e-mail messages, and while some have been supportive, most have been critical and some downright abusive. You have betrayed the calling of Christ to be faithful, wrote a parishioner. I have lost total respect for you and am ashamed to be a part of this denomination.     The uproar has been loudest at four giant churches located in the high-tech, sprawl-ridden, conservative suburbs southwest of Washington. These churches, with their combined 5,000 congregants, are evangelical in outlook -- they stress a personal relationship with Jesus and a literalist interpretation of the Bible. They also have strong ties to the American Anglican Council (A.A.C.), an orthodox organization within the Episcopal Church that is dedicated to fighting what it sees as the church theological flabbiness and capitulation to popular culture. Since the election of Gene Robinson, these churches have been a hotbed of resistance. All four parishes have made it clear to Peter Lee that they would not welcome his presence, and their rectors are exploring alternative forms of ecclesiastical oversight -- an arrangement some see as a step toward creating a new orthodox body that would be independent of Episcopal Church U.S.A., while remaining within the worldwide Anglican communion.     The Episcopal Church has been struggling with the issue of homosexuality since long before Gene Robinson was consecrated. In 1977 Bishop Paul Moore of New York ordained the first openly homosexual priest. In the 1990s, Bishop John Spong of Newark moved even further, provocatively citing Scripture in support of embracing gays and others outside the traditional mainstream. The church, with just 2.3 million members, no longer has the exclusively Establishment character it once did today it prides itself on its social activism and its big tent character. Louie Crew, the founder of Integrity, an Episcopal gay organization, estimates that as many as 20 percent of all Episcopal priests are gay or lesbian (though most are not open about it). Jo Belser, the lesbian daughter of a fundamentalist preacher who lives in Alexandria, Va., says that she joined the Episcopal Church because itthe only one that lets gay people grow spiritually without requiring that they stop being gay.     Even while mainline parishes in the Northeast and the West Coast were moving to the left, however, an opposing force was gaining momentum in more conservative regions of the country. Over the last 20 years, the evangelical fervor that has swept America has seeped into the Episcopal Church too. Evangelicals and other conservatives remain a minority -- of the 7,300 Episcopal parishes nationwide, about 260 are affiliated with the traditionalist A.A.C. -- but they have loudly proclaimed their view that the church is an elitist, liberal institution too ready to sacrifice biblical purity on the altar of secular culture.     After years of quiet organizing, some of the evangelicals are using the Robinson election to push for an autonomous body that will serve as the true voice of the church. If the dissidents -- led by such people as Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh and Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth -- are to realize their goal, they will have to win over the congregants and rectors in places like the Diocese of Virginia. Extending from the Potomac River in the north to the James River (which bisects Richmond) in the south, it is home to both red and blue America. In the diocese urbanized northern reaches, near Washington, parishioners work at policy centers and nonprofit agencies, lobbying and law firms, Congress and the State Department. The presence of the Pentagon, in Arlington, packs the pews with military officers, defense contractors and intelligence analysts. To the south, Richmond, a bastion of mainline Episcopalianism, has two dozen churches boasting members who trace their ancestry back to the Jamestown settlement.     Bishop Lee oversees the diocese189 churches from a converted 19th-century mansion in downtown Richmond. The bishop’s office has soaring ceilings, parquet floors and, staring down from above the fireplace, a portrait of the Right Rev. James Madison, the state first bishop. With his ruddy complexion, silver hair, piercing blue eyes, purple bishop’s shirt, and sonorous, sermon-ready voice, Peter Lee projects an air of ecclesiastical authority. But his equanimity has been shaken by recent events. In the last few months he has faced what one conservative church activist calls a theological lynch mob. Parents have expressed concern about having him touch their children at confirmation ceremonies. He had been told he would spend eternity in hell. Psychological studies of clergy show that we are people who like to be liked, says Lee, who is 65. It is painful that there are churches where I’m not welcome -- that there are people who feel I’ve betrayed them.     The sense of betrayal so many parishioners feel is, in a way, a measure of the moderate stance Lee so carefully cultivated. When he took over the diocese, in 1985, it was torn by regional rivalries and lingering disputes over the decision to revise the prayer book. A patient listener, Lee picked up the pieces, notes Russ Randle, a lawyer and active member of a church in Alexandria. Like Cal Ripken, he kept showing up every day. Faced with sensitive issues like homosexuality, Lee set up a group that periodically brought clergy and lay leaders together to air their views. The diocese thrived, with a new church opening in nearly every year of Lee’s tenure, and Lee strengths as a moderator -- or a fence sitter, depending on your sympathies -- were at least partly responsible for its stability.     Viewed against this backdrop, Lee’s decision to support Gene Robinson seemed uncharacteristically bold. How, I asked, had he arrived at it? He began his answer by describing his gradual evolution on matters of social equality. I was born in Mississippi and raised in Pensacola, Fla., along a stretch of the Gulf Coast known as the redneck Riviera, Lee said. His father, the manager of a manufacturing plant, was a lay officer of a local Episcopal church. It, like the schools Lee attended, was segregated.     In the spring of 1963, while he was working as a copy editor for a newspaper in Richmond and pondering the ministry, Lee followed with interest the nonviolent demonstrations being organized by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to protest segregation in Birmingham. Several local clergymen criticized King for moving too quickly, but Lee was moved by King’s argument that injustices would never vanish by waiting until everyone was ready. Clerical leaders, the young Lee concluded, should use their authority to fight discrimination.   But Lee was not a natural activist. In 1965, when he was attending the Virginia Theological Seminary, several of his fellow students went to Selma to march with King. Lee did not join them. Emotionally, I wasn’t there -- I wasn’t ready to demonstrate, Lee recalls. Soon after, on a visit to his parents in Pensacola, he gave a ride to their housekeeper, a black woman who worked for the family for many years. She said, Mr. Peter, I saw all these young preachers walking with Dr. King, but I didn’t see you, Lee said. That was a sore that went deep into my soul.     In Lee’s telling, his opposition to racial discrimination began to extend to sexual orientation in the 70s. At that time, he was the rector of a church in Chapel Hill, N.C., a liberal university town. The local chapter of Integrity invited Lee to perform the Eucharist. I’m pretty conservative on these things, he said. But my experience showed that the chapel was a refuge for gays and lesbians from all across North Carolina.     As the bishop of Virginia, Lee met many gay and lesbian couples, and they seemed to be faithful churchgoers. In 1997, he began consulting with a prominent Roman Catholic psychiatrist on sensitive pastoral matters. He convinced Lee that you do real damage to gay and lesbian people by telling them that the way they are made is somehow defective, Lee told me.     This past summer, in the weeks before the general convention, Lee tried to sort through his many conflicting impulses on the role of gays in the church. He still didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of blessing same-sex unions. And he wasn’t ready to personally ordain a noncelibate gay priest. But his growing awareness of gays as flesh-and-blood members of the church was tugging him in the other direction. He immersed himself in Scripture. As he well knew, the handful of Biblical passages that deal explicitly with homosexuality are almost uniformly negative. Yet he also knew that on many moral issues -- divorce, slavery, stoning adulterers to death -- the interpretation of Scripture had changed along with shifting cultural norms. Rereading the 15th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, Lee was struck by how the early leaders of the church adapted the requirements of Jewish law to the realities of the gentile world. This seemed to him a clear call for an inclusive church.     Finally, Lee spoke with his wife of 38 years, Kristina. She’s been very forceful on this, Lee said. She said, Peter, do you want to be on the side of the future or of the past? That was a significant question for me.     Lee decided to embrace the future. Yet, still very much the young man who couldn’t bring himself to march with Martin Luther King Jr., he decided to keep his real reasons to himself. And so, in the letter he sent from Minneapolis, he stressed what he felt was the innocuous principle of local autonomy, hoping to avoid controversy.     Instead, he provoked a storm. The emotions unleashed by his vote proved so explosive that he decided to hold a series of forums at which parishioners could vent their views. Waking up in the middle of the night, he fitfully went over in his mind all those critics had said about him. He then set to work on a new statement explaining his vote, deciding to go public with the intellectual journey hed made.     The first of the meetings took place in a diocesan boarding school in Middlesex County, east of Richmond, on Sept. 15. Lee, armed with his middle-of-the-night musings and a new determination, described the long hours hed spent in prayer, the many bishops he’d consulted. Studying Scripture anew, he said, he had come away convinced that the Gospel is ever-increasing its power to erase the barriers that we human beings erect among ourselves. And, rereading Martin Luther King’s Letter From a Birmingham Jail, he was reminded that significant change, especially change that involves new understanding of justice, often comes in a disruptive and disturbing manner. In the end, Lee told the audience, the vote on Gene Robinson’s consecration presented a conflict between hope and fear. Hope for God’s grace versus fear of change. I chose hope.     It was a remarkable moment for Lee, a coming out of sorts for a man who had spent his whole career keeping his views to himself. The audience, however, sat silent. Shortly after, the Rev. Jeffrey Cerar, who had opposed Gene Robinson in Minneapolis, got up. Our general convention has abandoned the teaching of the universal church, he proclaimed. This is not just a difference of opinion. It is a departure from the very purpose and identity of the church. When he was done, much of the audience rose to its feet and cheered.   I became aware at that first meeting that my statement was not going to change anybody’s mind, and that my task was to receive the hostility of the people with as much grace as I could muster and not become hostile in return, Lee says.     His effort at stoicism would receive its greatest test at a forum held at the Virginia Theological Seminary. One after another, parishioners rose to accuse him of being an apostate and of turning his back on the Bible. And then, in front of the crowd of some 500 people, a woman from All Saints, one of the big four evangelical churches, read from a letter to Lee from the church lay leadership regarding his scheduled visit to preside over a confirmation class. We would respectfully ask that, instead of you visiting All Saints on Nov. 9, 2003, you send Bishop Gray for confirmation, the parishioner read. Our people are so distressed by your views that contradict the very clear teaching of Scripture that your visit this fall would be painful and divisive. Gasps arose from the crowd.     It was very painful to be uninvited from All Saints, and in so public a way, Lee later told me. The insult was compounded by the fact that the letter had been sent to him weeks earlier, and that he had already told the church that he would agree to send another bishop in his place.     I asked John Guernsey, the rector of All Saints, why the church had insisted on reading the letter at the gathering. With all the turmoil in the Episcopal Church, Guernsey told me, we’ve been reassured by the fact that our bishop has held to the orthodox faith of the church and upheld the historic Christian teaching about sexuality and marriage. Then we found the rug pulled out from under us. Lee subsequent efforts to explain his vote only made things worse, Guernsey went on Initially, he said it was a matter of autonomy. Since then, he has been defending the rightness of his vote. He’s been quoting Martin Luther King, saying that it is not simply regrettable what the church has done but that it is the right thing, that this is a justice issue. If anything, he has exacerbated the pain, the sense of betrayal. In light of this, he said, the church vestry felt it was appropriate to make a public witness of our position.     All saints, together with the Falls Church, Church of the Apostles and Truro Church, constitute a bloc of evangelical churches that have led the charge against Peter Lee. For months their rectors have been talking with the bishop, trying to hammer out a deal that would allow for alternative oversight while leaving broad authority in the hands of the diocese. Leading these discussions has been Martyn Minns, the rector of Truro. To see how the resistance looked from the inside, I arranged to visit him. I was surprised at what I found.     Located in the city of Fairfax, about 15 miles southwest of Washington, Truro attracts 1,400 people on a typical Sunday, making it one of the 10 largest Episcopal congregations in the country. On matters of morality, it is among the staunchest. Its congregation includes many Republican activists -- people like Diane Knippers, the president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, which works to expose what it considers the liberal excesses of mainline Protestantism. Some top figures in the American Anglican Council also worship here. Minns himself has worked closely with the council, and Truro has been host of a number of A.A.C. events.     A sturdy 6-foot-2, Minns is an imposing figure in his clerical black. With his angular face, dark complexion, neat beard and thinning dark hair, Minns, who is 60, seems to have stepped out of the eastern Mediterranean world in which Paul evangelized. Lining the walls of his office are handsomely built shelves filled with books. A modernist print of a crucified Jesus hangs on one wall. African crafts are scattered about.     This is a very painful time for us, Minns says, his voice carrying traces of his native Nottingham, England. I’ve gotten about 40 letters from people saying they are leaving. I’ve been involved in this parish for 12 years, and to watch it fall apart is very painful. He speaks quickly and to the point -- a man in a hurry.     Every society draws lines about what is behaviorally accepted, he says. The line Im drawing is the one that Judaism and Christianity have been teaching for 2,000 years. To move away from that to basically a free-for-all -- where do you draw the line? . . . I draw the line on the basis of Biblical revelation.     Couldn’t people have different ways of interpreting the Bible and learn to live with those differences? I asked. That’s a postmodern idea, Minns said dismissively. I’m trained as a mathematician. Either something is true or it isnt. When Gene Robinson says his sexual activity is sacramental and I consider it to be sinful, in my mind it has to be one or the other.   Minns training in mathematics came at the University of Birmingham. After graduating, he was hired by Mobil to work in New York. Feeling a call to the ministry, he entered Virginia Theological Seminary in 1975. After being ordained, he served in several parishes, including one in Manhattan. Minns arrived at Truro in 1991 and slowly built it into a powerhouse. He created and expanded ministries to work with inner-city kids, battered spouses and pregnant women. In 1998 he founded Five Talents, which extends small loans to budding entrepreneurs in the developing world. Minns has used the good will generated by the program to strengthen his ties with like-minded bishops in Africa, Asia and Latin America. I spend more time with bishops in the global south than with the bishop of Virginia, he observed with glee. In July, for instance, Truro was host of a visit by five Anglican archbishops from Africa, Asia and Australia, including Peter Akinola of Nigeria. Akinola joined Minns and 50 other conservative Episcopalians in a warning that confirming Gene Robinson could precipitate a dramatic realignment of the church.     Given his conservative moral views, I wondered how Minns fared during his three years in Manhattan – America’s own Sodom. He brightened. I love New York -- the energy, the craziness, he said. I still miss the Upper West Side -- his church, All Angels, is on West 80th Street. You open the door and you never know what will hit you. Minns church was next to Zabars, the iconic food emporium, and whenever he returns to the city, he goes there. It’s my idea of living, he said.     In a corner of his office, I noticed a shofar. It reminded me of a conversation I had the day before with Jo Belser, a leader in Virginia Integrity organization. Integrity, she told me, had invited Minns to speak, and he had accepted. While his talk left little doubt about where he stood on homosexuality, the fact that Minns addressed the group at all distinguished him from many of his conservative brethren, she said. Noting his love of books, modern art and New York, she added, I think he has a Jewish soul.     When I mentioned this to him, Minns told me how, when his mother was dying several years ago, she revealed that his great-grandfather was Jewish. I was delighted, he recalled. I felt very proud. One of my missions in life has been to get Christians to focus on their Jewish roots. Without that, we lose a lot. I was having a hard time fitting Minns various parts together, and I told him so. I’m very hard to typecast, he said with relish. He recalled how in New York, we had everyone you could imagine coming into my church -- crack addicts, a transvestite in full regalia. I loved them. They became a part of the congregation. Id say God put us here to work. Are you willing to do that? And I saw some profound changes. God, he added, can change lives -- even those of homosexuals. Minns says he believes that gays can be converted to heterosexuality through Christ-centered counseling -- an idea that almost all gays vehemently reject.     So, I wondered, what did this one-eighth-Jewish evangelical who regarded gays and lesbians as grievous sinners think Truro should do? Should it leave the Episcopal Church? It was hard getting him to say. At times during our talk, Minns sounded like a loyal foot soldier of the American Anglican Council at others, he oozed conciliation and accommodation. For a man with such strong opinions, he seemed maddeningly hard to pin down.     I started to see why when I sat down with five of his parishioners, whom Minns had arranged for me to see. We met in his office while he was off tending to pastoral matters. Clean-cut and articulate, the group was unanimous in expressing outrage over the idea of a homosexual bishop, even while insisting that homosexuality was not the issue. The core issue is not homosexuality but biblical authority, said Jeff Fedorchak, a 42-year-old consultant. It’s not open to interpretation. It’s homosexuality this time -- what will it be the next? In our conversation, the word clear as applied to Scripture and its meaning kept coming up. On all sides these devout Christians felt assaulted by the lurid offerings of consumerist America -- half-dressed teen idols, gore-filled video games, Internet porn a click away -- and, seeking a lifeline, they had grasped hold of the Bible. Gay rights seemed especially threatening, for they saw it as challenging the sacrament of marriage, the foundation of their moral universe. At the same time, the intensity of their feelings about Gene Robinson indicated that something more profound was at work, that the issue of homosexuality touched them in a very visceral and vulnerable spot.     In the end, there was only one point on which the group disagreed, and that was how Truro should respond. I think we should stand up for the truth, said Bill Mullins, a lawyer, expressing a desire to leave. We should declare ourselves not in communion with this and suffer the consequences. Jamie Brown, a college student, was less certain. I’m torn on what to do, he said.   To judge from their comments, Truro seemed far more divided than its public face would suggest. And Minns own statements reflected this. Dropping in at the tail end of our discussion, he began talking expansively about Trurorelations with the Anglican Communion. He urged everyone to read The Next Christendom, by Philip Jenkins, a professor at Pennsylvania State University. The book describes the rapid growth of Christianity in the developing world and argues that, given the thoroughly evangelical nature of the faith there, Christianity in the West will inevitably follow. Jenkins thinks the U.S. church has a big dilemma, Minns said. Is it going to go where world Christianity is going, or will it be left to an elite group of Unitarians? Such remarks would seem to support a militant stance. Yet, in his very next breath, Minns counseled caution Our hope is not to jump into a separate province. I believe we can find a way not to have to do that. He added, I’m concerned about practical stuff -- about people being fired and churches closed.     He was referring to Episcopal canon law, which holds that if a parish leaves the church, its diocese retains possession of its buildings and other assets. If Truro were suddenly to pack up and leave, the Diocese of Virginia would lay claim to its property -- a church complex, an office building, three large houses and eight acres of land. Lawsuits would inevitably follow. The Truro congregants might be forced to start anew. I have lots of wonderful lawyers who keep me from breaking the law until Im sure I want to, he went on. I don’t want to give $10 million  -- the value of Truro assets -- to an institution I don’t agree with. Whatmore, Minns is mindful of his many parishioners who love Truro, are raising their children there and would hate to have to leave.     I was beginning to detect in Minns a pattern tough rhetoric combined with pragmatic action. It would be on full display that evening, when some 400 people attended a church meeting to discuss Truro’s future. Standing under a giant gold cross suspended above the altar, Minns described the new network of dissenting dioceses that he and other conservatives were hoping to form -- a structure that could become an independent province if that time came. Then, with barely a pause, he turned to the proposal for flying bishops, sympathetic prelates who would minister to Truro and the other conservative churches, thus allowing them to stay in the Episcopal Church.     It was only toward the end of the meeting, after nearly a dozen parishioners had expressed their outrage at Bishop Robinson’s confirmation, that Minns was pressed to clarify his position on secession. Im really maddened by this process, declared a young woman with smartly cut short hair. She and her husband, she said, had decided to leave the Episcopal Church. They would, however, consider returning if conservative Anglicans got their own, independent province. Was the new network Minns had discussed likely to lead to such an outcome?     This network could become such a province, Minns responded. Peter Akinola has said he cannot be at the same table as Frank Griswold, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and a supporter of Robinson. So quite possibly this will split the entire Anglican Communion. But he sidestepped the issue of whether this would necessitate Truro leaving the Episcopal Church.     Later I observed to Minns that he seemed to be trying to channel the congregational anger, and, ultimately, contain it. He agreed. This crowd is self-selecting, he said. Those who feel the most aggrieved about these matters are the ones who show up at such events. He had heard from many other congregants who either disagreed with his stand on Gene Robinson or who didn’t know what to think. He said he felt dutybound to represent their views as well.     In many ways, then, the ambiguity I had sensed in Minns was intentional, a reflection of his dual constituencies. One is the militants, the people who share the goals of groups like the A.A.C. and the Institute on Religion and Democracy. These outfits have a sharp-edged political agenda that can be satisfied only by a full break with the church. At the same time, he has a flock to minister to, and many of its members fear the consequences of a break -- fears that Minns himself fully appreciates. So he has two hats, the one political and the other pastoral, and he is trying to wear them both.     Ita strange paradox Martyn Minns, the insistent evangelist, is seeking compromise, while Peter Lee, the pragmatic fence sitter, is standing on principle. Together, the two are lurching toward a middle ground that would satisfy the conservatives desire for autonomy while respecting the bishop’s ultimate authority over such matters as choosing rectors, deciding whom to ordain and enforcing church laws.     This lurching seems emblematic of the church as a whole. In mid-December, the network Minns referred to at the Truro meeting came into being -- sort of. Robert Duncan, the outspoken bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, announced the formation of a new Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes, under his supervision. Thirteen of the church100 dioceses in the United States were said to be joining the new network. While not seceding from the Episcopal Church, Duncan said, the group would try to win recognition from Anglican bishops overseas as the authentic Episcopal Church. Yet, within days, several bishops from those 13 dioceses disavowed their connection to the network, saying that the announcement had been premature. The affair had a Keystone Kops air about it, and it pointed to the hurdles the conservatives are facing as they push for an alternative to the Episcopal Church.     According to James Solheim, the director of the Episcopal News Service, the conservatives not only constitute a small minority within the church, but many of them are saying schism is not the answer. The idea of being bound up for years in costly and distracting litigation weighs heavily on them. Truro typifies that. That a rector as conservative as Martyn Minns is so intent on remaining within the Episcopal fold bodes ill for the advocates of a rupture.     None of the current bureaucratic machinations over extra-provincial structures address the fundamental divide over sexual orientation in the church, or the hurt it has caused people like Jo Belser. Frank Griswold says that most Episcopalians are neither outraged nor exultant at the election of Gene Robinson rather, they are confused. That certainly seems true in Virginia. Most of its 189 parishes are fitfully trying to come to terms with the seismic events of the past few months. In sermons, forums and Bible-study groups, parishioners have been discussing, arguing and educating themselves about the rightful place of gays and lesbians in a church that for two millennia has shunned them. However great their differences, most seem to feel that the Episcopal tent is large enough to accommodate them all.     In my conversation with Bishop Lee, I asked when he thought Virginia might ordain a gay or lesbian priest. We already have, he said, noting that a half-dozen or so clergy members -- some of whom he had ordained -- had already come out to him privately. The bishop remains opposed to ordaining noncelibate gays, because of both his own personal resistance and that of his diocese. Heonly willing to go so far. But, he says, I cannot imagine that in 30 years people are going to have difficulty with pastors in any mainstream denomination ordaining gays who are in committed relations.     Reflecting on the events of the past few months, Lee said that, for all the pain they’ve caused, they’ve deepened my prayer life. And I like to think that down the road Ill be remembered as a bishop who did the right thing, who brought the diocese through a difficult time and who helped find a way to let people live together with their differences.     Michael Massing is writing a book about the rivalry between Erasmus and Martin Luther and how it shaped European history.     *****

(Part Three)    By David W. Virtue VIRTUOSITY     Tensions heightened in the Diocese of New Westminster when the bishop, Michael Ingham delivered his final ultimatum to the Vancouver 11 and their eight parishes - reject Yukon Bishop Terence Buckle offer of spiritual sanctuary and accept my authority, or I will throw the lot of you out of your parishes and out of the Anglican Church of Canada. Declare your obedience or face discipline, he told the faithful. The Anglican Church in New Westminster (ACiNW) - that core of faithful parishes responded telling Ingham, in so many words, NUTS. We will not surrender to accommodate your miserable sexual morality.     The CANADIAN ESSENTIALS GROUP asked the House of Bishops to accept Bishop Buckle’s offer of alternative episcopal oversight saying it would make it possible for them to remain within the Anglican Church of Canada.     But Vancouver-based Bishop Michael Ingham appointed Bishop William Hockin, 64, the soon to be retired diocesan Bishop of Fredericton, New Brunswick as an episcopal visitor to parishes that oppose the Diocese of New Westminster decision to bless same-sex unions and feel themselves adversely affected. The Episcopal Visitor measure was offered as a part of the blessing motion at the Synod 2002 in New Westminster. The eight parishes rejected it then, and have continued rejecting it ever since.     But Hockin, along with several traditional Bishops from Canada and the United States did urge the Diocese of New Westminster not to proceed with a rite of blessing for same sex unions. But the central core of the problem was that Bishop Terry Buckle (Yukon) offered Ingham oversight WITH JURISDICTION for the beleaguered eight. That was not what Ingham was offering Hockin. The truth we all learned was that Ingham would not yield an inch on jurisdiction to Buckle or anyone.     Archbishop David Crawley, British Columbia metropolitan started disciplinary action against Bishop Buckle even though Bishop Buckle had done nothing except make an offer.     Canadian Primate Michael Peers perhaps feeling the pressure announced he would resign.     Canon Bill Atwood, EKKLESIA, an international organization linking Western orthodox and Global South bishops said what was needed now was not parallel jurisdiction, but replacement jurisdiction. Certainly, the church was heading in that direction.     The CHURCH OF ENGLAND was told to rethink its bar on sex before marriage. The C of E was told it should consider changing its teaching on sex before marriage and preach that cohabitation should be viewed as a new path from the single state to the married one.     And ANGLICANS ONLINE offered an unqualified apology to the Jensens of Sydney, for its editorial blast at the two men. The Rev. David C. James came out with an unqualified apology saying,We were out of place to express an opinion of that nature. Our motives were pure, as we expect that the Jensens were, too, and any differences that we might or might not have with the way a diocese is operating, we should keep to ourselves or communicate in private.     The Bishop of Jos, NIGERIA, Benjamin Kwashi weighed in on Bishop Bennison’s outrageous remark that Jesus was a sinner and wrote VIRTUOSITY saying, This only goes to show that the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan (Bishop of Pittsburgh) was right! It also further proves Fr. David Moyer (Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont) was right. The [Episcopal] Church is definitely in trouble and Bennison is only a symptom. His statement will be unacceptable to Islam and one wonders who he wants to please. This is shocking and a pity,mene, mene, tekel, peres.     The House of Bishop Theology Report, which nixed same-sex rites for homosexuals truly gored the ox of the Rev. Michael Hopkins, president of Integrity. He like Louie Crew was outraged at the report and said he and the Claiming the Blessing crowd, were struck by the scant amount of theology contained in a report which defines itself as theological. Hopkins said the terms gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people were accepted by the world-wide LGBT community to describe the rich diversity of our own reality.     THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY convened a three-day meeting of Christian and Muslim scholars in Doha, in the Gulf state of Qatar. Dr Williams said the seminar, Building Bridges, was a clear demonstration that we do not have to be imprisoned in mutual hostility and misunderstanding. About 30 scholars attended the meeting, which was a follow-up to one held in Lambeth Palace in January 2002 by Lord Carey, when he was still Archbishop.     Then came shattering news revealed by Dr. Kirk Hadaway, Director of Research at the Episcopal Church Center, that the typical Episcopal congregation had average Sunday attendance of 80 persons. It is the typical Episcopal Church that has been our primary source of growth during the last decade. Not very heartening news, but then if you don’t have a discernible gospel to declare why should bishops and priests believe that people are going to knock down the doors looking for New Life when none is to be found?     The episcopal left blind-sided by the U.S. victory in Iraq took a body blow in the person of its arch-defender Frank Griswold when the television image of the caste iron figure of Saddam Hussein fell to the ground. The elitist left in the ECUSA establishment got mud all over their collective faces when it was finally apparent to the world that the US forces of liberation had won a war with unbelievably light American casualties.   CATHOLIC AND EPISCOPALIANS proposed joint-bishop meetings to foster Christian unity. The idea was part of the Americans response to a 1999 report on church authority produced in international talks between the Vatican and the Anglican Communion (in which the Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch). The American paper said Episcopal and Anglican bishops should accompany Roman Catholic colleagues when they make their periodic reports to the pope and attend Vatican synods, and participate in meetings of the U.S. bishops conference with a voice but no vote. Similarly, Catholic bishops would join regular meetings of Episcopal and Anglican bishops. On the authority issue, the paper says are formed understanding and practice of the papacy is needed for reunion, and that Anglicans have problems with Catholic views of infallible teaching and lay participation     This all later collapsed when the openly homosexual V. Gene Robinson was consecrated Bishop of New Hampshire.     The DIOCESE OF MICHIGAN voted at their diocesan convention for same-sex unions in disobedience to world Anglican opinion.     In a message to the 8th Anglican Indigenous Network (AIN) Meeting in New Zealand, Frank Griswold said, A gift of our Anglican Communion is that we are able to come together to share in one another realities and contacts, and therefore have a better understanding of how Christ moved throughout the world.     The search for a new Bishop of NEW HAMPSHIRE heated up with some interesting candidates. The most interesting was of course, V. Gene Robinson the current Canon to the Ordinary, an openly homosexual man who announced his divorce to his wife at a Eucharist, and later moved in with his new male lover, became Dean and now wanted to be a bishop.   THE AMERICAN ANGLICAN COUNCIL the conservative wing of the ECUSA, and the Claiming the Blessing/Integrity leaders met in Maryland with the leaders agreeing to be nice to one another when they met at GC2003 in Minneapolis. Both sides would present their respective points of view at GC03, but they acknowledged that the struggle was going to be difficult for everyone.     Movements and rumblings in the ANGLICAN CONTINUUM continued with Archbishop Louis Falk resigning as head of the Traditional Anglican Communion, the largest of the international Continuing Church groups. The TAC has 80,000 followers in India and another 80,000 in South Africa and about 3,000 in the U.S. Other TAC members can be found in Australia, Torres Strait, England, Canada with missions in the US and Puerto Rico, Central America, Mexico and Columbia. The new Primate John Hepworth of Australia was named to replace him.     Inter communion relations progressed with closer ties between two longtime--and long- divided--Continuing Church bodies - the Anglican Catholic Church (ACC) Metropolitan, Archbishop-Brother John- Charles FODC, recently called on his entire flock to pray for the leaders of both the ACC and the Anglican Province of Christ the King (APCK), whose leader Archbishop Robert Morse also sought to heal damaged relations between the two bodies and pave the way for mutual work...in fulfilling our joint mission.   But a split occurred in the APCK with members, forming the Diocese of the Holy Cross moving for the establishment of a free or third province for English traditionalists with Forward in Faith, UK (FIF-UK).     In RIDGECREST, North Carolina 1,000 Episcopalians and Anglicans from a dozen Anglican provinces, 30 Episcopal dioceses, two seminaries, over a dozen Episcopal bishops and another dozen bishops from overseas, 200 clergy and hundreds of laity came together to explore ways to be obedient to the Great Commission, proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, make disciples, build the kingdom and plant churches. New Wineskins for Global Mission 2003, sponsored by the Episcopal Church Missionary Community, Ambridge, PA has become the most ambitious and successful Episcopal Mission outreach in the ECUSA today.     Lady Caroline Cox a feisty British Baroness and a world authority on Christian persecution gave a moving presentation on the persecution of Christians in the Sudan.   She blasted President George W. Bush for reneging on the US hard line policy against the Government of the Sudan opposing the slaughter of Christians in the southern part of that country. She said the Bush administration had gone back on its policy of no compromise with the government while it continues to slaughter Christians in the south over oil and religion and a petition was drawn which was forwarded to the White House.     The CANADIAN HOUSE OF BISHOPS thumbed their collective noses at the wider Anglican Communion by repudiating their own guidelines and Lambeth, which forbade the blessing of same-sex unions. Some revisionist like BC Archbishop David Crawley (a 100 percent Ingham supporter) said he was not worried at all about the views of Primates from around the world and how upset they were. Many orthodox bishops in the Canadian House were sickened, appalled and infuriated by the decision.     The Bishop of Pennsylvania, Charles Bennison tasted more of his own shoe leather by  comparing God to Saddam Hussein saying God uses Weapons of Mass Destruction. The flood was the first weapons of mass destruction. His mouth became a WID - Weapon of Individual Destruction. Bennison then proceeded to moderate a meeting at the Prince Music Theatre in Philadelphia, which included a gay rabbi, the first openly gay ordained Episcopal priest and a Muslim homosexual. It was part of what used to be called PrideFest. His actions only alienated him further from the orthodox in his diocese.     DEPOSED MEXICAN BISHOP said he was innocent of stealing more than $1 million dollars. The Bishop of Northern Mexico, the Rt. Rev. German Martinez Marquez wrote a letter to the US Episcopal Church saying that he was innocent of the charges of grand larceny leveled at him by a fellow bishop, and urged the Episcopal Church to send funds to support he and his family. Both he and the Archbishop and Primate of Mexico Samuel Espinoza were found guilty of the theft of millions of dollars over a period of years money given by the ECUSA and were deposed.     BY MID YEAR it was apparent The Episcopal Church was caught in three great crises. The first was a crisis of false teaching, the second was a crisis of catholic order, and thirdly a crisis of courage. Nothing was solved, the crisis got worse as the year progressed.     The Archbishop of Canterbury, perhaps seeing the writing on the wall dropped a bombshell while in New York City talking up Benedictine spirituality. In a private conversation with ECUSA Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, he asked him, are we a federation of churches or a communion? He raised the question just prior to the meeting of the Primates in Brazil.     The Anglican Church of Canada acknowledged that it had closed 954 churches of which 526 were closed between 1992 -1994 (almost 5 a week and very close to one every day). And while this was going on in Canada, the Church of the Province of Nigeria was adding literally millions of new Anglican believers with whole new dioceses, bishops and archbishops. This prompted Fr. Charles Nalls, a priest and head of the Canon Law Institute, in Washington, D.C. to say thatreal communion means real relationship real relationship means workable discipline. None was forthcoming.     ST. JAMES THE LESS in Philadelphia closed its school doors because of the litigation by Bishop Bennison. Fr. David Ousley, parish priest and headmaster of the school still faces being tossed out of his parish and rectory. His case is on appeal.     The British queen’s representative in AUSTRALIA. Peter Hollingworth stepped down over rape claims. Hollingworth, 68, denied the rape, which allegedly happened in the 1960s but only surfaced this year. His accuser, Rosemarie Anne Jarmyn, 57, committed suicide.     Integrity Uganda, a knock-off of ECUSA sodomite organization and a plant on African soil, fabricated a false Griswold invitation and put out a press release saying that they had been asked by the Archbishop of Uganda to be part of the welcoming committee for ECUSA Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold when he came in June. Virtuosity smelt a rat and got the truth. The Anglican Archbishop totally repudiated any such offer and Canon Stanley Ntagali wrote and told Virtuosity that it was all a fabrication.     THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION38 Primates representing some 70 million Anglicans globally gathered in Gramado, Brazil to contemplate their future together as an undivided communion.     Prior to the Gramado meeting a group of African archbishops, known as CAPA - the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa - met behind closed doors in Sao Paulo, with only a handful of the archbishops aware that such a meeting was taking place. CAPA is comprised of all the provinces of Africa, though only seven Primates were present at this meeting. CAPA was formed to provide links for common concerns for the Anglican provinces in Africa. They met very discretely in San Paulo a day before the Primates gathered in Gramado to weigh the implications of the book True Union in the Body and the possibility of broken communion if Western provinces continue to perform same-sex marriages. There was clear agreement that the same-sex agenda had the capacity to split the communion.     THE 36 ARCHBISHOPS met in the Serrano hotel in their first closed-door meeting where Archbishop Drexel Gomez (West Indies) made a brilliant presentation speaking for 30 minutes on the book True Union in the Body which came down hard and fast against same-sex marriages and the blessing of same.     After considerable discussion the PRIMATES declared rites for same-sex unions unacceptable. The Primates said in a Pastoral Letter that rites for same-sex unions have no theological consensus, and therefore, we as a body cannot support the authorization of such rites. The question of public rites for the blessing of same sex unions was still a cause of potentially divisive controversy, they declared. The Archbishop of Canterbury confirmed that there was no theological consensus about same sex unions.     An Integrity response to the Pastoral Letter from the Primates of the Anglican Communion condemned the report arguing that their stories were not heard.

YEAR IN REVIEW – 2004 – Part Two   By David W. Virtue   Part Two     Frank Griswold continued to put his foot in his mouth, this time the boot belonged to former President George W. Bush who took an implied swing at Frank Griswold in a brief speech about the 15 billion dollars the United States, courtesy of the American taxpayer, will pour into fighting global AIDS. Two US presidents had now publicly smacked a sitting Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church - the first in recorded history.   In order to do damage control for his outrageous remarks, Griswold tried to spin his own words, and in private correspondence to President Bush wrote My comments were taken out of a larger context and had to do with my international travels as Presiding Bishop and my opportunities to meet with bishops and archbishops in other part of our worldwide Anglican Communion many in countries overwhelmed by poverty and disease.     Lies and nonsense. If he was so misunderstood why didn’t he return President George Herbert Bush phone call to his New York office? He didn’t. Griswold said he was out of the country and couldn’t return the call. No call forwarding at 815? Aware that he had blown it, Griswold wrote a form letter to all who expressed outrage at him saying, These are anxious days as war with Iraq is an ever-present possibility and our economy causes grave concern. We are profoundly aware of our personal and collective vulnerabilities. Only his revisionist pals bought that line.   Two bishops, The Rt. Rev. Claude E. Payne (Texas) and the Rt. Rev. Don A. Wimberly wrote saying that while many have taken offense at Bishop Griswold’s rhetoric, no one is compelled to agree with him totally or at all. He followed his conscience in making the remarks. Some conscience.     Episcopalians for Traditional Faith urged Griswold to apologize for his anti-American slurs saying he had embarrassed Episcopalians everywhere. His anti-American comments are entirely inappropriate for someone who owes his position and good fortune to the very nation he publicly rebukes. Instead of defending the Faith against those who hate us, he seems reluctant even to mention that faith, said Jan Mahood president of ETF.     The American Anglican Council (AAC) emerged as the organization of choice for Evangelical Episcopalians in 2003 and quickly voiced its support for Bush pledge of funds to combat AIDS on the African Continent and in the Caribbean.     The British-based CHURCH SOCIETY took another swing at the Archbishop of Canterbury warning of the threat of false teachers in the church. We are confident that if false teaching is refuted by our appointed leaders then the pressure that exists to seek alternative oversight will evaporate. Last year, the Church Society criticized the Archbishop himself for false teaching.     And some 30 US denominations agreed in a proposal to create the broadest alliance of Christians ever formed in this country. The steering committee of the budding effort, tentatively called Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. invited a wide range of national church bodies and agencies with five segments of U.S. Christianity, listed in the plan as Evangelical/Pentecostal, Historic protestant, Orthodox, Racial/Ethnic and Roman Catholic. The Catholic Church and most evangelicals and Pentecostals do not belong to the National Council of Churches, now the largest U.S. ecumenical group but in serious decline. There was one sticking point The nation’s largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, was reluctant to join though it had an observer at the meeting. The alliance gathered groups that believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as God and savior according to the Scriptures and worship and serve One God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.     In Pittsburgh, the Bishop, Robert Duncan announced that Trinity Cathedral was in serious financial troubled describing the situation as bleak to alarming and declared it a transitional parish, firing most of the staff. The Dean, the Very Rev. Richard P. Pocalyko resigned. There were no plans to replace him.     In other Episcopal news the Dean of the University of the South School of Theology in Sewanee, The Very Rev. Guy F. Lytle III , an orthodox theologian, stepped down as dean over allegations that he sexually harassed a student but would remain on the school faculty after taking a leave of absence. This action against the dean subsequently turned out to be more political and theological in nature with the Dean coming under fire because he was orthodox in faith and morals, facing revolt from a growing liberal/revisionist faculty.     The San Francisco parish of St. Johns, a predominantly gay parish, was torn apart by ecstasy-fueled rave dances and reached a new ecstasy level with Episcopal Bishop William Swing accepting the resignation of its rector, the Rev. Kevin Pearson, and ending the Divine Rhythm Society all night dance and drug-related antics. The vestry resigned as well. The bishop said he was especially concerned about parish drug use in light of the recent deaths of two participants at an unrelated New Year’s Eve dance party at the Cow Palace. The rector reportedly said, “We use entheogens to reach for God, not to get high.” Really.     In the DIOCESE OF PENNSYLVANIA, the prestigious and venerable 217-year old Episcopal Academy announced it would have workshops on homosexual acceptance, with the tacit approval of the head teacher Mr. Hamilton Clark and the Bishop of Pennsylvania Charles E. Bennison. A national homosexual organization called GLSEN - Gay and Lesbian Straight Education Network which actively promotes homosexuality was doing so right inside the Episcopal Academy on Philadelphia pampered mainline.     The Episcopal Church Executive Council convened Jan. 27-30 in the Dominican Republic got into power issues with a Separation of Powers resolution passed that would keep separate fiduciary and executive responsibilities assigned to Executive Council.     At issue was the sudden collapse of negotiations to relocate the Church Center from its current mid-Manhattan location to the campus of the General Theological Seminary about 20 blocks further southwest. Frank Griswold was on the hot seat and in deep trouble because he was told to implement and facilitate the move to General Theological Seminary and at the last moment brushed it aside for what he calls his missional objectives. What happened was that inside policy wonks at 815 could see their power evaporate in a puff of smoke if a move was made and Griswold nixed it. It was an enormous power struggle with Griswold on the hot seat.     A group calling itself Claiming the Blessing a coalition of pansexual forces announced it was building a third of a million-dollar war chest to promote liturgical rites for same-sex blessings at the upcoming GC2003. This was just the beginning a campaign to promote sodomy at all levels in the church, with the triumph of V. Gene Robinson consecration as the next Bishop of New Hampshire.     In the Church of England, the Queen approved the nomination of Reverend Canon of Dr Nicholas Thomas Wright, Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey, to be the next Bishop of Durham. Tom Wright, as he is better known to most Anglicans is a prolific author and debater, who appears regularly on the circuit defending orthodoxy with rival and debating pal Marcus Borg over whether the New Testament accounts of a divine Jesus were myth or history.     And in Raleigh, NC, St. Andrew pled her case in front of the NC Court of Appeals for their property.  ECUSA Bishop Clifton Daniel III, of East Carolina wanted the property and spared no effort or money, to take it back from the Rev. King Cole and his AMIA followers. The bishop ultimately won, but got a virtually empty parish for his troubles.     The new ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY gave an interview to the London Telegraph and said basically No to same sex blessings.     Questioned on why some evangelicals seem to be very worried about him and did he understand why? The archbishop opined that underlying problem was that they had difficulty with what they thought he believed about Scripture and Revelation.     Because I have emphasized in some of what I have written the sheer difficulty of talking about God, they have thought I cant have a doctrine of Revelation, I must be agnostic. I would want to put it exactly the other way around. It is precisely that it is because it is   God that is revealed in Jesus Christ that you would expect some difficulties in talking about it.     Questioned on his left wing social commitments Williams had this to say My Left-wing commitments have come from two main impulses which have been deep anxiety and unhappiness and distaste about the individualism which has sometimes characterized the Right in the last two or three decades and something which I suppose does come from  deep in the Welsh non-conformist tradition, not pacifism exactly, but a deep-rooted internationalism which makes me extremely skeptical about war as a solution to international problems.     Heir to the throne Prince Charles said he must be Defender of Faith, and not simply Defender of The Faith. His remarriage was also not a done-deal and his living in sin was found to be something of an impediment to orthodox folks who felt that his living arrangement with Camella Parker Bowles still rated a concern.     ECUSA Integrity organization for homosexual acceptance found its counterpart in an organization called Changing Attitudes set up in the Church of England. An Anglican priest Colin Coward and claims 200 Anglican members established the group. They are being funded by charity money raised from the National Lottery and Comic Relief, a telethon program which was originally set up to raise money for children dying from hunger in Africa.     World Anglican leaders condemned the war on Iraq stepping up to the plate to condemn the US going to war unless sanctioned by the United Nations. Those criticizing US foreign policy were American, England, Canadian and Australian leaders who are, for the most part, theologically and socially liberal. The UN has become the new secular god to which everyone must bow regardless of its morality. It also signaled a complete handover of moral decision making and authority to this organization known more for compromise than legitimate peace.  ECUSA Peacenik Presiding Bishop told The Chicago Sun-Times  that we are in a state of corporate desolation. Speaking at an Episcopal conference called. Will Our Faith Have children? Griswold opined that the only sense of community we have now is shared fear or anxiety. He asked rhetorically, Will our children have a world?   To keep the pressure for peace on the front burner, the new Bishop of Washington, John Chane zipped across the Atlantic to have a chat with British Prime Minister Tony Blair to try and persuade him to see the peaceful light and to help our President see the same light also. The light bulb he shone had low wattage. The UK and US went to war anyway and won it.     In the DIOCESE OF LONG ISLAND Bishop Orris Walker tried to secretly reinstate a priest, one Lloyd Andries, formerly of St. Gabriels, Brooklyn who was exposed in a 1996 Penthouse story, The Boys from Brazil. This story revealed a secret cadre of gay and bisexual cross- dressing Episcopal priests whose private lives included the most bizarre rituals imaginable and prompted the priest to resign from his parish. Andries even married one of his Brazilian boys. The bishop wanted him back as a supply priest and got the Diocesan Standing Committee in secret, to make it happen. It all fell apart when a number of diocesan priests got wind of it and Walker could not get enough bishops to sign on to his stupid idea. It died. Four contiguous dioceses had to give their approval for the reinstatement  with Bishop Daniel Herzog (Diocese of Albany) refusing to do so.     And in the DIOCESE OF OREGON one of the candidates looking to be the next bishop said he went around with a ventriloquist Dummy called Dexter to enhance his sermons.   Being light in the loafers as a bishop is one thing, and acting like a dummy is quite another the marvelous feat is managing to be both.     NORTH OF THE US BORDER in Canada talks broke down between The Diocese of New Westminster and representatives of the eight orthodox parishes. Revisionist Bishop Michael Ingham blamed the dissident parishes saying the parishes wanted to talk about separation, not reconciliation. Not true said representatives of the parishes, that interpretation was entirely false. But a group of clergy and lay leaders from the DIOCESE OF ALGOMA in the Province of Ontario sent a letter to Bishop Ingham and the lay leadership of the Diocese of New Westminster arguing that marriage was strictly for heterosexuals and the Diocese and bishop had no business changing the church teaching. The eight parishes then hosted Chuck Murphy, Bishop of the Anglican Mission in America to Vancouver, and several of the ACiNW priests were in Pawleys Island, SC at the AMIA headquarters to listen and talk things over at their annual gathering. AMIA leaders came in support of Bishop Buckle with an oversight resolution arguing that overlapping jurisdictions within the Communion were a good thing. FORWARD IN FAITH stepped up to the plate to stand with the eight orthodox parishes commending them for their faithful commitment to Biblical Faith. We see this action as being completely in line with the call for alternative oversight from the Lambeth Conference of 1998, and with that of the Primates Meeting of 2001. We urge all bishops, especially in the USA and in Canada, to support Bishop Buckle in his stand, they said.     THE ENTHRONEMENT of the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, took place at Canterbury Cathedral, England, on February 27 at 3 p.m. beginning a new era following the Evangelical George Carey. A demonstration by a number of British, Canadian and US orthodox priests was held in support of traditional teaching. Several priests wore black armbands outside Canterbury Cathedral in protest. It was an action to show positive support for traditional teaching rather than as a protest or demonstration since the latter automatically seems to portray those protesting in a negative light, said the dissenters.     While the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams was being enthroned another drama was being played out down the street. A number of Primates including the Archbishop of West Indies, The Most Revd Drexel Wellington Gomez, the Archbishop of Central Africa The Most Revd Bernard Amos Malango, the Archbishop of Kenya The Most Revd Benjamin M. P. Nzimbi, the Archbishop of Congo, The Most Revd Dr. Fidele Balufuga Dirokpa the Archbishop of Rwanda, The Most Revd Emmanuel Musaba Kolini and the Archbishop of South East Asia, the Most Revd Datuk Yong Ping Chung met to discuss the unfolding situation in the Diocese of New Westminster where eight parishes are under siege from New Westminster Bishop Michael Ingham.     These parishes are being asked to violate their consciences and Holy Scripture by having to agree with their bishop on blessing same-sex unions. They wont. There were in fact two meetings one in a hotel and the other at St. Mary Bredin Church in Canterbury, and the sole question on their minds was how to provide alternative oversight for the New Westminster 8. Also present was a member of the Anglican Communion in New Westminster (ACiNW) Paul Carter who was seeking to get the involvement of the Primates.   As it turned out, an historic breakthrough came in the person of the Bishop of the Yukon, the Rt. Rev. Terence O. Buckle who swept down from the North like a knight in shining armor to offer alternative Episcopal oversight to these New Westminster parishes, and he did so with the full support of these overseas Primates. Bishop Buckle submitted an offer to the Bishop of New Westminster to provide alternative episcopal oversight to the parishes of the ACiNW, and to other orthodox parishes in the diocese that may wish to join the ACiNW in the future. But this went over like a lead balloon and Michael Ingham immediately fought back saying he would inhibit Buckle if he so much as stepped foot in the Diocese of New Westminster.     IN a report from England the ax was out for bishops in the C of E facing catastrophic decline. Bishops were being urged to resign over the Church decline with a report saying that its decline is far greater than its leadership is willing to admit. It says that the Church collapse isa cross the board and calls on the bishops to take responsibility and go.     IN SOUTH AFRICA, the Dean of St. George Cathedral in Cape Town came out of the closet and declared himself a homosexual. The Very Reverend Rowan Smith said he hoped and prayed that one-day he and his partner would be able to enter into a homosexual relationship blessed by the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (CPSA). This is the first known case of a high cleric in the Anglican Church on the African continent being outed, and in a country which has the highest incidence of AIDS in Africa and in the most liberal African province.     SEWANEE SEMINARY was exposed as dysfunctional by Virtuosity with an independent report saying the faculty was so divided there seemed little hope of the institution emerging from its problems with any resolution in the foreseeable future. At the center of the storm, for the past 11 years, was the strong, able figure of Dean Guy Lytle III, who had come under repeated hostile fire from a number of theologically liberal faculty who have wanted him removed from the University of the South seminary because of his orthodox views. Seminary leaders started to spin my story on their dysfunction. They circled the wagons putting out this statement to all Faculty and Staff of the University of the South saying We, the faculty and senior administrators of the School of Theology of the University of the South, wish to make known the following We are aware of fallacious and ill-informed criticisms of the faculty both as a whole and as individuals.  We regard such comments as a calumny that applies to all of us. While making no claim to perfection, we affirm our ability to work together and celebrate our differences as expressions of the vitality of thought required by scholarship and the spirit of inquiry preserved through Sewanee’s rich tradition of academic freedom.     FIRST TALKS aimed at healing the breach between The Reformed Episcopal Church, The Anglican Province of America and The Anglican Church in America began, with news that Donald Perschall, Presiding Bishop of the American Anglican Church (AAC) had gone over to the Episcopal Church to become rector of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Mount Vernon, Illinois.     But homosexual misbehavior continued on the radar screen of ECUSA and in Texas the Episcopal Church joined with a number of homosexual advocacy groups to seek repeal of the state of Texas anti-sodomy statute in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Griswold filed an amici (friend of the court) brief on behalf of a Texas man accused of violating the state statute prohibiting homosexual conduct, the Episcopal News Service reported March 7. The matter has become a cause celebre among homosexual activists.     THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION continued to roil from crisis to crisis. From the UK to Cyprus, from Australia to Vancouver, from Tennessee to Pennsylvania the Anglican Communion twisted and turned.     IN CYPRUS, delegates from around the Communion meeting at the Anglican Communion Mission Organizations heard The Revd. Riaj Jarjour, General Secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches, remind delegates that the mission of Jesus was to restore the dignity and worth of all and set free a groaning creation. We need a mission to Muslims, not to bring people to Christ but to proclaim Christ, Jesus the peacemaker, Jesus who came with justice and Jesus the reconciler.   IN AUSTRALIA the new Dean of Sydney St. Andrew’s Anglican Cathedral, Philip Jensen, made a striking debut. In his inaugural sermon at the cathedral, Dean Phillip Jensen - brother to the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Dr. Peter Jensen - attacked what he saw as excessive relativism in the media treatment of Hinduism, Judaism, Islam and Christianity. They cant all be right, he argued. The media called him a Fundamentalist and out of step with contemporary thought.     AND IN VANCOUVER, the Dissident 8 received public support from the American Anglican Council (AAC) the evangelical wing of The Episcopal Church USA. They came out with a statement applauding the Bishop of Yukon (Canada) Terence Buckle for offering sustained pastoral care to New Westminster parishes. The parishes voted overwhelmingly to accept Yukon Bishop Terry Buckle offer of Alternative Episcopal Oversight. The decision allowed Buckle to act as an alternative bishop with full jurisdiction for those parishes that were effectively orphaned by the decision of their diocese governing body and Bishop in June 2002 to bless same-sex unions. The congregations - all of them members of the Anglican Communion in New Westminster (ACiNW) coalition -- also approved a motion offering to enter a discussion with the Bishop of New Westminster, the Rt. Rev. Michael Ingham, to implement the plan with a view to maintaining peace, harmony and goodwill between the parties. The motion passed with an average 98% majority in each of the parishes, including Canada’s largest Anglican church, St. John(Shaughnessy), as well as all the Chinese congregations in the Diocese. But Bishop Michael Ingham told the CBC that there was no change in his position to accept such oversight. He threatened to make a presentment against Bishop Buckle or anyone else who intervened in his diocese.     AND IN PENNSYLVANIA Bishop Charles E. Bennison won another round in his fight to take back parishes that wanted to uphold the catholic faith. St. James the Less in Philadelphia got plastered by the judge and the parish was told it had to turn over its property and the rector leave the parish manse to the bishop, who can then put in his own vestry and rector. The parish appealed but by year end they were still meeting in their church, though their future remains uncertain.     THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH’S wish list to double the church by 20/20 came under scrutiny by Virtuosity when it was learned that some $2 million was being thrown at this ministry to make this fantasy come true. The Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, earmarked $2 million dollars to address 20/20 energies. That’s a lot of expensive energies. The national church budget, all $125 million plus dollars will also provide funds for a national identity campaign with a bunch of ads telling people who we are corporately.     The HOUSE OF BISHOPS issued a pastoral letter on the pending war with Iraq expressing unhappiness at the Bush administration, urging peace and prayer all around.   As your bishops, we commit ourselves to adopt a discipline of fasting and prayer for the return of peace.     But an editorial in ANGLICANS ONLINE a news service with 200,000 readers with a strong liberal bent, made the observation about the war in Iraq which they opposed saying We see the first as proof that Satan is real and present, and the second as proof that God is real and present. Such is our life and our world an omnipresent God and an omnipresent Satan.     The HOUSE OF BISHOPS THEOLOGY COMMITTEE issued a report which said no to same-sex rites. The committee, which consisted of thirteen persons including six bishops and seven academic theologians representing diverse theological viewpoints, wrote that while they acknowledged deep diversity and division over homosexuality in the church, it was imperative that the Episcopal Church refrain from any attempt to settle the matter legislatively.     Archbishop Williams in a pastoral letter to Anglican Primates expressing his concerns about the conflict in Iraq and his hope for a positive future for the region. In his letter to the Primates of the Anglican Church38 Provinces, Dr Williams spoke of his concern for Christian communities of the Middle East, and of his prayers for them and their neighbours of other faiths. Acknowledging Iraq as the homeland of Abraham, Dr Williams also voiced hopes for reconciliation and justice in the region.     FORWARD IN FAITH called on Griswold to provide episcopal pastoral care for the orthodox in ECUSA. In a letter they called upon him to use his considerable influence   to bring this proposal to fruition. However, we would be less than forthright with you, and fail in our responsibility to those we represent, if we did not go on to say that the House of Bishops proposal for supplemental episcopal pastoral care seems to us to fall far short of the appropriate episcopal care which the Communion has promised and our constituency requires. The issue of pastoral care become a recurring issue throughout the year.     A British bishop broke rank to back the Iraqi war. The Bishop of Chester, the Rt Rev Peter Forster, lent his unqualified support to military action, saying it was morally and legally justifiable. His statement echoed comments by the Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Rev John Oliver, that military action had become the least morally repugnant option. Support from the senior clerics cheered No 10.     Sydney Archbishop Peter Jensen called for a speedy and just resolution to the Iraqi War saying the outbreak of war in Iraq constituted a solemn moment, with many dangers and threats and potential for great human suffering.     And UGANDAN Archbishop Mpalanyi Nkoyooyo of the Anglican Church of Uganda and Simeon Kayiwa, leader of the National Fellowship of the Born Again Churches of Uganda, said the attack on Iraq was justified. Saddam Hussein has been a dictator for too long, committing atrocities even on his own people, Nkoyooyo said. He also said the Government was right to support America.     The bishop’s Gift of Sexuality Theology report of the House of Bishops was welcomed by the AAC saying that though we don’t agree with every element of this report, it is apparent that the Bishops have offered measured and thoughtful recommendations intended to prevent schism in both the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion, said the Very Rev. David C. Anderson.  Episcopalians United under the leadership of the Rev. Todd H. Wetzel also supported the findings of the HOB Theology report.     The UNITED ANGLICAN CHURCH that had earlier set about merging with the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) decided that such a merger was not possible. The UAC left the TAC citing TAC collaborative decision making.   And to round off the mad month of March, Pennsylvania Bishop Charles Bennison wrote in the Pennsylvania Episcopalian that Jesus was Sinner. The revisionist bishop who had denied a number of basic doctrines of the Christian Faith, said that while Jesus forgives sins, He acknowledges his own sin. His call is to preach repentance and forgiveness.   Bennison, who supplanted former Bishop Newark Bishop Jack Spong as ECUSA leading revisionist had also written a Visigoth Rite of marriage for both heterosexuals and homosexuals had also failed to affirm basic doctrines of the Christian Faith such as the bodily resurrection of Jesus, the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the only way of obtaining salvation, the authority of Scripture and more.     END OF PART TWO   ***

COMMENTARY   By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org May 5, 2025   The Anglican Church in Canada is in deep trouble. Its very future is at stake. By any reckoning it is on life support.   A panel of Anglican experts recently outlined six paths to ‘big change’ in church. A commission wrote a 48-page document offering six pathways along which the church could organize work to update and strip down its governance to improve efficiency, clarity and inclusion.   The church’s acting primate urged Anglicans to join the work of transformation. The church is approaching a time of important decisions—one which Anglicans can and should embrace with hope, Archbishop Anne Germond, acting primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, told Council of General Synod (CoGS). Her comments came as a commission established by former primate Archbishop Linda Nicholls recommended major cuts to the size of the church’s organizational committees and governing bodies.   The commission’s recommendations are aimed at adapting the church to the needs of a smaller membership and a 21st-century social and political landscape, said the report. However, the lay representative of the ecclesiastical province of the Northern Lights, described it as a “chainsaw approach” to rapid cuts.   All this is code for ‘we don’t have enough money coming in to keep the bureaucracy going and the lights.’ Here are the data for average Sunday attendance.   In 2001 it was 162,000, by 2019 it was 87,000, by 2022 it was 65,000. Would anyone be surprised if today, in 2025, it was under 50,000! How could a church be sinking this rapidly last beyond 2040!   These are truly remarkable numbers. A church already in steep decline saw that decline speed up during COVID. Attendance in 2022 was 40 percent of attendance in 2001. And between 2019 and 2022, the ACoC lost a quarter of its Sunday attendance.   As The Living Church noted, this is not a church “in decline” or “close to collapse.”  This is what collapse looks like.  All the trends show that this decline will continue.   Decline always begins in the pulpit. An uncertain sound brings uncertain results. It always ends in unbelief and ultimately flight. If the church does not have a coherent message because it doesn’t believe its own beliefs, why in heaven’s name would anybody want to attend. If the Bible is of secondary importance to the culture wars, then the jig is up. Best to close the doors.   The average age of a Canadian Anglican is in the high 60s with boomers being the biggest givers. They will be gone in another decade or so.   The two options are, (1) waiting around to die, or (2) pulling the plug now, selling off the assets for whatever you can get, putting it into the pension plan while you can, and hope that the proceeds continue long enough before dementia sets in and you don’t know the difference.   There are exact parallels with its sister church, The Episcopal Church; the big difference is that TEC still has billions of dollars it can throw at what it euphemistically calls mission, in the hope it will stay in business a little longer. But mission isn’t in accord with Mt. 28, that is, going into all the world to preach the gospel. For the ACoC and TEC it is going into all the world and preaching inclusion of sexual minorities, justice (with any aggrieved group); throwing reparation money at ancient sins, and making sure that trans folk who want a little snip and tuck of vital organs, get it done with the church’s support.   With the sale of cathedrals and churches becoming more common, a new form of “justice” is providing housing for the marginalized and immigrant. That makes vestries feel a lot better about themselves if the money goes to a good cause. God forbid that the priest and laity should actually “gossip the gospel”, definitely not inclusive enough. Such a narrow-minded view of things would have the late pope pooping his papal underwear.   But people make the church, not money, and there are no new generations pouring into either Canadian or Episcopal churches to keep the red doors open. Dioceses are beginning to merge as smaller ones shrink and cannot afford either a headquarters or a full-time bishop. It costs a lot to keep a miter on a bishop’s head.   “This is not just tweaks, this is big change,” commission chair Archdeacon Monique Stone told CoGS. At least she had the honesty to admit it.   The Anglican Church of Canada will not be around for your grandchildren. Somebody will leave a plaque under a large Maple tree inscribed with the words; “The last Anglican Church is buried here.”  RIP.   END

A Primer on What They Are, Who Wrote Them, and Why They Matter   By Michael F. Bird May 5, 2025   Dr. Andrew Perrin explores key topics and texts from his new book Lost Words and Forgotten Worlds: Rediscovering the Dead Sea Scrolls.   Crash Course on the Dead Sea Scrolls Maybe you’ve heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Perhaps you’ve heard a “dad joke” about the Dead Sea Squirrels. Either way, these incredible manuscripts and archaeological discoveries warrant an introduction. After all, they are arguably the most impactful discovery of modern times and are unquestionably a discovery of literal biblical significance. This short article is a crash course of “must know” information on the Dead Sea Scrolls answering key questions about when they were found, who wrote them, and what they do (or don’t do) for our understanding of biblical texts and their ancient contexts.   What are the Dead Sea Scrolls and Who Wrote Them? The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of some 930 fragmentary manuscripts discovered in eleven caves off the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. More recent discoveries suggest there are (or were) likely other caves in the Judaean wilderness that held texts. The majority of scroll finds, however, occurred in in the late-1940s through mid-1950s in eleven caves dotting this arid and rugged wilderness near the saltiest body of water on earth, about a half hour drive from Jerusalem.   The Dead Sea Scrolls were copied and/or collected by an ancient Jewish scribal community that lived at the site of Qumran between about 100 BCE to 68 CE. The group was likely part of an Essene movement. Their group separated themselves from wider society and lived out a communal life structured around purity practices, the rhythm and ritual of liturgy, and a fervent expectation of imminent divine rule. All these ideas, practices, and community structures are steeped in, and shaped by, their deep engagement with the Hebrew Scriptures, read through the revelatory and authoritative lens of their “Teacher of Righteousness,” and informed by other emerging traditions, like those associated with Enoch. As such, the collection includes texts that outline the ideas and ideals of the community (sometimes called “sectarian” texts) on a range of topics including liturgy, apocalypticism, scriptural interpretation, and wisdom.   But not all texts are sectarian. The Dead Sea Scrolls include our earliest copies of most books that are later canonized in the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. Esther, for example, is famously absent either by accident or intent. The anthology of writings of the Qumran community also includes several writings that were clearly read by this Essene group but were not written by them. These writings often provide a lens into the thought, life, literature, identities, and history of the wider landscape of ancient Judaism in the mid- to late-Second Temple period (ca. 300 BCE – 68 CE). While the Qumran sectarian documents appear to be all written in Hebrew, the scrolls reflect the linguistic variety of this period with materials penned (or translated) in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.   The end of this period saw the tragic destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans who were quelling a Jewish revolt. This not only resulted in a seismic shift in Jewish culture but also spelled the end for the Qumran community. As the Romans gave chase to a group of Jewish rebels fleeing into the Judaean wilderness, the Qumranites were caught in the cross hairs and swept off the map in a violent battle attested to in the archaeological record by ash and arrow heads at the site of their sectarian home. While there was no doubt many texts and artefacts damaged in this destruction, those tucked away in the caves became an accidental time capsule that remained undiscovered for nearly 2,000 years.   When and How were the Dead Sea Scrolls Discovered? The first Dead Sea Scrolls were initially discovered in 1947. As excitement built around the early finds, more and more ventures were made by both Bedouin folk living in the region and archaeologists attempting to seek and secure more manuscripts in caves in the Judean Desert. The eleven caves that are part of the early discovery history of the scrolls were all identified by January 1956, with the largest one (Cave Four) not identified until August of 1952. Even if you’ve never seen a Dead Sea Scroll or visited the site of Qumran, you might recognize the now iconic image of Cave Four, which has become synonymous with the discoveries. Ironically, it is a stone’s throw away from the Qumran archaeological site—it was literally hiding in plain sight.   Speaking of stones, perhaps you’ve heard the common tale of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It generally goes something like this. A young Bedouin lad was herding goats. As boys are known to do, he was curious, and aimless, tossing stones. Yet when he tossed a stone into the craggy cliffs of the Judaean desert, he heard a “clink.” He either looked or clambered into the cave where the stone landed. His initial reconnaissance mission confirmed this was neither a normal nor empty cave: there were jars, scrolls, and who knows what other treasure (or evil spirits!) might be within. Taking flight with intrigue and adrenaline, he returned to his tribespeople and shared the news of the peculiar yet promising find. He and others would then return later to extract bundles of leather manuscripts. After discussing maybe making sandals of them, the Bedouin opted for turning a profit and began brokering them through an intermediary. This accidental discovery meant the scrolls could be saved and studied by western scholars.   This is a great story but is it fact? That is the question. Even my paraphrase above draws upon elements from a few different yet common versions of the discovery tale. Like all good stories, there are variations and competing versions. Like all great stories, these have now been retold and reshaped down through generations. There is a blend of mythmaking, memory, history, and historiography at play here.   There are basic elements of this narrative that certainly are true. As far as we know, the texts originated in caves though most were not found in situ (that is, in a controlled archaeological dig). Several members of the Ta’amireh Bedouin tribe were crucial in these early discoveries and they continued to play a role in both finding and brokering materials as early scrolls scholars and archaeologists tried to outpace them in their desert going scroll missions.   But when we read the discovery story of the Dead Sea Scrolls alongside other manuscript discoveries from about the same time, like the Nag Hammadi texts, it is clear that these stories are often told with a similar arc: an accidental find, scrolls in jars, caricatured natives looking to exploit the finds, and western scholars swooping as if Indiana Jones to rescue writings of historical, biblical, and theological significance.   Not unlike how the actual texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls require careful interpretation, we can (should and even need to) critically interpret this modern story in order to untangle fact from fable. This also helps provide a new framing for our approach to the Dead Sea Scrolls today. With an outline of what the Dead Sea Scrolls are, and a more nuanced understanding of how these ancient texts emerged in the modern world, we can now encounter them for how they challenged, changed, our confirmed our understanding of the making and meanings of scriptures in their ancient contexts.   What Do the Dead Sea Scrolls Reveal about the Words and Worlds of Scripture? If the first generation or two of scrolls scholars’ primary job was the arduous and detailed work of deciphering what the texts say (transcription and translation), the ongoing work of scrolls scholars is exploring what the texts mean (interpretation and understanding).   The scrolls are revolutionary for both the new texts they revealed as well as the fresh or even unknown contexts they provided for rethinking the historical, textual, cultural dynamics of the Bible. Take the traditional divide between Old Testament and New Testament studies, which, for better or worse, are often siloed from each other in course offerings, publications, departments, and conferences. The scrolls, however, relate deeply to both these domains. As noted above, they include our earliest known biblical manuscripts in their original languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) and crucial to understanding the scribal formation and transmission of Hebrew Scriptures at an early time. A quick sample of fragments from each of these languages hints at their importance.   Starting with Hebrew writings, 4QJeremiaha is among the earliest manuscripts in the entire scrolls collection (dating to about 225-175 BCE). It also happens to have the more corrections or scribal updates than any other writing among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Just take a look at this beautiful sample fragment that has scribal interventions and creativity literally written all over it. What do we make of this? This is a great reminder that scriptures were both copied and shaped by human scribes in this period—they were part of the story. Not only do manuscripts like this help us understand the textual history of Hebrew Scriptures they also reveal the scribal culture that encountered and invested in them.   The Aramaic writings attested in the Qumran collection represent between 10-13% of the Dead Sea Scrolls. These diverse materials reveal Jewish scribes were actively copying, developing, or even translating works in this common language of the ancient Near East. Take, Job, for example. Any student of biblical Hebrew knows, this is a challenging book to translate: the book’s syntax is often tricky and its vocabulary tougher. Perhaps this was also the reason why some ancient scribe(s) rendered Hebrew Job into more approachable Aramaic. Or maybe this translation served a social function such as reading in liturgy or synagogue. Either way, the existence of fragments of portions of Job in Aramaic, such as those found in Caves Four (4QTargumJob) and Eleven (11QTargumJob), are significant for how we understand both scribal innovations and social encounters with this classic book of Hebrew wisdom.   Alexander the Great’s push across the Near East starting in the fourth century BCE brought a new cultural and linguistic element to the equation: Greek. This also sparked the need or opportunity for translating the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, otherwise known as the Septuagint. While most books of the Septuagint have their own dynamics, story, and character, the scrolls once again provide some of our earliest fragmentary materials relevant to the study of ancient Hebrew Scriptures in Greek. Take, for example, the Minor Prophets scroll (dated to about the 1st century BCE) found in a cave at the nearby site of Nahal Hever. Not only is this our earliest witness to snippets of prophetic books like Jonah, Michah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Zechariah it is also an important and early example of the scribal collection of several such prophetic works onto a single scroll. In this way, we see scribes and their communities not only thinking about texts but combining traditions on the same material object.   The above example of Greek fragments among the Dead Sea Scrolls all relate to ancient Jewish writings and translations of scriptural materials. The Qumran collection does not include any New Testament texts. The scrolls do, however, come from a time in Jewish culture that was also the common soil for the early Jesus movement. As such, they provide remarkable (even game changing) views of the belief, practices, even tensions of Jewish groups in this period that are also and essential part of the story of Christian origins. But that is a whole other story for a subsequent article in this series.   Beyond Dead Sea Scrolls 101 This short primer on the Dead Sea Scrolls highlights their extraordinary value for understanding the textual traditions and historical contexts that formed Judaism and Christianity's foundational thought and scriptures.

In this conversation, Rev. Chandler Wiley and Rev. Dr. Shane Copeland engage with Dr. Gillis Harp to explore the significance of confessionalism in Anglicanism, discussing its historical roots, the importance of the 39 Articles, and the implications of various practices within the tradition. They delve into the understanding of sacraments, prayers for the dead, and apostolic succession, emphasizing the need for a clear and confessional Anglican identity in the contemporary church. Anglicans, Let’s Stay True to Our Confessional Heritage , TGC article by Dr. Gillis Harp Brahmin Prophet: Phillips Brooks and the Path of Liberal Protestantism , book by Dr. Gillis Harp The 39 Articles of Religion The Myth of the English Reformation , article by Diarmaid MacCulloch 1662Anglican.org Grace Anglican in Grove City, PA Takeaways Anglicanism historically has a confessional identity despite modern perceptions. The 39 Articles serve as a foundational document for Anglican beliefs. The practice of reserving and venerating communion elements diverges from historical Anglicanism. Prayers for the dead are not supported by the 39 Articles and can undermine assurance of salvation. Apostolic succession in Anglicanism focuses on doctrinal continuity rather than physical lineage. The Anglican view of sacraments emphasizes two key sacraments: baptism and the Lord's Supper. Physical or aesthetically pleasing practices should be examined for their theological implications in worship. There is a growing interest in recovering classical Anglicanism among younger leaders. https://open.spotify.com/show/0yFlKelgiZoosXDeQKmTHf?si=01dfcb8b711a4242

By K.C. Nwajei THE LIVING CHURCH April 30, 2025   An archdeacon presides at a mass grave for victims of a massacre. | Diocese of Jos   The Rt. Rev. Ephraim Gongden has served since 2024 as the Church of Nigeria’s Bishop of Jos, a diocese that encompasses most of Plateau State, the scene of numerous attacks by Muslim Fulani herdsmen on Christian farming villages in recent years. An April 14 attack on the inhabitants of Zike, a Plateau State village, was cited by the church’s primate, Archbishop Henry Ndukuba, in his Easter sermon, which focused on the need for peace.   This interview has been edited for length and clarity.   Can you give us a sense of what has been happening in Plateau and Benue States in the past few weeks?   What is happening in the two states (and sometimes in southern Kaduna) can be described on one hand as ethnic cleansing—genocide. On another hand, it is a jihad. The sad events can also be seen as land-grabbing because whenever the Fulanis attack a community and displace the people, they occupy the villages immediately. That is how we have lost over 70 communities, which are now being renamed and occupied by the Fulanis.   Whichever way you see it, the one thing that runs through them all is persecution. So the attack is a persecution of the Christians in the Plateau and Benue States.   The Fulani militia are determined to carry on with the conquest that their leader, Uthman Dan Fodio, began—though he was defeated in Plateau and Benue States. They are continuing, but more subtly, by not speaking loudly about Islam. It is only when they come killing that you hear shouts of “Allahu Akbar,” meaning “God is great.”   A careful look at the attacks will reveal that these are not random or accidental attacks but premeditated, well-planned, coordinated with an agenda in mind. Don’t forget, the government has on many occasions admitted that foreigners are involved in the attacks.   The narrative in the past has been that it is a farmer-herder clash, but that is a fraudulent narrative in itself. It is deceitful and wicked to describe the evil being perpetrated by the Fulanis as a clash. How can we clash with a people whose community we don’t know? The same government that sometimes tries hard to dispel the truth of the matter are the same people describing the assailants as unknown.   It pains the Christian community more when we hear such narratives that what is happening to us is a clash or as a result of cattle rustling. Like the governor of Plateau State said, such narratives are dangerous, misleading, and disrespect the memory of those brutally murdered in cold blood.   Some reports about the recent attacks do not specify the religious affiliation of the victims, but some advocacy groups are saying that the victims are Christians and this happened in predominantly Christian villages. Can you tell us more about this?   There is no doubt that the victims of the attacks in Plateau State are Christians. I can say this over and over again because, not only do the villages and homes attacked belong to Christians, but the people killed are Christians. We have mass graves where we buried them and those who doubt can go and see for themselves. The villages—Zike, Ruwi, Hurti—they are all Christian communities. The attackers, who are Muslims, cannot point to any communities of theirs that were attacked or that have such mass graves.   Can you confirm details of the attack by Fulani herdsmen in the village of Zike, near Jos, in the early hours of April 14?   The attack took place there in the middle of the night. The villagers were asleep when the merchants of death descended upon them in their sleep, slaughtering them with knives and machetes. That’s the tactics of the Fulani militia, the jihadists, now.   Even though they come with sophisticated guns, they prefer using knives because the sound of the guns (if used) can draw the attention of security agencies or neighboring communities. They use the guns only if they encounter opposition.   Among the 52 Christians killed, two of them were 7- and 10-year-old pupils of our church primary school at Kwall, very close to Zike, in the Bassa Local Government Area. Our pastor, the Rev. Josiah Ishaya, and his wife managed to run to Jos. One of our priests, the Ven Mark Mukan, who is the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Bassa Local Government Area, presided over the mass funeral of the victims. Remember, these are unprovoked attacks and killings.   We have also read reports of attacks in several villages in Benue State. Can you tell us more about these?   The killings in Benue have been like those in Plateau. In each case, Fulani militia are responsible. Sometimes the Fulani leaders will issue a press release to the effect that they’re responsible but will end up walking away without any questioning by government or security agencies. This further confirms what I said earlier, that the attacks are being guided by an agenda. The attackers seem to have some very strong backing, hence their arrogance and boldness to come to a press conference and to leave without being arrested by security agencies.   What is the church doing to stop these attacks and killings, and what is the way forward for Christians, particularly after the recent stakeholders’ meeting convened by the governor of Plateau State? A lot has been done, is being done, and still being expected of the church by the persecuted. The security agencies are seeming to fail, and in some cases, they seem compromised in favor of the militias who attack our people, so the Christian communities are looking up to the church.   We are taking several steps to address and prevent attacks on Christian communities through:   Community engagement such as interfaith dialogue to promote understanding, tolerance, and peaceful coexistence. In Plateau state, for example, there is an interreligious council that consists of both Christians and Muslims.   Community outreach and visits in order to build relationships with local leaders, organizations, and community members to foster trust and cooperation.   Advocacy and awareness by educating the public about the issues facing the Christian communities and the importance of religious freedom. In some cases, the church partners with non-governmental organizations to do this.   Advocacy for policy change through various submissions to the government and policymakers about the need to protect religious freedom and prevent persecution.   Offering emotional, spiritual, and practical support to affected communities and individuals. This includes relief supplies, medical assistance, and counseling on trauma.   Solidarity with persecuted Christians through public statements, prayers, and actions. The peace wall begun in Jos by Christians is a good example of this.   Ensuring that the gospel of peace is preached in churches, and that Christians are urged to embrace the peace that Christ offers, and to strive to live at peace with all men. Bible studies have, in most cases, concentrated on love, forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, and understanding.   Encouraging prayers at all times for persecuted Christians and for peace and understanding in our communities, with a view to not only live in peace but for spiritual renewal.   Offering training in conflict resolution and mediation to help resolve disputes peacefully, and working with non-governmental organizations and other groups to advocate for the rights of Christian communities.   Even though the church is involved in all these efforts to support and protect Christian communities facing persecution, we are still expecting the government to demonstrate real political will and support towards ending the persecution, because these attacks are nothing but persecution of the Christians. The government and the church must work hard to bring succor to the persecuted communities in the states affected. We need an environment where we can live, survive and worship the Lord freely. K.C. Nwajei is a freelance journalist based in Abuja, Nigeria.

COMMENTARY   By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org May 2, 2025   Lutherans and Anglicans are on opposite sides of the fence over conscience protection for gay marriage.   The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) announced this week that they would preserve and protect the consciences of Lutherans who cited scripture and history opposing gay marriage.   Concerns had arisen after the denomination voted in 2022 to revise its 2009 social statement Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust, which recognizes a diversity of theological views on sexuality and marriage.   Critics feared the revision process might threaten existing safeguards for those holding traditional beliefs.   However, Ryan P Cumming, program director for Theological Ethics at the ELCA, assured The Christian Post that the "reconsideration is editorial only" and the proposed changes "do not alter the substantive meaning of the 2009 social statement". He added: "Discussions of human sexuality and marriage naturally raise significant concerns among many throughout the church."   According to the Rev. Roger A Willer, director for ELCA Theological Ethics, phrases such as "husband and wife" have been updated to "both spouses" or "the couple", while references now speak of "sex, gender, and sexuality" rather than "sexual orientation and gender identity". Willer stressed that the original meaning of the sentences remains unchanged from 2009.   The 2009 statement recognized four "conscience-bound" positions on homosexuality, ranging from full opposition to same-sex relationships to full affirmation of same-sex marriage.   THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH AND CONSCIENCE   The Episcopal Church has little regard for conscience on gay marriage. The church has incrementally pushed homosexual marriage in the name of being inclusive and diverse. Being inclusive of all people became a core tenet of the Episcopal Church which began allowing same-sex marriage in 2015, days after the United States Supreme Court legalized gay marriage.   The small minority of Episcopal priests who wouldn’t officiate at same-sex weddings were told that they could refer the couple to another priest who would. This often angered a small minority of pansexual laity who complained to the bishop, with the priest being “invited” to move on. Bishops, who in conscience said they would not allow same-sex weddings were at first tolerated and then the wall came down with cries of exclusion and homophobia. When Resolution B012 on homosexual marriage became canon law, the jig was up.   With bishops Spong, Robinson, aided by Browning, Lee, and Griswold, the die was cast. The consciences of the orthodox be damned. Resolution B012 doomed the consciences of the faithful forever. Former Albany Bishop Bill Love learned the lesson the hard way and was summarily shown the door. His conscience be damned.   Bishop Love rejected B012 and forbade same-sex marriages, arguing that God’s law trumped the General Convention. He was convicted by a church court of breaking his vow of obedience for defying the resolution. He resigned as diocesan bishop before a penalty hearing, and now serves as a bishop in the Anglican Church in North America.   For former Episcopal Bishop of Central Florida, John W. Howe, the issue to leave TEC over the church’s promotion and acceptance of gay marriage was all about conscience. In the end he left.   “I always said I would continue in TEC until or unless it requires of me something that God forbids, or forbids something God requires. Even though I had retired from episcopal responsibilities, when they came after +Bill Love they made it impossible for any bishop to continue upholding/enforcing Biblical standards (God's standards) regarding sexuality and marriage.  I could stay no longer.” For Howe it was “100% a matter of theology, 100% a matter of conscience.”   But the issue refused to go away. When Charlie Holt, an orthodox priest, was nominated to be the next Bishop of Florida it was a combination of compromise and conscience, but his compromises did not get him over the finish line. The diocese claimed procedural issues and accused him of racism. These issues were smokescreen for the real issue, he would not personally accept homosexual marriage even if he allowed other bishops to perform same. He was dumped not once but twice. It doesn’t pay to cross the pansexualists. At the end of the day, they didn’t give a damn about his conscience. Winning is all that matters. And if it takes a sexual steam roller to do it, so be it.   Lesbian priestess Susan Russell a shrill advocate for the church’s pansexuality put it like this; “We fear that the Reverend Holt’s election is the intended result of a system designed in the exclusion of LGBTQ+ voices and votes. Furthermore, we are forced to wonder whether this culture would continue under Bishop Holt due to his previous offensive comments on gender and sexuality.” It was a lie, but the accommodationist Holt was history.   The Lutherans found a way forward, they preserved the consciences of those who disagreed with the church’s direction.   They understood Martin Luther’s religion is a “religion of conscience” in the most pronounced sense of the word, with all the urgency and the personal character belonging to it. Perhaps Luther’s ringing words, “Here I stand, I can do no other,” a ringing endorsement of personal conscience got their attention. It is hard to say. To sin is to act against conscience.   Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it, said Albert Einstein. We could modify that and say, we should never do anything against conscience even if the church demands it.   The Lutherans understood that, The Episcopal Church does not. Both churches will eventually die. You cannot go against God’s word and survive. What singles out TEC is the destruction and inviolability of conscience. And that in the end is unconscionable.   END