VirtueOnline Digest, Vol 17, Issue 32

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=================================
VirtueOnline Weekly News Digest
http://www.VirtueOnline.org
=================================

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P.S. Direct replies to this digest do NOT go to VOL staff. If you wish to comment on today's digest, please address your email to in...@virtueonline.org

Today's Topics:

1. Table of Contents (David Virtue)
2. VIEWPOINTS: August 25, 2017 (David Virtue)
3. How the Alt-Left Destroyed the Episcopal Church (David Virtue)
4. ACNA Archbishop Calls for Prayer. Condemns Racism (David Virtue)
5. Our Lady of the Atonement's new rector installed amidst
bittersweet ceremony (David Virtue)
6. Anglican Bishop launches scathing attack on 'lying, amoral'
Donald Trump - and the 'Christian Right' for backing him
(David Virtue)
7. Muslim takeover of Europe is 'biggest story of our time' and
nobody knows it (David Virtue)
8. Apostates Destroying Our Churches (David Virtue)
9. Why do Christians hesitate to rise up on anti-Christian
persecution? (David Virtue)
10. Why patriarchy is the best solution for happy families and
societies (David Virtue)
11. Getting Along, Despite Differences (David Virtue)
12. SC Episcopal Schism: Supreme Court Justice Slammed (David Virtue)
13. Hard truth about soft power (David Virtue)
14. We All Have History (David Virtue)
15. The Way of the Cross (David Virtue)
16. VERO BEACH, FL: Christ Church Anglican Complex Opens its
Doors (David Virtue)
17. The Way of the Cross (David Virtue)


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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:34:16 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Table of Contents
Message-ID:
<1503599656.2193269....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

VirtueOnline Weekly News Digest - Desktop & Mobile Edition
www.virtueonline.org
August 25, 2017

*************************************
VIEWPOINTS
*************************************

1. Bishop Mark Lawrence, "litigation is not over" * Stacy Sauls lawsuit
dismissed * GAFCON invitations going out ...
http://www.virtueonline.org/bishop-mark-lawrence-litigation-not-over-stacy-sauls-lawsuit-dismissed-gafcon-invitations-going-out


*********************************************
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
*********************************************

2.How the Alt-Left Destroyed the Episcopal Church
http://www.virtueonline.org/how-alt-left-destroyed-episcopal-church


*********************************************
ANGLICAN NEWS IN NORTH AMERICA
*********************************************

3.ACNA Archbishop Calls for Prayer. Condemns Racism
http://www.virtueonline.org/acna-archbishop-calls-prayer-condemns-racism

4.Our Lady of the Atonement's new rector installed amidst bittersweet
ceremony
http://www.virtueonline.org/our-lady-atonements-new-rector-installed-amidst-bittersweet-ceremony


*********************************************
CHURCH OF ENGLAND NEWS
*********************************************

5.Anglican Bishop launches scathing attack on 'lying, amoral'...
http://www.virtueonline.org/anglican-bishop-launches-scathing-attack-lying-amoral-donald-trump-and-christian-right-backing-him


********************************
CULTURE WARS
********************************

6.Muslim takeover of Europe is 'biggest story of our time' and nobody
knows it
http://www.virtueonline.org/muslim-takeover-europe-biggest-story-our-time-and-nobody-knows-it

7.Apostates Destroying Our Churches
http://www.virtueonline.org/apostates-destroying-our-churches

8.Why do Christians hesitate to rise up on anti-Christian persecution?
http://www.virtueonline.org/why-do-christians-hesitate-rise-anti-christian-persecution


********************************
AS EYE SEE IT
********************************

9.Why patriarchy is the best solution for happy families and societies
http://www.virtueonline.org/why-patriarchy-best-solution-happy-families-and-societies

10.Getting Along, Despite Differences
http://www.virtueonline.org/getting-along-despite-differences

11.SC Episcopal Schism: Supreme Court Justice Slammed
http://www.virtueonline.org/sc-episcopal-schism-supreme-court-justice-slammed

12.Hard truth about soft power
http://www.virtueonline.org/hard-truth-about-soft-power

13.We All Have History
http://www.virtueonline.org/we-all-have-history


*********************************
REFORMATION & REVIVAL
*********************************

14.VERO BEACH, FL: Christ Church Anglican Complex Opens Its Doors
http://www.virtueonline.org/vero-beach-fl-christ-church-anglican-complex-opens-its-doors


************************************
DEVOTIONAL
**********************************

15.The Way Of The Cross
http://www.virtueonline.org/way-cross

--



------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:37:46 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: VIEWPOINTS: August 25, 2017
Message-ID:
<1503599866.2194173....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

A God who sends. 'Mission' is an activity of God arising out of the very
nature of God. The living God of the Bible is a sending God, which is
what 'mission' means. He sent the prophets to Israel. He sent his Son
into the world. His Son sent out the apostles, and the seventy, and the
church. He also sent the Spirit to the church and sends him into our
hearts today. --- John R.W. Stott

Ultimately, what will matter is not the recognition of Canterbury, but
the mutual recognition of Anglican Churches where the power of the
gospel is manifest, and in that the new Churches of the Sudan and of
North America are united; in their very different contexts they both
know what it is to suffer for the gospel and to rely on the power of
God. --- Charles Raven

Americans are more divided morally, ideologically and politically today
than they were during the Civil War, for that reason, just as the Great
War came to be known as World War I once there was World War II, the
Civil War will become known as the First Civil War when more Americans
come to regard the current battle as the Second Civil War." --- Dennis
Prager at Townhall

God's grace is not infinite. God is infinite, and God is gracious. We
experience the grace of an infinite God, but grace is not infinite. God
sets limits to his patience and forbearance. He warns us over and over
again that someday the ax will fall and His judgment will be poured out.
Since it is our tendency to take grace for granted, my guess is that God
found it necessary from time to time to remind Israel that grace must
never be assumed. On rare but dramatic occasions, He showed the dreadful
power of His justice. He killed Nadab and Abihu. He killed Uzzah. He
commanded the slaughter of the Canaanites. It is as if He were saying,
"Be careful. While you enjoy the benefits of my grace, don't forget my
justice. Don't forget the gravity of sin. Remember that I am holy." ---
R.C. Sproul

The Bible is full of warnings about those who would lead God's people
astray with lies and false teachings, and drag them into sinful, immoral
lifestyles. We should steer clear of such people and have nothing to do
with them. Yet sadly we seem to find these apostates regularly doing
their worst as they lead so many to perdition. --- Bill Muehlenberg

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
August 25, 2017

THE ECLIPSE was wonderful to watch, but it is not a sign of an immediate
apocalypse or End Times. Mercifully, Anglicans don't have such
theological views and you should be grateful we don't.

Ed Stetzer, a missiologist much favored by North American Anglicans
said, quoting from the Christian Post: "For me personally, I am not
attaching any great significance to a solar eclipse. There are many
signs that Jesus told us to look for that would alert us to the fact
that His coming is near. The fact is, those signs are all around us.
Only a fool would ignore the writing on the wall. As far as the solar
eclipse goes, I personally don't attach any great significance to that
in particular.

"To journalists who seek to highlight Christians who see the eclipse as
a sign of the end: it's not honest reporting. It's disingenuous and
dishonest. I don't see any of these news sources going around looking
for Hindus and Muslims looking for their strange ideas--but they do so
for Christians. We have fringe people who ascribe cult-like significance
to normal astrological events, but they do not represent mainstream and
normative Christianity."

*****

Bishop Mark Lawrence sent out an update on where things are within the
Diocese of South Carolina. He said he has met with the Standing
Committee and his lead counsel and they have decided to seek a rehearing
from the state court. The filing for rehearing is due on September 1,
2017. Subsequent to this filing, it is assumed The Episcopal Church and
its local diocese will then be granted time by the court to respond to
our filing. "I want to remind you that this litigation is not over.
There are several options for us to pursue and we shall consider them
prayerfully and strategically. Earlier in August our lead counsel, Mr.
Alan Runyan, and I met with all the clergy of the diocese at a Special
Clergy Day at St. Paul's, Summerville; then, this last week Canon Lewis
and I met with the active priests in each of our six deaneries for
in-depth conversations. Your priests are aware of various possibilities
and are key resources for you in understanding where we presently
stand."

Lawrence said there were many challenges. "Some of these rectors and
vicars (and their spouses and children) live in church housing, as do
Allison and I. Many that do not live in rectories are making payments on
mortgages. So too, are the lay staff in our congregations and diocese.
Some of our congregations are in the midst of capital campaigns or hold
debt on their buildings. Frankly, each congregation of the diocese is in
a distinct position regarding how this ruling may or may not affect
their common life and future. While this is also the case for each
rector, vicar or assistant, I have been amazed at the remarkable
resilience of our clergy as they face the uncertainty of the future."

Lawrence said the ruling has the potential to disrupt lives and
ministry, as well as the ministry and mission of the congregation they
serve. "God has not revoked his call nor our vocation to make Biblical
Anglicans for a Global Age; I believe however, he is calling us to
fuller fellowship in the Spirit; a deeper trust in his word; and a more
zealous thrust in mission and ministry in the world."

VOL has posted this story from Fits News which argues that Supreme Court
Justice Kaye Hearn should have recused herself from this court case
owing to her deep involvement in and with the Episcopal Church. Hearn
was one of the three Supreme Court justices who ruled in favor of the
liberal national Episcopal Church (TEC), which sued a conservative
diocese that broke away from its ranks five years ago:
http://www.virtueonline.org/sc-episcopal-schism-supreme-court-justice-slammed

*****

A district judge in Alabama has dismissed a lawsuit by the Rt. Rev.
Stacy Sauls, former chief operating officer of the Episcopal Church,
according to a report in The Living Church.

Mobile County 13th Judicial District Judge Ben Brooks said in his Aug.
22 decision that Alabama was not the proper venue for Sauls to file such
a suit.

The judge ruled that the actions described in the suit occurred in New
York, where Sauls still lives and where the church maintains its
denominational office.

"The only potential Alabama witnesses are the lawyers [Sauls] hired,"
Brooks wrote.

The judge's decision came about two months after he had ordered Sauls
and church representatives in June to engage in state-mandated
mediation. He took that action after he had heard oral arguments on the
church's request that he dismiss the lawsuit.

The judge appointed Michael Upchurch, an Alabama lawyer and mediator, to
lead that process. Upchurch was ordered to finish the mediation and
report to Brooks by Aug. 18. Upchurch attends St. James Episcopal Church
in Fairhope, Alabama, according to his profile on the website of the
Mobile law firm Frazer, Greene, Upchurch, and Baker.

The bishop's suit against the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society
and an unspecified number of unnamed defendants associated with the
church claimed that Presiding Bishop Michael Curry's decision to replace
him as chief operating officer had damaged his reputation and made it
difficult for him to be employed elsewhere in the church.

Sauls filed suit in early February, nearly a year after Curry relieved
him of his job. In announcing the lawsuit, the presiding bishop said
that, in consultation with legal counsel, he had "tried his best to
negotiate a severance with Bishop Sauls." Curry said he made "a good
faith and compassionate offer, but that offer was not accepted."

The presiding bishop also said that "as a steward of church resources"
he could not go beyond that offer and explain it in good conscience to
the church.

Three senior managers have been on administrative leave since Dec. 9,
2015, pending an investigation into formal complaints and allegations by
multiple members of the presiding bishop's staff that the three had
violated personnel policies.

This is yet another example of the revisionist rats turning on
themselves. Having decimated and blown off the orthodox wing of the
Church and with it, tens of thousands of parishioners, they are now
turning on themselves. First, there was Bishop Douglas Hahn of
Lexington, who failed to reveal he had committed adultery, then came
Bishop Jon Bruno for his bad behavior over property and now Stacy Sauls,
who said he did not get enough green backs to go away when he was the
Church's COO. One wonders who's next? We wait with baited breath.

*****

Invitations to the next Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) are
going out to people around the Anglican Communion. The first Jerusalem
Conference occurred in 2008. The second was in Nairobi in 2013, reports
General Secretary Dr. Peter Jensen.

The Primates are summoning representatives from all around the Communion
to Jerusalem in June 2018.

There are several striking things about this moment.

First, the name. The 2008 Conference was a totally new initiative. It
looked forward -- it is a Future Conference. The Communion of old had
changed irrevocably with events in North America which denied both the
clear teaching of the word of God and also the value of Christian unity
and fellowship. The Future Conference did not abandon the Communion: it
looked to the future and saw what the Communion would have to become if
it is to survive.

Second, the location. It was no accident that we were summoned to
Jerusalem. Here was the scene of the Saviour's death and resurrection.
In Jerusalem, the Spirit came on the day of Pentecost and the Gospel was
first preached. If we were looking and hoping for renewal and courage,
symbolically there could be no better place than this. It took us back
to our true roots.

Third, the participants. The key thing here is that not only bishops
were invited, but clergy and laity, men and women, young and old. To
have a future conference of bishops only would be a vote for the past.
This was a new thing, a new day.

Both Nairobi and Jerusalem followed a similar pattern of listening to
God's word, worship, prayer, fellowship, learning, decision-making,
sharing in common interest groups, growing together. There were some
extraordinary plenaries, groups which grappled with the hard issues,
moments of exuberance, moments of great solemnity, new friends made and
hands reaching out in support and consolation. In each there was
determination to preach the Gospel and to seek the renewal of the
Church.

*****

Ambridge, PA, based Trinity School for Ministry has appointed The Rev.
Dr. Jack Gabig as the new Associate Professor of Practical Theology and
Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program. Trinity's Board of Trustees
ratified the call to Dr. Gabig, after a unanimous vote of the faculty in
July.

"I am pleased to announce the appointment of The Rev. Dr. Jack Gabig as
a full-time member of our residential faculty," said The Very Rev. Dr.
Henry L. Thompson III, Dean & President of Trinity. "He brings many
years of pastoral wisdom, creative energy, innovative thinking, passion
for academic rigor, and an abundance of love centered in the love of
Jesus Christ."

Dr. Gabig received his MDiv from Trinity School for Ministry and then
served for eight years as Assistant Rector at the Church of the
Ascension in Pittsburgh, PA. He then moved to England, where he
completed his Ph.D. at King's College in London, during which time he
served as a Chaplain at New College, Oxford.

Dr. Gabig currently serves as the Associate Professor of Practical
Theology and the Director of Advanced Degree Programs at Nashotah House
Theological Seminary in Nashotah, WI.

*****

Two lesbian clergy who celebrated their civil partnership at Southwark
Cathedral recently, got blasted by the Rev. Dr. Gavin Ashenden on
AnglicanTV.

He said the civil partnership of the Rev. Helen Orchard and the Diocesan
director of ordinands and fellow priest, ratified Archbishop Justin
Welby's notion of "radical inclusion". This is how it works out in
practice, said Ashenden.

"They keep the rules on the surface while practicing the opposite
underneath. While there was not a formal wedding they are can now
legally cuddle (but no sex please) like Jeffrey John the Dean of St.
Albans.

"They went to Southwark Cathedral, had Eucharist, then dinner and then
dancing in the cathedral in a radically inclusive way. The trouble with
radical inclusion is that it looks a lot like hypocrisy...doing one
thing saying another. Jesus calls it hypocrisy. Welby will plead that
the CofE is not changing its doctrine but in practice it is doing so."

Ashenden said it will kill the Church of England. "The ABC is lulling
people into a sense of false security, with no changes to official
doctrine but changes to official practice. This is a false radical
inclusion and serious error. It is a microcosm that will ultimately sink
the CofE.

"If the church of England doesn't have integrity, it doesn't have very
much."

*****

Good disagreement...not. The Anglican Primate of Canada, Fred Hiltz, is
reviving the notion of "good disagreement" on same-sex marriage.

But, as David of Samizdat observes, "Does anyone remember Rowan
Williams' attempt to solve the same-sex marriage mess in the Anglican
Communion using the Covenant? It was still alive and kicking -- well,
twitching at least -- as little as five years ago, yet now it's deader
than the dandruff falling from Rowan's eyebrows.

"Justin Welby ignored The Covenant and, instead, imposed "consequences"
on provinces that defied the ban on same-sex marriages. No one, least of
all Welby, took them seriously.

"Having now jettisoned both The Covenant and Consequences, Welby has
settled on the idea of "good disagreement", an ecclesiastical version of
the cold war with ersatz pieties injected into it for appearances' sake.

"Fred Hiltz has jumped on the good disagreement bandwagon and is
applying it to the Anglican Church of Canada. Sorry, he is embracing it.

"The question is, if same-sex marriage were to remain forbidden in the
ACoC, would anyone be proposing good disagreement as the solution for
calming bruised liberals? Of course not: the battle would continue and
all we would hear about would be prophetic voices, inclusion, justice
and equality, laced with frequent references to a rubber stamping holy
spirit. Good disagreement is just another smoke screen designed to cloud
the judgement of conservatives in order to keep them in the fold, so as
to continue to collect their offerings.

Said Hiltz: "My own read is that many in our church are coming to accept
and declare that we will never agree on this matter. There will always
be those who favour same-sex marriage and those who oppose it, each from
the ground of their own wrestling with the Scriptures and the long-held
teaching of?the church on the nature of marriage. The challenge is, how
do we live with such deep-seated differences of conviction? At the heart
of this challenge are two things--the acknowledging of our fears and the
embracing of good disagreement."

*****

The Diocese of Huron is disappearing faster than a swimmer navigating
Niagara Falls. In June and July 2017, Anglican churches were closed in
the following towns and cities of Western Ontario. Scotland Ontario;
Gorrie; Fordwich; Harriston; Owen Sound and Listowel. On August 28, a
Deconsecration Service will take place for St. Thomas the Apostle, Owen
Sound. Bishop Linda Nicholls will celebrate. What there is to
"celebrate" in any sense of the word is hard to fathom. The bishop
recently wrote to her diocese that every parish has to ask itself what
sort of future they have if they can't pay their diocesan assessment,
support a rector and more. The diocese is dying and by all accounts she
will be its last bishop.

*****

Can we get along despite our differences? That is the crucial question
asked by social critic Dr. Os Guinness in today's digest of stories. How
do we live with our deepest differences? We're in a very solemn moment
for humanity, he writes.

"The last century was the most murderous in human history, and today, in
this century, we are witnesses to the horror of yet another genocide,
which many world leaders are refusing to name. We're seeing the
heartbreak of a tidal wave of desperate, and unwanted often, migrants
and certainly in the West, we are living in the heated conflict of --
what is now in America -- 50 years of incessant culture warring.

"As we look at this, you can see the West is weakening, American
leadership is faltering, the international global order is being called
into question, and one of the deepest issues that is coming up again and
again -- how do we live with our deepest differences?

"We who are followers of Jesus, enter this discussion in a mixed light.
We are, and there is no question, the pioneers of freedom of conscience
and religious freedom. From Tertullian (circa 155-240 AD) and Lactantius
(circa 250-325 AD) right down through Roger Williams (1603-1683) and
William Penn (1644-1718) and many of the greatest heroes of this issue,
they were followers of Jesus."

You can read Dr. Guinness's take here:
http://www.virtueonline.org/getting-along-despite-differences

*****

Two notable women in the Church died recently. Jan Wantland, the wife of
Bishop William Wantland, passed away. She was 76. She is survived by her
husband, children and grandchildren. After moving with her husband to
Seminole, Oklahoma Jan was a member of the Anglican Church of North
America, where she and her husband had a chapel in their home. She was
an active clergy wife of the Diocese of Fort Worth. In Seminole, she was
a member of Beta Sigma Phi sorority, the Pink Ladies at the hospital,
Creative Woman Red Hatters and the Tuesday Afternoon Bible Study. One of
her highlights in life was to be presented to Queen Elizabeth II and
Prince Phillip and to visit with Princess Diana at Buckingham Palace in
1988.

The other notable death was Ruth Fullam, wife of Terry Fullam, a leading
figure in the Charismatic renewal movement in The Episcopal Church. "She
was a lady of extraordinary Grace and Spiritual fullness and everyone
will miss her greatly. She has been blessed to live in a wonderful home
with daughter Melanie, Son-in-Law Charles and all the grandkids. She is
now with Terry," a close friend, wrote VOL.

*****

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

In Christ,

David



------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:38:05 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: How the Alt-Left Destroyed the Episcopal Church
Message-ID:
<1503599885.2194187....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

How the Alt-Left Destroyed the Episcopal Church

COMMENTARY

By David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
August 21, 2017

NEWS ITEM: Of all full-time clergy in TEC, 55.4 percent are older than
55, and almost 80 percent of all full-time clergy in TEC are older than
45. Particularly noteworthy are the figures for Millennial clergy,
....who comprise roughly 6 percent of all full-time clergy in TEC. Only
20 percent of full-time clergy younger than 45 equals 100 percent of a
problem for a denomination struggling to grow and thrive in the decades
to come --- Church Pension Group's 2015 Church Compensation Report

Long before the present Culture Wars began tearing America apart, the
Episcopal Church was slowly tearing itself away from its moorings in
Scripture, tradition, reason; and, beginning with Edmond Lee Browning in
the mid-90s, and later through bishops like John Shelby Spong, Walter
Righter, Allan Bartlett, Charles Bennison, Frank Griswold, and Jefferts
Schori, to name but a few, the alt-left began ramming its
culture-affirming agenda on to a gullible, biblically illiterate, mostly
white middle class Church.

It's as if Episcopal Church leaders had stood in front of statues of
Cranmer, Hooker, Ryle and many other orthodox bishops, tied ropes around
their necks and hauled them down, stamped and spat on them and then
kicked them to the curb of history.

The long descent of The Episcopal Church begun in earnest under Browning
reached its low point under Katherine Jefferts Schori who publicly
rejected any notion of individual or personal salvation and could not
affirm the bodily resurrection of Jesus, both of which views are
essential to a serious soteriology of conversion.

Loaded down with more views on a whole host of social issues that would
make even Fidel Castro roll his eyes; and further weighted down with
allegations of racism, and charges of white guilt, cowed beneath the bed
linen of sodomite inclusion, The Episcopal Church began its long
Gadarene slide towards irrelevancy.

As it scaled the "heights" of social justice rhetoric and approval,
while decimating core doctrine, its ranks aged and thinned as its
pulpits ran out of spiritual steam, evangelistic fervor and biblical
teaching.

Reaching for new-fangled "doctrines" of inclusion, diversity and
progressivism, and with seminaries barely opening the Bible for
instruction in the Faith; Episcopal Church leadership resorted more and
more to going along with the culture like some latter day dispensational
fundamentalist in fear of being left behind unraptured.

It became the sine qua non for The Episcopal Church to be in the
vanguard of progressivism built on the model of President Barack Obama's
'hope and change' rather than on what should have been the church's true
message of 'sin and salvation'.

We were no longer sinners by nature and acts, we are sinners by our lack
of understanding about race, or in danger of being declared homophobic
if we dared raise our heads above the ramparts and declare to be sin
what God had clearly forbidden and said was eternity denying, bullied
into accepting that perhaps St. Paul himself was a self-loathing
homosexual bereft of human understanding and compassion.

The (Episcopal) masses, emptied of Bible teaching and Scripture's
affirmation about what was right and wrong, quickly fell into line,
listening to their priests and bishops tell than what to believe, even
if in their heart of hearts, they knew it was wrong.

Those who still had a conscience and a knowledge of Scripture, realized
over time that nothing would change, despite much 'prayer and hope' and
came out from among them and formed a new North American Anglican
Church.

It was the dawn of a new day for Anglicanism in North America.

But still the myth persisted that with time, trust funds, and
accumulated wealth from dead men's wills along with property sales; the
lies and half-truths could be made to persist even as pews and pulpits
emptied.

There was always the Global South to aim its homoerotic guns and hope
for change. Money is the great aphrodisiac to manipulate if not the most
"vilest offender" certainly bishops who huddle in all expenses paid
trips to talk of "reconciliation" in the hope that it will lead to
compromise and compromise to acquiescence. Throw in a black face with a
good education and a western salary and hey presto, nothing is
impossible.

Unlike John Bunyan who encountered wise shepherds warning of the
treacherous mountains of Error and Caution, where previous pilgrims have
died; Episcopal Church leaders have heeded no such warning and have
continued on their Gadarene pathway to destruction. In Pilgrim's
Progress, travelers were warned to beware of shortcuts, which may be
paths to hell, the Episcopal Church has taken every shortcut imaginable
in the hope that their progressive views will shape the future of North
American Christianity and perhaps the world.

It is not happening. The TEC ship is sinking, ably assisted by the
downward pull of Bishop John Shelby Spong's Manifesto of Unbelief, the
pluriform views of Frank Griswold and countless general convention
resolutions on sexuality.

The latest figures reveal a Church that, within two decades, (perhaps
even sooner), without revival, will see most Episcopalians dead, its
pulpits empty as clergy retire and head to Continuing Care institutions
unaware of the spiritual wasteland they both created and left behind.

Mene, mene, tekel upharson will be the epitaph of The Episcopal Church
when Episcopal leaders come to plead their case for inclusion at the
divine bar of justice, only to hear the terrifying words of Jesus,
"depart from me I never knew you," resounding in their ears.

END



------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:38:19 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: ACNA Archbishop Calls for Prayer. Condemns Racism
Message-ID:
<1503599899.2194265....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

ACNA Archbishop Calls for Prayer. Condemns Racism
Congregations have opportunity to be sanctuaries of peace, and
reconciliation in our communities

August 17, 2017

On Charlottesville

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The events in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend were terrible
and tragic. Racism is contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and has no
place in the Church. In the midst of the violence and divisions in our
countries, our congregations have the opportunity to be sanctuaries of
peace, and to work for reconciliation in our communities. In the days
ahead, I hope that you will take these opportunities in your local
context, and share the transforming love of Jesus, which is the only
thing that can truly heal us.

I want to draw your attention to two statements from the Anglican Church
in North America over the weekend. These were shared on social media,
but deserve as wide a distribution as possible. The first is a Call to
Prayer from Bishop John Guernsey, Dean of Provincial Affairs, whose
diocese includes Charlottesville, Virginia. I encourage you to pray this
prayer with me this week. The second statement comes from the Anglican
Church in North America's Anglican Multiethnic Network.

The links for each statement are also below. Please share these as you
are able.

In Christ,

The Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach
Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church in North America

*****

>From Bishop John Guernsey, Bishop of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic:

The horrific events today in Charlottesville, VA, call us to pray and
intercede for our communities that are in deep conflict. Psalm 145
reminds us of the hope we have as we pray: "The Lord is near to all who
call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of
those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them." Please join
in praying for the community of Charlottesville and for all communities
in our nation that face conflict, that the Lord may deliver us from
bigotry and violence, and bring healing and salvation to all people in
our nation.

"O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us, in the
midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront one another
without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual
forbearance and respect; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." -Texts
for Common Prayer

http://anglicanchurch.net/?/main/page/1504

*****

>From the Anglican Multiethnic Network

The Anglican Multiethnic Network exists to help local churches embody
the diversity that manifests God's reconciling of the world to himself
through his Son. We believe that to do this work effectively churches
must be willing to speak plainly about the racism and injustice that
continues to plague North America. We witnessed this racism again on
display over the weekend in Charlottesville when a young woman was
murdered and many others were injured during a protest of a white
supremacy rally. Our prayers are with her family and all the victims of
violence and hatred.

We want to make it abundantly clear that as Anglicans we believe that
all people are created in God's image and, as image bearers, all are
worthy of equal dignity and respect. God does not value one ethnicity
above another. His Son shed his blood for us all. We find our meaning
and value in his death, resurrection, and ascension for us, which both
humbles and exalts people of all ethnicities. Christ is the source of
our reconciliation with God and each other. White supremacy, therefore,
is an affront to the gospel because it speaks against the Anglican (and
wider Christian) doctrines of creation, salvation, and ecclesiology (the
one people of God called from all the ethnicities of the earth). Racism
and white supremacy have no place in Anglicanism.

We confess that as Anglicans we ourselves have a long way to go in
reflecting in our churches God's vision for his multicolored Kingdom and
addressing the concerns of communities of color, but we are committed
for the long haul to seek the fullness of God's purposes in all these
things. We ask you to pray for Charlottesville and North America-that
racism would be overcome and that we might live together in harmony. We
also ask that you pray for the Church-that God might grant us the wisdom
to be salt and light during these challenging times.

http://anglicanchurch.net/?/main/page/1503



------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:40:01 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Our Lady of the Atonement's new rector installed amidst
bittersweet ceremony
Message-ID:
<1503600001.2194448....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Our Lady of the Atonement's new rector installed amidst bittersweet
ceremony
Beloved pastor-emeritus watches from the sidelines

By Mary Ann Mueller in San Antonio
VOL Special Correspondent
www.virtueonline.org
August 21, 2017

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS -- That day had to come ... eventually. The day that
Our Lady of the Atonement, the thriving Anglican Use Catholic parish and
a jewel in the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter's crown,
would officially change leadership. That the keys to the church and the
Tabernacle would be turned over to a priest other than Fr. Christopher
Phillips, the founding priest of the mother church of the Anglican Use
and the Pastoral Provision patrimony in the United States.

That day came last week on the Feast of the Assumption -- August 15.

For more than three decades, August 15 has had a very special
significance for Fr. Phillips and Our Lady of the Atonement. For it was
on August 15, 1983, that Christopher Phillips, a former Episcopal
priest, led 18 Episcopalian souls into the Catholic Church and was
himself ordained as a Roman Catholic priest. On that day, in addition to
Fr. Phillips' Catholic sacerdotal ordination and the reception of the
former Episcopalians into the Catholic Church, what would become Our
Lady of the Atonement parish was canonically erected. That seed was
firmly planted in the warm sandy soil of Bexar County, Texas, not far
from the famed Alamo, where the Siege and Battle of the Alamo was a
pivotal event in Texas' fight for independence. The small seed was
waiting to germinate, then grow and eventually flower.

Even though the idea, vision and dream of a flourishing Our Lady of the
Atonement Parish was established on that August day in 1983 by a Decree
of Erection under the direction of Pope John Paul II and signed by
Catholic Archbishop Patrick Flores (IV San Antonio), the church's actual
beginnings were rather humble.

Fr. Phillips and his growing family had a small rectory on the northeast
side of town. The house also served as OLA's church office and
initially, liturgical celebrations were held at San Francesco diPaola
Catholic Church in near downtown San Antonio. To provide sustenance for
his family, Fr. Phillips wore many birettas. He served as chaplain for
the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus, and as an auxiliary
military chaplain at Wilford Hall Hospital, as well as a supply priest
assisting at various San Antonio Catholic parishes by celebrating Masses
and hearing Confessions. But the former Episcopal priest never took his
eyes off the vision that the Lord gave him about a flourishing Anglican
Use parish in Archdiocese of San Antonio. Little by little, that dream
came into being. Eventually the Anglican Use liturgical celebrations
were moved to Mount Sacred Heart Convent chapel as the growing
congregation sought a place of its own.

The break came in 1985 when vacant property was located on Red Robin
Road. A six-and-a-half acre plot of land was already owned by the
archdiocese which allowed the fledging pastoral provision congregation
to purchase it and set down delicate root hairs allowing then them to
take hold and grow. Our Lady of Atonement had found a permanent home in
northwest San Antonio just off of the Loop 1604 and near the University
of Texas-San Antonio campus. The first item of business was to build the
church. Ground was broken in 1986 and on August 15, 1987, OLA was
dedicated, the high altar was consecrated and the beautifully ornate
triptych was unfurled for the first time.

The church, which is under the title and patronage of Our Lady of the
Atonement, was firmly established.

Our Lady of the Atonement Anglican origins

Our Lady of the Atonement (Domina Nostra Adunationis) is inherently an
Anglican Marian title honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary. It crept into
the Roman Catholic Church through the Society of the Atonement, an
Anglican Franciscan order dedicated to seeking the "at-one-ment" --
unity -- of all Christians as the Anglican Franciscans understood the
meaning of Romans 5:11: "And not only so, but we also find joy in God
through Our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the
atonement." (KJV)

The Atonement was accomplished through Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the
Cross and Holy Mary is His virgin mother. The title -- Our Lady of the
Atonement -- honors that sacred motherhood.

The Society of the Atonement was co-founded in the late 19th century by
Paul Wattson and Lurana White. Fr. Louis Wattson -- as he was then known
-- was an Anglo-Catholic priest yearning to start an Episcopal religious
order dedicated to working towards the unity of all Christians based on
his "at-one-ment" understanding of Romans 5:11. At the time, Miss White
was a novice in the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, which was an
Episcopal religious community for women. But she was searching for an
American religious order with a Franciscan spirituality and at that time
The Episcopal Church had no Franciscan religious expression. Therefore,
Miss White and Fr. Wattson joined forces and the Society of the
Atonement was born in Garrison, New York, as the Friars and Sisters of
the Atonement. The foundation date is given as Dec. 15, 1898.

During that time, the Oxford Movement was in full flower and many
Anglicans on both sides of the Atlantic ended up finding the fullness of
their faith in the Church of Rome, including: John Henry Newman, Ronald
Knox, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Henry Edward Manning, Robert Hugh Benson,
William George Ward, Benjamin Williams Whitcher and others. At least two
of the 19th century converts became Catholic cardinals -- Newman and
Manning. Women also swam the Tiber, including Sr. Margaret Anna Cusack,
an Anglican nun; and Augusta Theodosia Drane, who became a Dominican
prioress.

The strong pull of the Oxford Movement had a powerful draw upon the
founders of the Society of the Atonement. Eventually, they headed to
Rome, bringing members of their joint Episcopal religious order with
them. The corporate reception of the Friars and Sisters of the Atonement
into the Roman Church occurred on Oct. 30, 1909 and that was the first
time a cooperate reunion of Anglicans to the Roman Catholic Church
occurred since the time of the 16th century English Reformation. Fr.
Wattson and Mother Lurana, along with one Atonement friar, two professed
Atonement sisters, two novices and 10 lay associates were all converted
-- 17 in all.

"The Society of the Atonement, heretofore, has been a company of
Anglicans living under the rule of St. Francis, and its founder, Father
Paul, has become well known as advocating the corporate reunion of the
Anglican Church with the Holy See," the New York Times reported on
October 31, 1909. "The reception of the Society of the Atonement as a
body, preserving its name and corporate existence, is an exceptional
privilege granted from Rome, as the result of a petition made some time
ago to Pope Pius X..."

One century later, in 2009, the All Saints Sisters of the Poor, an
Episcopal religious order of nuns in Cantonsville, Maryland, were
received into the Catholic Church. Then "across the pond" in 2013, the
Community of St. Mary the Virgin, a religious order of women in the
Church of England, was received into the Catholic Church. Now rebranded
as the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin, the British community is a part of
the English Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

"The call to Christian unity must always be the primary motivating
factor in the decision of Anglicans to enter the Catholic Church," one
English Sister noted about seeking 'at-one-ment' with the Catholics.
"Anything which impedes that process cannot be of God, and so must be
set aside to achieve this aim, which is the will of Christ."

Today the Catholic version of the Society of the Atonement is called the
Franciscan Sisters and Friars of the Atonement or simply the Graymoors.
They are still dedicated to bringing unity to the whole Body of Christ
through the "at-one-ment." Fr. Paul of Graymoor (Fr. Wattson) is on the
road to Catholic sainthood, as is John Henry Cardinal Newman.

In 1983, Fr. Christopher Phillips, too, led his small band of 18
Episcopalians into the Catholic Church and, embracing the Graymoors'
ecumenism of the "at-one-ment", named the-hoped-for Pastoral Provision
Anglican Use parish, Our Lady of the Atonement, thus making it one of
only two Catholic churches in the world under that name. The other is
Baguio's Cathedral of Our Lady of the Atonement in the Philippines. It
received its unique Anglican-style name in 1936, as a result of Anglican
spirituality being introduced to the Cordillera mountains of the
Philippines by Episcopal missionaries from the United States, who
obviously were influenced by the Society of the Atonement.

For 10 years, the Our Lady of Atonement parish grew in Texas. The Gospel
was preached and the Sacraments were celebrated with a decidedly
Anglican accent in Elizabethan English. Fr. Phillips' rich baritone
voice and crisp New England diction helped to make the Anglican Use
liturgies memorable. Parish life was firmly established and flourished.
Young couples got married and babies were baptized. Children were taught
the faith and confirmed and their grandparents were buried. But it
became acutely obvious that something was missing -- a parish day
school.

Atonement Academy

On August 15, 1993 -- on the tenth anniversary of the founding of the
parish -- the decision was made to establish a Catholic parochial school
under the title of Atonement Academy. This was the fulfillment of Fr.
Phillips' academic dream to establish an accompanying Catholic parish
school. The classical Catholic education of children became the parish's
unique mission. One year later, on August 15, 1994, Atonement Academy
opened its doors to its young first scholars -- 66 Kindergarten through
third grade students.

Again, on August 15, 2017, another academic year has started. This year
a massive newly-completed 117,000 three-story school building -- the
size of a small medieval castle -- opened its doors to nearly 600 Pre-K
through high school students. Fr. Phillips wanted to build an
educational edifice large enough to "grow into." Before that, other
Academy additions were "outgrown" almost before the doors were opened
and the note was paid off, as Atonement Academy's student body exploded
nearly 10-fold in less than 25 years.

Not only was Atonement Academy beginning a new academic year on August
15, but the entire parish was in the throes of transition as a new
rector came in to take over the leadership reins and Bishop Steven Lopes
(I Ordinariate) did the honors of installing him that evening.

Fr. Phillips had fulfilled his mission. He successfully established an
Anglican Use Pastoral Provision parish in south Texas. Then he was able
to shepherd his congregation, church and school safely into the Personal
Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, but not without some last minute
difficulty.

The San Antonio priest championed the Anglican ordinariates and looked
forward with great anticipation to the establishment of the American
ordinariate after Pope Benedict XVI announced to the world in 2009 that
through the apostolic constitution, Anglicanorum Coetibus, a unique
jurisdiction would be set up to allow former Anglicans -- including
Episcopalians -- who become Catholic, to retain some of their unique
patrimony: liturgy ... music ... architecture ... parish life ... ethos
... ethnicity ...

Anglicanorum Coetibus, which was announced 100 years after Fr. Paul and
Mother Lurana joined the Catholic Church, can almost be seen as a fruit
of their long desire and heartfelt prayers for "at-one-ment" within the
Body of Christ. They unknowingly led the way for others to follow.

As the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter was being erected in 2012,
Fr. Phillips quietly bided his time as the infant jurisdiction got its
feet firmly planted in Houston, Texas. Meanwhile, the San Antonio priest
continued to grow Our Lady of the Atonement. Five years later, he
realized the time was ripe to fold into the Ordinariate.

But that was simpler said than done. The Archbishop of San Antonio,
Gustavo Garc?a-Siller, M.Sp.S. (VI San Antonio), stood in his way. Our
Lady of the Atonement had grown into a large, dynamic, flourishing
Catholic parish with a very successful and growing parochial school. San
Antonio's archbishop did not want to see Our Lady of the Atonement slip
through his fingers into the Ordinariate, taking the people in the pews,
property, buildings and money with it.

So on the afternoon of January 19, 2017, just ten days after his
predecessor and Fr. Phillips' protector, Archbishop Patrick Flores,
died, Archbishop Garc?a-Siller unexpectedly swooped in and removed OLA's
priest as pastor, banishing him from the church, and replacing him with
a Polish priest. (The Lord had called Archbishop Flores unto Himself on
January 9.) So for 60 days, Fr. Phillips was in exile as his
parishioners stormed heaven with daily prayer, fasting and sacrifice
while the San Antonio archbishop mounted a hostile takeover of their
beloved pastoral provision parish.

All this started to unfold at the beginning of the Catholic Church's
annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Jan. 18-25), which was
initially established as the Church Unity Octave by Fr. Paul of Graymoor
and Mother Lurana of the Society of the Atonement. The two Anglican
religious order founders and their followers were actively seeking
"At-one-ment -- the unity of men and women with God and with one
another."

The flap ended up going to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith (CDF) for resolution. The CDF is the Vatican's curial office which
oversees the world's three Anglican ordinariates. Ultimately it was Pope
Francis who decreed that Our Lady of the Atonement would be transferred
into the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. But in so doing, Fr.
Phillips was no longer the rector when he returned to the
Ordinariate-bound parish. His primary task had been fulfilled. Our Lady
of the Atonement would safely land in the Ordinariate with its church
and school property intact.

Immediately, the parish had new episcopal authority -- Bishop Steven
Lopes, who on March 21 travelled to San Antonio with the exciting news
that Fr. Phillips would be joyfully returned to his parish as
pastor-emeritus. But a new priest was needed to carry on Fr. Phillips'
work and expand his vision. Fr. Phillips would no longer be the "father"
of the parish, he would now be the revered "grandfather" of the parish
and his many years of knowledge, experience and wisdom would be
invaluable to whomever the Bishop Lopes tapped as the new rector.

At 67, Fr. Phillips is not being put out to pasture. He continues simply
as a parish priest -- celebrating Mass, hearing Confessions, teaching
the children their prayers -- but without the burden, weight and
responsibly of leadership on his shoulders. His talents and passion will
also be tapped by Bishop Lopes, who has asked him to share his insight,
skills and familiarity with church planting and growth with the other
40-plus parishes in the wide-flung Ordinariate.

Enter Fr. Mark Lewis

It is Fr. Mark Lewis who was tapped as Our Lady of the Atonement's
second pastor. He is a first generation Ordinariate priest, just as Fr.
Phillips is a first generation Pastoral Provision priest. In 2011, Fr.
Lewis was converted along with members of his Anglo-Catholic
congregation at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Bladensburg, Maryland.

Eventually, St. Luke's joined forces with St. Thomas of Canterbury
Society in Washington, DC, and St. John Fisher Community in northern
Virginia to form a unified parish. The larger Ordinariate congregation,
bearing St. Luke's name, then moved to a bigger centralized location to
share worship space at the Basilica Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
in Washington.

It was to St. Luke's that the Bishop Lopes reached out to fill the
pulpit at Our Lady of the Atonement.

"Father Lewis is known across the Ordinariate for his pastoral wisdom,
spirit of hospitality, and keen administrative gifts. We are confident
he will bring the same qualities of kindness and vision to his service
to the faithful of Our Lady of the Atonement ..." Bishop Lopes explained
as he announced Fr. Lewis' new appointment. "We know you will welcome
and encourage your new Pastor -- and that together, you will continue to
share the vitality our faith offers to all those seeking the spiritual
treasures of the Universal Church."

Mark Lewis was graduated from Mount St. Mary's Seminary and then he
picked up a Masters of Divinity from Nashotah House. As an Episcopal
priest, he served as curate at St. Stephen's in Whitehall, Pennsylvania,
before moving on to St. Luke's as rector. Fr. Lewis is also an
ex-officio member of the Ordinariate's Governing Council. He and his
wife Vicky have two children and one grandchild.

On August 15, Bishop Lopes made his third trip to San Antonio since the
Anglican Use parish came into the Ordinariate five months before. This
time he was accompanied by at least 50 parishioners and clergy from Our
Lady of Walsingham Cathedral in Houston, who came in solidarity to
witness Bishop Lopes install Fr. Lewis. OLW was established just one
year after OLA and there has always been a close fraternal connection
between the two Anglican Use Texas parishes for more than thirty years.

During the installation rite, Bishop Lopes led Fr. Lewis to different
parts of the church. First, they went to the baptismal font where the
priest was given the faculties to baptize in the Name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

The next stop was the confessional, where the priest was given the
authority to hear confessions and pronounce absolution, then on to the
raised pulpit, highlighting the prophetic nature of Fr. Lewis'
priesthood as he preaches.

Next was a stop at the sedilia -- the needlepoint embroidered priest's
chair -- nestled in the alcove on the Gospel side of the altar. The
throne-like sedilia represents the earthly priest's kingship with his
ruling authority and leadership of the parish.

Finally, the incoming Ordinariate priest was led to the Tabernacle,
where he was given the Tabernacle key and took possession of the
Reserved Sacrament. Turning around, he stepped to the altar, where he
will be celebrating the Mass, possibly for many years to come. The altar
is the heart of the church and the place where a priest most exercises
the sacerdotal aspects of his priesthood. It was at the altar, that the
new priest signed the Decree of Possession and at 7:55 p.m., the deed
was done, the Rev. Mark Lewis had officially become the second pastor of
Our Lady of the Atonement, 30 years to the day that the ornate Anglican
Use church was first dedicated as a bastion for the Anglican patrimony.

Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular
contributor to VirtueOnline



------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:40:14 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Anglican Bishop launches scathing attack on 'lying, amoral'
Donald Trump - and the 'Christian Right' for backing him
Message-ID:
<1503600014.2194455....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Anglican Bishop launches scathing attack on 'lying, amoral' Donald Trump
- and the 'Christian Right' for backing him

By James Macintyre
https://www.christiantoday.com/
August 15, 2017

The Bishop of Leeds Nick Baines has launched a blistering attack on
Donald Trump.

An Anglican Bishop has launched a scathing attack on the 'narcissistic
amorality' of 'lying' Donald Trump, along withthe American 'Christian
Right' for failing to recognise the president's traits before he was
elected last November.

Nicholas Baines, the liberal-leaning Bishop of Leeds, launched his
comprehensive assault on 'shameless' Trump and his evangelical backers
in a blog post written in the wake of the violence carried out by white
supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, which Trump initially failed
specifically to condemn.

But the blog, entitled, 'We won't get fooled again: Trump,
Charlottesville and the American Dream' goes broader than the clashes
over the weekend, to chart Trump's 'consistent' positions on domestic
areas and international ones including North Korea, Russia and Nato.

Bishop Baines issues blame on what he calls the 'Christian Right' for
failing to see the disastrous presidency coming.

'It appears that many Americans regret having voted for Donald Trump.
Apparently, they believed his promises of magic restoration of greatness
without asking questions of his empty rhetoric,' Baines writes.

'His misogyny, amorality, financial track record, sexual behaviour,
narcissism and nepotism (to name but a few of the obvious challenges)
would have ruled out the candidacy of any other semi-reputable
politician for the Presidency of the United States of America. His
subsequent lying, shamelessness, vindictiveness and inhabiting of some
"alternative reality" (in which things that happened didn't happen and
things that didn't happen did happen; in which things he said he didn't
say and things he didn't say he did say) cannot have come as a
disappointing revelation to anyone with half a brain or ears to hear.

'His espousal of the alt-right has not come as news. His condemnation of
anyone and anything he sees as a challenge to himself ([former President
Barack] Obama, for instance) is weighed against his silence in the face
of inconvenient truth or facts.

'Yet, none of this is a surprise. It was all there to be seen before he
was elected. How on earth did the Christian Right even conceive of the
possibility of backing a man who can't put a sentence together and who
epitomises narcissistic amorality? If Hillary Clinton couldn't be
trusted because of her handling of an email server (or because Americans
had had enough of political dynasties), by what stretch of moral
imagination could Trump have been thought of as a cleaner, brighter
alternative? To which base values did he appeal?'

Baines argues that Trump is in fact 'the most consistent politician
America has seen', adding: 'Nothing that is happening now -- the
testosterone competition with North Korea's leader, NATO, Russia, for
example -- is new or surprising. It was all there to be seen. Either it
was seen and approved of (which says something of the moral sense of the
people who voted for him) or something blinded good people to the
reality of what was put before them.'

Turning to Charlottesville, Baines says that the 'brazen impunity' of
the white supremacists there 'is only possible because the fascists
believe they can get away with it -- or might even get approval from the
top'.

Baines adds that 'there are moments in history where a tipping point is
reached and it matters that people stand up and challenge the danger.
This is one of them. Charlottesville is only one (relatively small) town
in an enormous country, and most of the USA will have been as horrified
as the rest of us at what they witnessed this weekend; but, the images
coming out of this one place become iconic of a deeper malaise. People
are right to look for consistency in the rampant condemnations and
criticisms of their President in his favoured medium Twitter. If he
damns Islamic terrorists and wet liberals for their actions, we can
expect him to damn right-wing militias and neo-Nazi criminals when they
walk his streets and drive cars into ordinary people. Silence.'

Baines concludes by praising those Christians who have condemned the
violence in Charlottesville, before challenging the Republican party to
'stand up' against the Trump regime.

'As a Christian leader, not oblivious to similar challenges here
(consider the acceptability of multiple lies during the Brexit campaign
and the brazen impunity of those who told them), I applaud my brothers
and sisters in the USA who stand against the corruptions described
above,' he writes. 'I am proud that Christians (among many others) stood
against the wickednesses of Charlottesville. But, I remain incredulous
that evangelical Christian leaders, Bible in hand, can remain supportive
of the President and administration that is corrupting their country.
When will the Republican Party take responsibility, stop wringing their
hands, and stand against this regime that will be able to do little
without their support?'

END



------------------------------

Message: 7
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:40:28 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Muslim takeover of Europe is 'biggest story of our time' and
nobody knows it
Message-ID:
<1503600028.2194445....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Muslim takeover of Europe is 'biggest story of our time' and nobody
knows it

By Mark Steyn
https://www.lifesitenews.com/
August 10, 2017

Historian Arnold Toynbee once famously said that "civilizations die from
suicide, not by murder."

Using this as a springboard, commentator Mark Steyn shows in a new video
how Western Europe is already in the death throes of "demographic
suicide" because couples are no longer having enough children. He then
shows how a thriving Muslim population in Western Europe is well on its
way to filling all the empty space.

Steyn explained how given the divergent birth rate between Muslims and
post-Christian secularists, it will take only two generations for the
current Muslim population (sitting at about 10-percent) to have as many
grandchildren as post-Christian secularists (who currently make up the
other 90 percent). This is due, he said, to Muslims having on average
3.5 children per couple compared to post-Christian secularists who have
only 1.3 children per couple.

"People think this is a slow process...It happens very fast. The
catching up is well under way," he said.

Steyn said that the takeover of Western Europe by Muslims is "not a
prediction." He noted that some elementary schools, such as in Antwerp,
Belgium, already have a majority of Muslim students.

"Nobody is predicting anything. We're talking about who are the kids in
the grade school right now, which means they are going to be the guys
entering the workforce in fifteen years time," he said.

"That's not a prediction. We're not looking at trends. We're looking at
the actual warm bodies sitting in the elementary classes now," he added.

Steyn quoted statistics from the Vienna Institute of Demography which he
said predict that by mid-century a majority of Austrians under the age
of 15 will be Muslim.

"This was a country that not so long ago was 90 percent Catholic," he
said.

Steyn said that some of his American followers might remember Austria as
the setting for the film Sound of Music about a large family that fled
the country in 1938 in the face of a Nazi takeover. Steyn said that by
2038, Austrians will no longer be singing "how do you solve a problem
like Maria," but "how do you solve a problem like Sharia."

"This is the biggest story of our time, and yet hardly anyone ever
writes about it," he said.

"This is the biggest demographic movement/transformation in history, and
it's about to accelerate," he added.

Steyn said that the demographic suicide of the West highlights the
importance of U.S. President Trump's July message in Warsaw, Poland
about faith and family.

In his July 6 rousing speech, Trump issued a clear call for the defense
of Christianity that underpins all of Western Civilization, along with
all the culture and traditions that arise from that source. He urged
Europeans to put "faith and family, not government and bureaucracy, at
the center of our lives."

But for Steyn, it is likely already too late for most Western European
countries to turn the boat around.

"A post-Christian Europe doesn't really have any faith and it doesn't
have any families either. They are fading into the past. They have
essentially broken the compact of human societies," he said.

"The people who built the modern world are going out of business,
voluntarily," he added.

Steyn is not the only one warning of the pending demographic crisis.

Last month Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted that "The
world's population is accelerating towards collapse, but few seem to
notice or care."

Earlier in March Musk told CNNMoney that the world "should be concerned
about demographic implosion."

"So if you look at countries like Japan, most of Europe, China," Musk
said, "and you look at the birth rates, in a lot of those places it is
only at about half of the sustaining rate."

Musk described an up-side-down demographic pyramid, where the elderly
are now the new flat top that is supposed to be held up by a shrinking
younger base.

"So it will sort of fall over," he said. "It will not stand."

END



------------------------------

Message: 8
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:40:43 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Apostates Destroying Our Churches
Message-ID:
<1503600043.2194537....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Apostates Destroying Our Churches

By BILL MUEHLENBERG
https://billmuehlenberg.com/2017/08/10/apostates-destroying-churches/
Aug 10, 2017

The Bible is full of warnings about those who would lead God's people
astray with lies and false teachings, and drag them into sinful, immoral
lifestyles. We should steer clear of such people and have nothing to do
with them. Yet sadly we seem to find these apostates regularly doing
their worst as they lead so many to perdition.

A key example of this are all the so-called Christian leaders who are
siding with sodomy and siding against God and his word. I have written
often about such false shepherds. My daily reading at the moment is in
the prophets, and it seems like almost every chapter has something to
say about such false teachers and fake leaders.

For example, why does Jeremiah 15:1 come to mind as we consider all
these apostate religious leaders supporting sodomy? It says: "Then the
Lord said to me: 'Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my
heart would not go out to this people. Send them away from my presence!
Let them go!'"

Wow, those are some very strong words. Yahweh is saying he wants nothing
to do with them, and it is no use even trying to intercede for them.
That is heavy duty stuff indeed -- yet many Christians today would
totally reject such a passage.

They would claim that God could never be like this. They would argue
that God is always merciful and gracious, and he would never drive
anyone away from himself. And they would insist that God would never
tell anyone to stop praying for others.

Well, I prefer to side with God and his word on such matters. In fact,
on a number of occasions we read about how God actually says that we
should stop praying for certain people. The book of Jeremiah contains
other examples of this. Here are a few more:

-Jeremiah 7:16 "So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or
petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you."
-Jeremiah 11:14 "Do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or
petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the
time of their distress."
-Jeremiah 14:11 "Then the Lord said to me, 'Do not pray for the
well-being of this people'."

Such admonitions not to pray for certain people, or how their prayers
will go unanswered, are found elsewhere. For example, consider just
three more such texts:

-Psalm 80:4 O LORD God Almighty, how long will your anger smolder
against the prayers of your people?
-Proverbs 28:9 If anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction, even their
prayers are detestable.
-Isaiah 1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my
eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your
hands are full of blood;

And we find similar things in the New Testament. Consider one such
passage. 1 John 5:16 says this: "If anyone sees his brother commit a sin
that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life.
I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that
leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that."

The point is, there are times when even a loving and gracious God says
we should save our breath and not pray to him or pray for others.
Sometimes people reach a point of no return. Sometimes it is pointless
to pray for them. Those are hard words, but they are biblical words.

Chris Wright in his commentary on Jeremiah says this about the four
times Jeremiah is told not to pray for his people:

Prophets not only preached, they also prayed. It was part of the
prophetic calling. Moses, the model prophet, was the model intercessor.
Samuel, Isaiah, and Amos did the same. Jeremiah, then, would have been
praying for his people -- until God told him to stop. This people were
so far gone in rebellion that they were past praying for. It was such a
habit for Jeremiah, however, that God had to repeat the instruction
several times -- making it even more stark in its implications. The
triple prohibition of 7:16 is empathetic, and shows the kind of urgent,
pleading prayer that must have exercised Jeremiah's voice when it wasn't
being used for preaching to the people; prayers, pleas and petitions,
all now must fall silent.

For I will not listen to you -- or to them (11:14; 14:11-12). The words
seem harsh and unfeeling, until we set them in the context. Who was not
listening to whom? The fact that God now refuses to listen to his
people's prayers is set in the context of repeated emphasis on how they
have persistently refused to listen to God's commands and appeals. Those
who will not listen will in the end not be heard either.

If this was true for God's people back then, how much so for God's
people today? We really have no excuse here. We have the entire
revelation of God available to us. The Old and New testaments are
readily available to us. We can all read the plain teachings of
Scripture of such sins as homosexuality.

If we refuse to listen to and obey God's word, then he has every reason
to stop listening to us. Things are that serious. We need to wake up and
get real here. Rejecting the clear teachings of Scripture means that we
are rejecting God himself. When we get to that place, we are in dire
straits indeed.

We all can rejoice in the grace and mercy of a loving and forgiving God.
But contrary to so many worldly Christians, God will not extend his
forgiveness and mercy to us forever. There are limits. And when we say
no to God often enough and defiantly enough, then he is bound to say a
clear no to us.

I have often quoted R. C. Sproul on these matters, but his words are so
very good here that they are worth once again running with:

God's grace is not infinite. God is infinite, and God is gracious. We
experience the grace of an infinite God, but grace is not infinite. God
sets limits to his patience and forbearance. He warns us over and over
again that someday the ax will fall and His judgment will be poured out.
Since it is our tendency to take grace for granted, my guess is that God
found it necessary from time to time to remind Israel that grace must
never be assumed. On rare but dramatic occasions He showed the dreadful
power of His justice. He killed Nadab and Abihu. He killed Uzzah. He
commanded the slaughter of the Canaanites. It is as if He were saying,
"Be careful. While you enjoy the benefits of my grace, don't forget my
justice. Don't forget the gravity of sin. Remember that I am holy."

And again:

We hear all the time about God's infinite grace and mercy. I cringe when
I hear it. God's mercy is infinite insofar as it is mercy bestowed upon
us by a Being who is infinite, but when the term infinite is used to
describe his mercy rather than his person, I have problems with it
because the Bible makes very clear that there is a limit to God's mercy.
There is a limit to his grace, and he is determined not to pour out his
mercy on impenitent people forever. There is a time, as the Old
Testament repeatedly reports, particularly in the book of the prophet
Jeremiah, that God stops being gracious with people, and he gives them
over to their sin.

Those believers -- and especially their leaders -- who are now shaking
their fists at God concerning his intentions for human sexuality,
marriage and family had better carefully reconsider. This blatant
unbelief and rebellion will not be allowed to continue forever.

The best thing these apostates and false shepherds can do -- indeed, the
only thing they can do -- is to get on their faces before Almighty God,
repent, and ask for his mercy before it is too late.



------------------------------

Message: 9
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:40:56 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Why do Christians hesitate to rise up on anti-Christian
persecution?
Message-ID:
<1503600056.2194607....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Why do Christians hesitate to rise up on anti-Christian persecution?

By John L. Allen Jr.
https://cruxnow.com/a
August 18, 2017

Why do Christians hesitate to rise up on anti-Christian persecution?

Two Christian women flee after a 2012 bombing of a Nigerian church by
Boko Haram. (Credit: AP.)

In general, when communities experience hatred or persecution,
enlightened people want them to speak out, knowing we need them to hold
our feet to the fire. So why do some Christians hesitate to do precisely
that about the global pattern of anti-Christian persecution, documented
again this week in a new State Department report?

On Tuesday, the State Department released the first International
Religious Freedom Report in the era of President Donald Trump and
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. It highlighted persecution and hatred
against scores of religious minorities around the world, including
Christians.

The report prompted me to reflect anew on why Christians sometimes seem
hesitant to raise their voices about such atrocities.

I've been writing and speaking about anti-Christian persecution for some
time, including my 2013 book The Global War on Christians. One frequent
question I get, more times than I can count, is this: "Why are you
focusing only on Christians? Isn't that narrow and confessional?
Shouldn't we be concerned about everybody?"

Such questions are born of the noble instinct that the Church shouldn't
be focused only on its own self-interest, but the welfare of all, and
the answer is, of course we should be concerned about everybody.

However, there's an important caveat.

Most Jews I know are strongly opposed to intolerance against anyone, but
they feel a special, visceral reaction when it's targeted against fellow
Jews. Most Muslims I know don't want anyone oppressed, but they're
especially galvanized by Islamophobia. Outside the bounds of religion,
many women are especially concerned with misogyny and violation of
women's rights, many members of the LGBT community are especially
vigilant about homophobia, and so on.

In all those cases, enlightened people not only understand the reaction,
we applaud it. We encourage members of those communities to speak out,
we want to hear what they have to say, and we know we need them to hold
our feet to the fire.

To take another example, Americans of all stripes have been horrified by
the racial ugliness we saw in Charlottesville last weekend, and
Christian leaders have been on the front lines of denouncing it,
including strong statements from both the leadership of the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops and multiple bishops individually.
While rhetoric alone won't solve the problem, many Catholics felt pride
in seeing their leaders rise to the occasion.

So why should it be different when it comes to anti-Christian
persecution? (Notably, so far there has been no statement from the
bishops' conference about the new report, which, once again, documents a
worldwide pattern of savagery against Christians as well as other
religious minorities.)

You certainly can't make the argument that Christians don't have it as
bad. Globally speaking, Christians are the most oppressed religious
community on the planet. Conventional estimates are that 200 million
Christians live every day with the threat of physical harassment,
arrest, torture, and even death, simply for their religious beliefs.

I've spent time with illiterate, impoverished Christian women in India,
whose husbands were slaughtered in the most grotesque fashion imaginable
by Hindu radicals. I've been face-to-face with Nigerian Christians whose
families have been ripped apart by Boko Haram militants, including one
badly injured woman who lost her husband and three of her five children
in a Christmas Day bombing.

I've passed time with Egyptian Christians who were kidnapped, brutalized
and humiliated by Islamic radicals, including a Coptic doctor who was
taken into the desert for months and repeatedly whipped for refusing to
accept Islam. I've spoken with Christians in Colombia who were menaced,
kidnapped and injured by para-military forces of both left and right
during a long-running civil war, including a Catholic bishop who had to
cut our interview short because he couldn't stop sobbing.

In other parts of the world, I've met victims who've experienced
persecution at the hands of a staggering variety of other actors -
including, alas, sometimes fellow Christians.

It's not acceptable to say these people don't need attention because
Christianity is wealthy, powerful, and privileged. Whether that's true
or not in some places, it definitely doesn't apply to the people I've
met, who are generally poor, forgotten, and defenseless.

It also doesn't cut it to say that Christians shouldn't complain because
they've been guilty of abuses themselves, such as the Crusades or the
Inquisition. Whatever one makes of those chapters of history, what does
the impoverished and grieving mother I met in Nigeria have to do with
any of it?

Finally, it's disingenuous to assert that anti-Christian persecution is
nothing more than a right-wing wedge issue, designed to provide cover
for controversial positions in the West's wars of culture. Think what
you want on those matters, but I promise you, the vast majority of
suffering Christians in this world don't even know those wars are going
on.

Are Christians the only ones at risk? Of course not. To be credible,
does a Christian witness in defense of religious freedom have to apply
across the board, without exception? Again, of course.

But should it be acceptable for Christians to feel a special, gut-level
empathy for other Christians, because their faith says they're fellow
members of the Body of Christ? Once more, of course.

In 1 Corinthians, St. Paul wrote, "If one part [of the body] suffers,
all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts
share its joy." That's either just pious rhetoric, or Christians
actually mean it - and if they do, devoting energy to the defense of
persecuted Christians isn't confessional, it's compassion, in the
literal sense of the word, "suffering with" someone.

The bottom line is that perhaps it's time for well-meaning Christians to
get over the ambivalence they sometimes feel about highlighting
anti-Christian persecution as a fact of life in today's world, on a
staggering scale.

It doesn't have to come at anyone else's expense - and, besides which,
if comfortable and affluent Christians in the West don't speak up, who
in the world will?

John L. Allen Jr. is the Editor of CRUX



------------------------------

Message: 10
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:41:19 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Why patriarchy is the best solution for happy families and
societies
Message-ID:
<1503600079.2194632....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Why patriarchy is the best solution for happy families and societies

By Chris Sugden
August 25th 2017

The November 2014 session of General Synod debated proposals about
whether the confidentiality of the confessional should ever be breached.
If a parishioner confessed a sex crime to their confessor, should the
confessor be required to report the fact to the authorities? The point
was made that while absolution would depend on the parishioner reporting
themselves, to whom could people troubled by such actions ( for only
those troubled would seek the confessional) ever turn in trust?

In "The New Politics of Sex: the sexual revolution, civil liberties and
the growth of government power" (Angelico Press, Ohio, 2017 available
from Christian Concern) Professor Stephen Baskerville Professor of
Government at Patrick Henry College, Virginia, offers an analysis that
suggests that such a proposal as the above is the tip of an iceberg of
the ever increasing power of state authorities to police activities that
are beyond its competence.

His thesis, rigorously supported by academic studies and court records
is that an intact family of mother and father is the safest environment
for women and for children. The growth of sexual libertarianism means
that the natural restraints against sexual harassment, child abuse,
bullying, and the provision of the protection of women that were
provided by codes of morality and by fathers in families have been
removed. In the place of fathers have come armies of minor officials
with power to arrest those who are named by accusers ( now renamed
victims or survivors) and who are tried by 'courts' which do not follow
the requirements of due process. "The hook-up culture of easy sex rife
in Western universities in the name of sexual liberation has become a
honey-trap that lures and then criminalises heterosexual male university
students". (p 174)

He traces the origin of this procedure to the acceptance of no-fault
divorce which brought vague and nebulous transgressions, the central
role of the accuser's subjective feelings, the presumption of guilt
against the accused, civil procedures which required no concrete or
objective proof, and which could result in either appropriation of
assets and even prison sentences for failure to provide them.

He discerns a regular pattern of political development: to secure their
own sexual freedom activists close down the freedom of others. Those who
claim a special status in society related to sexual libertarianism, come
out of the closet; they demand their rights; they demand that everyone
recognise those rights; they remove the rights of those who oppose them;
finally they want to put those who oppose their rights themselves into
the closet.

Baskerville critiques social conservatives who failed to oppose these
developments and chose the wrong ground to defend. He argues that the
purpose of marriage is not procreation but to allow children to have
fathers, turning a man from a sperm donor into a parent and creating
parental authority. He claims that the removal of fathers through no
fault divorce creates many of the problems such a process was designed
to resolve. The only essential role of the state in marriage is to
guarantee the rights and authority of both parents.

Weakening marriage produces fatherless, not motherless homes. State
bureaucracy and the courts often replace fathers. Prized from parents,
children become vulnerable to manipulation as political tools. Sex
education is then used to indoctrinate them in politically correct
sexual views.

For Paul the apostle, behind every ethical failure is a theological
error. Beyond Baskerville's analysis is a deep theological point summed
up in Paul's words: "The father from whom every family on earth is
named" (Eph 3.15) Society's abandonment of God is not just a matter of
private individual belief; it is linked clearly to an abandonment both
of the responsibilities and the role of fathers in the flourishing of
human society. This is the real cost of sexual so-called liberation.

The Rev. Dr. Chris Sugden can be reached at sugdenma...@gmail.com
or csu...@ocrpl.org This article was first published in the Church of
England Newspaper



------------------------------

Message: 11
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:42:04 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Getting Along, Despite Differences
Message-ID:
<1503600124.2195124....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Getting Along, Despite Differences
We're in a very solemn moment for humanity

By Os Guinness
www.virtueonline.org
August 23, 2017

How do we live with our deepest differences? We're in a very solemn
moment for humanity.

The last century was the most murderous in human history, and today, in
this century, we are witnesses to the horror of yet another genocide,
which many world leaders are refusing to name. We're seeing the
heartbreak of a tidal wave of desperate, and unwanted often, migrants
and certainly in the West, we are living in the heated conflict of --
what is now in America -- 50 years of incessant culture warring.

But as we look at this, you can see the West is weakening, American
leadership is faltering, the international global order is being called
into question, and one of the deepest issues that is coming up again and
again -- how do we live with our deepest differences?

And we have to say, that we who are followers of Jesus, enter this
discussion in a mixed light. We are, and there is no question, the
pioneers of freedom of conscience and religious freedom. From Tertullian
(circa 155-240 AD) and Lactantius (circa 250-325 AD) right down through
Roger Williams (1603-1683) and William Penn (1644-1718) and many of the
greatest heroes of this issue, they were followers of Jesus.

At the same time, particularly because of the medieval era, we have been
some of the perpetrators of some of the worst evils against freedom of
conscience.

Take the Inquisition or the notion that error has not rights or terrible
forced conversions of our Jewish friends. And today, as a third part, we
are the most persecuted faith in the world. Wherever there is
persecution -- in almost every place -- Christians are persecuted too.
Not alone, but profoundly persecuted.

So this issue: how do we live with our deepest differences, is one that
has stakes for humanity and the future, and certainly for the Christian
church.

I would just stress three things we need to wrestle with. First -- we
need to affirm and appreciate the foundational primacy of freedom of
conscience and religious freedom. It's under a cloud today, dismissed as
a cover for discrimination, or bigotry or hatred. But it is the first of
the political rights. There's no ranking; that would be invidious.

But if you work out the logic of each of the rights Freedom of
Association depends on Freedom of Speech. Freedom of Speech assumes and
requires Freedom of Conscience. And when the inner forum of the
conscience is respected then the outer forum of the public square can be
protected too.

Not only that, it's the key to civil society. If we're not to have
states, governments that are over-burdened and over burdening you need
to have a robust, thriving, civil society with non-profit organizations
all over the place and it is Religious Freedom which is the key to their
flourishing.

And, of course, Religious Freedom is the key to social harmony. There
has never been any way of bringing together diversity with harmony and
yet having liberty. Diversity ... harmony ... liberty -- all three. Some
countries have two. Diversity with harmony but coercion. The trick is to
have all three and to do it you need to have religious freedom.

The second thing we need is to assess and choose the best modal to lead
the world forward. At the moment, there are two extremes. One is the
so-called "Sacred Public Square" where some religion is preferred or
established and everyone who does not share that religion is necessarily
second class and sometimes with life-threatening consequences. There are
mild versions and there are server versions like Iran and Pakistan. But
that does not guarantee religious freedom for everybody.

The other extreme is the so-called "Naked Public Square" where all
religion is strictly excluded. And, of course, again there are moderate
versions and there are strict versions like China and North Korea. As
you can see, since most of the world is incurably religious that does
not provide justice and freedom for most of the world.

The third position is what is called the "Civil Public Square." Where
you have public life where freedom of conscience and religious freedom
is guaranteed for everybody. And, obviously, they are taught at the same
time the so-called Three R's of Public Life -- Rights, Responsibilities,
and Respect, so that people know how to differ with the differences of
other people agreeably and not violently or coercively.

The third thing we need is to work hard at what it takes to achieve such
civility in public life. We need first to see a massive restoration of
the understanding of Religious Freedom. It is not freedom for the
religious. It is freedom for all beliefs and all world views --
religious or secular; transcendental or naturalistic. It is for
everybody.

But not only that, it is not, as the New York Times covered it recently,
something to be put in "inverted commas" or seen as a cover for bigotry
or discrimination. NO! Far from it, it is the fundamental anchor against
which bigotry runs aground. It is fundamental for everybody.

The second thing we need is -- and working towards it -- is a reopening
of the public square. Instead of those who would like to drive religious
voices out and have an antiseptic cleansing of the public square we need
to open all voices to the public square. And the great atheists of
today, like J?rgen Habermas (born 1929 - Germany), would argue that when
any religious voices are excluded, as certain people in some of our
countries are trying to do, that is highly illiberal and not true
freedom.

And the third thing we need to make it practical is to renew civic
education. Freedom is never the product of law alone. Law is precious
and gives us guarantees. But freedom is a product also, and more
importantly, of what the great Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) called
the "Habits of the Heart."

It's when parents teach their children -- freedom. It's when teachers
teach their students -- freedom. That freedom in all its form becomes a
habit of the heart and therefore a thriving concern in any country. And
many of our countries have seen no decent civic education for the last
50 years.

So here we are with an incredible issue for the world and for tomorrow.
In our postmodern world with all the culture warring that's going on, we
are seeing the maximum chaos, the maximum conflict, and the maximum
controversies. They are disastrous.

Humanity has a stake in this issue. Christians, certainly, have a stake
in this issue. I would argue, if we had longer, that there is nothing
like the Christian Gospel for giving us the components that provide the
answer to these great challenges. But I would just say, at such a time,
with such an issue for the world, it would be tragic if this generation
were missing. We each have to so think, so speak....and so live in
private and in public that it may be said of us as it was said of King
David, many centuries ago, he served God's purpose in his generation
(Acts 13:36).

And how we live with our differences is crucial to our time.

END

This Q talk comes from his book "The Global Public Square: Religious
Freedom and the Making of a World Safe for Diversity" (InterVarsity
Press, 2013)

You can watch a YouTube of this story here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWoqc5JhmLo

You can purchase Dr. Guinness's latest book here: Impossible People:
Christian Courage and the Struggle for the Soul of Civilization

https://www.christianbook.com/impossible-people-christian-courage-struggle-civilization/os-guinness/9780830844654/pd/844654

Dr. Os Guinness is a social critic and has authored and edited more than
30 books. He resides with his wife in Northern Virginia



------------------------------

Message: 12
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:42:16 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: SC Episcopal Schism: Supreme Court Justice Slammed
Message-ID:
<1503600136.2195124....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

SC Episcopal Schism: Supreme Court Justice Slammed

https://www.fitsnews.com/2017/08/17/sc-episcopal-schism-supreme-court-justice-slammed/
August 17, 2017

South Carolina Supreme Court justice Kaye Hearn is facing criticism for
failing to recuse herself from a controversial religious freedom ruling
issued by the Palmetto State's high court earlier this month.

Hearn was one of the three Supreme Court justices who ruled in favor of
the liberal national Episcopal Church (TEC) -- which sued a conservative
diocese that broke away from its ranks five years ago.

Was she an impartial arbiter in this matter? No ...

Should she have recused herself from hearing it? Absolutely ...

Will it matter that she didn't? Doubtful ...

To recap: In late 2012, FITS broke the story of "rogue bishop" Mark
Lawrence of Charleston, S.C. -- an Episcopal priest who was booted from
the national church for refusing to adopt its views on gay marriage and
the ordination of gay and female clergy.

As a result of the church's action against him, Lawrence announced his
intention to disassociate South Carolina's Lower Diocese from the
national church -- a threat he eventually made good on.

The national church wasn't about to let its diocese go without a fight,
though -- accusing Lawrence and other leaders of the breakaway diocese
of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, trademark infringement and civil
conspiracy, among other things.

According to the national church, the result of those alleged actions
has been to "deprive Episcopalians loyal to the Episcopal Church of
their property rights," which they valued at anywhere between $500-$800
million.

S.C. circuit court judge Dianne Goodstein rebuked these arguments and
ruled in favor of the breakaway church, arguing that "for over 200
years, the Diocese has governed itself through votes of its parish
churches and clergy meeting in conventions."

"With the freedom to associate goes its corollary, the freedom to
disassociate," Goodstein wrote, adding "there is no basis to the claim
that the Diocese did not validly exercise its legal and constitutionally
protected right to disassociate from TEC in October 2012."

We concur ...

All decisions regarding religious affiliation should be left to
individual congregations. Anything else is an imposition on religious
liberty -- especially when tithing parishioners subsidize church assets.

Unfortunately, the state's Supreme Court didn't see it this way. Well,
to be precise the court as it was configured back in September 2015
(when this case was heard) didn't see it this way.

Since this case was heard two justices -- former chief justices Jean
Toal and Costa Pleicones -- have retired, while Hearn has now been
accused of having a conflict of interest that should have prompted her
to recuse herself from the matter.

"While she was definitely biased when the case was first appealed to the
Court ... that blight on her impartiality pales into insignificance
before the blatant, result-oriented bias she has exposed in her opinion
concurring in a 3-2 decision that would result in the transfer of
multiple millions of dollars' worth of real property," A.S. Haley wrote
for the website Anglican Ink.

According to Haley, Hearn "went out of her way to castigate Bishop
Lawrence and the role he played as chief pastor of his Diocese --
ecclesiastical matters which, as her colleagues pointed out, had no
business being addressed in a secular judicial opinion."

We agree ...

Why would Hearn inject herself so vehemently in this case? Because she
was intimately associated with it prior to it arriving at the Supreme
Court.

Specifically, Hearn was a member of an Episcopal group that brought
disciplinary charges against Lawrence back in 2012, leading to the
national church's ruling against him. Additionally her husband, former
state representative George Hearn, helped appoint Lawrence's successor
-- who ultimately brought the suit against the "rogue bishop."

The Hearns are also members of one of the congregations formed in the
aftermath of Lawrence's decision to leave the national church.

This website exposed Hearn's conflict back in September of 2015, however
we also noted that attorneys for the breakaway diocese failed to submit
a motion arguing for Hearn's recusal.

That failure has proven pivotal.

Nonetheless, we called on Hearn to recuse herself regardless.

"Doing so would be in accordance with judicial canons expressly
forbidding judges from displaying bias or prejudice based upon their
religious beliefs -- not to mention bias or prejudice based upon a party
in the case," we wrote. "Both biases appear to be in abundant supply as
it relates to this case."

Indeed ...

We understand passions are running hot regarding this particular ruling.
And we understand there are those who dispute our contention that this
is a religious liberty case -- arguing instead that it is a property
rights case. That's a perfectly valid point ... and we've extended an
invitation to those who feel that way to make their case.

But whatever you think of this schism, Hearn's bias is clear, compelling
and should have kept her from rendering judgment in this matter.

END



------------------------------

Message: 13
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:42:30 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Hard truth about soft power
Message-ID:
<1503600150.2195594....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Hard truth about soft power

By Charles Raven
https://www.gafcon.org/
August 22, 2017

How has the Anglican Communion managed to more or less stay together and
even at times give the appearance of growth despite nearly twenty years
of doctrinal and ethical chaos?

The Archbishop of Canterbury's presence in Khartoum, Sudan, for the
inauguration of the 39th Province of the Anglican Communion on July 30th
illustrates the point.

This Archbishop had just chaired a General Synod which marked a further
advance of the dominant LGBT lobby, in particular by agreeing to provide
a service for gender transition and banning so-called 'conversion
therapy' for unwanted same-sex attraction, which threatens basic
faithful pastoral care.

Yet this same Archbishop takes the leading role as the Episcopal Church
of the Sudan is born, notwithstanding his complicity with the Church of
England's accelerating drift from that apostolic Christianity which has
sustained Sudanese Anglicans through much suffering.

Archbishop Welby regularly rises above such contradictions, as did his
predecessor. How do they manage it? The answer has a lot to do with soft
power, a term coined by James Nye after the end of the Cold War to
describe a political strategy based on co-option rather than coercion,
shaping preferences through relationship and incentive.

With long experience of running and then dismantling a global empire,
the British Establishment was already well versed in this practice and
the habit continues. Within the Anglican Communion it has two aspects.

Firstly, an Archbishop of Canterbury is, informally, able to bring the
diplomatic resources of the British Government to bear. In countries
like Sudan where Christians are routinely persecuted and Sharia law
underpins the courts, international pressure can make a vital difference
as well as adding weight to Churches that are very much a minority.

It is therefore entirely understandable that this new Province should be
attracted by the prestige and security Canterbury offers. But there may
be a sting in the tail; diplomatic pressure can also be exerted against
a Church if it adopts a position which is viewed negatively. I know
personally of two occasions when a Primate has been warned by the
British High Commissioner that certain actions could lead to a reduction
in foreign aid.

The second aspect of soft power is influence through relationships. The
historic appeal of Canterbury coupled with funding provided largely by
the Episcopal Church of the United States (TEC) is a potent combination.

In a departure from previous practice, Canterbury seems to have become
the default location for Primates Meetings, but these meetings are being
emptied of substance as demonstrated by the failure to carry out the
Primates' decision to distance TEC from Communion decision making after
the January 2016 meeting.

The authority of the Primates has also been subverted by cultivating
bishops directly, most notably through the annual 'Bishops in Dialogue'
meetings, designed to draw African bishops into fellowship with bishops
from North America who have been at the forefront in overturning
biblical teaching on marriage, sexuality and gender.

Unsurprisingly, the fruit of these meetings has been division between
and even within African Provinces, to the extent that one Kenyan
participant was prepared to attend the April 2016 meeting of the
Anglican Consultative Council in public defiance of his Primate.

These are hard truths, so it is good to remember that what really
matters is neither hard power or soft power, but the power of the gospel
and it is this that is bringing hope and good fruit. For example, the
new Province of the Sudan is really the 40th Province, not the 39th,
because the Gafcon inspired Province of the Anglican Church of North
America, formed in the crucible of ruthless litigation by TEC, has
already been recognized as a full Province by the majority of the
Anglican Communion, but sadly not by Canterbury.

Ultimately, what will matter is not the recognition of Canterbury, but
the mutual recognition of Anglican Churches where the power of the
gospel is manifest, and in that the new Churches of the Sudan and of
North America are united; in their very different contexts they both
know what it is to suffer for the gospel and to rely on the power of
God.

Charles Raven is the Membership Development Secretary, for GAFCON

This article was orginally published in the September issue of
Evangelicals Now, and is republished here with permission. The original
version can be accessed here.



------------------------------

Message: 14
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:42:43 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: We All Have History
Message-ID:
<1503600163.2195600....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

We All Have History

By Duane W.H. Arnold, PhD
wee.virtueonline.org
August 21, 2017

"Why can't they just get over it? It all happened such a long time ago.
Everyone has moved on, why can't they?"

I heard this comment in the last week. It was not, however, about
African-Americans; nor was it about Southerners clinging to the "Lost
Cause" of the Confederacy. The comment had nothing to do with the
removal of monuments, anti-Semitism, or people that are homophobic. The
comment was made about people who have been hurt by churches or church
leaders and who can't seem to move on with their lives.

You see, we all have a history of things that we have done and, indeed,
things that have been done to us through the course of our lives. That
personal history has a continuing impact upon people's lives, albeit in
different ways. Some of us drag the hurt and injuries with us throughout
our lives. The scars are always on display for anyone who wishes to
look. Others of us bury the hurt deep within ourselves. The distant pain
is only manifested when an event, or a comment, triggers the reaction. A
few of the more fortunate survivors of such harm attempt to integrate
what they have gone through into the broader scope of their lives, using
it as a basis of understanding in helping others who have gone through
the same or a similar experience, or, indeed, to show compassion for
those who are still in harm's way.

If, perhaps, we can understand our reactions to our personal history, it
may help us in areas that extend outside the church as well. My mother,
who turned 90 this year, was born in the South but brought up in the
North. One of her earliest memories is being in the back of her father's
car traveling through a small Southern town. Her father had slowed the
car and suddenly turned around to say, "Don't look... shut your eyes."
But it was too late. There had been a lynching in the town square, and
my mother had seen the crowd inflicting yet further indignities upon the
body of an African-American man hanging from a tree. She remembers the
incident clearly to this day. Some years later, being newly married, she
was visiting her in-laws in north Florida. Her second day there, she
made a big mistake. She was talking to Hattie, my grandmother's
African-American cook, in the front yard. When they turned to go into
the house, Hattie turned to go round the house to the back door. My
mother immediately said, "Don't be silly, come in here" and held open
the front door for her. She walked in to make her way to the kitchen,
but my grandmother was in the hall way. She slapped Hattie in the face
and told her to go outside and use the back door. Then my mother was
lectured about "how we do things in the South", after which she left the
room crying.

Now, this was my mother's history and it shaped her perceptions and her
actions for years to come. For instance, in my father's company there
were a number of African-American employees. When company parties were
held in our home, they were always invited - an unusual situation for a
suburban white family in Ohio in the early 1960s. This was but one way
in which my mother's history shaped her values and perceptions.

Yet, there was another history at play and my mother understood this to
be the case, not perfectly, but at least in a small way. Hattie, the
cook, had children and, I imagine, grandchildren who are likely alive
today. The story recounted above is also part of their history. It most
likely became a story that was passed down through the years affecting
perception and subsequent action, not only of Hattie, but of others as
well. Did the African-American man lynched in that small southern town
have a family, or descendants, or brothers or sisters? I do not know. I
do not know how it may have happened or how it was recorded, but surely
that horrific incident became a part of the history of a family, a
community and, indeed, part of our own history as a nation. Yet, even
though we may not know about what took place in that family in an
objective manner, we can be certain that the history of that outrage
belongs particularly to those who personally experienced the pain of
what took place.

In his ministry on earth, Christ seems to have been particularly
concerned to include, to understand and to reach out to those with a
different history - the Samaritan woman at the well with a moral and
religious history that set her outside the "norm"; the Roman centurion,
whose loyalties obviously lay elsewhere, with a servant who was ill; the
woman dragged from a house and about to be stoned having been taken in
the act of adultery... the examples are varied and many. Additionally,
we might note that he does not take issue with their history (although
he is aware of the history) or their perceptions, but he deals with the
need of the moment.

All this is to say, many of us may not fully comprehend the visceral
reaction to Confederate monuments expressed by some, but our own
histories should allow us to have some measure of compassion and
understanding. I am not Jewish, nor was I a witness to the parades of
storm troopers in Berlin in the 1930s. Yet, while we may not fully
comprehend the fear engendered by marchers shouting anti-Semitic slogans
in a torch lit march in Charlottesville, our personal histories might
allow us to reach across the divide and seek to alleviate the anxiety of
those who, through families and friends, have such a history. Our own
personal histories, if given the opportunity, at the very least, might
engender in us some sense of active empathy. Our own experience might
even lead us to reach out in love to those with a different history that
we can only vaguely comprehend.

Duane W.H. Arnold, PhD is author of The Early Episcopal Career of
Athanasius of Alexandria (Notre Dame, 1991), Prayers of the Martyrs
(Zondervan, 1991) and is a member of The Project



------------------------------

Message: 15
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:43:09 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: The Way of the Cross
Message-ID:
<1503600189.2195754....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

The Way of the Cross

By David G. Duggan
www.virtueonline.org
August 23, 2017

I just returned from a pilgrimage of sorts. Though I intersected El
Camino de Santiago Compostela, I was not on that sort of pilgrimage, a
month-long journey of spiritual discovery marked by sore feet, worn
boots and lost pounds.

Rather, this was a pilgrimage to places key to our Western hemisphere's
Christian heritage: Lisbon, whence Henry the Navigator sent out
Caravelles to explore the coast of Africa and the mid-Atlantic islands;
Barcelona, where Ferdinand and Isabella bade Columbus farewell on his
way to discover a western route to the Indies; St. Emilion, where an 8th
century monk dug a cave in the limestone bedrock and unknowingly found
soil conditions for the most valuable vineyards in the world; Tours,
where St. Martin, a 4th century Roman soldier, renounced his life and
established a monastery, and where four centuries later Charles Martel
preserved western Europe for Christianity; and of course Paris, founded
by St. Denis, illuminated by generations of scholars, and finally
sustained by a cathedral incomparable in size and beauty. Europe may no
longer be the Christian continent, but it indisputably planted the flag
of Christianity in the Americas.

Along the way there were meals and museums, air bnb's and bistros, wine
and beer and even a Starbucks (I don't like European coffee). Yet the
overall theme was to find a faith that has withstood two millennia of
wars and plagues, crusades and inquisitions, revolutions and
reformations. Can Christianity withstand the next onslaught from
whatever direction it comes?

Early on in the church, followers of the Way had to decide whether they
would salute the emperor or risk death. Some crossed their fingers and
begged forgiveness. Others stood fast against any compromise which would
bargain our Lord's sacrifice: their pitch-smeared, crucified and ignited
bodies lit the way to Rome.

Yet the faith has endured not because of cathedrals and Caravelles, wine
and martyrdom, doctrine and discipline, but because it speaks to the
lonely heart seeking to find meaning in this life, the world, and the
world to come.

Like the continents on which the cathedrals and cloisters central to our
faith sit, the culture shifts and bends. Yet if the faith which has
sustained both continent and culture through 2,000 years of turmoil
remains true to its origins with people seeking to know and serve God,
then maybe we can withstand elections and ISIS, Donald or Hillary,
global warming and maybe even the Cubs winning the World Series.

David Duggan is a retired attorney. He lives in Chicago.



------------------------------

Message: 16
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:42:56 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: VERO BEACH, FL: Christ Church Anglican Complex Opens its
Doors
Message-ID:
<1503600176.2195636....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

VERO BEACH, FL: Christ Church Anglican Complex Opens its Doors
Over 380 members and visitors attended the opening services of the new
Christ Church Vero Beach complex.

By Tracy Trudell
http://anglicanchurch.net/?/main/page/1481
August 22, 2017

The opening our new 27,000 sq. ft. church complex exceeded our
expectations," says The Rt. Rev'd John Miller, Rector of Christ Church
Vero Beach. "Of course we had a few bumps in the road considering we
were altering all three of our service's times and formats. At the same
time, the end result was very satisfying. We give God all the glory," he
continued.

The opening culminated over two years of planning and building for the
church started in a rose garden in April 2008. For the past few years,
the church has worshipped in a former shopping complex. "Although
adequate in size, the 'store front' type church did not fully meet all
of the needs of our members," said Bp. Miller. "Our new location and
facilities give us much needed room to grow and fulfill our mission of
being the best Church we can be for Vero Beach," he continued.

The June 18 Sunday worship services were preceded by a Friday evening
celebration for church members called "Prayer, Praise and Testimony."
Following the service, a meal, prepared by Christ Church parishioners,
was held in the spacious Welcome Area and Community Center.

According to Bishop Miller, "We designed our new facility with glass
walls in front to allow us to be as transparent as possible to the
people in the Vero Beach community. Thoughtful use of spaces both inside
and outside of the church will allow us to better enrich the lives of
our members and groups using our complex."

"An example of this is our multi-use Welcome Area," he continued.
"Commonly referred to as the church Narthex, the Christ Church Welcome
Area is flanked by a cafe on one side and a library on the other. Tables
and seating can be set-up between them to accommodate large banquets,
meetings, and other functions."??Designed by the architectural firm of
Rardin & Carroll, the church's Worship Center interior features massive,
supporting, wood laminate arching pillars, a large stained-glass window
above the altar designed by Conrad Pickel Studios of Vero Beach and
movable congregation seating. The Proctor Construction Company of Vero
Beach served as general contractor for the Christ Church complex.??On
the north side of the Church are located the kitchen, the 9.23 Community
Center, and a dedicated Teen Center. In additional to modern worship
services, the 9.23 Community Center will annually host over 500
community events by organizations such as Scouts, Military Moms, Buggy
Bunch, Community Bible Study, Classic Conversation Homeschoolers, and
the Coast Guard Auxiliary. The Teen Center, with both indoor and outdoor
Wi-Fi-equipped recreation areas, provides a safe gathering space for
teens.

The church's Education Wing on the south side, in addition to the
regular children's Sunday School, provides a weekday mom's morning out
program called Teaching Our Toddlers Spiritually (TOTS). A variety of
children's activities can be accommodated with an outdoor enclosed
playground and separate indoor classrooms for various ages.

A Memorial Garden, with walking paths and benches for meditation and
reflection, is located between two lakes on the south side of the
property.

Additional information on Christ Church can be found by going to its
website, http://www.christChurchvero.org or by calling the Church Office
at 772-562-8678.

Christ Church Vero Beach is a member of the Gulf Atlantic Diocese within
the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), which unites nearly 1,000
congregations across the United States, Canada, and Mexico into a single
Church. The ACNA is recognized as a province of the Global Anglican
Communion, comprising approximately 85 million members, by the
Archbishops of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans.

Christ Church's clergy include The Rt. Rev'd John Miller, Rector; The
Rev'd Nathan Bistis, Associate Rector; and The Rev'd Richard Demsick,
Missionary Pastor. Debra Gordon is the Director of Children and Family
Ministries.

Tracy Trudell is Communications Coordinator at Christ Church, Vero
Beach, FL.



------------------------------

Message: 17
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:47:02 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org
Subject: The Way of the Cross
Message-ID:
<1503600422.2196543....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

The Way of the Cross

By David G. Duggan
www.virtueonline.org
August 23, 2017

I just returned from a pilgrimage of sorts. Though I intersected El
Camino de Santiago Compostela, I was not on that sort of pilgrimage, a
month-long journey of spiritual discovery marked by sore feet, worn
boots and lost pounds.

Rather, this was a pilgrimage to places key to our Western hemisphere's
Christian heritage: Lisbon, whence Henry the Navigator sent out
Caravelles to explore the coast of Africa and the mid-Atlantic islands;
Barcelona, where Ferdinand and Isabella bade Columbus farewell on his
way to discover a western route to the Indies; St. Emilion, where an 8th
century monk dug a cave in the limestone bedrock and unknowingly found
soil conditions for the most valuable vineyards in the world; Tours,
where St. Martin, a 4th century Roman soldier, renounced his life and
established a monastery, and where four centuries later Charles Martel
preserved western Europe for Christianity; and of course Paris, founded
by St. Denis, illuminated by generations of scholars, and finally
sustained by a cathedral incomparable in size and beauty. Europe may no
longer be the Christian continent, but it indisputably planted the flag
of Christianity in the Americas.

Along the way there were meals and museums, air bnb's and bistros, wine
and beer and even a Starbucks (I don't like European coffee). Yet the
overall theme was to find a faith that has withstood two millennia of
wars and plagues, crusades and inquisitions, revolutions and
reformations. Can Christianity withstand the next onslaught from
whatever direction it comes?

Early on in the church, followers of the Way had to decide whether they
would salute the emperor or risk death. Some crossed their fingers and
begged forgiveness. Others stood fast against any compromise which would
bargain our Lord's sacrifice: their pitch-smeared, crucified and ignited
bodies lit the way to Rome.

Yet the faith has endured not because of cathedrals and Caravelles, wine
and martyrdom, doctrine and discipline, but because it speaks to the
lonely heart seeking to find meaning in this life, the world, and the
world to come.

Like the continents on which the cathedrals and cloisters central to our
faith sit, the culture shifts and bends. Yet if the faith which has
sustained both continent and culture through 2,000 years of turmoil
remains true to its origins with people seeking to know and serve God,
then maybe we can withstand elections and ISIS, Donald or Hillary,
global warming and maybe even the Cubs winning the World Series.

David Duggan is a retired attorney. He lives in Chicago.



------------------------------

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