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By Gerald McDermott THE FEDERALIST July 15, 2025   Fulfillment theology not only fails to do justice to the actual Bible but also caricatures Christian Zionism, rooting it all in dispensationalism.   The Ted Cruz-Tucker Carlson debate might be old news, but the dispute over the New Testament meaning of “Israel” is not. Cruz made a crude argument from the Bible that he claims mandates Christian support for the state of Israel. Tucker Carlson denied any connection between biblical Israel and the modern state, using arguments made by many Christians today, especially Lutherans and the Reformed, often called “fulfillment theology.”   Fulfillment theology teaches that the church is “the new and true Israel,” yet the New Testament never once says this. Those who subscribe to fulfillment theology say “the Israel of God” in Galatians 6:16 refers to the Gentile church, but its contextual referent is Jews who accept Jesus as Messiah. For Paul says in this passage, addressed to a Galatian church that is nearly or all Gentile, that in comparison to the new creation, circumcision is unimportant: “For all [Gentiles] who walk by this rule [the new creation], peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God [Jews who walk by the new creation].”   As Pastor Rich Lusk laid out in a recent article at The Federalist, fulfillment theology maintains that the presence of Jews in the land of Israel “in no way indicates God’s covenant blessing or the fulfillment of a covenant promise” (emphasis original).   This would suggest that Jesus was naïve when he proclaimed that every stroke of the pen in Torah and the Prophets was God-given (Matthew 5:17-18), for Torah teaches that Israel is God’s “firstborn son” (Exodus 4:22), and both Torah and the prophets predict a worldwide return to the land when it will be more prosperous and numerous than that of the fathers (Deuteronomy 30:4-5; Ezekiel 36:24-25; 37:11-14). Jeremiah prophesied that as long as the sun, moon, and stars are in the sky, the offspring of Israel will never cease being a nation before God (Jeremiah 31:35-36).   On close inspection, fulfillment theology is like the Greek myth of Procrustes, a bandit who forced his victims to fit onto his iron bed by cutting off their legs if they were too long or stretching their legs if they were too short. It ignores the Bible where it does not fit its system.   For example, fulfillment theologians argue that today’s Jews in Israel have no relation to biblical Jews by suggesting that Jesus called all Pharisees “children of the devil.” Since most of today’s Israel is like the Pharisees who rejected Jesus, they cannot be the true Israel, which consists only of Jews who accept Jesus.   But if Jesus regarded Pharisees as children of the devil, why did He exhort His disciples to “teach and protect whatever the Pharisees tell you” (Matthew 23:3)?   Fulfillment theology also regards today’s Judaism, as Pastor Lusk puts it, as “an idolatrous faith” and a “returning to paganism” because it does not accept Jesus as Messiah. But this approach is light years from that of the apostle Paul, who said of his fellow Jews who had not seen Jesus yet, that they “are [present tense] beloved by God because of the Fathers [the patriarchs].” And their “calling” as God’s chosen people is “irrevocable” (Romans 11:28-29).   Fulfillment theologians also regard the oft-repeated Old Testament land promise as fulfilled in the church and therefore not to be taken literally in New Testament times. But here again, this theological system breaks apart on the rocks of the biblical text.   The New Testament repeats the land promise three times. The author of Hebrews says God led Abraham to a place to receive as an inheritance, and that Isaac and Jacob were heirs with him of the same promise (Hebrews 11:9). Before his martyrdom, deacon Stephen said God promised to give Abraham this land as a possession and to his offspring after him (Acts 7:4-5). Paul tells the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia that the God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, He gave them their land as an inheritance (Acts 13:17-19).   The massive return of Jews to the land beginning in the 19th century was a fulfillment of prophecies in the Septuagint (the Bible for the early church) that one day there would be an apokatastasis, a return to the land by Jews from the four corners of the earth (Jeremiah 16:15; 24:6; 50:19; Hosea 11:11).   Was this referring to the return after exile in Babylon? Not for the apostle Peter. In his second speech in Jerusalem, after Jesus’ resurrection, he says the apokatastasis is still to come (Acts 3:21). In other words, the resurrection did not fulfill all the biblical prophecies, and sometime in the future there would be a worldwide return to the land.   The fulfillment model not only fails to do justice to the actual Bible but also caricatures Christian Zionism, rooting it all in dispensationalism. But New Christian Zionism has nothing to do with dispensationalism, which features an unbiblical rapture and elaborate eschatologies that promise more than we can know from the plain sense of Scripture.   New Christian Zionism goes back to the early church and was revived in the 16th century when Puritans in England and Pietists on the Continent used the Reformation emphasis on the plain sense of Scripture to discover that Calvin and Luther were wrong to assume that every Old Testament prophecy was about the future Gentile church. There were too many prophecies that clearly were Israel- and Jewish-specific.   New Christian Zionism takes seriously Paul’s warning to “understand the mystery” of Israel and his inspired declaration that the “whole lump” of Israel is holy, even its broken-off branches (Romans 11:16, 25). It cautions Gentile Jesus-followers not to think they are above the “root” instead of remembering that “it is not you who support the root but the root that supports you” (verse 18). It wants to heed Paul’s admonition to “not become proud but stand in awe” of God’s “mystery of Israel” (verses 20, 25-26).  It listens to what Scripture insists on, that Paul’s “kinsmen according to the flesh” are “Israelites” and that to them still “belong the adoption … and the promises” (Romans 9:3).   Does this mean the state of Israel is a direct fulfillment of biblical prophecy, as Cruz suggested? No. Nor does it mean Christians must ratify every policy of the Israeli government. But the last two centuries have shown that God’s covenanted people need a state to protect them from those who would destroy them. And Gentile Jesus-believers who believe God redeems by grace and not works — and superintends the history of redemption by His sovereign decree and not human performance — should not despise the people from whom our Savior and salvation have come (John 4:22; Romans 9:5).   Gerald McDermott teaches at Jerusalem Seminary and Reformed Episcopal Seminary. He is editor of The New Christian Zionism and Understanding the Jewish Roots of Christianity, and author of Israel Matters and A New History of Redemption.

The alternative celebrates innovation without any sense as to where innovation starts and stops.   By Chuck Collins www.virtueonline.org July 14, 2025   "National Apostasy" was a sermon preached July 14, 1833 by John Keble. According to John Henry Newman, this signaled the start of the Oxford Movement, the tractarian revival in the Church of England. In this unremarkable sermon based on 1 Samuel 12:23, Keble fussed at the nation for not behaving more like the Old Testament prophet Samuel. “The sermon collected no disciples, raised no party-standard, asserted nothing but what other high churchmen were saying through the country - the importance of the sermon was only in its signal within Newman’s mind” (Owen Chadwick).   The Oxford Movement sought to return the church to what is often referred to as the Great Tradition - the church’s ancient roots as expressed in the church fathers - and especially as the fathers were viewed by the seventeenth-century Caroline theologians. But today when someone pulls the “great tradition” card they almost always mean something like: “I don’t like that Anglicans are Protestant” or “I don’t accept the Reformation or the Elizabethan Settlement as determinative for describing Anglican identity” or “I subscribe to a conciliar definition of ‘Anglicanism’ as opposed to a confessional definition.” The Oxford professors tended to elevate “tradition” to a coequal status with Scripture, so it was natural that the movement would increasingly diverge from the thoughts and practices of the English Reformation and the historic Anglican formularies (the Thirty-nine Articles, the two books of Homilies, and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer).   The Oxford dons published 90 well-circulated tracts ("Tracts for the Times") trying to persuade British church and society to restore Christian life to the “Holiness Necessary for Future Blessedness” (Newman’s words). The Tractarians (although they preferred the more exalted term, “Apostolicals”) moved away from the doctrine of justification by faith alone which they thought was necessary in the 16th century to curb the works-righteousness of Medieval Catholicism, to a theology of ‘holy living’ (faith-plus-works, or infused righteousness) that they thought would curb the Reformation’s tendency towards antinomianism.   The Tractarians promoted a High Church understanding of "apostolic succession" that has less to do with the passing-on of apostolic teaching to future generations (2 Tim 2:2; 1 Cor 15:3), and more about an automatic tactile transmission of priestly character and office in ordination. They saw bishops as necessary to church order (esse), rather than simply for the bene esse (for the well being of the church) - tract 10 states: “he that despiseth the Bishops despiseth the Apostles.” They also promoted a view of the sacraments in which God’s grace is automatically and always delivered, whether or not faith is present (i.e., baptismal regeneration and Holy Communion as a “sacrifice”). This naturally led to an understanding of “real presence” to be Jesus’s body materiality present in the bread and wine rather than spiritually present in the hearts and affections of those who receive the grace of the sacrament by faith (“to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith, receive the same” Article XXVIII).   Some of the Tractarian luminaries eventually found their happy home in Roman Catholicism (Newman). Others stayed in the Church of England trying to agitate the church away from its historic confession and formularies (Keble and Pusey) towards a new identity as far from the Reformation as they could get. Out of the Oxford Movement (and the later 19th century Broad Church Movement) came many theological aberrations that diverted Anglican attention away from its historic formularies. “The Tractarians in the 1840s may have posed the greatest threat to the church’s equilibrium by explaining away the Articles [of Religion],” wrote Peter Nockles. Nockles went on to say that “the Tractarians came to challenge, then shatter, the doctrinal consensus of the earlier High Church Anglicanism, seeming to dissolve the Church of England into its constituent parts as never before.” Historian Diarmaid MacCulloch said, "The nineteenth century growth of Anglo-Catholicism amounted to nothing less than an ideological revolution in the Church of England, which involved radically reinterpreting its history."   The deleterious impact of the Oxford Movement should be clear to everyone, as it’s effects are evident in all the recent Prayer Book revisions. Gerald Bray begins his seminal book on Anglican identity by stating that the Anglicanism we know today is a nineteenth-century invention, and that before the Tractarian revival, “almost all members of the Church of England saw themselves as Protestants and regarded Rome with varying degrees of enmity.”   The choice before us today is between two very different ways of locating Anglican identity. The first harkens back to a wax-nose “Great Tradition” which is explained as the ancient teaching of the church, a euphemism for: “as understood by a few Caroline Divines and high churchmen.” This is a smorgasbord of church theologies and ideals that, skipping over the 16th century Reformation, leaves us to choose our favorite things to satisfy our individual tastes (raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens). If not a smorgasbord, then what? Anglican’s historic anchor is the primacy of Holy Scripture as it is explained by the church fathers, summarized in the creeds, and preserved in the historic formularies of the Edwardian and Elizabethan settlement. Such a church is thoroughly biblical, theologically reformed and confessional, liturgically beautiful, and pastorally generous. Reformation Anglicanism gives us a grounding for the future; the alternative celebrates innovation without any sense as to where innovation starts and stops. FOOTNOTES   The Oxford Movement in Context: Anglican High Churchmanship 1760-1857, Peter B. Nockles The Spirit of the Oxford Movement: Tractarian Essays, Owen Chadwick Oxford’s Protestant Spy: The Controversial Career of Charles Golightly, Andrew Atherstone Evangelical Theology 1833-1856: A Response to Tractarianism, Peter Toon Anglicanism: A Reformed Catholic Tradition, Gerald Bray

By Jesse Masai THE LIVING CHURCH July 11, 2025   The president of Kenya intends to build a $9 million church at his State House residence, and the Anglican Church of Kenya’s archbishop has expressed his deep opposition.   The nation’s president, Dr. William Ruto, says he will not apologize for proposing the 8,000-seat church, which he says he will fund, but the archbishop, Dr. Jackson Ole Sapit, says it sends the wrong message.   A Kenyan court is expected to rule July 24 on a legal challenge to the proposal.   “I have no problem with building a place of worship. The problem is the location,” Ole Sapit told Kenya’s leading newspaper, Daily Nation, which broke the story on July 4.   “State House is the seat of power of a human institution called the government. The Church is a sanctuary to worship God, and it is supposed to be set apart from any unholy use—representing God’s kingdom,” Ole Sapit said. “When you have a Church in State House, which kingdom does it represent?”   The archbishop added: “Putting a church in State House is a declaration that Christianity is the state religion, against the Constitution, which defines Kenya as a secular state that embraces all religions.   “Will the president be the bishop or leader of this church, as we have seen him recently lead public prayers?”   The archbishop also said there is no urgent need for the new church building.   “This is not a priority. We have many churches around State House where all those living there can worship,” Ole Sapit said from the United States, where he is reportedly on sabbatical. The new church “will undermine the security of State House, as many will come in the name of worship with other intentions.”   Ole Sapit and the nation’s other Anglican bishops wrote on July 11 that “moderate prayer rooms can be created for the purposes of individual or private devotions for persons who must worship on the site.”   Attorney Levi Munyeri has sued the president, arguing that Ruto has disregarded the need for approval by Kenya’s parliament.   He wrote on X.com that the nation’s High Court has certified his application “seeking to stop the construction of the megachurch at State House Nairobi. … The construction is going nowhere.”   While the East African country has an estimated 85 percent Christian majority, the president’s proposal has sparked anger among its citizens, who are weighed down by economic and political grievances.   Muslims have asked Ruto to also build a mosque at the State House.   Roman Catholic Archbishop Philip Anyolo called for clarity to prevent perceptions of bias.   “We have to be very cautious with this,” Anyolo told the BBC. “Such a structure ought to have been built in an area that is not a public institution, unless what is being built is a chaplaincy, but that is also not clear.”   Ruto said that he found a small chapel on the State House property, but he deemed it unfit for the presidency.   Dennis Itumbi, a consultant to President Ruto and a grandson of the late Archbishop David Gitari, defended the project.   “For the record: when the British colonialists constructed State House, they also deliberately carved out a premium parcel of land right next to Gate A,” Itumbi wrote on X.com . “That property is called Archbishop Bourne. It wasn’t an accident. The intention was deliberate;  the Archbishop of the Anglican Church was to serve as the spiritual adviser to the colonial Governor, and later, to the President of the Republic.   “That’s why Archbishop Bourne sits within whispering distance of the seat of power. In fact, the property was built with this spiritual mandate in mind. Within its architecture stands a fully furnished 100-seater chapel, designed to host prayers and provide counsel to the Head of State. The physical infrastructure to support that role has always been there. It is part of the house that Sapit uses as his Nairobi home.” END

By Muvija M REUTERS July 11, 2025   Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell and delegates attend the opening session of the Church of England General Synod, in London, Britain, February 10, 2025   LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) - The Anglican Communion is exploring diluting the Archbishop of Canterbury's role as its central symbolic leader, in an attempt to prevent internal divisions over ordination of women and inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community from tearing apart the world's third-largest Christian faith.   For centuries, the man who crowns British monarchs as the senior most bishop in the Church of England, which formed after Henry VIII's 16th-century split from Rome, has also been the titular head of 85 million Anglicans across 165 countries.   The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.   But that headship, stemming from the British empire's role in spreading Christianity to its former colonies, has been pushed to breaking point by splits over LGBTQ+ rights between England's now more progressive church and the more traditional churches in Africa and Asia.   Forty-six different Churches make up the global Anglican Communion, with the Church of England considered the "mother church" to reflect its historical role. To avert an all-out split, a representative body within the global Communion, which was asked to review its structure and decision-making processes, has proposed a rotating international figurehead, assuming some of the current organisational duties of the Archbishop of Canterbury, while they would focus on personal and pastoral ministry to the Communion.   The position could rotate between the Communion's five global regions of Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe and Oceania, with a term of six years.   Bishop Graham Tomlin, who led the work for the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO), told Reuters the existing structures needed to change.   "We are very different than we were 100 years ago," he said.   The recommendations state a rotating figure "would add a welcome and overdue diversification". Tomlin is hopeful that the proposals will be adopted at a 2026 gathering.   VACANT SEE OF CANTERBURY   The tension between progressive and traditional Christians is not unique to Anglicanism, but the CoE's identity as a national church and Anglican mother church has forced a fundamental reset.   Unlike the Pope, who holds ultimate authority over 1.3 billion Catholics, the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury, a town considered one of the birthplaces of Christianity in Britain, is loosely defined and rooted in colonial-era deference.   “Some people think of the Pope as infallible; no one thinks the Archbishop of Canterbury is infallible," Bishop Nick Baines told Reuters. Sometimes, individual bishops have been heavily criticised, such as when then Archbishop Justin Welby was forced into an unprecedented resignation following calls to resign from within the CoE over a child abuse cover-up.   The office, dating back to 597, remains empty. Frontrunner Bishop Martyn Snow said recently he could not unify even the CoE on sexuality and marriage.   BATTLE FOR ANGLICAN IDENTITY   Divisions erupted in 2003 with the U.S. branch of the Anglican Church consecrating the first openly gay bishop, and deepened 12 years later when it allowed same-sex marriage rites, prompting sanctions from the Communion, whose doctrinal tone is shaped by the CoE.   The rift widened in 2023 when the conservative Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon) - claiming to represent 85% of Anglicans worldwide - rejected Welby's leadership over the CoE's own move to bless same-sex unions. It has rejected Tomlin's proposals because it wants those churches willing to bless same-sex unions to leave the Communion.   "Gafcon is the Communion," Archbishop Laurent Mbanda, Rwandan church leader and Gafcon Chairman, told Reuters. "Gafcon has never left the Communion and will not leave the Communion, but we let those who choose ... to depart from the orthodox teaching, leave the Communion."   Those who oppose same-sex relationships cite scripture as authoritative on sexual ethics, while others argue that ancient texts should not be applied directly to modern understandings of sexuality.   SHIFTING GRAVITY   The Communion's centre has been shifting from Canterbury for decades, with its churches in Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya together home to a third of all Anglicans, countries where homosexuality remains illegal.   While attendance at CoE churches has risen in the last four years, that follows decades of falls, and Linda Woodhead, head of theology at King's College London, said the CoE had hurt its reputation in Britain by trying to preserve its historic global leadership.   "It's not keeping the allegiance ... of the population for which it's meant to be the official established Church," she said.   The CoE declined to comment on the suggested reforms as the selection of the 106th Archbishop is underway. The Anglican Communion Office said the proposals "would not take away" the Archbishop's historic global role, but explore ways to share some responsibilities.   GAY CLERGY   The disconnect in the Communion is felt acutely by gay clergy like Charles Bączyk-Bell in London, who had to marry his partner in an Anglican church in New York, as the CoE stands by its teaching that marriage is between a man and woman.   He said he sometimes found it very difficult to hold together his identity with that of a CoE priest.   "There was a sense of sadness that we couldn't do it around friends and family at home ... it's meant to be the day when you feel most at home," he said.   Baines said the next Archbishop shouldn't be fearful, given they will inherit a "broken Communion." Bishop Joanne Grenfell supports a more collegiate model.   "I feel passionate about the Anglican Communion, but the role of Archbishop of Canterbury, that's enormous," Grenfell said.   "Perhaps a bit too big for one person."   Reporting by Muvija M; Additional reporting by Will Russell and Vitalii Yalahuzian in London, and Jean Baptiste Nkurunziza in Kigali; Editing by Kate Holton and Alexandra Hudson

Church in Wales Archbishop Resigns // Trinity Anglican Seminary Embraces Whole Candlestick // St. Thomas, Fifth Avenue Rector Faces Title IV Complaint The authority by which the Christian leader leads is not power but love, not force but example, not coercion but reasoned persuasion. Leaders have power, but power is safe only in the hands of those who humble themselves to serve. – John Stott "The greatest need of the hour is to have a clear understanding of the gospel. – J.C. Ryle Dear Brothers and Sisters www.virtueonline.org July 11, 2025 Muslims are the world’s fastest-growing religious group. In the next half century or so, Christianity’s long reign as the world’s largest religion may come to an end, according to a just-released report that builds on Pew Research Center’s original population growth projections for religious groups.   Indeed, Muslims will grow more than twice as fast as the overall world population between 2015 and 2060 and, in the second half of this century, will likely surpass Christians as the world’s largest religious group.   While the world’s population is projected to grow 32% in the coming decades, the number of Muslims is expected to increase by 70% – from 1.8 billion in 2015 to nearly 3 billion in 2060. In 2015, Muslims made up only 24.1% of the global population. This is very troubling news at a time when Western liberal Christianity is fading into the sunset, unable to articulate what it really believes about the faith ‘once for all delivered to the saints.’   Orthodox churches that are tied to the state like the Church of England and the Russia Orthodox Church are emptying faster than a nest of baby chickens facing a king cobra.   Independent evangelical churches are growing as is the Anglican Church in North America (see here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/latest-statistics-show-acna-has-recovered-from-covid-dips ) and breakaway Presbyterian, Methodist and smaller splinter denominations.   But the current disagreements are not mainly between Catholic and Evangelical forms of Anglicanism but between broadly Liberal forms of Anglicanism shaped by the values of the modern western world and forms of Anglicanism, mainly Evangelical, that are dominant elsewhere in the Global South.   The big question is whether in the face of these challenges Anglicanism will hold together and find it necessary to formally split from the Mother Church and other liberal/progressive Anglican provinces. That remains to be seen. The political effects could be huge.   *****   The latest statistics of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) are very encouraging. Latest statistics reveal ACNA has recovered from COVID dips.   Average Principal Service Attendance (APSA) during the pandemic years was 58,225 in 2021. By 2024 the figure skyrocketed to 96,148. Congregations grew from 972 in 2019 to 1,027 in 2024. You can read more here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/latest-statistics-show-acna-has-recovered-from-covid-dips ***** Anglicans are on the front lines in Hunt, Texas delivering aid and comfort to those whose lives have been affected by the worst floods in their history. Jerry and Stacy Kramer report on the situation here: “ Death count today is 120. About 150 missing. They’ve called off the search. It’s now body recovery. Victims are likely buried in 100 miles of river road mud. Authorities are focused on recovery and getting snappy about relief people getting in their way.”   Lots of response ready in Kerville, which seems to be fine. Working with community leaders to pull everyone together and get on the same page. If you want to give to the victims immediately, you can use this link: https://lovefortheleast.org/texas-flood-relief-insider 100% will get immediately to the most in need, says Jerry.   Here is a story on Dick Eastland who was Camp Mystic’s director when he died trying to save young girls amid flash floods in Kerr County, Texas.   There were no thoughts for himself as he reached forth his hands in waist deep water to grasp the girls as the river rose around him.   Was he worried about this month’s mortgage payment, his IRA plan or if his 401(K) was adequately funded for his retirement. Apparently not. Above all he was not thinking about himself, a sea change in thinking from most of us who are daily being hounded about whether a million dollars is necessary for a robust retirement. Was he thinking about all the people who will enter therapy to find themselves, only to discover they deserve exactly what they find.   The camp was Christian and so was Dick and his wife Tweety who owned and had run the camp since 1974. You can read more here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/camp-director-dies-laying-down-his-life-for-his-friends ***** ANGLICAN FUTURE. Anglicans may get rotating global figurehead under reform plans… Divisions over same-sex relationships have long strained ties… Leadership structure hails from colonial era, seen as outdated… Proposals aim to prevent a split, says bishop who led the work… Archbishop's office, dating back to 597, currently vacant… According to a Reuters report , t he Anglican Communion is exploring diluting the Archbishop of Canterbury's role as its central symbolic leader, in an attempt to prevent internal divisions over ordination of women and inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community from tearing apart the world's third-largest Christian faith.   It is clear that a Kairos moment is coming for the Anglican Communion. Whoever they choose to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury will not please the Global South. An Iranian woman bishop and several white males are in the offing, none of them are orthodox in faith and morals; they all believe same-sex relationships can be accommodated in the church in the name of “conversations across difference” a meaningless piece of gibberish designed to placate orthodox believers.   A gathering of Global South (GAFCON) bishops in Abuja, Nigeria for the G26 Mini-Conference next March could prove decisive. These bishops have already declared unequivocally that that they no longer recognize the Archbishop of Canterbury as the head, leader or spokesperson of the Anglican Communion. He has lost every power and authority to dictate to or advise other Primates and Provinces of the Communion who oversee 85% of the Global Communion, say the GAFCON bishops. But that is still not a formal break with Canterbury or the office or the CofE.   Under the leadership of Nigerian Primate Henry Ndukuba, the GAFCON bishops will “seek the wisdom of our Lord about the future of his church.” Ominous words indeed. The conference will be hosted by the Church in Nigeria, the largest and toughest of all the Anglican provinces in the communion on matters of human sexuality.   Even with the mantra that ‘we have not left the Communion the Communion has left us’, to have an openly proclaiming supporter of same-sex relationships  is the kiss of death for orthodox Global South Anglicans who are watching as their provinces, dioceses and congregations grow with a clear fix on the gospel, while the Western provinces slowly wither and die. ***** Mary Ann Mueller, VOL’s Associate editor has done a deep dive into the Episcopal Church’s rump dioceses and finds they are limping along following the realignment. The bottom line is that ACNA dioceses far outpace TEC dioceses. While ACNA is growing and thriving (see earlier reports), TEC is not.   She writes: “Two dioceses have been relegated to an historical footnote. In 2013 the remaining Episcopal Diocese of Quincy was reunified with the larger Diocese of Chicago to become the Peoria Deanery. Initially, in 1877, both the Diocese of Chicago and the Diocese of Quincy were carved out of the existing Diocese of Illinois as was the Diocese of Springfield. At that point the Diocese of Illinois itself became an historical footnote. “In 2022 the TEC Diocese of Fort Worth, renamed The Episcopal Church in North Texas (TECinNTX), was dissolved and folded into the Diocese of Texas, thus becoming the “North Region” of the larger Texas diocese. And so, the Episcopal Church’s Diocese of Fort Worth became just another footnote in church history.” Most recently (2024) the Wisconsin Episcopal dioceses of Eau Claire, Fond du Lac and Milwaukee also faded into history as the three separate Badger State dioceses merged to reconstitute the original Diocese of Wisconsin pulling the historic diocese from the dust bin.” You can read more here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/episcopal-church-s-rump-dioceses-limp-along-following-realignment ***** On Monday (July 14) — six years after a 9-year-old child came forward with sexual abuse allegations against a lay minister in an Illinois church — a long-awaited church trial will begin for Bishop Stewart Ruch, leader of the Anglican Church in North America’s Upper Midwest Diocese. Open only to those directly involved and the seven-member Court of a Trial of a Bishop, the proceeding will determine whether Ruch, an influential and charismatic figure, responded appropriately. Stay tuned.   *****   The Church in Wales already a theological and demographic disaster, found itself going from bad to worse with the resignation of its Archbishop this week. The Archbishop of Wales stepped down after a culture of excessive drinking, sexual promiscuity, bullying, bad language and inappropriate banter at Bangor cathedral was revealed.   Andy John, who is also the bishop of Bangor, released a statement on Friday evening after calls for his resignation gathered pace.   He said he was announcing his “immediate retirement today as archbishop of Wales”, adding: “I also intend to retire as bishop of Bangor on 31 August”.   Neither his statement nor those from senior colleagues in the Church in Wales made any reference to the scandal that has engulfed Bangor cathedral over recent years. There is no suggestion that John behaved inappropriately. You can read more here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/archbishop-of-wales-stands-down-after-bangor-cathedral-scandal   ***** Fifty years after its founding as an institution seeking to renew the Episcopal Church, Trinity Anglican Seminary now seeks to establish itself as a central hub within the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and broaden beyond its history of low churchmanship, writes Jeff Walton of Juicy Ecumenism.   Inaugurated in 1975 as Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, the school in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, restyled itself as Trinity Anglican Seminary in 2024. The change to incorporate Anglican in the institution’s name was noteworthy as an increasing number of Protestant institutions eschewed denominational labels, perceiving them as less marketable as nondenominational Christianity grew. But Trinity’s new name signaled a change in more than just branding.   “We seek to educate ‘the whole candlestick,’” said the Rev. Alex Banfield Hicks, Trinity’s director of leadership development. Hicks led a campus tour for delegates to the ACNA Provincial Council, which met June 18-20 at the school’s newly consecrated Trophimus Center, which is named for the companion of St. Paul mentioned in Acts and 2 Timothy. You can read more here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/trinity-anglican-seminary-goes-whole-candlestick   ***** St. Thomas, Fifth Avenue, a blue-blood flagship Episcopal parish finds itself riddled with sodomy in the sacristy and choir lofts. Anglican Watch, an unofficial watchdog on sexuality issues in TEC filed a Title IV clergy disciplinary complaint against the Rev. Canon Carl Turner, rector of St. Thomas, Fifth Avenue. “We did so on behalf of a male victim of sexual assault at the church, whom we referred to by the pseudonym “Michael” in order to protect his privacy and to avoid causing additional trauma. The complaint centers on claims that Turner (“respondent”), acting directly or through others, attempted in violation of the Title IV church disciplinary canons to interfere with the ongoing criminal and Title IV investigations into the matter, which address two alleged sexual assaults against the victim, by publishing various false and defamatory per se statements about the victim in the St. Thomas church newsletter. Specific allegations we believe to be false include claims that the victim: 1.     Threatened one or more persons connected with St. Thomas. 2.     Harassed one or more persons with St. Thomas. 3.     Made false accusations, apparently about being sexually assaulted. 4.     Damaged church property. 5.     Had been arrested due to his conduct at St. Thomas. You can read more here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/anglican-watch-files-title-iv-clergy-disciplinary-complaint-against-the-rev-canon-carl-turner-rect *****   The Church of England’s General Synod, meets in York this weekend with an agenda omitting debates on the issues of same sex blessings and safeguarding scandals which have created headlines in the past year. Instead, members will discuss £1.6 billion three-year national spending plans, clergy pensions, a redress scheme for victims and survivors of church-related abuse, church growth and outreach. Bishops asked whether Living in Love and Faith has ‘run into the sand’. At its opening session this evening, bishops will attempt to answer 217 questions on a wide range of topics.   On Gaza, they were asked if they would condemn the unabated killing of civilians, but the Bishop of Gloucester said there will be no further statement beyond calling it a grave sin.   On the MPs’ decision to decriminalise abortion, the Bishop of London said Lords Spiritual will address the change.   On the Living in Love and Faith same sex blessing process, bishops were asked if it had “run into the sand”. The Archbishop of York said: “The LLF team and Programme Board will also continue to work on a range of scenarios and associated risks that might arise if no agreement can be reached on the current draft proposals”.   One can only imagine the captain of the Titanic knowing the ship has hit an iceberg calmly announces that he will not discuss the matter; the ship has merely ‘run into the sand,’ and just pour yourself another drink. The spiritual blindness is overwhelming. ***** For some excellent reads I commend for your consideration my piece: Rowan Williams and another Gospel -  https://www.virtueonline.org/post/rowan-williams-and-another-gospel   Stephen Noll’s piece on Independence Day -  https://www.virtueonline.org/post/critical-lovers-and-loving-critics-why-i-put-out-the-flag-on-independence-day   Dave Doveton’s Why a Doctrine of Martyrdom Attracts Adherents - https://www.virtueonline.org/post/why-a-doctrine-of-martyrdom-attracts-adherents-the-weight-of-guilt-and-the-desperate-attempt-at-re   David Duggan’s water of confession  waters of confession essay take on Rowe on his own terms as the apostle of Dietrich Bonhoeffer here:  https://www.virtueonline.org/post/the-waters-of-confession-against-the-tide-of-idolatry   A fine piece on England’s suicide and abortion laws: -- https://www.virtueonline.org/post/christians-urged-to-keep-up-pressure-against-assisted-suicide-and-unlimited-abortion   Ex-gays get little press. They are regularly accused of homophobia. This group gathered to offer hope for men and women caught in the vortex of unsavory sex and have left the LGBTQ lifestyle. -- https://www.virtueonline.org/post/ex-lgbt-christians-gather-at-calif-state-capitol-to-protest-gov-t-censorship-offer-hope *****   VOL holds a unique place in Anglican news gathering. While we report on the news, we believe it is important to interpret the news to readers searching for answers to hot button issues. Our team of writers spare no effort in finding and getting the word out to you the reader. We may often wait to get the full picture but it is worth it. We hope you think so too. VOL’s news gathering is comprehensive, analytical and, we believe faithful to Scripture and our Anglican tradition. We keep you informed about global Anglicanism as few services do. We wake up each day and ask the question what do our readers need to know to keep them informed so they can make good decisions. We are here because of readers like you. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to keep the news coming. A PayPal donation link can be found here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support.html If you are more inclined with checks, you can send your donation to: VIRTUEONLINE                                                                    P.O. BOX 111                            Shohola, PA 18458 Thank you for your support, Yours in Christ, David My Substack on the Middle East continues to grow. It is drawing a lot of attention from across the globe. You can access it here: https://davidvirtue2.substack.com/   I am a strong supporter of the state of Israel’s right to exist and prosper while confronting her enemies both foreign and domestic. My latest can be seen here: https://davidvirtue2.substack.com/publish/posts/detail/168077058?referrer=%2Fpublish%2Fposts

Average Principal Service Attendance (APSA) during the pandemic years was 58,225 in 2021. By 2024 the figure skyrocketed to 96,148. Congregations grew from 972 in 2019 to 1,027 in 2024.   By Mary Ann Mueller with David W. Virtue DD VOL Special Correspondent www.virtueonline.org July 10, 2025   The 2024 statistics released by the Anglican Church in North America, (ACNA) reveal a denomination that has recovered and grown from the COVID years which saw American churches closed and parishioners scrambling to live out their faith outside their home parish.   ACNA statistics from 2019 (pre-COVID year); 2020-2021 (COVID years); and 2022-2024 (post-COVID years) reveal that the ACNA survived the pandemic which crippled many denominations that are still struggling to regain their pre-COVID footing.   ACNA shows a steady increase of the number of congregations from 972 in 2019 to 1,027 in 2024. There was no church-wide COVID years dip.   However, overall membership took a dip from 127,624 in 2029 to 126,760 in 2020 and bottomed out at 122,450 in 2021. Today, in 2024, ACNA membership has rebounded to 130,111. The Average Principal Service Attendance (APSA) took a COVID hit during the pandemic years with 2021 dipping to a low of 58,225. The newest 2024 figures show a robust recovery with the numbers sitting at 96,148 as it inches closer toward the 100,000 milestone.   ACNA-wide attendance percentages dipped to 47.5% during 2021, but with COVID restrictions lifted, attendance percentages have bounced to 73.9% which is higher than the pre-COVID figure of 66.1% in 2019.   Eleven dioceses experienced the loss of worshipping congregations during the COVID years and they have yet to recover from those losses. Dioceses with fewer churches in 2024 than they had in 2019 include: All Saints 31 to 27; Canada (ANiC) 76 to 72; Gulf Atlantic 42 to 39; Northeast & Mid Atlantic (REC) 25 to 23; Pittsburgh 58 to 47; Quincy 36 to 28; San Joaquin 35 to 30; Upper Midwest 29 to 18; Western Anglicans 38 to 34; and Western Gulf Coast 38 to 15.   Fourteen dioceses have more congregations in 2024 than they had before COVID started in 2019. They include: the Armed Forces Chaplaincy 8 to 9; Carolina 29 to 38; Cascadia 21 to 27; Christ for the Sake of Others (C4SO) 52 to 53; Christ Our Hope 35 to 51; Fort Worth 54 to 55; Living Word 35 to 45; Mid-America (REC) 33 to 41; Mid-Atlantic 37 to 45; New England 28 to 30; Rocky Mountains 25 to 40; South 46 to 53; South Carolina 52 to 55; and Southwest 18 to 25.   The number of pre-COVID and post-COVID number of parishes remained unchanged for two Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) dioceses. They are Central States at 20; and Southeast at 32.   Membership statistics fluctuated during COVID and post-COVID years.   Most dioceses showed decline, with modest losses, during the COVID years. However, the Diocese of the Carolinas and the Diocese of New England showed continuing growth during COVID.   The Carolinas started out at 8,207 before COVID, climbed to 8,239 in 2020 and 8,639 in 2021. Coming out of COVID the Carolinas climbed to 9,769 in 2022 and peaked at 10,049 in 2023 before falling to 9,769 in 2024.   The Diocese of New England, too, showed steady growth during COVID, starting at 1,966 in 2019 and climbing to 2,391 in 2023 before dropping to 2,267 in 2024.   Several dioceses have recovered and increased over their Pre-COVID membership numbers: Central States (REC) – Pre-COVID 1,233 & Post-COVID 1,543; Christ for the Sake of Others (C4SO) – Pre-COVID 10,493 & Post-COVID 11,694; Christ Our Hope – Pre-COVID 5,415 & Post-COVID 8,821; Quincy – Pre-COVID 1,956 & Post-COVID 3,663; South – Pre-COVID 5,269 & Post-COVID 6,347; Mid-America (REC) – Pre-COVID 2,270 & Post-COVID 2,746; Living Word – Pre-COVID 2,106 & Post-COVID 2,507; Mid-Atlantic – Pre-COVID 7,619 & 8,540; and Southwest (REC) – Pre-COVID 1,579 & Post-COVID 1,901.   After suffering pandemic losses, several ACNA dioceses have recovered their Pre-COVID numbers in 2023 but then dropped below their Pre-COVID figure in 2024 including: Cascadia – 1,357 (2019), 1,534 (2023), 1,070 (2024); and Great Lakes – 3,065 (2019), 3,185 (2023), 3,012 (2024).   Thirteen dioceses have yet to recover their Pre-COVID 2019 numbers reflected in their latest 2024 figures, including: All Saints 1,290 & 1,109; Canada (ANiC) 7,563 & 5,159; Fort Worth 9,559 & 9,110; Gulf Atlantic 7,637 & 6,684; Northeast and Mid-Atlantic (REC) 1,724 & 975; Pittsburgh 6,933 & 5,305; San Joaquin 3,172 & 2,392; South Carolina 20,475 & 17,103; Southeast (REC) 2,209 & 1,482; Upper Midwest 3,131 & 2,601; Western Anglicans 3,295 & 2,844; Western Gulf Coast 3,172 & 2,090; and the Armed Forces Chaplaincy 456 in 2020 & 228 in 2024.   Church-wide ACNA figures show that following the pandemic 11,838 people are now showing up for the principal Sunday service in 2024 than they did at the start of the COVID lockdowns. That's a 14% overall increase in church attendance.   Some dioceses posted an increase in active Post-COVID participation. Dioceses which have more people in the pews in 2024 than in 2019 are: Carolinas 1,197 (+23.2%); Central States (REC) 230 (+29.3%); Christ for the Sake of Others (C4SO) 2,487 (+30.1%); Christ Our Hope 2,646 (+56.2%); Cascadia 132 (+13.6%); Living Word 424 (+27.7%); Mid-America (REC) 490 (+32.6%); Mid-Atlantic 843 (+14.6%); New England 15 (+0.9%); Rocky Mountains 1,333 (35.7%); South 780 (16.3%); Southwest 2,063 (125.8%); Western Anglicans 288 (13.3%); and Quincy 2,529 (204.7%).   When releasing ANCA’s latest stats Calley Mangum, ACNA’s Content & Media Relations Manager emailed VOL to explain why some numbers might look somewhat skewered.   “A couple caveats to please keep in mind…” she wrote.   “Some of the larger jumps and drops in numbers over the past few years were caused by the mergers or closures of Dioceses. We intend to more clearly indicate that reporting going forward,” she explained.   The two dioceses which have faded into ACNA history include the International Diocese in 2024, under Bishop Bill Atwood, and the Via Apostolica Missionary District in Canada (ANiC) in 2023. Also: All Nations, formerly CANA-West, joined the ACNA fold in 2023.   “Some Dioceses may look a bit off due to lower reporting responses in the prior years. We continue to work toward 100% participation, which will impact Year-Over-Year comparisons going forward.2024 Congregational Report,” shje said.   Dioceses showing empty pews which have not yet achieved full Post-COVID Sunday participation include: All Saints -108 (-13.8%); Canada -2,404 (-31.7%); Fort Worth -188 (-3.9%); Great Lakes -28 (-1.3%); Gulf Atlantic -638 (-13.6%); Northeast & Mid Atlantic (REC) -401 (-35.9%); Pittsburgh -217 (-5.2%); San Joaquin -267 (-16.1%); South Carolina -247 (-2.7%); Southeast (REC) -721 (-46.1%); Upper Midwest -481 (-16.7%); Western Gulf Coast -730 (-31.1%).   While membership is important, the percentage of church attendance can fluctuate wildly. During the COVID years ACNA had its lowest percentage of attendance (APSA) at 47.5%. This later rebounded to 73.9% in the Post-COVID era.   Five dioceses’ post-COVID percentages hit triple digits. They had more people attending services than many who signed on the dotted line as members. Those dioceses are: the Armed Forces Chaplaincy at 109% up from a COVID low of 50.6%; Cascadia at 102.7% up from 64.1%; Christ for the Sake of Others (C4SO) 104.8% up from a COVID 65.9%; Quincy at 100.2% up from 50.7%; and Rocky Mountains at 100.2% up from 67.5% during COVID.   A few dioceses’ attendance percentages went backwards. Their highest attendance percentage came during COVID including: Christ Our Hope’s high water mark was 90% during COVID it's down to 83.3% in 2024; Gulf Atlantic was 63.3% during COVID but sits at 60.3% in 2025; New England had a Pre-COVID percentage of 76.6% which has dropped to 67.1% in the Post-COVID era; South peaked in 2020 at 93.1% which has now dropped to 87.6% in 2024; Southeast’s (REC) 71.7% benchmark came during COVID, the percentage is now down to 68.5% in 2025; and although Upper Midwest has a Post-COVID attendance percentage of 91.8% its peak percentage of 96.5% came in 2020 during COVID.   The remaining dioceses' attendance percentages dropped during COVID only to recover once the pandemic was over. They include: All Saints 53% to 60.4%; Canada (ANiC) 43.5% to 89.3%; Carolinas 46.1% to 64.1%; Central States (REC) 55.1% to 69.3%; Great Lakes 53.2% to 70.9%; Living Word 59.2% to 77.9%; Mid-America (REC) 58.8% to 72.4%; Mid-Atlantic 44.2% to 77.3%; Northeast & Mid-Atlantic (REC) 53% to 73.3%; Southwest 40% to 70.4%; Western Anglicans 54.8% to 85.6%; and Western Gulf Coast 48.5% to 77.5%.   Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline.

COMMENTARY   By David Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org July 9, 2025   Dick Eastland was Camp Mystic’s director when he died trying to save young girls amid flash floods in Kerr County, Texas.   There were no thoughts for himself as he reached forth his hands in waist deep water to grasp the girls as the river rose around him.   Was he worried about this month’s mortgage payment, his IRA plan or if his 401(K) was adequately funded for his retirement. Apparently not. Above all he was not thinking about himself, a sea change in thinking from most of us who are daily being hounded about whether a million dollars is necessary for a robust retirement.   Was he thinking about all the people who will enter therapy to find themselves, only to discover they deserve exactly what they find.   The camp was Christian and so was Dick and his wife Tweety who owned and had run the camp since 1974.   Dick and his wife put others first, especially kids. And Dick paid the ultimate price.   He lived out Jesus’ words; “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Dick Eastland did exactly that.   This was not the ‘soft Christianity’ of Archbishop Rowan Williams or the conflicted theology of Archbishop Justin Welby; it was the raw naked theology of life and death amidst rushing waters, uprooted trees with houses and tortured cars rushing by at speeds fast enough to kill elephants.   Of course, Dick Eastland is not the first to lay down his life and he won’t be the last. School teachers have shielded students in classrooms while a gunman runs rampant through the school shooting at everyone, fed by America’s mindless gun laws.   This time it was nature, brutal and heartless, nature red in tooth, claw and roaring waters that took a man’s life and dozens more.   Another man, a dishwasher, laid down his life for his wife and two children when he bled to death trying to help them escape. He died; they lived. One blogger put it in context when he said this; “Why God Used Two Dead Texans to Expose Worthless Priorities.”   One ran a camp for millionaires’ daughters. One washed their dishes. Both bled out saving others while many are calculating Q3 goals.   Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends, said Jesus, emphasizing selflessness and sacrifice. This statement is a call to action, not just an abstract ideal.   “While you’re networking for your next opportunity, God’s using corpses to preach better sermons than your pastor,” said a blogger. “One’s a 27-year-old dishwasher who bled out after punching through glass to save his family. The other’s a camp director with connections to Texas royalty. LBJ’s daughters, oil dynasties, old money that smells like leather and legacy. “Same flood. Same choice. Same blood. “That’s when it hit me like a fist to the sternum: The Kingdom of God doesn’t give a darn about your LinkedIn profile.” “Dick Eastland ran Camp Mystic a century-old institution where Texas aristocracy sends their daughters to learn which fork to use while singing “Kumbaya.” “When 26 feet of water came hunting, guess what mattered? “Not Dick’s connections to governors or his real estate portfolio. Dick died trying to rescue girls from the Bubble Inn cabin.” Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. -- (John 15:13) Watching this man die for others reminds us all real cost looks like. Here’s the ugly truth most of us won’t say out loud, wrote one blogger: “We’ve baptized self-interest and called it ministry. Post to get followers. Serve to get seen. Give to get influence. Love to get loyalty. “Sacrifice” to build brand equity. We don’t count the cost. We count the clicks.” “Every act is measured. Every relationship, strategic. Every good deed, optimized. It’s not ministry. It’s marketing with a halo. “Dick Eastland got a grave next to girls he couldn’t pull from the flood. “No GoFundMe spotlight. No blue-check praise. No speaking circuit. Just death. “And that’s exactly why their lives preach louder than every polished pastor with a content calendar and a book launch strategy. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36) “Camp Mystic wasn’t just a camp. It was a finishing school for nobility. We’re talking girls whose trust funds could buy your ZIP code. Dick could’ve evacuated early with the other elites. He didn’t. “He died in the mud trying to save other people’s daughters. “This man had every reason to live. Legacy. Wealth. Influence. But when the water rose, he knew something your favorite Instagram preacher doesn’t: True wealth is measured by what you’re willing to lose, not what you’re trying to gain.” Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth… (Matthew 6:19) “Dick didn’t just teach girls camp songs. He died with their names in his heart.” “And then a flood comes and reveals what all our planning was really worth.” “Dick didn’t consult a crisis manual. They weren’t weighing options. They were bleeding.” “In that moment, what mattered wasn’t the size of their bank accounts or the safety of their zip code. It was: Who will I die for? And will I hesitate when the time comes?” If any man come to me, and hate not…his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26) “That’s not poetic. It’s a condition. Jesus was never vague about the cost. Dick paid it in full.” “We don’t give. We trade. Every act has a motive. Every “service” is brand alignment. Every “blessing” is leverage. But when the flood hits? You don’t check your audience insights. You just act. Or you don’t. And that choice reveals everything.” Whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need… how dwelleth the love of God in him? (1 John 3:17) “This isn’t a Hollywood movie. He didn’t make it out. He just chose: Them over self. No book deals. No influencer posts. No staged “miracles.” Just love. In blood.” He laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (1 John 3:16) “The flood is here. Digital perversion. Economic pressure. Cultural rot. Spiritual decay. When it hits your door, who will you be? The man protecting his platform? Or the man dragging his family to safety?” Choose you this day whom ye will serve. (Joshua 24:15) Think about that when next you feel like whining about some trivial loss. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. (Heb. 12:4) END

By Dave Doveton ANGLICAN MAINSTREAM July 9, 2025 A suicide bomber stormed into the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Elias in Damascus, Syria during the Sunday service on the morning of June 22nd. He opened fire, then detonated his explosive vest. Around 20 worshippers were killed and dozens injured. The same day several other attacks on Christians in Syria occurred. The  All Arab News  reported, saying, “A suicide bomber also targeted the Deir Ibrahim al-Khalil Monastery in Douweila, Damascus. Another terrorist team attacked a church in Maqsura called the Church of Our Lady, placing explosive devices at the door…. In the cities of Homs and Hama, several churches were also attacked by shooters. Leaflets were also posted on the doors of these churches reading, “Your turn is coming.”” [i] Not long ago in Syria, Alawites and Christians were massacred in a systematic rampage. Dead bodies were left in the streets. Indeed, we have seen a litany of attacks in Europe [ii]  and Britain over the past few years. This week is the 20 th  anniversary of the London bombings. We also remember the killing of civilians in Germany, the Southport massacre of children, even the use of civilians in Gaza as human shields by Hamas. Things like the public ‘celebration’ in which the bodies of murdered Israeli toddlers were paraded in front of a chanting mob understandably provokes a reaction because of the heinous nature of these actions. Many western observers found it difficult to comprehend that the Iranian regime would plan to strike Israel intentionally with a nuclear weapon. Such attack depending on the yield of the weapon used would have unleashed unimaginable thermonuclear devastation – in at least the Israeli territory, Gaza, The West Bank, and probably Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Even Egypt, the Gulf States, and Türkiye could face devastating consequences from nuclear fallout. It was estimated by some experts that each bomb Teheran developed and sent would be equivalent to the yield of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. Such blind rage resulting not only in the death of their perceived enemies, but also fellow Muslims in the process, is hard to fathom. Civilian deaths (either Jewish, or Palestinians used as human shields) are not regarded as morally wrong by Islamist militant groups such as Hamas.  The late Hamas leader Yehiya Sinwar allegedly told his colleague that the loss of his sons and other Palestinians during the war would “infuse life into the veins of this nation, prompting it to rise to its glory and honour.” He had also characterised the loss of Palestinian lives in Gaza as “necessary sacrifices.” [iii] Indeed, the term  shahid  (meaning martyr) is used by Islamist groups like Hamas to refer to any Palestinian killed – be they a combatant or civilian. This doctrine of martyrdom is used by such groups to justify suicide attacks and Islamists tend to focus on the glorification of martyrdom [iv] . In the 1979 Iran Iraq war, 20 000 child ‘martyrs’ were sent ahead of adult militia into minefields and machine gun fire to clear a path. Every child died, believing they had done a glorious deed for Allah [v] .  In case we think this apocalyptic ideology is something remote from our world, there are reports of British schoolchildren being taught these very doctrines [vi] . How can human beings engage in such savagery in the 21 st  century? Are people being drawn into a mass psychosis, or is it perhaps a religious fervour? Of course, people in general can be motivated to fight and even be martyrs in a political cause – however, could there possibly be more to the motivation than a drive for revenge and a righting of perceived wrongs? I wish to consider deeper psycho-spiritual dynamics that may be at play, influencing perpetrators without them possibly even being conscious of these deeper drives motivating their actions. Especially in a theological sense, what does the killing of innocents reveal about the human predicament without a saviour, without forgiveness for sin, without a way to expiate guilt? Although the motives of the aggressor may be complex and partly subconscious, there is an element of rationality involved, especially in the case of the Islamist killer. Although it is shame and not guilt that is a more important principle in Islam [vii] , nevertheless all human beings have a conscience, which brings knowledge of guilt. The moral philosopher Jack Budziszewski [viii]  holds that the human conscience works in 3 modes. It is cautionary, alerting us to potential moral wrongdoing; accusatory, indicting us when we do wrong; and finally avenging when we refuse to acknowledge wrongdoing. Knowledge of guilt, he maintains, generates in every person the need for confession, atonement, reconciliation, and justification. These needs are hardwired into every human being whether they have a religious belief system or not. “…(the) normal outlet of remorse is to flee from wrong; of the need for confession, to admit what one has done; of atonement, to pay the debt; of reconciliation, to restore the bonds one has broken; and of justification, to get back in the right.” [ix] However, if these needs are not met in the proper way, the wrongdoer’s life goes totally out of kilter. He says, “We flee not from wrong, but from thinking about it. We compulsively confess every detail of our story, except the moral. We punish ourselves again and again, offering every sacrifice except the one demanded. We simulate the restoration of broken intimacy, by seeking companions as guilty as ourselves. And we seek not to become just, but to justify ourselves.” [x] Christian doctrine recognises the power of guilt and the atoning work of Christ which offers forgiveness / atonement for sin, justification and restoration of intimacy with God and others. Thereby through repentance the guilt is dealt with holistically, bringing peace and healing to the soul and psyche. Islamic doctrine has no solution to the problem of sin and guilt, I recently came across an X post by a former Muslim in which he gives a simple but profound insight into why a Muslim would kill innocent non- Muslims (remembering of course according to the Quran that non- believers are ‘infidels’). “Let me tell you why a Muslim would drive his car into a crowd of innocent people. I was raised Muslim, and I know exactly why this happens. It’s not poverty. It’s not oppression. It’s not even radicalization. It’s the logical outcome of Islamic doctrine itself. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Muslim or not; we, as human beings, carry guilt deep inside us. We know we are not good enough and spend our lives trying to redeem ourselves through good deeds, thinking it will make the guilt disappear. Christianity, for example, offers a way out of guilt, a solution not based on your works but on Christ’s. Salvation isn’t earned; it’s given. You accept that you can’t redeem yourself because Christ did everything on your behalf. That means you’re free. Free to live, free to build, free to serve, free to love. When Christians feel lost, broken, and needing forgiveness, they can go to church, talk to a pastor or priest, and leave knowing they have been forgiven. Islam, on the other hand, doesn’t offer redemption; it weaponizes guilt. Instead of providing salvation, Allah exposes you, holds your sins over your head, and threatens you with hellfire and torture in the grave. The Quran isn’t a book of peace; it’s a book of threats. It bullies Muslims into obedience through fear, humiliation, and punishment. So, what happens when a Muslim seeks redemption? They try to be better Muslims. They pray, fast, give to charity, go on Hajj, and do everything Allah commands. But it never works. I know. I did it. And no matter how much you pray, no matter how much you try, the guilt never goes away. Because deep down, every Muslim knows it’s not enough. Allah always demands more.” Islam is complex and diverse. The vast majority of Muslims [xi]  are conservative, broadly nominal in their religious practice, and would not personally embrace violence against others. A small proportion are progressive and do tend to adapt to western culture. However, the last several decades have seen the development of a radical fundamentalist Islam (often referred to as Islamism) which adheres to a strict form of Islam, especially believing in the importance of expanding the political rule of Islam through military might and violent struggle. They adhere to verses in the Quran which call for violence against non-believers. Mahmood describes these doctrines – he continues, Allah loves those who die fighting against the infidels. That’s not an opinion, it’s in the Quran, Hadith, and every lesson taught to children. This is why Muslims, even the so-called “moderates,” always hesitate to condemn terrorism. Because they know Allah requires jihad. They might not be willing to commit it themselves, but they cannot say it’s wrong. So, when a Muslim fails to reach peace through religious rituals, they have two choices: Give up, stop being devout, and learn to live with the guilt, or commit to jihad because that’s the only way to be true to yourself. The Quran spells it out clearly: “Kill those who do not worship Allah or obey the Prophet” (9:29). So when a Muslim embraces this identity fully, killing infidels isn’t just justified; it’s joyful. It’s an act of: Saving yourself, Obeying Allah, Securing your eternity, Finally escaping the crushing weight of guilt. This is why a Muslim can drive his car into a crowd of innocent people and feel nothing but satisfaction. Because for the first time in his life, he finally believes he has done something worthy of redemption.” [xii] Scholars of Islamism would agree, “One sure way to go straight to paradise…is to die as a martyr in jihad.” [xiii] This exploration is an attempt to shed light on some of the motivations for the violence we see perpetrated in the name of a religious ideology. As Christians, we of all people should be aware of the reality of sin and guilt and its consequences for every human being. We each have the calling to share with others (whatever their faith commitment or lack thereof) the liberating power of the gospel. Civil violence is destabilising and creates confusion and even hopelessness in a society. The challenge is to believe in the power and purposes of God to change things when to many it seems almost impossible.   Pope John Paul II in his theologising on the totalitarian ideologies of the 20 th  Century, writes that ultimately these ideologies and the destruction they wrought have their origin in original sin. The only way to overcome this manifestation of original sin is through loving God to the point of total self-denial. It is to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the depths of evil perpetrated by human beings. It is what Jesus meant in his expression ‘convince the world about sin’ [xiv]  – it is not to condemn the world, but,  “If the Church, through the power of the Holy Spirit, can call evil by its name, it does so only in order to demonstrate that evil may be overcome if we open ourselves to   amor Dei usque ad contemptum sui.” [xv] That is, the self-denial in giving ourselves to God’s mission in love of him and others, instead of self-denial in acts of destruction. __________________________________________________________________________________ [i]   https://allarab.news/multiple-churches-in-syria-attacked-by-terrorists-including-those-in-damascus-at-least-20-dead-dozens-wounded-and-numbers-are-climbing/ [ii]   https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/a-timeline-of-evil-terror-attacks-in-europe-in-2024-25/ [iii]   https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/06/12/hamas-death-toll-gaza-sinwar-messages/ [iv]  Patrick Sookdeo,  The Role of Religion in the Battle Space since 9/11  in  Meeting the Ideological Challenge of Islamism,  ed Bekele and Sookdeo, Isaac Publishing, McLean, Virginia, 2015, p19. [v]  The Horrible Truth About Iran the West Doesn’t Understand – Interview with Matthew Syed,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1cNfkJvyLs [vi]   Tehran’s theocratic tyrants have no place in the UK,    https://capx.co/tehrans-theocratic-tyrants-have-no-place-in-the-uk [vii]  Patrick Sookdeo,  The Challenge of Islam to the Church and its Mission,  p33. [viii]  Jack Budziszewski is professor of government and philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of several books. [ix]  J. Budziszewski: What We Can’t Not Know: A Guide, p. 140. [x]  i.b.i.d. [xi]  For an overview of the diversity in Islam, see: Patrick Sookdeo,  The Challenge of Islam to the Church and its Mission,  Isaac Publishing, McLean, VA, 2008. P47ff. [xii]   https://x.com/ImtiazMahmood , [xiii]  Patrick Sookdeo,  The Challenge of Islam,  p 31. [xiv]  John 16:8. [xv]  John Paul II, Memory and Identity, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London, 2005. P7; “ amor Dei usque ad contemptum sui”  means “the love of God to the point of self-contempt”.

High Church Day’ Eucharist at Trinity’s New Good Shepherd Chapel | Trinity Anglican Seminary   By Jeff Walton JUICY ECUMENISM July 8, 2025   Fifty years after its founding as an institution seeking to renew the Episcopal Church,  Trinity Anglican Seminary  now seeks to establish itself as a central hub within the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and broaden beyond its history of low churchmanship.   Inaugurated in 1975 as Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, the school in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, restyled itself as Trinity Anglican Seminary in 2024. The change to incorporate  Anglican  in the institution’s name was noteworthy as an increasing number of Protestant institutions eschewed denominational labels, perceiving them as less marketable as nondenominational Christianity grew. But Trinity’s new name signaled a change in more than just branding. “We seek to educate ‘the whole candlestick,’” said the Rev. Alex Banfield Hicks, Trinity’s director of leadership development. Hicks led a campus tour for delegates to the ACNA Provincial Council, which met June 18-20 at the school’s newly consecrated  Trophimus Center , which is named for the companion of St. Paul mentioned in Acts and 2 Timothy.   Formerly Union Presbyterian Church, the center and its Good Shepherd Chapel were  consecrated  on May 16 by ACNA Archbishop Emeritus Robert Duncan, opening the space as a conference and events facility. Expansion of Trinity’s campus has come as a number of other seminaries have either liquidated properties to free up cash and reduce debt or have concluded residential programs and shifted to online and hybrid models of education. Most recently, Luther Seminary has  announced  plans to move from its historic campus in St. Paul, Minnesota. Provincial Council served as something of a “coming out party” for Trinity as a school specifically aiming to form seminarians for ministry within ACNA. While the school is not unfamiliar to most ACNA clergy and bishops (several ACNA diocesan bishops are graduates) it has expanded its reach and in May of 2024 reported an 89 percent increase in applications over the previous year. In the autumn of 2024, Trinity  counted  132 students and eight faculty, according to data provided by the Association for Theological Schools, the accrediting body for North American seminaries. While small compared to many Southern Baptist or evangelical seminaries, that is larger than the enrollment of most Episcopal seminaries, a number of which have consolidated in recent years.   Trinity continues to offer the option of a fully residential program, something that at least half of the remaining Episcopal schools no longer offer. Church Divinity School of the Pacific  concluded residential study  in 2023. General Theological Seminary  announced  in 2022 that it would no longer admit new residential students.   Trinity quietly disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church in January 2022. Trinity’s dean, the Very Rev. Canon Bryan C. Hollon explained it had become difficult to continue presenting both denominations as equally valid ministry options when Episcopal officials held different theological commitments than Trinity’s leaders. It was also noteworthy that fewer and fewer postulants for ordination within the Episcopal Church were coming to Trinity, and those who were attending were doing so without the support and direction of their diocesan bishops. Concurrently, more ACNA bishops directed their future clergy to Trinity, as did a number of overseas Anglican provinces, especially in the Global South, where the Anglican Communion is consistently growing. Trinity counts several Global South bishops among its alumni, including those  serving dioceses  in Chile, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Tanzania. While most of Trinity’s students are Anglican, the school has ecumenical aspects: Presbyterian and Lutheran students study alongside their Anglican colleagues in programs overseen by the  North American Lutheran Church  and the  Evangelical Presbyterian Church . These are evangelical denominations that share some of the “mainline-adjacent” attributes of the ACNA, with a significant number of their local churches formerly connected with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), just as many ACNA parishes were part of or planted by those who once were laity and clergy within the Episcopal Church.   Trinity’s “whole candlestick” commitment, a reference to high church and low church traditions, is an effort to differentiate it from some of its peer institutions.  Nashotah House Theological Seminary  in Wisconsin historically educates students seeking to minister within the high church or Anglo-Catholic traditions, while receiving recognition by both the Episcopal Church and the ACNA.   Meanwhile, a number of evangelical seminaries have initiated ACNA-recognized Anglican tracks of study, including  Asbury Theological Seminary ,  Beeson Divinity School ,  Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary , and  Regent College . Hicks and Hollon speak positively of these institutions as connecting evangelicals “on the Canterbury Trail” with Anglicanism, but emphasize Trinity’s 50-year role as being a distinctly Anglican institution.   In this regard, Trinity has at least one parallel with Virginia Theological Seminary, the largest seminary training clergy for ministry within the Episcopal Church. Established in 1823, VTS was a place of education within the low-church, reformed expressions of Anglicanism. With the diminishment of General Theological Seminary, a “broad church” school, VTS similarly widened its churchmanship in order to step into the role General once occupied.   Now, aspects of sacramental, Anglo-Catholic worship such as  chasubles  are seen there, which was not the case less than 100 years ago. VTS, which similarly educates in a residential model, now shares the same institutional leadership with the much smaller General Seminary. General now exclusively offers a hybrid model of remote learning and on-campus intensives at a few points in the academic school year. For its part, Trinity now introduces its students to a range of Anglican liturgical practices, including a “high church” day with an Eastern-facing Eucharist. “We really did it up for annual ‘high church’ day this year,” said the Rev. Canon Wes Jagoe, Trinity’s chaplain and director of the Trophimus Center. Jagoe listed  Ad Orientem  worship, incense, sung liturgy and prayers of the people, oblations, ablutions, eucharistic vestments, appareled [decorative] albs, tunicled crucifer, sung Gospel responses, verger, and bells as among the aspects included in high-church worship. “It is great to demonstrate for students the full spectrum of Anglican practices.”   END

by David G. Duggan ©  Special to Virtueonline www.virtueonline.org July 7, 2025     Sadly, an Episcopal prelate wades again into waters he has no business testing. The Most Rev. Sean Rowe has used his shrinking platform and diminishing parishioner throw-weight to condemn the current administration’s policies, be they immigration enforcement, travel bans or refugee resettlement. Does he even know of this administration’s initiatives in Gaza, Ukraine and Central Africa, areas largely abandoned by its predecessor? Or does the Episcopal Church not care about peace.    I won’t engage Mr. Rowe on his mea culpa about the Episcopal Church’s legacy of benign neglect toward slavery, indoctrinating schools for the indigenous, and (evidently) missionary activity masquerading as American foreign policy (what?). As Henry Ford said: “History is bunk,” and as William Faulkner (raised an Episcopalian) said: “The past is never dead; it is not even past.” No institution composed of mortals can claim moral superiority, so get over it.    But where Mr. Rowe’s 4th of July message borders on idolatry, not to mention historical inaccuracy is when he extols the “Confessing Church” during the Nazi regime, as an example of religious opposition to the civil state. What Mr. Rowe does not explain is that for 200 years, German ministers–both Catholic and Protestant–have been civil servants, drawing their salaries from the government. Of course, the church is going to kowtow to the piper’s paymaster. But the Confessing Church did nothing to stop the mass deportations, the concentration camps, the gas chambers which that vile regime used to fuel its claim of Aryan superiority. And Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who became a member of Hitler’s military intelligence unit, was executed just days before his prison camp was liberated not because of his involvement in the Confessing Church. He was executed because he had been involved in–or at least had foreknowledge of–the von Stauffenberg plot to kill Hitler.      I have been a lifelong Episcopalian, but I could care less whether a majority of the signers of the Declaration of Independence or 20% of our presidents have professed that faith. Nobody should choose his faith because George Washington, Franklin Roosevelt or George H.W. Bush worshiped at a particular church. Fortunately, those presidents knew that the civil state faces dangers which cannot be measured in plate collections or Sunday attendance. Significant, however, is that they didn’t let a cleric, who has never had to explain to a mother why her son or daughter died in a conflict under his authority, dictate foreign or domestic policy.    Mr. Rowe may view the administration’s policies as reckless and he is entitled to his opinion. But to clothe that opinion in the wrap of First Amendment protection afforded all churches is to exalt one view of the Gospel over another. He doesn’t get that job. He is not the United States theologian-in-chief or its scolder-in-chief. Leave that to the misguided moralists who are trying to burn down government buildings, stop government processes, and impose their narrow vision of the public welfare on this great nation now in its 250th year of existence under the God who is Sovereign over all.    David Duggan is a retired attorney living in Chicago. He is an occasional contributor to Virtueonline.

By Chuck Collins www.virtueonline.org July 7, 2025     Anglicans understand that church is God’s idea and his special way of reaching his people. It’s his appointed meeting-place. As the Old Testament tabernacle and temple were glimpses back to Eden before the fall, and looked forward to paradise restored in the New Jerusalem when Jesus returns, so today’s church is God’s instrument by which he delivers his grace.   He does this specifically in the reading and preaching of the Bible, and in the word eaten (the sacrament). The English reformers understood and respected the supernatural power of the Bible to turn people’s hearts and affections to God where Christians re-union with their Redeemer. And it is in this reunion by which the Lord reorients the hearts and affections of Christians. Thomas Cranmer, the chief architect of our Anglican heritage, knew this: “For as the word of God preached putteth Christ into our ears, so likewise these elements of water, bread, and wine, joined to God’s word, do after a sacramental manner put Christ into our eyes, mouths, hands, and all our senses.”   The people who gather expecting to meet God in word and sacrament is the bridge between heaven and earth. One aspect of this is what Anglicans call: the communion of the saints. Before Holy Communion, the congregation is invited to join angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven, who are in eternity forever acknowledging God’s holiness - to “lift up your hearts!”   When Anglicans sing and when they pray, they are not just coming up with something on their own to offer God. No, it’s far bigger and more important than that! Worshipping Anglicans join the ongoing heavenly choir who are continually, day and night, acknowledging God’s beauty and his worthiness: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5).     Anglicans say in the creed recited each week that the church is “one, holy, catholic and apostolic,” but have you noticed that the word “holy” is missing from the Nicene Creed in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer? This is curious, but it is not accidental. This is a loud and important statement of reformational understanding.   The rejection of this word by Cranmer shows how the English reformers viewed the institutional church as essentially a human institution, a larger body that includes Christians and non-Christians. Anglican formularies make the distinction between the visible and invisible church. The visible church is the human institution rooted in human society that is populated with believers and unbelievers.   The invisible church is the mystical body of the elect within the visible church who are chosen from eternity for eternal life. Because no one knows who really belongs to God, the church of which Christ is the head can only be invisible. This distinction between the visible and invisible church explains how King Henry VIII could be the head of the institutional Church of England, while Christ is the only head of his mystical body, the church invisible, which will be revealed on the day Jesus comes back to bring heaven to earth.   The Thirty-nine Articles spell this out for us: “The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in the which the pure word of God is preached and the sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ’s ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same. As the Church of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch have erred: so also the Church of Rome hath erred, not only in their living and manner of ceremonies, but also in matters of faith” (Article XIX). The reformers wanted to make sure the English church distanced itself from any ideas that the church and tradition (i.e. the pope) is infallible, or in some way equal in authority with Holy Scripture.   There is an ongoing debate in the church today as to whether or not the Bible is the “product” of the apostolic and catholic church. To the extent that this is true, the church that wrote the Bible can then modify it or add teachings that do not necessarily stand the test of Holy Scripture. This makes the Bible subject to the church, and it makes some amorphous undefined “great tradition” the guiding rule of faith and worship above the Bible. Cranmer, once again, saw this coming and he declared, “The Church hath power to decree rites or ceremonies and authority in controversies of faith; and yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain anything contrary to God’s word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another” (Article XX). Holy Scripture is the divinely inspired authority by which all other authorities are to be judged, including creeds, councils of the church, traditions, human reason and experience. This is why the first Homily is the first: “The Reading of Holy Scripture.”   In this sermon, that was appointed to be read in every church in England and Ireland sequentially along with the other homilies, Christians are reminded that, “As drink is pleasant to those who are dry, and meat to those who are hungry, so is the reading, hearing, searching, and studying of holy scripture, to those who desire to know God, or themselves, and to do his will” (Gatiss version).     So, the church is a gathering in which the word of God is preached and the sacraments are duly ministered specifically for the reunion and refreshment of God’s people. Neglecting the gathering, the fellowship, and the worship is to say, “No thank you” to the God who has made his plan and grace available to us in this way. When someone is born again, it is never in isolation to be lone-ranger Christians, but rather into the family of believers who want to be together where God said he will meet and bless his children.   END

Episcopal Church’s Rump Dioceses Limp Along Following Realignment  ACNA dioceses outpace TEC    By Mary Ann Mueller  VOL Special Correspondent  www.virtueonline.org   July 7, 2025    Starting in 2007 five Episcopal dioceses — San Joaquin (2007); Pittsburgh & Quincy (2008); Fort Worth (2009); and South Carolina (2012) – left the Episcopal Church. The first pulling at the seams came with the election of an openly homosexual (Vicky Gene Robinson) as the IX Bishop of New Hampshire.    In 2007 the Diocese of Pittsburgh, led by Bishop Robert Duncan (VII Pittsburgh), started to put into place diocesan canons which would allow it to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church and affiliate with another Anglican Communion entity – the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone in South America. The process was completed in 2008.   However, the major breaking point, and the complete tearing of the Anglican fabric came for those diocesan bishops who absolutely refused to accept women's ordination (San Joaquin, Quincy and Fort Worth. With the enthronement of Katharine Jefferts Schori as the Episcopal Presiding Bishop bishops John-David Schofield (IV San Joaquin); Keith Ackerman (VII Quincy); and Jack Iker (III Fort Worth) found that was a theological bridge too far.    Eventually Bishop Mark Lawrence (XIV South Carolina) was pushed over the edge in 2012 when he and his South Carolina delegation walked out of the Episcopal General Convention as it became clear that Convention had departed from historic Anglican faith and practice and embraced a radical fringe interpretation of Holy Writ.   All five separating Episcopal dioceses eventually found themselves in the Anglican Church in North America. The dioceses of Pittsburgh, San Joaquin, Quincy and Fort Worth are founding ACNA dioceses. The historic Diocese of South Carolina joined later. Although it is not a founding ACNA diocese, South Carolina was an original founding diocese of The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (PECUSA) in 1785 along with the dioceses of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, and Delaware.   What has happened to the various Episcopal rump dioceses?   Two dioceses have been relegated to an historical footnote. In 2013 the remaining Episcopal Diocese of Quincy was reunified with the larger Diocese of Chicago to become the Peoria Deanery. Initially, in 1877, both the Diocese of Chicago and the Diocese of Quincy were carved out of the existing Diocese of Illinois as was the Diocese of Springfield. At that point the Diocese of Illinois itself became an historical footnote.   In 2022 the TEC Diocese of Fort Worth, renamed The Episcopal Church in North Texas (TECinNTX), was dissolved and folded into the Diocese of Texas, thus becoming the “North Region” of the larger Texas diocese. And so, the Episcopal Church’s Diocese of Fort Worth became just another footnote in church history.    Most recently (2024) the Wisconsin Episcopal dioceses of Eau Claire, Fond du Lac and Milwaukee also faded into history as the three separate Badger State dioceses merged to reconstitute the original Diocese of Wisconsin pulling the historic diocese from the dust bin.   That leaves the rump dioceses of San Joaquin, Pittsburgh and South Carolina limping along while their ACNA counterparts flourish.   Full 2024 stats are not yet compiled. ACNA stats are expected later this summer while TEC stats should be released this fall.     ✓SAN JOAQUIN  The TEC diocese is looking for its next bishop to become the VI Bishop of San Joaquin. A four candidate slate has been released including two Canons to the Ordinary (Anna Carmichael from the Diocese of San Joaquin; and Shawn Wamsley from the Diocese of Pennsylvania); and two non-Diocese of San Joaquin priests but who are from California (Rob Keim, a partnered gay priest in a same-sex marriage, is from the Diocese of El Camino Real; and Greg Kimura, a Yonsei (fourth generation Japanese/American) is from the Diocese of Los Angeles).    After the 2007 fracture the rump diocese of San Joaquin functioned with provisional bishops for nine years.   Bishop Jerry Lamb (VI Northern California) was the first provisional bishop from 2008-2011. He was followed by Bishop Chester Talton (Los Angeles suffragan) from 2011-2014.   Bishop David Rice took up the reins as the third provisional bishop from 2014-2017. However, in 2017 he was elected as the V Bishop of TEC San Joaquin.  He has announced that he plans on entering retirement next spring (2026).    The retiring American-born bishop came to San Joaquin after serving as the 15 th Bishop of Waiapu in New Zealand from 2008-2014.   ~~~~~~~~~~    *SAN JOAQUIN comparative 2023 stats  CONGREGATIONS  TEC: 19  ACNA: 30    MEMBERSHIP  TEC: 1,958  ACNA: 2,390    AVERAGE WEEKLY ATTENDANCE  TEC: 633  ACNA: 1,303    PERCENTAGE ATTENDANCE  TEC: 32.3%  ACNA: 52.4%    <•><•><•><•><•><•><•><•><•><•>      ✓SOUTH CAROLINA  Following the breakup of the historic South  Carolina diocese TEC’s diocese was forced to call itself The Episcopal Church in South Carolina (TECinSC) since Bishop Mark Lawrence (XIV South Carolina) had use of the corporate name of The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina while it was tied up in court litigation.   The rump diocese was under the administration of two provisional bishops  Charles vonRosenberg (III East Tennessee) from 2013-2016, and Skip Adams (X New York) from 2016–2019.   Ruth Woodliff-Stanley was elected the XV Bishop of TEC South Carolina in 2021.    ~~~~~~~~~   *SOUTH CAROLINA comparative 2023 stats  CONGREGATIONS  TEC: 31  ACNA: 52    MEMBERSHIP  TEC: 7,995  ACNA: 17,440    AVERAGE WEEKLY ATTENDANCE  TEC: 2,352  ACNA: 7,888    PERCENTAGE ATTENDANCE  TEC: 29.4%  ACNA: 45.2%    <•><•><•><•><•><•><•><•><•><•>      ✓PITTSBURGH  The rump Diocese of Pittsburgh only had one provisional bishop, Kenneth Price (Ohio suffragan) from 2009-2012.   Dorsey McConnell was elected the VIII Bishop of TEC Pittsburgh in 2012. He remained at post until his retirement when Ketlen Solak became the IX Bishop of TEC Pittsburgh in 2021.   She was born in Haiti and came to the United States to pursue her education at the Catholic University of America.   However, she converted to the Episcopal Church to seek the priesthood when she found that the Episcopal Church had a place for women in the ministry.   In 2022, after retiring from Pittsburgh, Bishop McConnell became the assisting bishop for the Diocese of Aberdeen & Orkney in the Scottish Episcopal Church. Then in 2023 he became the Acting (provisional) Bishop of the Scottish diocese because the diocesan bishop ordinary, Anne Dyers, was suspended for her heavy-handed ways and bullying tactics.   Bishop McConnell stepped back into his assisting bishop’s role in 2024. A position he still holds.    ~~~~~~~~~~    *PITTSBURGH comparative 2023 stats  CONGREGATIONS  TEC: 33  ACNA: 47    MEMBERSHIP  TEC: 8,538  ACNA: 5,840    AVERAGE WEEKLY ATTENDANCE  TEC: 1,746  ACNA: 3,646    PERCENTAGE ATTENDANCE  TEC: 20.4%  ACNA: 60.5%    <•><•><•><•><•><•><•><•><•><•>     ✓FORT WORTH  TEC’s Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth went through four bishops provisional from the time Katharine Jefferts Schori reconstituted the rump diocese in 2009 until it folded into the Diocese of Texas in 2022.   The long list of bishops provisional include: Ted Gulick (VII Kentucky) 2009; Wallis Ohl (IV Northwest Texas) 2009-2012; Rayford High (Texas suffragan) 2012-2015; and James Scott Mayer (V Northwest Texas) 2015–2022.   ~~~~~~~~~~    *FORT WORTH comparative 2023 stats  CONGREGATIONS  TEC: Defunct since 2022  ACNA: 56    MEMBERSHIP  TEC: Defunct since 2022  ACNA: 8,649    AVERAGE WEEKLY ATTENDANCE  TEC: Defunct since 2022  ACNA: 4,273    PERCENTAGE ATTENDANCE  TEC: Defunct since 2022  ACNA: 49.4%    <•><•><•><•><•><•><•><•><•><•>     ✓QUINCY  The rump Diocese of Quincy was overseen by a single bishop provisional John Buchanan (VI West Missouri) from 2009 before the diocese became the Peoria Deanery within the Diocese of Chicago in 2013.   ~~~~~~~~~~    *QUINCY comparative 2023 stats  CONGREGATIONS  TEC: Defunct since 2013  ACNA: 33    MEMBERSHIP  TEC: Defunct since 2013  ACNA: 2,587    AVERAGE WEEKLY ATTENDANCE  TEC: Defunct since 2013  ACNA: 1,468    PERCENTAGE ATTENDANCE  TEC: Defunct since 2013  ACNA: 56.7%      Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline.