VirtueOnline Digest, Vol 17, Issue 37

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=================================
VirtueOnline Weekly News Digest
http://www.VirtueOnline.org
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Today's Topics:

1. Table of Contents (David Virtue)
2. VIEWPOINTS: September 29, 2017 (David Virtue)
3. Diocese of South Carolina Rebuts TEC Recusal and Rehearing
Arguments (David Virtue)
4. Response to Holy Orders Task Force Report -- Six Anglican
Leaders Reflect on ACNA Statement (David Virtue)
5. Episcopal Bishops Expand Carbon Footprint in Alaska (David Virtue)
6. Episcopal Church lost 11,833 Members in 2016 (David Virtue)
7. Episcopal Church Still Skidding Downhill (David Virtue)
8. Letter to Bishop Daniel Martins from Bishop Eric Menees
(David Virtue)
9. Robert E. Lee was a devoted Episcopalian (David Virtue)
10. Scottish Anglicans to face 'consequences' for allowing gay
marriage (David Virtue)
11. Former Queen's Chaplain Consecrated Missionary Bishop to
Anglicans in UK and Europe (David Virtue)
12. Church in Wales closing more than 10 churches a year
(David Virtue)
13. The Fall of the Scottish Episcopal Church (David Virtue)
14. A crisis of character at the top of the Anglican Communion
(David Virtue)
15. Who Decides Membership in The Anglican Communion? Not the
Secretary General of The ACC! (David Virtue)
16. What has the Archbishop of Canterbury got against Marriage?
(David Virtue)
17. Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev has a warning
for the West (David Virtue)
18. Prof sounds alarm over same-sex 'studies' on children
(David Virtue)
19. PRAYER: What Does it Mean to be a Mature Christian Disciple?
(Luke 11:1-13) (David Virtue)


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

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:21:12 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Table of Contents
Message-ID:
<1506644472.2203373....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

VirtueOnline Weekly News Digest - Desktop & Mobile Edition
www.virtueonline.org
Sept. 29, 2017

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

1. Nigeria Upholds Faith, Condemns West * Some Primates to Boycott
Welbys Summit * CEC Consecrates Bishop ...
http://www.virtueonline.org/nigeria-upholds-faith-condemns-west-some-primates-boycott-welbys-summit-cec-consecrates-bishop


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

2.Diocese of South Carolina Rebuts TEC Recusal and Rehearing Arguments
http://www.virtueonline.org/diocese-south-carolina-rebuts-tec-recusal-and-rehearing-arguments


3.Response to Holy Orders Task Force Report -- Six Anglican Leaders
Reflect on ACNA Statement
http://www.virtueonline.org/response-holy-orders-task-force-report-six-anglican-leaders-reflect-acna-statement


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

4.Episcopal Bishops Expand Carbon Footprint in Alaska
http://www.virtueonline.org/episcopal-bishops-expand-carbon-footprint-alaska

5.Episcopal Church lost 11,833 Members in 2016. ASA also Dropped
http://www.virtueonline.org/episcopal-church-lost-11833-members-2016-asa-also-dropped

6.Episcopal Church Still Skidding Downhil
http://www.virtueonline.org/episcopal-church-still-skidding-downhill

7.Letter to Bishop Daniel Martins from Bishop Eric Menee
http://www.virtueonline.org/letter-bishop-daniel-martins-bishop-eric-menees

8.Robert E. Lee was a devoted Episcopalian
http://www.virtueonline.org/robert-e-lee-was-devoted-episcopalian


*************************************
GLOBAL ANGLICAN NEWS
*************************************

9.Scottish Anglicans to face 'consequences' for allowing gay m...
http://www.virtueonline.org/scottish-anglicans-face-consequences-allowing-gay-marriage

10.Former Queen's Chaplain Consecrated Missionary Bishop to Anglican...
http://www.virtueonline.org/former-queens-chaplain-consecrated-missionary-bishop-anglicans-uk-and-europe

11.Church in Wales closing more than 10 churches a year
http://www.virtueonline.org/church-wales-closing-more-10-churches-year

12.The Fall of the Scottish Episcopal Church
http://www.virtueonline.org/fall-scottish-episcopal-church

13.A crisis of character at the top of the Anglican Communion
http://www.virtueonline.org/crisis-character-top-anglican-communion

14.Who Decides Membership in The Anglican Communion? Not the Secretary
General of ACC
http://www.virtueonline.org/who-decides-membership-anglican-communion-not-secretary-general-acc


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

15.What has the Archbishop of Canterbury got against Marriage?
http://www.virtueonline.org/what-has-archbishop-canterbury-got-against-marriage


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

16.Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev has a warning for the
West
http://www.virtueonline.org/russian-orthodox-archbishop-hilarion-alfeyev-has-warning-west

17.Prof sounds alarm over same-sex 'studies' on children
http://www.virtueonline.org/prof-sounds-alarm-over-same-sex-studies-children


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

18.PRAYER: What Does It Mean To Be A Mature Christian Disciple? - Luke
11:1-13
http://www.virtueonline.org/11-prayer-what-does-it-mean-be-mature-christian-disciple-luke-111-13


END



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

Message: 2
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:23:29 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: VIEWPOINTS: September 29, 2017
Message-ID:
<1506644609.2204062....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor
me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of
me is based on merely human rules they have been taught." Isa. 29:13

Jesus Christ stands on trial, not now before the Sanhedrin, before
Pontius Pilate the procurator or Herod Antipas, but at the bar of world
opinion. The 'world', which in biblical language means secular, godless,
non-Christian society, now uncommitted, now hostile, is in the role of
judge. The world is judging Jesus Christ continuously, passing its
various verdicts upon him. The devil accuses him with many ugly lies and
musters false witnesses by the hundred. The Holy Spirit is the
*Parakletos*, the counsel for the defense, and he calls us to be
witnesses to substantiate his case. Christian preachers are privileged
to testify to and for Jesus Christ, defending him, commending him,
bringing before the court evidence which they must hear and consider
before they return their verdict. --- John R.W. Stott

I firmly believe that a Europe which has renounced Christ will not be
able to preserve its cultural and spiritual identity. --- Archbishop
Hilarion (Russia)

Is Jesus Lord, or are the forces of advanced modernity lord? The church
that cannot say no to all that contradicts its Lord is a church that is
well down the road to cultural defeat and captivity. But the courage to
say no has to be followed by an equally clear, courageous and
constructive yes--to the Lord himself, to his gospel and his vision of
life, humanity and the future, so that Christians can be seen to live
differently and to live better in the world of today. --- Os Guinness

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
Sept. 29, 2017

NIGERIA The 12th General Synod of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, the
largest province in the Anglican Communion, met this week and came out
with a statement reaffirming its stand to remain firm in the faith.

Led by Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, the Synod renewed its earlier
resolutions supporting their declaration of being a church that is
Bible-based, spiritually dynamic and committed to evangelism.

"The Bible remains the foundation of our church and the need to uphold
its primacy and orthodoxy in every aspect of the church's life has never
been more urgent and compelling than now. It therefore encourages its
leadership to be firm and resolute in pursuing this course.

"The General Synod further calls on all Anglicans in the world to return
to biblical foundation of the Anglican Church and reject the theological
innovations of this present age. It is only by upholding the faith of
our fathers that the church will honor God and impact current and future
generations."

Now, you would think this is a call that should be heeded by the
Episcopal Church even as it slowly disappears from sight, based on
recent figures that show it in serious decline. But no. When 115 bishops
met in Alaska recently, their concerns ran to prayerful "listening", (a
much-favored word by liberals who can't act on anything) about issues
like climate change, environmental concerns, race and poverty, but not a
word on the faith once for all delivered to the saints, which,
regrettably, most bishops have long since abandoned.

TEC bishops are on a pathway to resolve the ills of the planet with
endless resolutions, most of which, like General Convention's
resolutions, are soon forgotten, unless, of course, they revolve around
sex, in which case they hold front and center stage until they are
resolved to the satisfaction of those who wish to change the Church's
teaching about how we ought to behave. You can read my story here about
this Alaska gabfest, carbon footprints and more, here, or in today's
digest. http://tinyurl.com/yct8bnuu

When GAFCON primates meet next week in Canterbury, there will be some
notable absentees, including Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda and Myanmar. It is
still not certain if the Primate of South Sudan will attend.

The Anglican Communion claims it has somewhere between 77 million and 80
million, depending on who you talk to. Now if you add up the numbers for
these provinces in Average Sunday Attendance that are not attending,
they approximate nearly 31 million Anglicans. Nigeria has 20 million,
(though some figures place it anywhere from 18 million to 25 million.)
The Episcopal Church in Sudan and South Sudan (New Province): 4,500,000;
the Province of the Anglican Church in Rwanda is 1,000,000; the Church
of Uganda is 8,100,000 and the Church of the Province of Myanmar:
62,000. TOTAL: 31 million. If you exclude South Sudan, then some 26.5
million Anglicans will not be represented at this gathering of primates,
fully one-third of all Anglicans.

According to Archbishop Justin Welby, the primates will be deeply
engrossed in serious discussions on climate change. TEC Presiding Bishop
Michael Curry can explain why it was necessary to increase his and 115
fellow bishops recent jaunt to Alaska, where they increased their carbon
footprint to make the point about Native Americans and climate change.

But what of talk about the moral innovations that stalk the communion?
The Scottish Episcopal Church's recent actions permitting fellow
Anglicans to perform same-sex weddings, piggy backs directly on what The
Episcopal Church has done.

The Scottish Episcopal Church voted recently to approve same-sex
marriages. At the last Primates' meeting, TEC, which also marries
same-sex couples, had to suffer the consequences of its action,
including not participating in formal Anglican Communion meetings or
voting on decisions related to policy or teaching. Neither of these were
enforced, and TEC representatives continued to vote and gabble
incontinently to their hearts' content.

There were no "consequences", of course. TEC and Curry and Welby went
right on doing what they have always done -- ignore the will of the
primates and, yes, talk about things they can do nothing about.

One story posed this; "It is thought to be a formality that SEC will
face the same consequences although conservative bishops from Africa may
push for harsher penalties after being dissatisfied at the level of
punishment given to American Anglicans."

Maybe. Welby is the master of schmooze, and please don't call it
reconciliation. It isn't, and that is why the above primates will
boycott this meeting in protest.

The one very bright hope is that the new South American Primate, Greg
Venables, is a truly solid evangelical who could openly challenge Welby
on his lack of leadership.

*****

US

The Diocese of South Carolinais not letting sleeping dogs lie and the
bishop and Standing Committee is fighting back at a recent South
Carolina Supreme Court decision allowing the TEC Episcopal diocese to
reclaim all their properties. They have rebutted that claim and say that
Justice Hearn should have recused herself.

"If one religious group can be treated in this fashion today, there is
good cause for concern that others may fare no better in the future,"
they said. Among other claims they make is that United States Supreme
Court followed "neutral" principles of state law which, they say, must
be applied as they would be in any other case. You can read the full
story here or in today's digest. http://tinyurl.com/y9wgtwpx

The Episcopal Church continued its Gadarene slide into an inevitable
oblivion. TEC Lost 11,833 Members In 2016. And its ASA also dropped.
Domestic membership now stands at 1,745,156; ASA down to 570,453. The
question is have the membership rolls been significantly scrubbed from
churches, or are the living (and dead) still to be found, who long ago
left the churches? You can read two analysis pieces on this in today's
digest.

Nashotah House appears to be on the wrong side of history. Is it losing
its Anglo-Catholic ethos? Recently, the seminary announced that it had
invited Episcopal Presiding Bishop Michael Curry to give the Archbishop
Michael Ramsey award for excellence in the areas of Ecclesiology,
Ecumenism and Liturgy.

Not so fast, wrote a furious Eric Menees, the Anglican Bishop of San
Joaquin, in a letter to Springfield Bishop Dan Martins.

"Regarding ecclesiology, Bishop Curry has chosen to disregard the will
of the primates of the Anglican Communion and continues to act willfully
as one not under authority. Regarding ecumenism relations between TEC
and the vast majority of Catholic, Orthodox and Evangelical churches are
at an all-time low.

"Regarding liturgy, Bishop Curry is presiding over the creation of new
rites that defy scripture, tradition and reason. In the last few years
Seabury, General and EDS have all but folded. Recently, with the abrupt
transitions of the dean and several faculty members I suspect that
Nashotah House will not be far behind." That's telling him. You can read
the full letter here or in today's digest. http://tinyurl.com/y8tabc63

It is fascinating to watch bishops like Martins, Brewer (Central
Florida) and Sumner (Dallas) who claim to be orthodox, still stay in
TEC, parsing the actions of the denomination, when they know full well
they are on a sinking ship. The pension has to worth it. But what of
their souls?

Bishop Menees took a final swing at Martins, saying this; "While Bishop
Curry preaches reconciliation at every turn he fails to practice what he
preaches with his continued support for the ongoing lawsuits in Quincy,
Fort Worth and South Carolina. Given this reality, Bp. Martins, can
[you] give me a reason to send my men to Nashotah House? San Joaquin has
had a long and positive past with Nashotah but at this point I am really
shaking my head and wondering what in the world has happened?"

VOL wrote to Bishop Martins to get his side of the story and he wrote
this; "The letter was unfortunately leaked before I even received it. It
was addressed to me at Nashotah House, where I actually happen to be at
the moment, but it has not arrived here yet. When I officially receive
the letter, it is my intention to reply, but privately." The deeper
question is, what now of the future of Nashotah House?

Six Anglican leaders came together this past week to look at the recent
decision of the ACNA not to ordain women either to the priesthood or
episcopacy, but would allow those dioceses who wish to do so to ordain
women.

In a statement they put out, they said, Scripture is clear on holy
orders. In both Testaments it rejects female headship in God's Church
and calls for male-only headship. That means a male-only
presbyterate/priesthood.

This, they say is based on God's creation order, which he established
before the Fall. It is also consistent with Scripture's portrait of the
Father's eternal headship over the Son and the Spirit.

"The movement to ordain women to the presbyterate/priesthood is recent,
(largely) Western, and divisive. It has gone around--rather than
followed--the biblical model for resolving disputes.

"We recommend a moratorium on the ordination of women to the
presbyterate/priesthood until this question is resolved by a Church-wide
consensus. Those who oppose the WO to the offices of priest and bishop
on the grounds of Scripture and tradition take one of two views on women
and the diaconate."

Among the signers are the Rt. Rev. Dr. John Rodgers, President and Dean
Emeritus, Trinity School for Ministry and the Rev. Dr. Gerald R.
McDermott, Anglican Chair, Beeson Divinity School. You can read the full
document here or in today's digest. http://tinyurl.com/ycnu2dkb

The TEC bishop of Maryland, Chilton Knudsen, simply doesn't get it. A
170-year old landmark church - St. John's in the Village, Baltimore, is
closing. There was no sustainable option to keep the parish open, said a
diocesan press release. On November 5, All Saints Sunday, the doors will
lock forever.

But it's this line from Knudsen that will have you gasping for air; "The
late Phyllis Tickle wrote the Church is experiencing a new Pentecost. My
prayer is a paraphrase of one from J. Philip Newell's Celtic
Benediction: 'In the turbulence of our own lives and the unsettled
waters of the world today let there be new birthings of your Spirit. In
the currents of our own hearts and the upheavals of the world today let
there be new birthings of your mighty Spirit'." REALLY! What birthings?
What mighty Spirit? where? Perhaps Knudsen had the ACNA in mind...not.

ENGLAND. The Archbishop of Canterbury says that he does not have a
problem with a boy wearing a dress.

A family is preparing to sue their sons' Church of England school after
boys were allowed to come to class wearing dresses, saying it is against
their faith.

In an exclusive phone-in with Imam Qari Asim, Welby admitted he found
this case difficult - he had his head in his hands as the question was
being asked - but urged discussions rather than legal action.

He told Nick Ferrari: "I would say to them, I don't think that's a
problem.

"The other family are making up their own minds. The other child is
making up their own mind. Talk to your child. Help them to understand.
Help them to see what's going on and to be faithful to their own
convictions."

NEW BISHOPS IN ENGLAND. They are Anglican, but not of the Church of
England. First, we had a Missionary bishop for Britain consecrated at
Jesmond for evangelical Anglicans seeking a reformation for the reformed
catholic faith in England. On May 2, the Rev. Jonathan Pryke was
consecrated a bishop at Jesmond Parish Church in the Diocese of
Newcastle by bishops of the Church of England in South Africa (CESA), in
the hope their ceremony will see a renewal and rebirth of the faith in
England.

Then, on June 30, GAFCON consecrated one of their own, Bishop Andy
Lines, to be an orthodox Anglican bishop for England and Europe. Now,
this week, Bishop Gavin Ashenden was consecrated a Missionary Bishop to
Anglicans in UK and Europe by the Christian Episcopal Church of Canada.
Ashenden is a former Queen's Chaplain, scholar and writer.

He is charged with the responsibility of working as closely and
collaboratively as possible with those Anglicans who are committed to
remaining faithful to orthodox Christianity, in particular with the Free
Church of England and the 'Unity Forum' that has been created to achieve
that unity of purpose and action in the UK. You can read about the
consecration in today's digest.

Add in the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE), Church Society and
suddenly, the chipping away at the Church of England looks serious. Add
to the noise the possibility of disestablishment and suddenly, all talk
of reconciliation by Welby, Fearon, Kings and other notable
'reconcilers' is in the history can.

Sooner or later, the English equivalent of the Anglican Church in North
America will become a reality, and then the fun and games will begin.
The deeper question is why GAFCON and the Global South archbishops even
go on taking Welby and the Church of England seriously anymore, why not
simply brush them off as irrelevant.

*****

WALES. More than 10 churches a year are closing in Wales, figures have
shown. Data from the Church in Wales showed 115 Anglican churches have
closed over a 10-year period, about 8% of the total, with 1,319 still in
use.

There are currently 11 properties advertised for sale on the church's
website.

The Church in Wales said closures were a "significant issue" and, while
the sale rate had stayed steady, it was unlikely to slow down.

Head of property, Alex Glanville, said there was a move to take a
regional look at churches rather than let each one deal with the issue
on its own.

"We're grouping a lot more parishes and congregations together, about
10-15 churches in an area, and thinking which ones can we sustain.

*****

TO LEE OR NOT TO LEE that is the question. All the huffing and puffing
to rid America of some of its historic and iconic figures is beginning
to look a bit absurd. Lee was a devout Christian and a devoted
Episcopalian. VOL correspondent Mary Ann Mueller looks at the whole
issue in some depth. You can read her story here or in today's digest
http://tinyurl.com/ybhcubge

*****

A man walks into a church and shoots it up and all we want to talk about
is football! It started with one quarterback taking a knee during the
National Anthem and more than 200 National Football League players
joined in the protest, egged on by the President.

Now players are losing their endorsements, more than a third of fans are
vowing to stop watching the game, and the President is calling for a
boycott.

The man who walked into a church and started shooting was a legal
Sudanese immigrant. He killed a woman in a Nashville church parking lot
and then went into the church, firing away, hitting six more people,
until he was finally subdued by a hero.

So, on the same day as millionaire players were deciding whether to
kneel or stand, a small church with no other agenda but to pray and
worship became the target of one man's evil.

Where was the outrage in America about yet another killing, again in a
church? The story barely made the headlines, but a bunch of mostly
brainless football players who earn more money than God, make the
headlines with a president who taunts them for political gain.

And you wonder why God, the Holy Spirit, might be vanishing from America
and making his way through the cities and towns of China, Latin America
and Africa! It doesn't take a brain surgeon.

*****

God Loves a Cheerful Itemizer. An article in Christianity Today says
experts assessing how Trump's tax plan to double the standard deduction
would cost ministries bigly.

If you make between $50,000 and $100,000 a year, you'll probably give
less to charity under President Donald Trump's proposed tax plan, says a
study commissioned by Independent Sector, a coalition of nonprofits,
foundations, and corporate giving programs.

Back in May, researchers from Indiana University's Lilly Family School
of Philanthropy, ran the numbers on the Trump administration's proposal
to double the standard deduction from $6,300 to $12,600 for individuals,
and from $12,600 to $24,000 for joint filers.

"The Unified Framework for Fixing Our Broken Tax Code is just that--a
framework," said Dan Busby, president of the Evangelical Council for
Financial Accountability (ECFA). "The details"--many of which are left
up to Congress to decide -- "are what will tell the real story."

Busby broke down for CT how Trump's proposals would affect charitable
giving:

Lowering corporate tax rates and the pass-through rates for small
business are pro-growth elements, placing more dollars in the hands of
those who support churches and ministries. That is good for ministries,
but the impact will tend to be long-term.

The elimination of the personal deduction reduces available resources to
make charitable deductions.

The repeal of the death tax removes the significant incentive for many
to make charitable contributions to avoid this tax.

But the change that is likely to make the biggest impact on
middle-income taxpayers is the doubling of the standard deduction, Busby
said.

Raising the standard deduction puts money back into taxpayer pockets,
but also means those who itemize their charitable contributions on their
IRS 1040 forms would drop from about 30 percent of the population to
about 5 percent, said National Christian Foundation president emeritus,
David Wills. If that group of people is no longer able to write off
their charitable contributions as tax free, they may be less inclined to
give.

The devil is in the details.

*****

Hugh Hefner, (who died this week), Gene Robinson and John Shelly Spong
all woke up in Hell. Hefner turns to Robinson, "Looks like you really
took seriously the Culture War on sex that I set in motion. Was it worth
it? And you, Spong, you greased the way, denying Christian morality with
all its do's and don'ts. Was it worth it?"

Silence.

All Blessings

David



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

Message: 3
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:26:03 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Diocese of South Carolina Rebuts TEC Recusal and Rehearing
Arguments
Message-ID:
<1506644763.2204235....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Diocese of South Carolina Rebuts TEC Recusal and Rehearing Arguments
"If one religious group can be treated in this fashion today, there is
good cause for concern that others may fare no better in the future."

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170925006525/en
September 25, 2017

COLUMBIA, S.C. Today the Diocese of South Carolina (Diocese) filed our
Replies, to the Return by The Episcopal Church (TEC) to our motions for
recusal and rehearing in the South Carolina Supreme Court, regarding its
recent ruling in Appellate Case No. 2015-000622.

Statement by the Rev. Canon Jim Lewis:

"Today's filings by the Diocese of South Carolina address the property
law issues at the heart of this case. TEC failed to establish a trust
interest in property, of any sort, that can be recognized under 300
years of existing South Carolina legal precedent. And to claim such an
interest now is to grant TEC favored status against the Diocese and its
parishes, establishing one church body over another. This is
inconsistent with opinions of the United States Supreme Court that truly
"neutral" principles of state law must be applied as they would be in
any other case.

Further, the timeliness of our request for recusal is not an issue
before an appellate court. The public confidence in and the credibility
of the Court is! The most effective way to assure both is the recusal of
Justice Hearn and the vacating of her opinion. A ruling free from
conflict of interest is not a right that can be waived."

The Diocese also provided the following list of additional details:
* In 2012, the Diocese of South Carolina, along with 50 of its
congregations voted by an 80% margin to disassociate from The Episcopal
Church. In a complicated and sharply divided ruling consisting of five
separate opinions, the S.C. Supreme Court appeared to rule on August 2
this year that parishes which had "acceded" to the national church are
subject to a trust interest in their property by (TEC).

* Conclusion to today's Reply in Support of Motion to Recuse: "The depth
of Justice Hearn's connection to this case warrants her disqualification
pursuant to Canon 3E to ensure the promotion of public confidence in the
integrity of the Court and in this decision. Justice Hearn should recuse
herself and the Court should vacate her opinion."

* Conclusion to our Reply in Support of Motion to Rehear: There is no
basis under this Court's or the United States Supreme Court's precedents
or South Carolina trust law for the outcome that the Court reached based
on the principles the Court stated that it applied. ... The result
reached by the majority... is incompatible with South Carolina law.

* Over one hundred ten clergy from around the state of South Carolina,
representing 10 different denominations, have come together to express
their support for the Diocese and their concern for the Constitutional
issues raised by our Supreme Court ruling. "If one religious group can
be treated in this fashion today, there is good cause for concern that
others may fare no better in the future."

* The Rev. Jeff Miller, rector of St. Philip's, Charleston, the
mother-church of the Diocese, rightly describes the consequence of the
existing ruling. "Religious freedom in these cherished, sacred spaces
dating back to 1680 will be denied, and these properties taken away.
This freedom will be denied, not because tens of thousands of
parishioners have changed their beliefs, but rather because they have
not. Members of St. Philip's and the other Diocesan congregations adhere
to the faith of their fathers and grandfathers, of great-grandfathers
and great-great-grandfathers, the historic faith of Christians as
practiced for 2,000 years."

* The Justice in this ruling who provided the deciding vote is a member
of a TEC parish, Diocese and its national church, who would be the
beneficiaries of a nearly $500 million property windfall if the current
ruling stands. That is a massive conflict of interest. It is the
responsibility of the judge, under the South Carolina Code of Judicial
Conduct, to reveal that issue, not for a party in the case to challenge
the propriety of their actions.

* The expert affidavit testimonies of Nathan M. Crystal, Professor and
Adjunct Professor of Ethics at the University of South Carolina and NYU
Schools of Law and Lawrence J. Fox, Professor of Ethics at Yale
University are unanimous in concluding the due process rights of the
Diocese of South Carolina have been violated by these actions and the
only appropriate response is for this Justice to be recused from further
participation in this case and their opinion vacated.

* As Justice Kittredge noted in his dissenting opinion, "The message is
clear for churches in South Carolina that are affiliated in any manner
with a national organization and have never lifted a finger to transfer
control or ownership of their property--if you think your property
ownership is secure, think again."

* Former Chief Justice Jean Toal, in her dissenting opinion, had this
observation to make about its impact on the property rights of the
Diocese of South Carolina. "The lead opinion in this case is nothing
less than judicial sanction of the confiscation of church property
masquerading as an attempt to promulgate a new deference rule for
determining title in this matter."


LINKS:
----------------
A copy of today's filed Replies can be found here:
http://www.diosc.com/sys/images/documents/tec/2017-9-25-reply-to-petition-rehearing.pdf
http://www.diosc.com/sys/images/documents/tec/2017-9-25-reply-to-motion-to-recuse.pdf

A copy of the Diocese's filed Petition, Motion and Affidavits can be
found here:
http://www.diosc.com/sys/images/documents/tec/2017-09-01-petition-for-rehearing.pdf
http://www.diosc.com/sys/images/documents/tec/2017-09-01-motion-to-recuse-and-vacate.pdf
http://www.diosc.com/sys/images/documents/tec/crystal_affidavit_2017_8_29.pdf
http://www.diosc.com/sys/images/documents/tec/fox_affidavit_2017_8_30.PDF

Supreme Court's Current Ruling and Video of Oral Arguments:
http://www.sccourts.org/opinions/HTMLFiles/SC/27731.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu8CShvWcC8&feature=youtu.be

Judge Goodstein's Orders from Trial Court:
http://www.diosc.com/sys/images/documents/tec/15_2_3_final_order.pdf
http://www.diosc.com/sys/images/documents/tec/goodstein_denies_reconsider_2_23_25.pdf

South Carolina Code of Judicial Conduct
Canon 2 -
http://www.sccourts.org/courtreg/displayRule.cfm?ruleID=501.0&subRuleID=Canon%202&ruleType=APP
Canon 3 -
http://www.sccourts.org/courtreg/displayRule.cfm?ruleID=501.0&subRuleID=Canon%203&ruleType=APP

History of the Case and The Diocese of South Carolina:
http://www.diosc.com/sys/legal-media

A recent statement by over 110 clergy of 10 difference denominations
affirming our legal concerns:
https://www.palmettofamily.org/diocese-supporters/

The Statement by the Rector of St. Philip's, Charleston regarding the
potential impact of this ruling:
http://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/commentary/court-ruling-imperils-freedom-to-worship-sanctions-confiscation/article_45d05da6-9a1c-11e7-8bdd-db20e560504a.html



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

Message: 4
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:26:44 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Response to Holy Orders Task Force Report -- Six Anglican
Leaders Reflect on ACNA Statement
Message-ID:
<1506644804.2204802....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Response to Holy Orders Task Force Report -- Six Anglican Leaders
Reflect on ACNA Statement
Prepared for the College of Bishops of the Anglican Church in North
America in response to the Hicks Report

www.virtueonline.org
Sept. 24, 2017

Why we are writing

After carefully reading "The Holy Orders Task Force Final Report," we
conclude that while it provides a helpful review of church history, it
does not adequately express the convictions of the historic Church on
holy orders. We believe this is a serious matter of biblical truth that
represents God's will for the created order and His Church.

The biggest mistake in the Report is the conclusion drawn by the author
representing the Anglican High Church tradition that there is "no clear
prohibition in Scripture" to the ordination of women (297). Furthermore,
the author representing the Anglican Evangelical Tradition sums up the
exegesis as a "text jam" (274), which also suggests that Scripture is
not clear on this matter. We will show below that there is no text jam.
The new interpretation favoring the ordination of female priests is
forced, and often contradicts the plain sense of Scripture.

Another flaw in the Report is the suggestion that the Trinitarian
argument against women's ordination (WO) is heretical. The author
representing the Anglican Evangelical Tradition alleges that in
arguments made by some traditionalists the Son is subordinate in
"person/nature/essence/being or in his subsistence" (266). In other
words, it is suggested that the argument against WO using the Trinity is
based on Arianism. While heretics made such arguments in the early
Church, the consistent teaching of Nicene orthodoxy has distinguished
between the equal being (ousia) of the Three and the eternal relations
among their Persons (hypostases), in which the Father is eternally
unbegotten, the Son is eternally begotten, and the Spirit eternally
proceeds. The Father is first, the Son second, and the Spirit is third.
No Church Father or Creed or Confession ever said that the Son sent the
Father or that the Spirit sent the Son.

We believe that Scripture clearly prohibits women from ordination to the
presbyterate/priesthood. We also believe that this can be seen in what
Scripture says about the Trinity.

The biblical testimony to a male-only presbyterate

Here are some clear biblical testimonies to a male-only presbyterate.

Paul says in 1 Cor. 14:33-35 (ESV here and elsewhere unless otherwise
noted), As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should keep
silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should
be in submission, as the Law also says. 35 If there is anything they
desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful
for a woman to speak in church.

Then he adds that this is not just his own opinion: If anyone thinks
that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the
things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. 38 If anyone does
not recognize this, he is not recognized.

Note that this is not simply a local rule because of a problem at
Corinth that does not exist elsewhere: As in all the churches of the
saints . . .

In 1 Tim. 2:11-14 he commands, 11 Let a woman learn quietly with all
submissiveness.
12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man;
rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve;
14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a
transgressor.

Note that Paul argues from creation--before the Fall and not after: For
Adam was formed first, then Eve. For Paul, then, male authority in the
Church derives not from a fallen order but from the creation order. Male
headship is not from sinful patriarchy but because of God's original
order for humanity. In fact, the form of the Fall reinforces male
headship. Eve took the initiative rather than Adam, and did not consult
with Adam. Adam should have protected her from Satan and reminded her of
God's commands.

In 1 Cor. 11:7-16 Paul says again that male headship is rooted in the
creation not the fallen order after sin. He appeals to the order of
creation of man and woman before the Fall: For a man ought not to cover
his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory
of man. 8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9 Neither
was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10 That is why a wife
ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.
11 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of
woman; 12 for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman.
And all things are from God. 13 . . . .16 If anyone is inclined to be
contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.

Paul was referring to the creation of the first man and woman in Genesis
2:15-25.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it
and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely
eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you
shall surely die."

Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I
will make him a helper fit for him." Now out of the ground the LORD God
had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and
brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the
man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names
to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of
the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the
LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept
took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib
that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and
brought her to the man. Then the man said,

"This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be
called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to
his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were
both naked and were not ashamed.

Note: 1) God commanded the man and not the woman, suggesting here what
is stated elsewhere in Scripture that the man is head of the family; 2)
the woman is a helper to the man to assist him in obeying God's command
to work and keep the garden, and to be fruitful and multiply and steward
the creation (1:28); 3) woman is made from man (out of Man), as Paul
states in 1 Cor 11:8; and 4) man takes the lead in marriage: a man shall
leave his father.

The same principle of male headship can be seen in Scripture's
instructions for the Church's bishops/overseers and deacons.

1 Tim. 3:1-2 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office
of overseer, he desires a noble task.2 Therefore an overseer must be
above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled,
respectable, hospitable, able to teach 3 not a drunkard, not violent but
gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own
household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for
if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he
care for God's church?

1 Tim 3:12 Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their
children and their own households well.

Titus 1: 5-6 5 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put
what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed
you-- 6 if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his
children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or
insubordination.

Scripture makes clear that the family of the Church is rooted in the
family of the home, and that the principle of fatherhood in the home
comes from God's Fatherhood:

Eph. 3:14-15 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom
every family in heaven and on earth is named.

In the home the father is the head of the family, just as the Father is
head of the divine family of the Trinity, and Christ is head of the
Church, his body:

Eph. 5: 22-26 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23
For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of
the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church
submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their
husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and
gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed
her by the washing of water with the word

The headship of the husband in the nuclear family, which is a type of
Christ's headship of the family of the Church that is His body, is
rooted in creation, not the fallen order. In Eph. 5:31-32, Paul points
to God's pattern for marriage before the fall in Genesis 2:24:
"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his
wife, and the two shall become one flesh."This mystery is profound, and
I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

Paul points to the same male headship in the family in his letter to the
Colossians: Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them (Col. 3:18-19).

Peter has the same message about the home in 1 Pet 3:1-2,7, that in the
nuclear family the husband is the head, and is to honor his wife.

1 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some
do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of
their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct. . . 7
Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way,
showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs
with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

The principal objections from those in favor of WO

Mark Twain once said, "It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't
understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand."
Similarly, it is not difficult to see from these passages that the Bible
teaches male headship in the family of the home and the family of the
Church, both patterned after God's Fatherhood in the Trinity and His
creation. The problem is not that these texts are unclear but that it is
impossible to square them with the modern rejection of hierarchy in the
home and Church.

Moderns often presume that headship is arbitrary and will always oppress
because it involves power. While painful experience in a fallen world
might point to this as conclusive, all this changes in Christ's
relationship with His Church. Christ is the Head of the Church, and as
she submits to His headship she grows in joy and fruitfulness. As E.L.
Mascall put it, the fundamental relation of the Church to Christ "is not
one of inferiority but of membership and reception of communicated
sonship. And behind St Paul's thought about the man and the woman we
must surely see the story of the creation of Eve from the side of Adam,
in which the fundamental relation is not one of inferiority but of
mutual perfection and of derived partnership: I will make him a helper
fit for him (Gen. 2:18)."

But while for Mascall Christ's headship means that male headship in home
and Church is not inherently oppressive, some in ACNA disagree.
According to the "Final Report," they make the following objections to
what we believe is a plain-sense reading of these passages--that women
are not to become priests/presbyters with authority over a congregation.

1. OBJECTION MADE BY PROPONENTS OF WO: "The 'prohibitive' texts
[are] correctives to specific abuses in the early Christian movements"
(263).
a. That is, they were local or temporary problems. The women in
Corinth and Timothy's churches were interrupting and asking
inappropriate questions. They were not willing to learn the Law in
silence. They were insisting on teaching in a formal manner that would
usurp local authority or lord it over men. (272-73)
b. OUR RESPONSE: Paul wrote that these were his rules in all the
churches, not just some, and that this was from the Lord not himself. It
is clear that women could speak (prophesying in Corinth, e.g.) and teach
(Priscilla and Aquila teaching Apollos, e.g.) in some circumstances, but
not in a way that would exercise authority over a congregation. There is
no suggestion in Scripture that these rules were merely temporary.
Instead, the foundation is God's creation order.

2. OBJECTION MADE BY PROPONENTS OF WO: These were "tactical and
temporary concessions to the ambient Greco-Roman patriarchy in the first
century" (263).
a. That is, patriarchy was the order of the day in ancient culture.
Paul and Jesus knew of no other social or religious possibility, and
both realized that gender egalitarianism would ruin the Church's chances
for growth. But their revolutionary treatment of women pointed to future
egalitarian roles in the Church.

b. OUR RESPONSE: The ancient world was full of altars and shrines
with priestesses. Ephesus was dominated by an enormous temple to Artemis
(Diana), led by a female priest and her female assistants. So female
presbyters in the early Church would not have been revolutionary. They
were all over the Mediterranean world, and particularly in the backyard
of one of the early Church's most important centers. Yet none of the
elders in the church at Ephesus was female (Acts 20:17-38); all the
articles and pronouns designating the elders are masculine. And as we
have seen above, every instruction about headship in the church limits
it to males. There is not one female priest or elder in either the Old
or New Testament. The only female priests we know in the early Church
were in its heretical branches--among the Montanists and Gnostics.

Jesus was revolutionary--permitting women to sit at His feet learning
from Him, to travel with Him, to talk with Him in public in ways that
broke social conventions, and to be His first public witnesses. He could
have appointed a woman as one of the Twelve, but He did not. To ordain a
woman to headship in the Church, representing Christ at the Eucharist,
suggests that God was wrong to have chosen His Son to become a man and
not a woman. In sacramental ministry the celebrant at the Eucharist
stands in persona Christi, reenacting the Last Supper. For many of the
Fathers, he stands in persona Patris. As C.S. Lewis argued, to say that
a woman can represent Christ at the altar is to deny that Scripture is
inspired when it taught us to speak of God with masculine imagery.

Would Jesus have approved of women as heads in the home or Church if
ancient culture had changed its approach to patriarchy? Not likely,
because ancient culture already accepted goddesses and female priests.
Furthermore, if the Bible had grounded its rules for leadership in the
fallen order, then an argument for female headship might have worked.
But the Bible grounds these rules for the family and Church in creation,
and makes it clear that these reflect an eternal order.

3. OBJECTION MADE BY PROPONENTS OF WO: The argument made by some
against WO is based on an Arian view of the Son (266). Besides, we don't
know enough "about the immanent Trinity to say very much at all," and
"the analogy between the divine Persons and human beings" is not
"remotely apt." (266)

a. That is, some arguments against WO see the Son as inferior in
nature and essence to the Father. They also presume that models based on
the Trinity can be used to dictate models of leadership in the Church.

b. OUR RESPONSE: We agree that "models of the Trinity" have
sometimes been used mischievously, and that these models have sometimes
been constructed in ways that are remote from the clear testimony of
Scripture. But we believe that while the Trinity is a mystery beyond
human comprehension, Scripture makes clear some things that we can know
about the relations among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Among those
things is the Father's headship over the Son and the Spirit. It was the
Father who sent the Son, not vice-versa (Jn. 4:34; 5:36;6:38; 8:29;
14:24; 17:8). The Spirit proceeds from the Father (Jn. 14:26). Sometimes
Scripture refers to the Spirit of the Son (e.g., Rom. 8:9) yet it also
testifies that the Son sends the Spirit from the Father (Jn. 15:26; Acts
2:33). As both the Creed and Scripture tell us, Jesus' kingdom shall
have no end (Lk. 1:33; Rev. 11:15), yet even after the end of history
the Father is still head: Then comes the end . . . . When all things are
subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who
put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all (1
Cor. 15:24, 28). Jesus told the disciples at the Last Supper that he
would not drink of the fruit of the vine again until I drink it new with
you in my Father's kingdom (Mt. 26:29). Paul tells us, The head of
Christ is God (1 Cor. 11: 3). Elsewhere he suggests the Father's
headship of the Trinity (Eph. 1:3; 4:6), as does Peter (1 Pet. 1:2). In
Revelation the Lamb is distinguished from the One who sits upon the
throne (Rev. 4:2; 5:1, 6-7, 13).

Scripture makes abundantly clear what the creed pronounces, that the Son
is "God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God . . . one in
being with the Father." We reject Arian views of the Son, as Scripture
and tradition do.

The upshot, then, is that there is a relation of eternal headship in the
Trinity, where the Father is always the head over the Son and the
Spirit, with the second and third Persons as equal in essence and nature
but under the Father's headship. This is reflected in the home and
Church. It should not be surprising. After all, we are made in the image
of the Trinitarian God, and it is the Father from whom every family in
heaven and on earth is named (Eph. 3:14-15).

4. OBJECTION MADE BY PROPONENTS OF WO: Jesus "reverses the
centuries-old deprecation of women in Israel since the Fall" (267).

a. That is, Jesus undoes the patriarchy of ancient Israel by the
way He treats women. He accepted Mary of Bethany into the men's part of
the house to study and become a teacher herself (Ken Bailey). While all
the men fled Jesus, the women were the first at the tomb and so were
apostles to the apostles (NT Wright). (267-68)

b. OUR RESPONSE: Bailey ignores the counter-witness of the rest of
the New Testament. Jesus chose not to include this Mary or any other
woman among the Twelve. He is correct grammatically to say that the
Greek in Acts 20 could permit women within the scope of masculine
pronouns and articles, but he ignores literary and theological contexts.
Those contexts strongly imply that Luke did not intend women to be
included among the elders.

Wright makes similar moves, without accounting for Jesus' choice of
apostles, Jesus' Jewish context (where female priesthood was
unthinkable), and the clear prohibitions in the rest of the NT text.
Besides, acceptance of Wright's suggestion would violate Article 20 in
the 39 Articles, which forbids the Church from "so expound[ing] one
place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another."

We submit that the prohibition of a female presbyterate makes clear
sense of the plain sense of Scripture, and that proponents of WO must
make one place of Scripture repugnant to another.

Other notes in Scripture supporting this Response

1. God's names: God names Himself in Scripture as a "He." In the
Old Testament YHWH is masculine in reference. In the New Testament God's
name is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father and Son are obviously
masculine. The Spirit, while grammatically neutral, often takes a male
pronoun. Female pronouns are never used for God in the Bible. While
males and females are both made in the image of God and God therefore
has female aspects, they are still "His" aspects. He is never said to be
a "She." Jesus says He would have liked to gather Jerusalem to Himself
as a mother hen gathers her brood (Mt. 23:37), but He never calls God
"Mother."

2. Adam names: As the great OT scholar Gerhard von Rad observed,
naming in the biblical world was an act of authority. Adam was chosen to
name the animals, and God brought Adam to Eve to give her a name. These
were symbolic actions that people in the ancient world understood to be
signs of Adam having authority over Eve.

3. Adam, not Eve, represents the human race: Throughout Scripture
it is Adam who represents all of God's human creation. Christ is the
second Adam (1 Cor. 15:45); in Adam all die (Rom. 5:12, 14; 1 Cor.
15:22). God uses a man, not a woman, to represent humanity--both in
creation and sin, and in redemption and righteousness (Just as sin came
into the world through one man . . . much more will those who receive
the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life
through the one man Jesus Christ; Rom 5:12, 17).

4. Junia (which could also be a man "Junias"; Rom. 16:7): Some
think of Junia as a female apostle because Paul says she and Andronicus
are epistemoi en tois apostolois. But the ESV translates this phrase as
well known to the apostles. Paul might have been using apostolos here to
mean "messenger," as he did in 2 Cor. 8:23 (as for our brothers, they
are messengers of the churches) and Phil. 2:25 (I have felt it necessary
to send Epaphroditus . . . our messenger and minister to my need). The
NRSV rendering (Andronicus and Junia . . . are prominent among the
apostles) is dubious because it conflicts with every other reference in
the NT to apostles as males, and other translations such as the ESV make
better sense of the literary and theological contexts.

5. Difficult situations: There are situations in Scripture as well
as modern life where spiritual headship seems ambiguous. Because Barak
was not willing to lead without the help of Deborah, Deborah the
prophetess, judge, and mother in Israel reluctantly joined Barak when he
routed Sisera and all his chariots (Jdg. 4-5). There is no indication
that Deborah fought in battle, but she clearly strengthened Barak when
he needed it. Timothy's mother apparently gave young Timothy spiritual
direction because her husband was not a believer (2 Tim. 1:5; Acts
16:1). So while there are difficult and extraordinary situations where
women must exercise spiritual headship, the home and Church should
always try to return to the biblical order. Hard cases make bad law, and
abnormal situations should not dictate regular order.

6. The Biblical model for resolving disputes: The Jerusalem Council
in Acts 15 is the biblical model for resolving disputes about new rites
in the Church. Some Christians wanted new rites for the circumcision of
gentile believers. There was much debate. Paul and Barnabas were
appointed to discuss this question with the apostles and elders in
Jerusalem (v. 12). Resolution was gained only when it seemed good to the
Holy Spirit and to us (v. 28) -- when it seemed good to the whole church
(v. 22).

Thus the rule for the early Church in resolving disputes was to accept
only rites that accorded with Scripture as understood by the whole
church. For the early Church leaders believed not only that Scripture
was the Word of God, but also that the church of the living God [is] a
pillar and buttress of truth (1 Tim. 3:15). Their criterion was
Scripture as understood by the whole Church.

Rites for WO have been approved without the consent of the whole Church.
They have come from a minority of the world's churches, and from
churches that are heretical and dying. This is a new and (mostly)
Western development. This new way of understanding gender in the home
and church deviates from the way the one, holy, catholic and apostolic
Church has understood home and holy orders for two millennia. For these
reasons, WO has been divisive, and will prevent ACNA from full communion
with the largest and oldest Christian churches in the world. Therefore
we make our argument not only for the sake of fidelity to Scripture but
also for the sake of unity in God's church.

What about ministry for women? And their gifts?

In the beginning God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to
work it and keep it (Gen. 2:15). Woman was made as a helper fit for him
(Gen. 2:20-23) and was given the name Eve, because she was the mother of
all living (Gen. 3:20). Adam's task of working and keeping the land was
different from the two tasks given to Eve: to be a fit helper for the
man in his work and also to mother and care for the living who were born
to her. A similar distinction of divinely appointed tasks can be seen in
the NT Scriptures, with men and women receiving different charisms to
accomplish what was needed for the successful proclamation of the Gospel
and the building up of the Church.

Characteristics of the Petrine charism

Jesus trained His disciples and taught them to do what He was doing by
providing them with very specific on-the-job instruction. On the shore
of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus commissioned Peter to feed His lambs and
tend His sheep (Jn. 21:15-17), to be the shepherd of His flock: to
protect them, lead them, take care of them and serve them even as He
Himself had done (Jn. 10:14-16). At His ascension, Jesus instructed all
of His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them
and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you (Mt.
28:16-29).

By the power and leading of the Holy Spirit, Peter and his fellow
disciples were empowered to proclaim the Gospel and shepherd Christ's
flock, the Church. This Petrine charism can be seen throughout the rest
of the NT. Peter, as leader of the disciples, provided leadership for
the Church (Acts 1:15-26), preached and baptized those who were being
saved (Acts 2:1-41), healed the infirm (Acts 3:1-10), and administered
discipline (Acts 5:1-11; 8:20-24).

Through the teaching and leadership of Peter and the other apostles, the
Church was unified in fellowship and fed through the breaking of the
bread and the prayers (Acts 2:42). Deacons were raised up to help with
administration and service, making sure that physical needs of the
expanding flock are being met (Acts 6:1-6). They were also commissioned
by the Holy Spirit to preach (Acts 7:1-53; 8:4-13) and evangelize (Acts
8:26-40) under the supervision of Peter and the apostles in Jerusalem
(Acts 8:14-17).

The ministry of Paul (Acts 13ff.) expanded the structure and leadership
of the Church through the planting of new churches, preaching and
teaching new converts and establishing local leadership in his fledgling
congregations. His letters to these new leaders gave instruction on how
to shepherd the flock and build up the Church in love. He provided both
doctrinal teaching and practical guidance on the right ordering of
church relationships, discipline, church practice and liturgy. He also
gave instruction on leadership roles.

The pastoral epistles document the passing of this Petrine charism of
church leadership on to the next generation, with counsel on the
qualities and responsibilities of ordained leadership, the necessity for
sound doctrine, the right ordering of church relationships and roles
within the Church.

In the West, especially among the churches of the Reformation, virtually
all ministry in the church came to be defined exclusively in terms of
this Petrine model of ordained church leadership based on Scriptural
precedent. The Protestant pastor was always a man, whose ministry
consisted of providing leadership; running the church; administering the
rites of baptism, communion, marriage and burial; tending to the
spiritual needs of the flock through preaching and teaching; and
administering discipline when necessary.

Clericalism merely amplified this understanding--that in order to
exercise any recognized ministry in the Church, one had to be ordained
according to the Petrine model of ministry. Thus if women were to
exercise a ministry in the Church, then they too had to be ordained. To
limit the ordained ministry to men only would deprive women of their
spiritual callings and prevent them from exercising their gifts given
for the building up of the Church. But defining the parameters of
women's ministry by basing it on a Petrine model of ordination narrowly
limits the scope of women's ministry. It inevitably tries to shoe-horn
women into what is essentially a male charism for ministry. It is not a
comfortable fit.

If Scripture is to be the basis for determining how the Church should
best function, what does the NT tell us about women's ministry? The
ministry of the Marian charism is far broader than the Petrine ministry.
It tends to rise up organically and, unlike the disciples, women are not
told specifically as a group what their ministry will be. Their
participation is more fluid and they receive their callings and
instructions through the spiritual gifts they receive. The many things
they do to minister to Jesus and His Church seem to flow effortlessly
out of their natural gifting for nurturing and providing support, given
to them from the beginning.

Characteristics of the Marian charism

The Marian charism is multi-faceted and multi-dimensional. It builds on
gifts not necessarily exclusive to women, but innate in them to a
greater extent. The Proverbs 31 woman of the OT exercises a wide variety
of gifts in praiseworthy ministry both to her family and to the world
around her. In the Gospels, the gifts of this feminine charism are
exemplified by Mary the Mother of Jesus and many other women.

As a handmaid of the Lord (Lk 1:38 RSV), the Virgin surrenders herself
completely to the Lord and to a life of spiritual openness (Lk. 1:38)
and worship (Lk. 1:46-55). She exercises the gift of prophecy along with
her cousin Elizabeth (Lk. 1:41-45). As a woman of deep prayer, she
treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart (Lk. 2:19,
51). Other women share in her charism of spiritual openness. Mary of
Bethany sits at the feet of Jesus, listening to the Lord (Lk. 10:42). On
the morning of the resurrection, it is only the women who see the angels
and encounter the risen Jesus (Mt. 28:2-10; Mk. 16:5-9; Lk. 24:4-7; Jn.
20:11-18).

A second vital aspect of the Marian charism is ministering directly to
the body of Christ as spiritual mothers, nurturing adults and children
and showing mercy to those in need. In the Gospels, they minister to the
physical body of Jesus himself. His mother Mary carries Him, gives birth
to Him, nurtures and teaches Him, raising Him up in the fear of the Lord
and in godly obedience to the Law (Lk. 2:51-52). The sinful woman washes
Jesus' feet with her tears and anoints them with ointment, pouring out
her great love for Him (Lk. 7:36-50). Just before His passion, another
woman anoints Jesus' head with expensive perfume, and He commends and
praises her for having done a beautiful thing for Him in preparing His
body for burial (Mt. 26:6-13).

The women of the Gospels have particular gifts of faith and evangelism.
They bear witness to the truth of who Jesus is, they point people to the
Lord and their personal testimony brings others to faith and obedience.
At the wedding in Cana, Mary addresses the servants in faith, pointing
to Jesus and exhorting them, "Do whatever he tells you" (Jn. 2:5). The
Samaritan woman hurries to her neighbors, exclaiming excitedly, "Come,
see a man who told me all that I ever did" and she brings a whole
village to Jesus (Jn. 4:28-30). Martha is put forward as the model of
faith, confessing to Jesus: "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the
Christ, the Son of God" (Jn. 11:27). Outside the empty tomb Mary
Magdalene encounters the risen Jesus, who sends her to the disciples as
an eyewitness to proclaim to them the good news of the resurrection: "I
have seen the Lord!" (Jn. 20:18)

The gifts of hospitality and helps of many women, known and unknown,
were vital to the ministry of Jesus, providing necessary practical
support for Him and His disciples. Martha and Mary welcomed Jesus into
their home whenever He was in Jerusalem (Lk. 10:38). The women at the
cross with Jesus provided crucial behind-the-scenes support for His
ministry: When Jesus was in Galilee, they used to follow him and
minister to him (Mk. 15:40-41 NASB). While Jesus was ministering to the
crowds, these women were busy taking care of His needs. They also
provided financial support: among them were Joanna and Susanna and many
others who were contributing to their support out of their private means
(Luke 8:3 NASB).

These same gifts are evident in the NT church as well. At the beginning
of Acts, the women were gathered together with the disciples in the
upper room and with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer (Acts
1:14). The deacon Philip had four daughters who prophesied (Acts 21:9).
In the pastoral epistles, the widow who has set hope on God and
continues in supplications and prayers night and day is honored (1 Tim.
5:5).

Women continued to minister to the body of Christ, now present in His
Church, through corporal works of mercy. In the town of Joppa, Tabitha
was a pillar of the church, abounding with deeds of kindness and charity
which she continually did (Acts 9:36-39 NASB). When she died, Peter was
called and the weeping widows showed him all the tunics and outer
garments she had made for them. When Tabitha was raised from the dead,
many believed in the Lord. In the pastoral epistles, elderly widows are
to be supported who have brought up their children, shown hospitality,
relieved the afflicted, and devoted themselves to doing good in every
way (1 Tim. 5:9-10).

Other gifts involve teaching, raising up the next generation of
believers, and mentoring younger women as spiritual mothers in the
Church. In Corinth, Priscilla and her husband Aquila explained more
accurately the way of God to the eager preacher Apollos, who had known
only the baptism of John (Acts 18:24-26). Timothy, who had a Gentile
father, was commended by Paul for the sincere faith instilled in him by
his Jewish mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois and now dwelling in
him as well (Acts 16:1, 2 Tim. 1:5). Titus is told to bid the older
women in his church to teach what is good and so train the young women
to love their husbands and children, and contribute to the growth of
healthy families (Titus 2:3-4).

Wealthy women were generous in supporting the ministry of the Church.
When Lydia was baptized as one of the first converts in Philippi, she
begged Paul to stay at her house, supplied hospitality for his ministry,
and helped catalyze the founding of a new church (Acts 16:14-15). Nympha
provided her home as a meeting place for the church in Laodicea (Col.
4:15).

These various feminine gifts of the Marian charism continued to be part
of the Church's ministry through the post-apostolic age and into the
second millennium. Up to the time of the Reformation in the West, there
were numerous influential ministries exercised by laywomen in the
Church: Macrina (theologian with Gregory of Nyssa), Dominca (spiritual
mother, lifelong service to the Christian community, gifts of healing
prayer and prophecy), Hilda of Whitby (educator and diplomat), Walburga
(missionary work with Boniface), Milburga of Shrewsbury (abbess, gifts
of evangelism, pastoral care, physical healing, and spiritual
deliverance from sin's power), Clare of Assisi (foundress of Franciscan
order to care for the poor), Hildegard von Bingen (mystic, herbalist,
spiritual writer, composer), Catherine of Siena (mystic author, nurse of
the critically ill, catalyst for reformation of the papacy), Teresa of
Avila (mystic, reformer of the Carmelite order, businesswoman, prolific
author on prayer).

Embracing both the Petrine and Marian Charisms

After the Reformation, these Marian charism ministries were mostly lost
in the Protestant world, leaving only one model of ministry in Church,
that of ordained Petrine ministry. Whatever women did for the Church
often consisted of such tasks as caring for the children, cleaning,
cooking, preparing bulletins, washing altar linens, singing in the
choir, tidying up afterwards, and other similar duties as assigned.
Women were discouraged or even prevented from doing anything considered
"ministerial" -- that was the work of men -- and the message they
received was that their mostly mindless work might be necessary for the
Church but was not esteemed or honored.

Western society came to hold the same views on the types of work that
were appropriate for women. By the mid-20th century, gifted women in
secular society began pushing back against the limitations that had been
imposed on them. They sought to be treated as equal to men in all areas
of life, whether it be jobs, education, family roles, or social
relationships. This feminist pushback spread also to the churches and
women's rights were soon piggybacked on to civil rights as a first-order
justice issue. For women to fully use their gifts in the Church, they
said, they must be ordained just like men in order to do what men do.
What is missing from this equation is the Church's recognition,
acceptance and blessing of the Marian charism of women, without which
the Church is incomplete.

Both Petrine and Marian charisms are needed for the Church to be a
complete and healthy body. We tend to focus on what can be seen in the
Body--the feet, hands, ears, eyes and noses (1 Cor. 12:12-26)--and often
forget that it is the internal organs--the unseen ministries--that
enable the external members of the Body to function well. In God's
economy, that which is hidden and modest is deemed most valuable and
given the greater honor (1 Cor. 12:24b-26).

This is a notion that is very counter-cultural in a society which values
"men's work" as a "real job" and denigrates "women's work" of nurturing,
providing support, caring for the physical and emotional needs of
others, raising children and attending to the spiritual formation of the
next generation. It was not so in Jesus' day, when rabbis exempted
Jewish women from all positive commandments with a specific requirement
of time, because whatever they would be doing at that time was more
valuable to God and to society.

The concept that men's and women's ministries are not the same and not
interchangeable is also counter-cultural in today's world. In the
beginning, Adam's task of tending and keeping the garden was a visible
work needed to bring forth fruit in the present. The two tasks given to
Eve were less visible. She was to provide helpful support for Adam in
his work in the present. As mother of all living, her focus was to be on
the future and the successful raising of the next generation. Men are
called to build up the Church in the present. Women are called to
support the present work and plant for the future, laying the
foundations of faith for the next generation to build on.

What would the Church look like if it were to restore the fullness of
the Marian charism and its ministries that flow like water throughout
the body of Christ? What would happen if the Church began to
intentionally encourage and honor all the gifts that women have been
given to build up the Church from the inside out and to lay foundations
for the future? In reserving to men the Petrine charism specific to
sacramental ordained ministry, the Church can make space for gifted lay
women, support the release of their gifts and encourage them to create
their own fruitful ministries in service to the Church, in their own
families and within the larger family of God. Their ministries, carried
out in partnership with those of men, both lay and ordained, would
reflect more fully the order of God's creation and serve to build up the
Church both in the present and for the generations to come. The life and
witness of the Church in the world would also be stronger and richer.

Summary, recommendation, and considerations

We have argued several things:

1. Scripture is clear on holy orders. In both Testaments it rejects
female headship in God's Church and calls for male-only headship. That
means a male-only presbyterate/priesthood.
a. This is based on God's creation order, which he established
before the Fall.
b. It is also consistent with Scripture's portrait of the Father's
eternal headship over the Son and the Spirit.

2. The Western Church has exalted the Petrine charism at the
expense of the Marian charism.
a. We need to encourage and honor women's special gifts of
nurturing the present Church and planting for its future.
b. These are gifts of spiritual mothering, faith, evangelism,
prayer, prophecy, teaching, mercy, helps, hospitality, and various kinds
of leadership.

3. The movement to ordain women to the presbyterate/priesthood is
recent, (largely) Western, and divisive. It has gone around--rather than
followed--the biblical model for resolving disputes.

We recommend a moratorium on the ordination of women to the
presbyterate/priesthood until this question is resolved by a Church-wide
consensus.

Those who oppose the WO to the offices of priest and bishop on the
grounds of Scripture and tradition take one of two views on women and
the diaconate.

1. Since deacons do not preside at the sacrament and do not
exercise headship of a congregation, women may continue to be ordained
to that order.
a. The diaconate is an assisting and supporting ministry, uniquely
suited to the Order of Deacons as traditionalists see it.
b. Paul refers to Phoebe (Rom 16:1) as a diakono[s].
c. In the first centuries of the Church, women were set aside with
special prayers and liturgies for what appear to be diaconate ministry.

2. Both the discipline and the liturgy of the Church throughout its
early history insisted on a very clear distinction between male deacons
and female deaconesses. Based on this early Church model of ministry,
women cannot be ordained as deacons but may be set apart for ministry as
deaconesses. They would exercise a variety of ministries under the
authority of the rector or bishop, such as pastoral care, counseling,
caring for the sick and poor, teaching, spiritual formation, prayer
ministry, preparing candidates for baptism and confirmation, assisting
at baptisms, leading Morning and Evening Prayer, and conducting other
forms of social and educational work.

a. Scripture speaks of Phoebe as a diakonos or servant (Rom 16:1)
but limits the diaconate to men: Deacons are to be honorable men . . .
husbands of one wife (1 Tim 2:8, 12). The word diakonos is used by Paul
to refer to the office of deacon only in Phil 1:1 and 1 Timothy where it
is used in conjunction with episkopos. Elsewhere it is the generic term
for "servant."

b. In the early Church, the ministry of deaconesses was separate
from that of deacons. They were not ordained as deacons but were set
apart as deaconesses for ministries in keeping with their Marian
charism.

i. Apostolic Tradition (c. 215): Only bishops, priests and deacons
are to be ordained. All other ministries were expressly forbidden to
receive the laying on of hands because "ordination is for clerics
destined for liturgical service." Men and women for these various
ministries were to be set apart for service to the Church by the bishop
with prayer only.

ii. Council of Nicea (325): Canon 19 (on receiving Paulinists back
into the Church) states, "Clergy must be rebaptized and then ordained by
a bishop of the Catholic Church . . . . The same thing must be done with
respect to the deaconesses [but] they have received no laying on of
hands and are thus therefore to be counted among the laity."

c. Later ordinations made very clear distinctions between the
ordinations of deacons and deaconesses, using different prayers and
ordination rubrics for each order to specifically identify and
distinguish their different charisms and ministries.

d. Only the heretical Montanist sect ordained women to the same
diaconate, presbyterate and episcopate as men.

3. We all agree that since the vestry is responsible for "the
temporalities of the congregation" and not "spiritual leadership" (ACNA
Constitution and Canons c.6 s.5), women may serve on vestries.

In the meantime, we should consider several things.

1. Christian boys and girls today are given almost no instruction
in biblical manhood and womanhood. A moratorium will stimulate
exploration and teaching of this biblical anthropology--which is
essential for the health of the family and society.

2. Recent experience in the West has shown that men are generally
unwilling to serve under the spiritual leadership of women. This is
sometimes for the wrong reasons, but it is also because men are created
by God to lead spiritually. If ACNA sustains female headship in the
churches, many men will feel they have good reason to leave a feminized
church to women altogether.

3. Courage will be needed to follow the biblical ordinance on holy
orders. This will offend many, but it will also attract many. True
evangelism and faithful obedience always run the risk of offense.

4. Not to decide is to decide. If ACNA decides to continue the
present practice of permitting the WO in some dioceses, there will be
pressure on every diocese to ordain women. The election of every new
bishop will raise the question again. The world outside ACNA will see
our Church as one that ordains women. The conservative Christian world
outside ACNA, which is still the majority of the Christian world, will
see us as having joined the liberal churches--no matter what we say on
other matters pertaining to salvation.

Rt. Rev. Dr. John Rodgers
President and Dean Emeritus, Trinity School for Ministry

Dr. Barbara Gauthier
Editor, Anglican News Update

Rev. Dr. Gerald R. McDermott
Anglican Chair, Beeson Divinity School

Dr. Jennifer Hayden Epperson,
Director of Research and Learning, Moody Radio (Chicago, IL)

Rev. Alex Wilgus
Logan Square Anglican Church

Katherine Ruch
Writer, teacher and conference speaker



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

Message: 5
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:27:11 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Episcopal Bishops Expand Carbon Footprint in Alaska
Message-ID:
<1506644831.2204808....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Episcopal Bishops Expand Carbon Footprint in Alaska
Alaska Diocese ASA dropped by double digit -18.8% - the largest
double-digit drop in TEC
Fate of diocese hangs in the balance with Indigenous groups rejecting
gay marriage

By David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
Sept. 25, 2017

The Episcopal Church's bishops gathered in Alaska this week, expanding
their carbon footprint even as they embrace environmental justice. This
is the first House of Bishops meeting hosted by the Diocese of Alaska.
Bishop Mark Lattime played host to some 115 bishops, some accompanied by
spouses.

This is the second time the HOB has embraced their inner environmental
selves and pushed their carbon footprint. The last time was an overseas
jaunt to Taiwan, where the diocese was so small many of the bishops
didn't know what to do with themselves a lot of the time.

This trip to Alaska was billed as a focus on indigenous culture as well
as environmental justice.

There is profound irony about the choice of location.

Recent statistics reveal the Alaska diocese had dropped by a whopping
18.8% - the only domestic diocese that had an ASA double-digit
percentage loss!

The reason for the attendance decline coincides with new ACNA parishes
in Fairbanks and Anchorage!

One wonders if Presiding Bishop Michael Curry was aware of that.

In a blurb about his diocese writes, Bishop Lattime wrote; "Here, at The
EDGE of a New Millennium, we are at the threshold of Evangelism and
Discipleship through Gospel Engagement. We come together as a Diocese to
focus on the Gospel and to see what God is calling us to do as
individuals, as communities of faith, as a Diocese and as a "National"
church." The diocese claims 50 Episcopal congregations spread across the
entire state of Alaska.

This is hardly the language of inclusion and diversity, but it does get
dangerously close to Curry's beloved community notions encased in the
Jesus Movement.

The bishops pledged support for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in a
sign (see above) that they held up. The sign was displayed from a bridge
in Fairbanks on Sept. 23, during one of several events and trips planned
on the themes of creation care and environmental justice. Photo: David
Paulsen/Episcopal News Service

Two Native elders, Will Mayo and Steve Ginnis, joined Presiding Bishop
Michael Curry in welcoming the bishops in a diocese that is
predominantly Native American. Mayo is a past president of the Tanana
Chiefs Conference. Ginnis is the executive director of the Fairbanks
Native Association.

The Episcopal Diocese of Alaska was established in 1895. It has the
largest geographical reach of any diocese in the Episcopal Church, with
approximately 7,000 members spread across 50 congregations.

Mark MacDonald became the first National Indigenous Bishop under the
Anglican Church of Canada. He was formerly assistant bishop in
Navajoland (2007--2009). He holds dual citizenship.

But the ACoC's struggle over same-sex marriage has seriously upset
Native American and indigenous Anglicans because they hold traditional
views of marriage that are at odds with the ACoC, which has drunk deeply
of the waters of pansexuality, aided and abetted by its primate, Fred
Hiltz, who would like his Church to fully embrace homosexual marriage
and the full range of LGBTQI sexualities.

July's vote on same-sex marriage at General Synod led Indigenous
Anglicans to "proceed towards self-determination with urgency,"
pronounced the Anglican Church of Canada's three Indigenous bishops.

General Synod voted this summer to provisionally approve changes to the
marriage canon, which would allow same-sex marriages. The proposed
changes must pass a second reading, slated for the next General Synod in
2019, before they can take effect.

However, National Indigenous Bishop Mark MacDonald; Bishop Lydia
Mamakwa, of the Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh; and
Bishop Adam Halkett, of Missinipi, released a joint statement saying the
July vote did not speak for all Indigenous peoples, adding they had
consulted "broadly and deeply" with many. The statement voiced
displeasure both with the decision and the process by which it was made,
and expressed desire for a more self-determined Indigenous Anglican
community in Canada.

"We do not agree with the decision and believe that it puts our
communities in a difficult place with regards to our relation and
community with the Anglican Church of Canada," the bishops said. Gay
Marriage was first touted as an issue of colonial oppression, but later
reports have made the issue theological in nature.

As a result, the bishops said they will proceed towards
self-determination with all urgency.

This puts the Diocese of Alaska in a quandary. If the indigenous groups
which make up 90% or more of the diocese reject pansexuality in both the
Episcopal Church and the ACoC and they withdraw as a separate indigenous
body, this could split the diocese.

In nearly every country of the world where indigenous groups have been
Christianized, they have upheld traditional views of marriage. (Polygamy
has been soundly rejected by African Anglican dioceses). This is the
case in Canada, and could prove a serious thorn in the side of the empty
talks of reconciliation that Archbishop Fred Hiltz loves to preach to
African Anglicans, even as a simmering split lurks in his own Church.

END



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

Message: 6
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:27:42 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Episcopal Church lost 11,833 Members in 2016
Message-ID:
<1506644862.2204840....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Episcopal Church lost 11,833 Members in 2016
Domestic membership stands at 1,745,156; ASA down to 570,453

By Mary Ann Mueller
VOL Special Correspondent
www.virtueonline.org
Sept. 22, 2016

The Episcopal Church's 2016 membership figures revealed a Church in a
continuing downward slide in membership and Average Sunday Attendance as
well as plate and pledge income.

A total of 1,905,349 claim to be Episcopalians around the world, an
overall drop of 11,833 baptized members. This includes 1,745,156
Episcopalians in the United States, showing a dip of 34,179 from the
previous year. The foreign dioceses show an increase of 22,346 in
membership to help balance out the greater loss of members in the United
States, yet leaving the church with a net membership loss of 11,833.

Average Sunday Attendance figures also show a decline. Worldwide,
601,246 Episcopalians come to church on Sunday, showing a pew loss of
12,995.

The ASA figure for the 99 domestic dioceses is 570,453, a loss of 9,327
on a Sunday.

The domestic plate and pledge figures also dropped. In 2016,
$1,312,430,692 was dropped into the collection plate, a drop of
$1,288,475 over 2015.

The largest domestic dioceses with more than 50,000 baptized members
are: Texas (75,794): Virginia (73,108); Massachusetts (57,117); New York
(51,309); Los Angeles (50,323); Central Florida (50,183).

The smallest domestic dioceses with fewer than 5,000 baptized members
are: Navajoland (707); Northern Michigan (1,362); Western Kansas
(1,426); Eau Claire (1,888); Eastern Oregon (2,018); TEC San Joaquin
(2,151); North Dakota (2,852); Springfield (4,100); Northern Indiana
(4,201); Montana (4,485); Kansas (4,617).

Only 21 domestic dioceses show an increase in baptized members. The
greatest increases percentage wise were experienced by the rump dioceses
of San Joaquin (+8.5%) and South Carolina (+5.2%) The dioceses with
triple digit member growth were Alabama (+397); Texas (+373); Florida
(+308) and Delaware (+208); Tennessee (+195); North Carolina (+143); TEC
Pittsburgh (+127); and Hawaii (+105).

The 21 growth dioceses are: Northwestern Pennsylvania (+2; 3,409;
+0.1%); Wyoming (+6; 6,950; +0.1%); Eau Claire (+8; 1,888; +0.4%); North
Dakota (+19; 2,580; +0.7%); Western Kansas (+29; 1,426; +2.1%); Idaho
(+43; 4,790; +0.9%); Utah (+44; 5,405; +0.8%);
Atlanta (+55; 50,185; +0.1%); Navajoland (+72; 707; +1.3%); Nebraska
(+72; 7,313; +0.2%); Nevada (+72; 5,667; -1.3%); Hawaii (+105; 6,695;
+1.6%); TEC Pittsburgh (+127; 8,808; +1.5%); North Carolina (+143;
49,910; +0.3%); TEC San Joaquin (+168; 2,152; +8.5%); Tennessee (+195;
16,470; +1.2%); Delaware (+208; 9,544; +2.2%); Florida (+308; 25,597;
+1.2%); TEC South Carolina (+347; 7,053; +5.2%); Texas (+373; 75,794;
+0.5%); and Alabama (+397; 31,899; +1.3%).

The remaining 78 domestic dioceses all showed a loss of baptized
membership. Dioceses which show a double-digit percentage drop are:
Eastern Michigan (-14.7%); Western New York (-10.6%); and Western
Michigan (-10.4%). Two dioceses lost more than two thousand members: New
Jersey (-2,552) and New York (-2,044). Eight other dioceses show a drop
of membership of more than one thousand including: Western New York
(-1,002); Western Michigan (-1,007); Washington, DC (-1,046); Colorado
(-1,057); Massachusetts (-1,670); Virginia (-1,794); Georgia (-1,194);
and Connecticut (-1,716).

A total of 15 dioceses lost fewer than one hundred members, including:
Arkansas (-56); East Carolina (-42); East Tennessee (-63); Eastern
Oregon (-8); TEC Fort Worth (-57); Long Island (-12); Montana (-11);
Northern Indiana (-57); Northern Michigan (-31); Rio Grande (-45); South
Dakota (-12); Springfield (-38); West Tennessee (-10); West Virginia
(-14); and Western North Carolina (-91).

Some 78 domestic dioceses that lost some of their baptized members
include:

PROVINCE I: Connecticut (49,352; -1,716; -3.4%); Maine (11,437; -260;
-2.2%); Massachusetts (57,117; -1,670; -2.7%); New Hampshire (11,903;
-759; -6%); Rhode Island (17,482; -136; -0.8%); Vermont (6,128; -419;
-6.4%); and Western Massachusetts (14,923; -695; -4.4%).

PROVINCE II: Albany (14,011; -754; -5.1%); Central New York (12,307;
-291; -2.3%); Long Island (43,428; -12; -.03%); New Jersey (39,110;
-2,552; -6.1%); New York (51,309; -2,044; -3.8%); Newark (25,252; -226;
-0.9%); Rochester (7,455; -387; -2.7%); and Western New York (8,495;
-1,002, -10.6%).

PROVINCE III: Bethlehem (10,129; -477; -4.5%); Central Pennsylvania
(11,625; -684; -5.6%); Easton (7,841; -163; -2%); Maryland (36,461;
-690; -1.9%); Pennsylvania (42,337; -156; -0.4%); Southern Virginia
(25,572; -988; -3.7%); Southwestern Virginia (10,420; -101; -2.4%);
Virginia (73,108; -1,794; -2.4%); Washington, DC (40,352; -1,046;
-3.6%); and West Virginia (8,117; -14, -0.2%).

PROVINCE IV: Central Florida (28,253; -323; -1.1%); Central Gulf Coast
(18,116; -235; -1.3%); East Carolina (17,343; -42; -0.2%); East
Tennessee (15,006; -63; -0.4%); Georgia (14,700; -1,194; -7.5%);
Kentucky (8,143; -142; -2.8%); Lexington (6,726; -197; -2.8%); Louisiana
(17,288; -149; -0.9%); Mississippi (18,268; -138; -0.7%); Southeast
Florida (32,475; -408; -1.2%); Southwest Florida (29,648; -683; -2.3%);
Upper South Carolina (23,140; -718; -3%); West Tennessee (8,250; -10;
-0.1%); and Western North Carolina (14,986; -91; -0.6).
PROVINCE V: Chicago (35,314; -182; -0.5%); Eastern Michigan (5,022;
-866; -14.7%); Fond du Lac (5,009; -280; -5.3%); Indianapolis (9,146;
-195; - 2.1%); Michigan (17,143; -396; -2.3%); Milwaukee (10,369; -626;
-6.9%); Missouri (10,362; -255; -2.4%); Northern Indiana (4,201; -57;
-1.3%); Northern Michigan (1,362; -31; -2.2%); Ohio (18,991; -392; -2%);
Southern Ohio (19,219; -475; -2.4%); Springfield (4,100; -38; -0.9%);
and Western Michigan (8,668; -1,007; -10.4%).

PROVINCE VI: Colorado (24,483; -1,057; -4.1%); Iowa (7,058; -659;
-8.5%); Minnesota (19,620; -251; 1.3%); Montana (4,485; -11; 0.2%);
South Dakota (8,962; -12; -0.1%).

PROVINCE VII: Arkansas (13,835; -56; -0.4%); Dallas (31,539; -523;
-1.6%); TEC Fort Worth (4,617; -57; -1.2%): Kansas (10,416; -282;
-2.6%); Northwest Texas (5,979; -565; -8.6%); Oklahoma (16,579; -158; -
0.9%); Rio Grande (10,758; -45; -0.4%); Western Missouri (9,723; -227;
-2.3%); West Texas (22,876; -265; -1.1%); and Western Louisiana (8,543;
-211; -2.4%).

PROVINCE VIII: Alaska (6,824; -103; -1.5%); Arizona (20,488, -887;
-4.1%) California (24,343; -397; -1.6%); Eastern Oregon (2,018; -8;
-0.4%); El Cameo Real (11,224; -259; -2.3%); Los Angeles (50,323; -984;
-1.9%); Northern California (13,280; -126; - 0.9%); Olympia (24,976;
-382; - 1.5%); Oregon (15,028; -567; - 3.6%); San Diego (14,107; -434;
-3%); and Spokane (4,890; 433; -8.1%).

There were 570,452 domestic Episcopalians who attended Sunday services
in 2016, a drop of 9,327 from the previous year. A total of 28 dioceses
showed an uptick in their ASA numbers, including:

Three dioceses showed triple digit increases: Washington, DC (+227);
Virginia (+121); and Northwest Texas (+118). Four dioceses showed a
single digit ASA increase including Central Gulf Coast (+4); Arkansas
(+6); TEC San Joaquin (+6); and Western Kansas (+9). The only diocese
showing a double-digit percentage growth was the Navajoland with a
+12.3% increase.

Dioceses with an increased ASA are: Central Gulf Coast (+4; 18,116;
+0.1%); Arkansas (+6; 13,835; +0.1%); TEC San Joaquin (6; +0.7%);
Western Kansas (+9; 1,426; +1.6%); Wyoming (+14; 6,950; +0.8%); Western
North Carolina (+18; 14,986; +0.3%); Western New York (+18; 8,495;
+0.6%); Alabama (+20; 31,899; +0.2%); Indianapolis (+22; 9,146; +0.6%);
Navajoland (+22; 707; +12.3%); Georgia (+24; 81,116; +0.4%); Nevada
(+29; 5,667; +1.1%); TEC Fort Worth (+32;4,617; +2.3%); Rochester (+38;
7,455; +1.3%); Vermont (+47; 6,128; 22,876; +2.2%); West Texas (+47;
22,876; +0.5%); Pennsylvania (+56; 42,337; +0.4%); Northwestern
Pennsylvania (+65; 3,409; +4.9%); TEC Pittsburgh (+69; 8,808; +3%);
Maryland (+72; 36;461; +0.8%); Michigan (+80; 17,143; +1.3%); Dallas
(+83; 31,539; +0.8%); Massachusetts (+85; 57,117; +4.9%); Nebraska (+86;
7,313; +3.5%); Oklahoma (+92; 16,579; +1.7%); Northwest Texas (+118;
22,876; +7%); Virginia (+121; 73;108; +0.5%); and Washington, DC (+227;
40,352; +1.8%).

The remaining 71 domestic dioceses showed a decrease in their ASA
numbers. Dioceses which lost more than 200 parishioners per week
include: Connecticut (-682); Long Island (-476); Arizona (-468); Los
Angeles (-462); Newark (-380); Southern Virginia (-355); Alaska (-281);
Albany (-346); New York (-265); Oregon (-242); Bethlehem (-222); Florida
(-219); Minnesota (-210); and Western Louisiana (-205).

Ten dioceses that lost fewer than 50 parishioners on a Sunday include:
Northern Michigan (-4); Springfield (-4); Ohio (-7); Eastern Oregon
(-10); Montana (-12); Eau Claire (-18); North Dakota (-25); and Idaho
(-28); Rhode Island (-40); and East Tennessee (-45).

Only one domestic diocese had an ASA double-digit percentage loss. It
was Alaska at -18.8%.

PROVINCE I: Connecticut (13,271; -688; -4.9%); Maine (3,828; -27;
-0.7%); New Hampshire (4,391; -78; -1.7%); Rhode Island (4,849; -40;
-0.8%); and Western Massachusetts (4,289; -145; 3.3%).

PROVINCE II: Albany (5,339; -346; -6.1%); Central New York (3,788; -71;
1.8%); Long Island (12,525; -476; -3.7%); New Jersey (11,779; -72;
-0.6%); New York (16,613; -265; -1.6%); and Newark (7,631; -380; 4.7%).

PROVINCE III: Bethlehem (3,211; -222; -6.5%); Central Pennsylvania
(4,055; -159; 3.8%); Easton (2,422; -108; 4.3%); Pennsylvania (12,552;
-156; -0.4%); Southern Virginia (9,036; -988; -3.7%); Southwestern
Virginia (3,913; -101; -2.4%); and West Virginia (2,543; -161; 0.6%).

PROVINCE IV: Atlanta (14,786; -181;1.2%); Central Florida (12,992; -122,
-0.9%); East Carolina (6,145; -89; 1.4%); East Tennessee (4,951; -45;
0.9%); Florida (8,085; -219, -2.6%); Kentucky (2,958; -151; -4.9%);
Lexington (2,732; -122; -4.9%); Louisiana (4,505; -75, -1.6%);
Mississippi (5,986; -99; -1.6%); North Carolina (13,732; -180; -1.3%);
TEC South Carolina (2,852; -58, -2%); Southeast Florida (11,638; -262;
-2.2%); Southwest Florida (12,080; -485; -3.9%); Tennessee (5,458; -31;
-0.6%); Upper South Carolina (6,959; -149; -2.1%); and West Tennessee
(3,067; -71; -2.3%).

PROVINCE V: Chicago (12,048; -63; -0.5%); Eastern Michigan (1,922; -69;
-3.5%); Eau Claire (769; -18; 2.3%); Fond du Lac (1,769; -61; -3.3%);
Milwaukee (3,257; -144; -4.2%); Missouri (3,568; -75; -2.1%); Northern
Indiana (1,910; -153; -7.4%); Northern Michigan (471; -4; -0.8%); Ohio
(5,988; -7; -0.1%); Southern Ohio (6,565; -94; -1.4%); Springfield
(1,541; -4; -0.3%); and Western Michigan (3,491; -147; -4%).

PROVINCE VI: Colorado (163; -1.7%); Iowa (148; -5.9%); Minnesota (210;
-3.3%); Montana (12; -0.8%); North Dakota (25; -3.8%); and South Dakota
(77; -4%).

PROVINCE VII: Kansas (3,352; -190; -5.4%); Rio Grande (3,601; -51;
-1.4%); Texas (24,201; -327, -1.3%); Western Missouri (3,181; -117;
-3.5%); and Western Louisiana (2,898; -205; -6.6%).

PROVINCE VIII: Alaska (1,216; -281; -18.8%); Arizona (8,011; -468;
-5.5%) California (7,004; -199, -2.8%); Eastern Oregon (895; -10;
-1.1%); El Cameo Real (3,695; -86; -2.3%) Hawaii (2,912; -154; - 5%);
Idaho (1,437; -28; -1.9%); Los Angeles (15,250; -462; -2.9%); Northern
California (5,160; -129; - 1.1%); Olympia (8,837; -169; - 1.9%); Oregon
(5,742; -242; - 4%); San Diego (5,439; -112; -2%); Spokane (1,757; -69;
-3.8%); and Utah (699; -68; - 4%).

FINANCES 2016 The domestic dioceses brought in $1,312,430,692 in their
collective 2016 Plate & Pledge offerings a -0.1% drop from the previous
year.

Some 42 domestic dioceses showed an increase in their offering plate
income include:

PROVINCE I: Massachusetts ($33,892,131; +0.1%); and Rhode Island
($8,176,510; +1.9%).

PROVINCE II: Central New York ($6,442,751; +0.2%); and Rochester
($5,455,469; +1.7%).

PROVINCE III: Delaware ($6,578,886; +$1.5%); Maryland ($22,071,702;
+0.6%); Southern Virginia ($21,299,920; +0.8%); and Virginia
($58,112,856; +1.5%).

PROVINCE IV: Alabama ($31,739,547; +4%); Atlanta ($41,716,660 +1.6%);
Central Florida ($24,510,028; +0.6%); Central Gulf Coast ($14,995,894;
+3.9%); East Carolina ($13,504,387; +4%); East Tennessee ($14,227,667;
+1.4%); Florida ($29,818,535; +0.7) Georgia ($14,851,519; +0.2%);
Kentucky ($7,269,358; +1.8%); Mississippi ($16,855,912; +1%); North
Carolina ($38,572,791; +1.7%); TEC South Carolina ($6,301,606; +4.1);
Southeast Florida ($20, 212,417; +0.1%); Southwest Florida ($25,779,875;
+0.4%); Tennessee ($14,805,975; +0.8%); and West Tennessee ($11,567,539;
+3.3%).

PROVINCE V: Ohio ($13,542,778; +0.82%); Southern Ohio ($14,367,552;
+0.3%); Springfield ($3,201,869; +5%); and Western Michigan ($7,685,075;
+2.1%).

PROVINCE VI: Nebraska ($5,063,838; +1.3%); and Wyoming ($3,411,496;
+1.3%).

PROVINCE VII: Dallas ($28,314,691; +2.2%); TEC Fort Worth ($3,807,079;
+2.1%); Northwest Texas ($5,616,048; +0.2%); and Rio Grande ($8,340,247;
+4%).

PROVINCE VIII: California ($21,119,065; +3%); El Camino Real
($8,518,286; +2.4%); Hawaii ($5,086,482; +1.1%); Northern California
($16,854,124; +3.4%); Olympia ($21,568,853; +2.6%); Oregon ($10,855,795;
+0.6%); San Joaquin ($1,522,939; +3.1); and Spokane ($3,310,696; +0.7%).

The 57 domestic dioceses which showed a decrease in their offering
plates include:

PROVINCE I: Connecticut ($31,958,169; -2.2%); Maine ($7,199,266; -3.1%);
New Hampshire ($6,910,422; -0.2%); Vermont ($3,765,892; -2.1%); and
Western Massachusetts ($7,415,340; -2.5%).

PROVINCE II: Albany ($8,113,185; -1.6%); Long Island ($21,075,383;
-1.2%); New Jersey ($21,321,885; -0.7%); New York ($34,983,559; -1.8%);
Newark ($15,338,180; 3%); and Western New York ($4,987,910; -1.4%).

PROVINCE III: Bethlehem ($5,664,673; -2.1%); Central Pennsylvania
($7,737,517; -2.5%); Easton ($5,044,162; -1%); Northwestern Pennsylvania
($2,187,236; -0.6%); Pennsylvania ($29,313,596; -0.3%) TEC Pittsburgh
($5,087,976; -0.5%); Southwestern Virginia ($9,689,445; -1.3%);
Washington, DC ($32,155,905; -3.1%); and West Virginia ($5,587,152;
-3.9%).

PROVINCE IV:Lexington ($5,799,719; -3.2%); Louisiana ($10,922,544;
-2.5%); Upper South Carolina ($19,975,617; -0.6%); and Western North
Carolina ($13,811,023; -0.1%).

PROVINCE V: Chicago ($27,081,636; -0.7%); Eastern Michigan ($3,371,710;
-4.4%); Eau Claire ($1,160,127; -4.2%); Fond du Lac ($3,582,533; -2.7%);
Indianapolis ($7,189,625; -2.1%); Michigan ($13,611,776; -1.5%);
Milwaukee ($7,666,746; -1.5%); Missouri ($9,578,829; -0.2%); Northern
Indiana ($3,865,249; -0.2%); Northern Michigan ($444,421; -4.1%).

PROVINCE VI: Colorado ($21,949,809; -1.2%); Iowa ($5,038,493; -4.2%);
Minnesota ($13,458,505; -0.4%); Montana ($3,175,096; -2.7%); North
Dakota ($913,200; -12.7%); and South Dakota ($1,824,571; -3%).

PROVINCE VII: Arkansas ($11,667,693; -1.2%); Kansas ($7,434,627; -.03%);
Oklahoma ($12,897,354; -1.8%); and Texas ($73,509,839; -1.1%)

PROVINCE VIII: Alaska ($2,411,268; -3.3%); Arizona ($14,860,457; -0.2%);
Eastern Oregon ($1,625,967; -6%); Idaho ($2,750,647; -1.9%); Los Angeles
($32,518,881; - 3.7%); Navajoland ($23,772; -0.1%); Nevada ($2,834,926;
-2.6%); San Diego ($1,522,939; -3.1%); and Utah ($2,430,405; -0.1%).

FOREIGN DIOCESES

The 10 foreign dioceses and two jurisdictions present a mixed bag. The
largest diocese is Haiti, which shows a baptized membership of 84,943, a
381 (+0.5%) uptick from 2015. Even though there was an increase in
membership, there was a decrease in ASA. Only 14,443 show up to church
on Sunday, which is a drop of 950 (-6.2%)

Honduras shows the greatest percentage increase. There are 43,060
baptized Episcopal Hondurans, an increase of 23,605 (+121.3%). But the
Honduran ASA shows a drop of 2,020 (-28.2%) church attendees down to
5,152 who still worship on Sunday.

Haiti, the US Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico all
have recently been hammered by powerful hurricanes and the islanders
have been left to pick up the pieces.

There are 5,391 baptized in the Dominican Republic, a drop of 139
(-2.5%) with the ASA also showing a dip of 169 (-6.3%) to 2,511 on a
Sunday. The Virgin Islands showed an overall drop in both membership and
ASA. There are 3,501 baptized members, a drop of 387 (-10%). On the ASA
ledger, 1,514 congregants show up for church on a given Sunday, a drop
of 181 (-10.7%).

Puerto Rico has 5,062 Episcopalians, down 37 (-0.7%). A total of 2,231
attend church, a drop of 182 (-7.5%) ASA decline.

The two Episcopal dioceses in Ecuador -- Central and Litoral -- both
show a decline in church membership. The larger diocese -- Litoral --
has 8,627 church members, a 919 (-9.6%) drop from the previous year. The
smaller diocese -- Central -- has a 572 (-38.1%) drop in baptized, with
930 remaining. Litoral showed an increase in the ASA, climbing by 126
souls to 1,113 (+ 12.8%) increased. Central dropped 259 (-33.1%) to 523
in Sunday attendance.

Columbia has 3,263 members, an increase of 244 (+8.1%). However,
Columbia's ASA dropped 38 (-3.5%) members, showing that 1,040 attend
churches on Sunday.

Venezuela has a baptized membership of 1,080, of which fewer than half
(46%) attend church on Sunday. On average, 507 members go to Sunday
services. There is no other statistical information available from
Venezuela.

There are 17 Episcopal churches scattered across the face of Europe in
six countries. A total of 2,851 Episcopalians are members, which is an
increase of 63 (+2.3%). However, only 950 attend Sunday worship, a drop
of 40 (-1.8%).

Taiwan claims 1,225 members, which is an increase of 96 (+8.5%) and
there is also an uptick in the ASA by 38 (+5.7%) members, bringing the
number of Taiwanese who attend to 699.

Micronesia is the smallest jurisdiction. Only 260 belong to the
Episcopal Church, which is an increase of 11 (+4.4%). On a given Sunday,
110 go to church, which reflects an increase of 7 (+6.8%).

EPISCOPAL CHURCH TOTALS

Episcopal Church totals show that there are 1,745,156 Episcopalians in
the domestic church, another 160,193 in the foreign dioceses for a grand
total of 1,905,349 Episcopalians worldwide.

American dioceses saw a drop of 34,179 (-1.9%) while the foreign
dioceses saw an increase of 22,346 (+16.2), for a net loss of 11,833
souls (-0.6%).

Sunday church attendance slipped across the board. The domestic ASA sat
at 570,453, with the foreign dioceses adding another 30,793, for a
church wide ASA of 601,246. The American dioceses lost 9,327 (-1.6%)
people in the pews, while the foreign dioceses hemorrhaged 3,668
(-10.6%) for a total of 12,995 (-2.1%) fewer Episcopal souls attending
church worldwide.

Financially, the domestic church brought $1,213,719,167 during 2016
through plate and pledge, a drop of $1,288,475 (-0.1%) from the 2015
figure of $1,313,719,167.

Foreign dioceses did not file financial reports.

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



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

Message: 7
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:28:05 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Episcopal Church Still Skidding Downhill
Message-ID:
<1506644885.2204852....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Episcopal Church Still Skidding Downhill

By Jeff Walton
https://juicyecumenism.com/2017/09/21/episcopal-membership/
Sept. 21, 2017

Episcopalians have yet to hit bottom in their downward membership spiral
that began in the early 2000s.

Updated statistics made available today by the Episcopal Church General
Convention Office show a denomination continuing a sustained decline in
2016 to 1,745,156 domestic members. The U.S.-based denomination shed
34,179 members, a decline of 1.9 percent, while attendance losses were
relatively limited compared to previous years, declining 9,327, down 1.6
percent. A net 37 parishes closed, bringing the denominational total to
6,473 congregations.

Among dioceses facing the largest declines is Eastern Michigan, which
dropped 14.7 percent from 5,888 down to 5,022 members (-866). The
diocese also saw a 3.5 percent drop in Average Sunday Attendance (ASA),
down to 1,922 attendees.

The diocese's past bishop, Todd Ousley, recently joined the staff of
Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry to serve as bishop for
pastoral development after 16 years serving in Michigan. In a letter to
the diocese, the local standing committee wrote about its decision to
pursue a provisional bishop rather than seek a new diocesan bishop to
replace Ousley.

The committee cited among manifold reasons, "budget realities,
decreasing and emerging populations, and cultural trends away from
church-attendance and religious life."

The nearby Diocese of Western Michigan also took a sizeable hit,
dropping 10.4 percent from 9,675 down to 8,668 members (-1,007). The
diocese also saw a 4 percent drop in ASA, down to 3,491 attendees.

Domestic dioceses posting large membership declines include Virgin
Islands (-10%), Georgia (-7.5%), New Hampshire (-6%), Vermont (-6.4%),
Albany (-5.1%), New Jersey (-6.1%), Western New York (-10.6%), Central
Pennsylvania (-5.6%), Milwaukee (-6.9%), Fond Du Lac (-5.3%), Iowa
(-8.5%), Northwest Texas (-8.6%) and Spokane (-8.1%).

Episcopal Church officials have been aware of the negative trend lines
for some time. In March, Bishop Maryann Budde of the Diocese of
Washington gave a sermon at the spring House of Bishops meeting in which
she broached the subject of ongoing decline.

"I live in a perpetual state of holy urgency about the spiritual health
and ministry capacity of the congregations I serve and those I hope to
establish on my watch," Budde shared with her Episcopal colleagues.
"Looking deeply at the trends and internal realities of each
[congregation], only 12 of them, at most, are on a path of
sustainability and growth; another 12-15, at the other extreme, are in
precipitous decline--most of them in our most vulnerable or rapidly
transitioning neighborhoods or communities. The rest, despite working as
hard as they can, will most likely be, without some intervention or
significant change, almost exactly where they are now 10 years from now
in terms of size and capacity for ministry--this in a part of the
country that is experiencing significant population growth and where
other expressions of the Christian faith are thriving. I can't bring
myself to count the number of congregations I cannot, in good
conscience, recommend to those who are seeking a vibrant expression of
Christian community."

In a reference to Presiding Bishop Curry's embrace of the language of
"the Jesus Movement," Budde provocatively offered, "There's no doubt in
my mind that the Jesus Movement is alive and well in the Diocese of
Washington. I cannot say the same about the Episcopal branch of the
Jesus Movement in all of its expressions."

While the Diocese of Washington lost more than 1,000 members in 2016,
its relatively large size meant it only shed 2.6 percent of members, and
nudged up attendance of 1.8 percent.

Among those congregations facing precipitous decline in Budde's diocese
is the congregation of retired Bishop Gene Robinson, who famously
contributed to the Episcopal Church schism with his consecration as an
openly partnered gay man to be Bishop of New Hampshire. Robinson has
served several years now as "Bishop-in-residence" at St. Thomas
Episcopal Church in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.,
where he relocated as a senior fellow at the Center for American
Progress, a liberal think tank. Robinson's parish will, as part of a
property redevelopment, feature an eponymous chapel that he has proposed
be a pilgrimage site for youth who identify as LGBT.

St. Thomas has declined precipitously in the past five years, shrinking
from 350 to 140 members (-60%) and from a weekly attendance of 150 down
to 75 (-50%). The congregation's priest-in-charge, Alex Dyer, cited the
ongoing construction of a new church sanctuary and a major purge of the
parish membership rolls as contributing factors to the congregation's
diminished size. Asked about the decline in attendance, Dyer commented
via Twitter "ASA is one measure. @StThomasDC is one of the most best
parishes I have served. Check back in 5 years and the story will be
different."

The population of the District of Columbia has grown 16 percent from
2006-2016.

I wrote to the rector of St.Thomas DC, where Gene Robinson is
bishop-in-residence, which lost 50% attendance & 60% of members since
2011.

Alex Dyer, the rector wrote back; "ASA is one measure. St Thomas DC is
one of the most best parishes I have served. Check back in 5 years and
the story will be different."

Among those dioceses posting growth in 2016 were the Episcopal Church in
South Carolina (5.2%), Delaware (2.2%), Western Kansas (2.1%), San
Joaquin (8.5%). Attendance rose in Northwestern Pennsylvania (4.9%),
Pittsburgh (3%), Nebraska (3.5%), Fort Worth (2.3%) and Northwest Texas
(7%).

Attendance dropped precipitously in Connecticut (-4.9%), Albany (-6.1%),
Newark (-4.7%), Virgin Islands (-10.7%), Bethlehem (-6.5%), Easton
(-4.3%), West Virginia (-6%), Kentucky (-4.9%), Lexington (-4.3%),
Milwaukee (-4.2%), Northern Indiana (-7.4%), Iowa (-5.9%), Kansas
(-4.9%), Alaska (18.8%), Arizona (-5.5%), and Utah (-4%).

The denomination continues to see church size shrink, with the average
Episcopal parish attracting 57 worshipers on a Sunday, down from an
average of 64 in 2012. Similarly, 71 percent of the denomination's
churches have an attendance of fewer than 100 persons, while less than 4
percent attract 300 or more. The trend lines do not bode well for the
future, with 58 percent of congregations experiencing decline of 10% or
greater in the past five years. In contrast, only 16 percent of
congregations grew their attendance by 10 percent in the same time span.

Unlike previous years, the 2016 table of statistics does not offer new
data on marriages, baptisms or funerals. This report will be updated if
and when that data is made available.

END



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

Message: 8
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:28:28 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Letter to Bishop Daniel Martins from Bishop Eric Menees
Message-ID:
<1506644908.2204895....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Letter to Bishop Daniel Martins from Bishop Eric Menees

San Joaquin bishop writes Nashotah House chairman over Presiding Bishop
Curry's ++Ramsey Award

FROM: The Rt. Rev. Eric Menees
The Diocese of San Joaquin
Anglican Church in North America
http://sanjoaquinsoundings.blogspot.com/
September 25, 2017

TO: The Rt. Rev. Daniel Martins

Nashotah House Theological Seminary
2777 Mission Road
Nashotah, WI. 53058

Dear Bishop Martins,

I read with surprise, and more than a little confusion, the decision of
Nashotah House to award Presiding Bishop Curry the Archbishop Ramsey
award for excellence in the areas of Ecclesiology, Ecumenism and
Liturgy.

Regarding ecclesiology Bishop Curry has chosen to disregard the will of
the primates of the Anglican Communion and continues to act willfully as
one not under authority.

Regarding ecumenism relations between TEC and the vast majority of
Catholic, Orthodox and Evangelical churches are at an all-time low.

Regarding liturgy, Bishop Curry is presiding over the creation of new
rites that defy scripture, tradition and reason. In the last few years
Seabury, General and EDS have all but folded. Recently, with the abrupt
transitions of the dean and several faculty members I suspect that
Nashotah House will not be far behind.

Lastly, while Bishop Curry preaches reconciliation at every turn he
fails to practice what he preaches with his continued support for the
ongoing lawsuits in Quincy, Fort Worth and South Carolina. Given this
reality, Bp. Martins, can [you] give me a reason to send my men to
Nashotah House? San Joaquin has had a long and positive past with
Nashotah but at this point I am really shaking my head and wondering
what in the world has happened?

The Right Rev. Eric Vawter Menees
Bishop, Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin
cc. Acting Dean Garwood Anderson



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

Message: 9
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:28:55 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Robert E. Lee was a devoted Episcopalian
Message-ID:
<1506644935.2204967....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Robert E. Lee was a devoted Episcopalian
The Virginian was an officer, a gentleman and a Christian

HISTORICAL FEATURE

By Mary Ann Mueller
VOL Special Correspondent
www.virtueonline.org
September 21, 2017

Robert E. Lee was an Episcopalian. For a brief period of time, he was
General-in-Chief of the Confederate States Army during the War Between
the States (1861-1865). After the war, he was the beloved president of
Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, and became the senior warden
at nearby Grace Church. He attended that church for more years than he
was a Confederate officer.

As a result of Lee's greatness as a college president and prominence as
a senior warden, both intuitions honored him for who he was as a person
and as a Christian, not what he was as a Civil War general. Washington
College was renamed Washington & Lee University and Grace Church became
R.E. Lee Memorial, an Episcopal Church within the Diocese of
Southwestern Virginia.

However, Lee can't seem to live down his Confederate background, even
150 years later. It has scarred him and taints anyone or anything
associated with him. Earlier this week, R.E. Lee Memorial Episcopal
Church kowtowed, pressured by political correctness and shame, into
changing its name.

As the growing controversy swirled around the church, the vestry
responded: "We object strenuously to the misuse of Robert E. Lee's name
and memory in connection with white supremacy, anti-Semitism and similar
movements that he would abhor ... We honor Lee as one of our own
parishioners, a devout man who led our parish through difficult years in
post-Civil-War Virginia. More importantly, we find our identity in
Christ, the lover of all humankind, and we seek on-going renewal in
Him."

The Aug. 22 statement continues: "We recognize that in the current
political climate, Lee has become a touchstone for controversy and
misunderstanding and a rallying symbol for hate groups. We acknowledge
that the best hope for Lee is the Gospel of grace, through which we are
all forgiven sinners. Our commitment is not to Lee, but to that gospel
which is his hope and ours. We invite all to share in it, and we aim to
let nothing stand in the way of our proclaiming it with integrity."

On Sept.18 the church was renamed Grace Episcopal Church going back to a
form of its original name.

It is the Civil War-era press that started calling the Confederate
officer Robert E. Lee. He signed himself simply as R.E. Lee and the
Lexington church reflected that fact -- R.E. Lee Memorial Episcopal
Church.

Through the prism of history, the religious nature of R.E. Lee -- the
Christian ... the Episcopalian -- has become politicized. His faith, his
commitment to God, his Episcopal churchmanship, seems to mean nothing.

History shows that R. E. Lee, as he preferred to be called, was a devout
Christian and a committed Episcopalian. Even in the throes of war, Gen.
Lee made time for his faith and those of the soldiers under his command.

In 1862, he issued a general order which said: "Habitually all duties
except those of inspection will be suspended during Sunday, to afford
the troops rest and to enable them to attend religious services."

He was known to attend local Episcopal churches during the war. He was
seen at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Petersburg, Virginia; Grace
Episcopal Church, Berryville, Virginia; and St. Paul's Episcopal Church,
Richmond, Virginia.

Lee's Family Tree

Robert Edward Lee came from Virginia. He was born in 1807 on the
Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County. The Virginia Lees have
a long history of political and military service dating back to Colonial
times and the Revolutionary War and extending to World War II and
beyond. The Virginia branch of the Lee family was planted by Colonel
Richard Lee the First (1617--1664) in 1639, to make his fortune in
tobacco farming. He was active in Colonial politics, becoming the
Burgess of York County and, eventually, Virginia's Colonial Secretary of
State. He was also the great-great-great grandfather of Robert E. Lee
and the great-grandfather of President Zachary Taylor.

President Taylor's daughter, Sarah Knox Taylor, married Jefferson Davis,
who would become the only President of the short-lived Confederacy.

Other notable members of the Virginia Lees include: Col. Richard Lee the
Second (1647-1715); a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and
great-great grandfather of Robert E. Lee; Thomas Lee (1690--1750) a
member of the House of Burgesses; Capt. Henry Lee the First (1691--1747)
great-grandfather of Robert E. Lee; Lt. Col Henry Lee the Second
(1730-1787) Virginia State Senator and grandfather of Robert E. Lee;
Richard Henry Lee (1732--1794) President of the Confederation Congress
and signer of the Declaration of Independence; Francis Lightfoot Lee
(1734--1797) Virginia State Senator and signer of the Declaration of
Independence; William Lee (1739-1795) diplomat; Dr. Arthur Lee
(1740-1792) diplomat; Thomas Sim Lee (1745--1819) second Governor of
Maryland.

Other members of the growing Lee family included: Maj. Gen. Henry Lee
the Third (1756-1818) ninth Governor of Virginia and Robert E. Lee's
father; Charles Lee (1758-1815) Attorney General of the United States;
Richard Bland Lee (1761-1827) Congressman from Virginia; Edmund Jennings
Lee (1772-1843) longtime vestryman at Christ Church-Alexandria; Henry
Lee the Fourth (1787-1834) political speech writer, lost Stratford Hall
Plantation amidst financial ruin, half-brother of Robert E. Lee; Sydney
Smith Lee (1802-1869), commandant of U.S. Naval Academy-Annapolis and
Robert E. Lee's bother; George Hay Lee (1807-1873) Virginia Supreme
Court Justice; USN Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee (1812-1897);
Virginia-born Union Naval officer who did not join the Confederacy and
Robert E. Lee's blood cousin; Maj. Gen. George Washington Curtis Lee
(1832-1913) aide-de-camp to Jefferson Davis, the son of Robert E. Lee
and great-grandson of Martha Washington; Gen. Fitzhugh Lee (1835-1905),
40th Governor of Virginia; Brig. Gen. Edwin Gray Lee (1836-1870),
Antebellum Virginia attorney; Maj. William H.F. Lee (1837-1891),
Congressman from Virginia and Robert E. Lee's son; Capt. Robert E. Lee,
Jr. (1843-1914) wrote memoires of his father and namesake, Robert E.
Lee; Blair Lee I (1857-1944), U.S. Senator from Maryland; USN Vice
Admiral Willis Augustus Lee (1888-1945) won seven medals -- five gold --
in the 1920 Summer Olympics; E. Brooke Lee (1892-1984), Maryland
Secretary of State; and Blair Lee III (1916-1985), Lt. Governor of
Maryland.

Since Robert E. Lee's heritage was so deeply rooted in Southern soil
when the Civil War loomed, he found himself siding with Virginia
primarily over States' Rights. Slavery, although entwined with states'
rights, was seemingly a secondary issue to Lee. In a letter he penned to
his wife Mary Anna, Lee wrote that he felt that "slavery was a moral and
political evil in any country." He freed his slaves in 1862, even before
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to free
the Southern slaves in 1863.

He was very aware that he would "stand alone before the judgment seat of
the Most High on the Last Day."

Initially, Lee was disappointed as the Confederate states were seceding,
he felt that it was an unconstitutional betrayal of the Union and to the
Founding Fathers.

"But I can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than a
dissolution of the Union," Lee wrote to his eldest son Custis Lee in
early 1861. "It would be an accumulation of all the evils we complain
of, and I am willing to sacrifice everything but honor for its
preservation."

But Lee was a Southerner, he had pride of place. As a Virginian, things
came to a breaking point for him on May 23, 1861, when Virginia also
seceded.

"I look upon secession as anarchy," he wrote to Francis Blair, an
advisor to President Lincoln. "If I owned the four million slaves in the
South I would sacrifice them all to the Union; but how can I draw my
sword upon Virginia, my native state?"

Lincoln offered Lee the command of the Union Army. He reluctantly turned
it down, resigned his West Point commission and was destined to become
the leader of the Confederate forces.

Both the North and the South viewed the war in different ways. The
Northerners felt the War Between the States was the War of Southern
Rebellion. The Southerners saw the Civil War as the War of Northern
Aggression. In the end, both sides suffered.

>From the time that the first shot was fired on April 12, 1861, at Fort
Sumter, South Carolina until Lee's surrender on April 9, 1865, in
Appomattox, Virginia, the estimated casualty figure from those killed in
action, or deaths from disease, the number of wounded and those captured
is 1.7 million, more than 828,000 for the Union and more than 864,000
for the Confederacy.

For the most part, the early tentacles of the Industrial Revolution
bypassed the South. Dixie remained an agricultural society and depended
upon physical hand labor to plant, produce and pick crops including
cotton, sugar cane, tobacco, peanuts and rice. To sustain the
agricultural economy of the antebellum South, slavery became a way of
life and a economic necessity. It was into this culture that Robert E.
Lee was born and raised.

In today's hypersensitive, politically correct culture, Lee is seen only
as a one-dimensional person and he is narrowly defined only by his four
years as a Confederate Army officer. His 32 years as a US Army officer
is over looked. Even today he is still considered a military genius who
was a brilliant strategist and tactician.

The West Point connection

Lee's military career started as a cadet at West Point because he could
not afford to go to attend any other institution of higher learning. He
was graduated second in his Class of 1829 and eventually he became West
Point's ninth superintendent (1852-1855), a post he held for three
years. In his later years, he would come to regret his military
education because of the bloodshed brought on by the Civil War.

Other noted Army officers who headed West Point include: the first West
Point Superintendent Col. Jonathan Williams (1801-1803 & 1805-1812); the
"Father of West Point", Brig. Gen. Sylvanus Thayer (1817-1833) ; Gen.
P.G.T. Beauregard (1861); General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur
(1919-1922); Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Maxwell
Davenport Taylor (1945-1949); Chief of Staff of the Army, Gen. William
Westmoreland (1960-1963); and Commandant of the U.S. Army War College,
Lt. Gen. David Huntoon (2010-2013).

Robert E. Lee, West Point Class of 1829, isn't the only noted member of
the military illustrious who honed their military skills at the United
States Military Academy. The litany of distinguished graduates is long:
Leonidas Polk (1827); Jefferson Davis (1828); William N. Pendleton
(1830); P.G.T. Beauregard (1838); William Tecumseh Sherman (1840);
Ulysses S. Grant (1843); Stonewall Jackson (1846); J.E.B. Stuart (1854);
George Armstrong Custer (1861); John J. Pershing (1886); Douglas
MacArthur (1903); George S. Patton (1909); Dwight D. Eisenhower & Omar
Bradley (1915); William Westmoreland (1936); and Norman Schwarzkopf
(1956).

West Point records show that during the War Between the States, 640
Union officers were United States Military Academy graduates and another
184 Confederate officers came from that same military academy. The
personal nature of the Civil War pitted West Pointers against each
other.

By Christmas 1863 Episcopal Bishop and Confederate, Lt. Gen. Leonidas
Polk, was tiring of war. He wanted to return to his cathedral and
fulltime ministry, but was instead killed during the June 1864 Atlanta
Campaign when Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman (1840) spotted him with
other southern West Point officers, including Gen. Joseph E. Johnston
(1829) and Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee (1838). Sherman commanded Maj.
Gen. Oliver Howard (1854) to open fire. When it was over, Bishop Polk
lay dead. It was only later, in 1945, that Bishop Polk's body was
returned to Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans for burial.

Robert E. Lee the Christian

Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) was a man of intense faith and prayer who
believed wholeheartedly in Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour and that
God had His hand in all human affairs. He lived in a time of great
spiritual revival -- between the Second Great Awakening (1790-1840) and
the Third Great Awakening (1855-1900).

General Lee was once quoted during the War as saying: "I can only say
that I am a poor sinner trusting in Christ alone for salvation and I
need all the prayers that I can get."

He was also an ardent student of the Bible and used it as a roadmap for
his life.

"I prefer the Bible to any other book," Lee once said. "There are many
things in that Old Book that I may not be able to explain, but I accept
them as the infallible Word of God and receive its teaching as inspired
by the Holy Ghost."

Many West Point-trained Civil War generals, on both sides, were deeply
committed Christians who saw their wartime military service as a
religious mission, including Lee. However, Union General Ulysses S.
Grant (1843), who had Methodist roots, complained that "that the academy
tried to mold cadets into gentlemanly Episcopalians."

Lee was confirmed in 1853, eight years before the outbreak of the Civil
War, by Episcopal Bishop John Johns (IV Virginia). Reportedly, Bishop
Johns told Lee at his confirmation: "If you make as valiant a soldier
for Christ as you have made for your country the Church will be as proud
of you as your country now is."

Lee replied: "My chief concern is to try to be a humble, earnest
Christian."

"The Episcopal Church back then -- 1853 -- is not what The Episcopal
Church is today," explains Pastor John Weaver, a Baptist minister who
has studied the spiritual roots of the Confederacy and its link to the
Civil War. "The Episcopal Church back then was very Gospel oriented. The
Episcopal rectors were in line with the Baptists, the Presbyterians and
the Methodists." The Episcopal church has certainly changed over the
years.

Like Lee, many Southern West Point generals embraced The Episcopal
Church, including: Gen. J.E. Johnston (1829); Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart
(1854): Brig. Gen. Josiah Gorgas (1841); Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill (1847); Lt.
Gen. James Longstreet (1842); Gen. John Hood (1853); Maj. Gen. Dorsey
Pender (1854); and Brig. Gen. Francis A. Shoup (1855). In fact, both
Johnston and Hood were baptized by another general -- Episcopal Bishop
Leonidas Polk. Even another West Point graduate, Jefferson Davis (1828)
-- the only President of the Confederacy -- was Episcopalian. Bishop
Polk who readily mixed his military service with his religious duties,
also officiated at the December 1862 wedding of Brig. Gen. John Morgan
and his second bride, Martha Ready.

Other top West Point Civil War Confederate leaders with a profound faith
in God were Brig. Gen. Stonewall Jackson (1846), who was baptized as an
Episcopalian at St. John's Episcopal Church near Fort Hamilton in
Brooklyn, New York, but lived out his faith as a staunch Presbyterian
after taking over the leadership of the Virginia Military Institute in
Lexington, Virginia. He is noted for holding daily family prayer that
even the family servants attended. He despised profanity, as did Gen.
Lee.

Brig. Gen. Richard Ewell (1840) was converted to the Christian faith
through accidentally witnessing Stonewall Jackson in private personal
prayer before a battle. After seeing Jackson on his knees in intense
prayer Ewell remarked: "Oh, God, if this is religion, if this is
Christianity, I must have it ... I must have it ...I must have it!"

Brig. Gen. William Pendleton (1830) was an Episcopal priest who
interrupted his ministry to serve in the Confederate Army. Then, after
the War, he became Lee's rector at Grace Church. The priest said of Lee:
"If you are as good a soldier of the Cross as you are of the Army,
Christ will have a great worker in His Church." It is Fr. Pendleton who
urged Lee to take the postbellum presidency of Washington College.

Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk (1827) was an Episcopal bishop who was killed in
action. He came to faith during the Second Great Awakening while still
at West Point and was baptized into the Episcopal Church. After
graduation, he resigned his commission and went to Virginia Theological
Seminary. As bishop, he helped to found the University of the South in
Sewanee, Tennessee. When the Civil War loomed, he was convinced by
Jefferson Davis to again put on the military uniform.

Bishop Polk is not the only Episcopal bishop to take up arms to fight or
the prayer book as a Confederate chaplain during the Civil War. Other
Confederates who were or became Episcopal bishops include: Confederate
Presiding Bishop Stephen Elliott (I Georgia); Maj. Thomas Dudley (II
Kentucky); Dr. Charles Quintard (II Tennessee); Lt. James S. Johnston (I
West Texas); Brig. Gen. Ellison Capers (VIII South Carolina); Lt. George
Peterkin (I West Virginia); Col. John Galleher (III Louisiana) -- who
gave the Last Rites to Jefferson Davis; Chaplain Alfred Randolph (I
Southern Virginia); Chaplain Alfred Watson (I East Carolina); Chaplain
William Crane Gray (I South Florida); and Chaplain George Kinsolving (II
Texas);

Top Union brass who were dedicated Christians included: Brig. Gen.
Oliver Howard (1854) was a strong Evangelical Christian who was dubbed
"the Christian General." He founded Howard University for blacks, which
is now a world-class research university and he is noted for starting
the tradition of handing out Bibles to West Point cadets and serving as
the chairman of the board for the American Tract Society; Maj. Gen.
George McClellan (1846) insisted that the Sabbath be strictly observed
during the Civil War and provided worship services for his troops; and
Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans (1842), a passionate Roman Catholic,
attended daily Mass. He refused to fight on Sundays and his personal
motto was: "God never fails those who truly trust."

Since the Civil War was fought during the Third Great Awakening,
religious fervor crept into the ranks on both sides. Historians record
that during the fall of 1863 and on through the summer of 1864, a "Great
Revival" crept through the ranks and as many as 350,000 soldiers from
both sides of the conflict were converted to Christ.

"Night after night troops participated in prayer meetings, worshipped,
and listened to ministers proclaim the Good News," Gordon Leidner writes
for Great American History."Virtually every gathering ended with
soldiers coming forward to accept Christ or receive prayer. When a pond
or river was nearby, the soldiers would frequently step forward for
baptisms -- regardless of how cold the weather was."

One Civil War chaplain reported: "The work of grace among the troops
widened and deepened and went gloriously on until there had been
thousands of professions of faith in Christ as a personal Saviour."

It is estimated that "perhaps 10 percent of all Civil War soldiers
experienced conversions during the conflict," as a result, millions of
tracts were distributed to soldiers during the war. Another lasting
change as a result of the troops' religious fervor was that a military
chaplain corps was developed, which is still a part of today's armed
services.

After Lee surrendered to Grant and the War ended, he went to Lexington,
Virginia, and became the president of Washington College and joined
Grace Church, an Episcopal congregation located on the edge of the
school's campus.

Lee had but one goal as president of Washington College.

"I shall be disappointed if I shall fail in the leading object that
brought me here, unless all the young men become real Christians," Lee
-- the college president -- told area clergy. "I wish you, and others of
your sacred profession, do all you can to accomplish this result. I
dread the thought of any student going away from the college without
becoming a sincere Christian."

Lee, the Southern Christian gentleman

Even before Lee became involved with Lexington's Grace Church, he was a
vestry member at St. John's Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, New York from
1842-1847. Twenty years before the Civil War when Lee was stationed at
nearby Fort Hamilton as a US Army officer, he was on the vestry of St.
John's Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, New York. While there, he planted a
maple sapling. That tree is alive and growing today.

St. John's started out in 1834 as a chapel for soldiers at nearby Fort
Hamilton. Then it became the "Church of the Generals", but was finally
shuttered in 2014 by the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island due to a
dwindling membership. The fate of the empty building is currently up in
the air.

St. John's history shows that: "There were 19 military officers of flag
rank -- generals -- who worshiped, were baptized or had some connection
with the church." Some of those generals include: Confederate generals
Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson; World War I Gen. Walter Smith; and
World War II generals Matthew Ridgway (Army) and Hubert Harmon (Air
Force).

There are two stories that are told about how Robert E. Lee conducted
himself as a Christian. The first happened during the war. On Sept. 1,
1862, Union Maj. Gen. Philip Kearny was killed in action during the
Battle of Chantilly in Fairfax County, Virginia. His funeral was held on
the grounds of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Fairfax Station. After
which, Gen. Lee returned his body to the Union forces, along with his
horse and saddle and an accompanying note of condolence, since Gen.
Kearney was considered "Kearny the Magnificent" and in line to replace
Gen. George B. McClellan as commanding general of the Union forces.
Lee's action was seen as a great act of charity during a time of war.
Gen. Kearny was initially buried at the Trinity-Wall Street Cemetery in
New York City. Now he rests in the Arlington National Cemetery.

The second story told on Lee happened after the war in June 1865, when
he was again visiting St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond during a
typical Sunday morning Service of Holy Communion. At the time, St.
Paul's was considered the "Cathedral of the Confederacy." When it came
time for Communion, a former slave approached the altar rail. The
congregation was stunned in silence and no one moved. Eventually, Robert
E. Lee, now a private citizen, got up from his pew and went to the
Communion rail to receive Holy Communion, kneeling by the black man.

It was reported that Lee "reverently knelt near the black man to receive
Communion with him, risking his own reputation and standing to help heal
the rifts of Union and race ..." and that his action was "a grand
exhibition of superiority shown by a true Christian and great soldier
under the most trying and offensive circumstances."

Following the Civil War, the former Gen. Lee was a very active member of
Grace Church, which was founded in 1839 by 2nd Lt. Francis H. Smith,
also a West Point graduate (1833) and the first superintendent of
Virginia Military Institute. Smith, who would go on to become a major
general in the Virginia Militia and then a brevet Confederate major
general, saw the need for an Episcopal church nearby since he was
Episcopalian, many of the VMI faculty and staff were Episcopalian and
the students he was drawing to Lexington were also Episcopalians.

Lexington was home to Washington College -- now Washington & Lee
University -- and a stronghold of Presbyterianism, so the Episcopalians
did not have any local congregations of their own to worship in. So
Smith stepped in and founded Grace Church to meet spiritual needs at
VMI, but the newly-established Episcopal congregation also provided
needed spiritual support for the nearby college. Washington College, VMI
and Grace Church are all closely clustered together.

After the Civil War, Lee became the president of Washington College.
This was right up his alley. Having once been the superintendent of West
Point, Lee had the academic experience necessary to lead the
century-plus old institution past the Civil War years and into
Reconstruction. Lee was a visionary and his contribution to the school
helped to form it into what would become: Washington & Lee University.

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



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

Message: 10
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:30:38 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Scottish Anglicans to face 'consequences' for allowing gay
marriage
Message-ID:
<1506645038.2205087....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Scottish Anglicans to face 'consequences' for allowing gay marriage
The Archbishop of Canterbury is to lead Bible studies every day of the
meetings next week to focus them away from sexuality and onto spiritual
growth

By Harry Farley
https://www.christiantoday.com/
September 27, 2017

The Scottish Episcopal Church is likely to face 'consequences' from
fellow Anglicans for its decision to allow gay marriage.

Senior figures from around the worldwide Anglican Communion, including
from the largely conservative global south, will meet in Canterbury next
week and are expected to impose restrictions on the SEC after the vote
permitting same-sex weddings last June.

At the last meeting of global Anglican primates in January 2016 The
Episcopal Church (TEC) in the US was handed the same 'consequences'
after they permitted same-sex couples to marry.

Church figures at the time stressed they did not amount to sanctions or
a punishment but meant representatives from TEC could not represent the
80-million strong Anglican Communion on formal bodies or vote on
decisions related to policy or teaching.

It is thought to be a formality that SEC will face the same consequences
although conservative bishops from Africa may push for harsher penalties
after being dissatisfied at the level of punishment given to American
Anglicans.

The traditionalist pressure group GAFCON is deeply frustrated at what it
sees as increasing tolerance to liberal views on sexuality within the
Church and three primates have decided to boycott the meeting in
protest.

They say the 'consequences' were not properly implemented and
representatives from the US were allowed to vote on decisions later the
same year despite the ban -- a claim Anglican officials deny strongly.

'While we desire to walk together, until there is true repentance, the
reality is that they [TEC] are deliberately walking away from the
Anglican Communion and the authority of Scripture at a distance that
continues to increase,' a statement from GAFCON explaining the decision
read.

The Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, Most Rev Mark Strange, said
these were 'important days in the life of the Anglican Communion' and
asked for prayer ahead of the meeting.

'I am looking forward to attending the meeting in Canterbury and in
engaging with the other primates in a broad discussion on matters that
concern us all,' he said.

A spokeswoman from the Scottish Episcopal Church said declined to
comment on speculation over whether Scottish bishops would face
consequences.

As well as addressing deep divisions over sexuality, the 34 primates
representing 33 of the 39 Anglican provinces will discuss religious
persecution and climate change with primates arriving from South Sudan,
where half the population have fled to refugee camps, and Polynesia
which could be under water within decades if rising water levels are not
halted.



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

Message: 11
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:32:32 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Former Queen's Chaplain Consecrated Missionary Bishop to
Anglicans in UK and Europe
Message-ID:
<1506645152.2205728....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Former Queen's Chaplain Consecrated Missionary Bishop to Anglicans in UK
and Europe

Sept. 29, 2017
The Feast of St Michael and All Angels

The Christian Episcopal Church of Canada and the USA, has announced the
consecration in Vancouver, BC, during the course of an Episcopal Synod,
of the Rt. Rev'd Dr Gavin Ashenden, a former Chaplain to the Queen, as
missionary bishop to the United Kingdom and Europe.

Bishop Ashenden is charged with the responsibility of working as closely
and collaboratively as possible with those Anglicans who are committed
to remaining faithful to orthodox Christianity. In particular with the
Free Church of England and the 'Unity Forum' that has been created to
achieve that unity of purpose and action in the UK.

The Right Reverend John Fenwick, convenor of the Unity Forum, said:
'Gavin's stand for orthodoxy has been an encouragement to Anglicans in
the UK and beyond. We look forward to working closely with him as we
face the challenges that lie ahead.'

The Christian Episcopal Church is a traditionalist Anglican Denomination
which originally emerged from The Episcopal Church in the United States
(TEC) in the 1980s in response to the capitulation of that Church to
secular values and priorities.

Its bishops celebrate the fact that their Orders derive from both
Anglican and Roman Catholic successions, and so offer potential for
mutual recognition and collaboration in ecumenical relationships. At the
same time their commitment to the Gospel and the Scriptures has created
powerful alliances across the evangelical and charismatic spectrum.

As the Church of England is in the process of abandoning Christian
teaching on culture, sexuality, marriage and the uniqueness of Christian
revelation, the Bishops of the Christian Episcopal Church believed that
it was their responsibility to offer a renewed episcopal oversight and
encouragement to those Anglicans in the UK and Europe who had become
distressed and disillusioned by the changes of direction and the
adoption of secular values by the Church of England.

Dr Ashenden trained originally in the law, and was ordained as an
Anglican priest in Southwark Cathedral in 1980. He worked in parishes in
South London for ten years before becoming a University Chaplain and a
lecturer in the Psychology of Religion for 23 years.

He holds degrees in Law, Theology, the Psychology of Religion and a
doctorate on the work of the Anglican theologian and poet, Charles
Williams. He was a member of the General Synod for 20 years.

He was appointed as one of the Canon theologians at Chichester
Cathedral, and in 2008 as a Chaplain to the Queen. He was a presenter
for the BBC Radio's Faith and Ethics programmes for four years and has
written as a columnist for the both the Times and Church Times. In 2017
he resigned as Chaplain to the Queen so that he could speak out more
freely in the wake of the Quranic readings in Glasgow Cathedral which
denied the divinity of Christ.

The Most Rev'd Theodore Casimes, is Archbishop of the Christian
Episcopal Church in the United States, Bishop Co-adjutor of the
Christian Episcopal Church in Canada, Bishop of the Diocese of Seattle.
http://www.xnec.us/Christian_Episcopal_Church/Welcome.html

*****

CEC Bishop issues Statement on the Consecration of Bishop Gavin Ashenden

September 27, 2017

The following is a statement from The Rt. Rev. Robert David Redmile,
Lord Bishop of Richmond, British Columbia, regarding the Episcopal
Consecration of the Right Reverend Gavin Roy Pelham Ashenden, Suffragan
Bishop in Normandy and England:

Since the gracious acceptance by Her Majesty the Queen of his
resignation as one of Her Majesty's Chaplains, and his recent
resignation from the ordained ministry of the Church of England, the
Right Reverend Gavin Roy Pelham Ashenden is now in a position to make
known to the members of the Church of England and the wider Anglican
Communion, and to the British public in general, his status as a Bishop
of the Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Therefore, as the Principal Consecrator of Bishop Ashenden, I should
like to make it known at this time that he was duly approved as a
candidate for Consecration by the Archbishop and Bishops of the
Christian Episcopal Churches of North America; and that he was then
duly, lawfully, regularly, and canonically according to the prescribed
rites and ceremonies of the undivided Catholic Church consecrated Bishop
on the Seventeenth Day of October in the Year of Our Lord 2013, publicly
before the face of a Congregation of Christian Faithful in the
Pro-Cathedral Church of Saint Saviour, by me the Right Reverend Robert
David Redmile, Lord Bishop of Richmond, British Columbia, and assisted
therein by the Most Reverend Theodore Chris Casimes, Primate of the
Christian Episcopal Churches of North America, the Right Reverend
Timothy Joseph Klerekoper, Bishop of Seattle, Washington, and the Right
Reverend Nicholas John Geoffrey Sykes, Bishop in George Town, Grand
Cayman Island, British West Indies, and Suffragan Bishop of Richmond.

At the time of his Consecration, Bishop Ashenden was appointed to be my
Suffragan in Normandy for the Channel Islands and France, and he will
continue in that office as well as that of Suffragan Bishop in and for
England.

The Christian Episcopal Church of Canada and the Christian Episcopal
Church in the United States of America were first established and
incorporated in their respective countries as the Missionary Diocese of
the Americas of the Episcopal Church by the Right Reverend Archibald
Donald Davies, Fourth Bishop of Dallas and First Bishop of Fort Worth,
and later Bishop Ordinary of the Convocation of American Churches in
Europe to which office Bishop Davies was appointed by the Most Reverend
John Maury Allin, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

All the Bishops of the Christian Episcopal Churches were consecrated by
Bishop Davies and Bishops in full communion with him, and since his
death only by those Bishops who were consecrated by them. In this way,
the Episcopal Orders which Bishop Ashenden has received are valid,
regular, and lawful Episcopal Orders deriving from the established
Church of England and the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Polish National
Catholic Church and the Old Catholic Churches of the Utrecht Union, and
the Roman Catholic Church.

It is the intention of Bishop Ashenden that he will continue in the
office and ministry to which he has been duly called, appointed,
ordained, and consecrated, and to continue to pursue his work of
defending the orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Christian Faith and
promoting the authentic Anglican expression thereof both in England and
abroad.

Given at Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.
+ Robert David: Richmond.



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

Message: 12
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:33:01 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Church in Wales closing more than 10 churches a year
Message-ID:
<1506645181.2205752....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Church in Wales closing more than 10 churches a year
Former St Andrew's Church in Colwyn Bay is among those listed for sale

Christian Today staff writer
https://www.christiantoday.com
25 September 2017

More than 10 Anglican churches a year are closing in Wales.

The Church in Wales has shut 115 churches in a decade, about eight per
cent of the total, leaving more than 1,300 still in use according to
figures published by the BBC.

The figures follow the latest data from the British Social Attitudes
survey which showed a massive collapse in numbers of Anglicans across
the country.

There are 11 redundant churches advertised on the church's website. The
former St Mary's Church in Bangor, advertised at ?150,000, is sold
subect to contract. The former St Andrew's in Colwyn Bay is for sale at
?325,000.

Head of property, Alex Glanville, told the BBC: 'We're grouping a lot
more parishes and congregations together, about 10-15 churches in an
area, and thinking which ones can we sustain. There's a little bit more
strategy -- what's a sustainable congregation and where's the best place
to do it?'

He said Wales had a lot of buildings in small and often remote
communities with declining attendance.

Glanville told Christian Today: 'Nobody likes to see churches close and
it is obviously sad for the whole community when they do. It's a
decision never taken lightly by the local congregation.

'We still have more than 1,200 churches that are serving communities and
when a church does close the community is served by another church in
the area. Also, through our 2020 Vision strategy our churches are now
working in larger "Ministry Areas" with congregations coming together
for mission and ministry across wider communities. We are working very
hard to find new and innovative uses for church buildings that do close,
specifically affordable housing which is a major priority in Wales. Next
month we are holding a conference for people across the Church to
discuss creative and positive futures for closed church buildings.'

According to the latest census, Wales has the highest number of people
with no religion in the UK.

Eddie Tulasiewicz of the National Churches Trust told the BBC he
believed chapels were closing at the rate of about one a week. 'What may
have been built in the 19th Ccentury for a population of 6,000 to 10,000
people has shrunk to 2,000 or 3,000 and there's no one left to go
there.'



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

Message: 13
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:33:30 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: The Fall of the Scottish Episcopal Church
Message-ID:
<1506645210.2205788....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

The Fall of the Scottish Episcopal Church
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. 1
Cor 16:13

By Daniel Davies
http://scottishanglican.net/
September 21, 2017

How did we come to this? How this church came to change Christ's
teaching is the story of every fall into heresy. It begins with a truth;
heresy then takes it, expands its scope and meaning until other truths
are abandoned and the church falls into error. That is how good,
intelligent, thoughtful people are led astray.

Heresy is a powerful word with a very specific meaning. The church has
two kinds of teaching: dogmas and doctrines. The dogmas are simple
statements written by the early church which set out and defend the
truth of who Christ is. These are set out in the Apostles Creed, the
more detailed Nicene Creed, and the Chalcedonian Definition: which
states that Christ is fully God and fully man.

All these statements -- dogmas, can be written on a single page. They
define for every Christian who Christ is, what Christianity is and what
a Christian must not deny. The doctrines are quite different; they vary
from church to church, and they each explain many different ways that
Christians can celebrate, live and understand the truth of the dogmas.
The doctrines and the books that explore them will fill libraries.

As church understanding evolves and grows the doctrines can change and
develop too. Such a change only becomes heresy when a development of
doctrine undermines a dogma; when it leads to a denial of who Christ is.
That is the line that the Scottish Episcopal Church has now crossed.

It began as a civil rights campaign for gay marriage. It began with the
truth that every person is equally loved by God. These joined in a
Christian revisionist movement to deliver gay marriage in church. Other
truths were dismissed and in the single-minded pursuit of their goal the
Scottish Episcopal Church was led astray.

The problem is not civil rights. The problem of heresy is specific to
Christ himself. The line is crossed because in order to achieve their
goal, this church has been willing to change Christ's teaching given by
him in Matthew 19: 5-6. Here he says three things: that God created us
men and women, that a man will marry his wife and the two will become
one flesh, and that what God has joined together let not man divide.
This is Christ's word, that the church follows and blesses as Holy
Matrimony.

The issue at stake is Christ himself. If Christ is who he says he is:
"To see me is to see the Father", "the Father and I am one", "I am the
way, the truth and the life.", then he truly is fully God and fully man
as the dogma declares. If a Christian denies this then he risks his
salvation. In Matthew 10:32 we read: "Everyone who acknowledges me
before others I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven, but whoever
denies me I will also deny before my Heavenly Father."

If Christ is fully God (as well as fully man) his words transcend time.
If Christ is the truth, the meaning, measure, personification of all
truth; then to move, add or take away from his words is a questioning
and ultimately a denial of his divinity.

We cannot change Christ's words, except on the basis that he is not God,
but just man. Otherwise who would dare? The sad truth is that for many
in the western church, Jesus is not God, but is just a man. Much of the
teaching in western churches has drifted away from the traditional
faith. Over many decades the direction of travel has been to radically
re-envision the faith, and at its heart is the denial of the full
divinity of Christ. One of the leading revisionists is the American
theologian Marcus Borg, who has spoken at Scottish Episcopal
conferences. He teaches that the creeds (which state the dogmas) are
something to be in conversation with, not to be believed, that Christ is
to be understood as a Hebrew mystic, a spirit person, and as one of the
various spirit people -- religious leaders, who come to us throughout
history (name your own list), but in essence is just a man.

Revisionist teaching has been moving through liberal theological
colleges and has captured much of the leadership in western churches. It
is this theology that finds itself echoed in the change in the Scottish
Episcopal Church's doctrine of marriage, because Christ's teaching no
longer fits the revisionist's worldview. It is based on the assumption
that since Christ is in essence only a man; it follows that he was
limited to the understanding of his own time and that now with our
greater knowledge we have the duty to change his teaching. They have
claimed that this teaching is only a development of doctrine, but such a
development is not legitimate if it undermines a dogma, and no dogma is
more precious than the divinity of Christ.

If Christ is not God we are not saved. If Christ is not God we cannot
receive him in Holy Communion. If Christ is not God there are no
sacraments, no church, no Christianity, just make believe. But Christ is
God. His church will stand and heresy will fail.

The Scottish Episcopal Church has fallen, it just hasn't realised it
yet. It is a fallen branch from the vine that will wither and die like
every heretical church before it. Christ is The Way, The Truth and The
Life. The way ahead for faithful Anglicans in Scotland is to embrace the
possibilities offered to us by the consecration by the GAFCON Primates
of Bishop Andy Lines. Founded on Christ's truth, this offers new life
for bereft orthodox Anglicans in Scotland.

The Rev. Daniel Davies has served as Priest-in-Charge of Christchurch,
Harris, in the Western Isles since 2001



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

Message: 14
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:33:55 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: A crisis of character at the top of the Anglican Communion
Message-ID:
<1506645235.2205819....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

A crisis of character at the top of the Anglican Communion

By Gavin Ashenden
https://ashenden.org/
Sept. 23, 2017

"A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a
woman's cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the
Lord your God." Deut 22.5.

It would not take a very developed theological intellect to recognise
that we are in the middle of a serious culture war.

Nor would you have to be especially well-informed to note that the
culture war involved serious antagonism towards Judaeo-Christian ethics
and values.

In the Bible, believers discover they have an insight into the mind of
God through the voices of the prophets and the gift of the Law in the
books of the first covenant.

A mystery we could not solve for ourselves unfolds. We learn about the
mutuality and the interdependence of the two sexes and the invitation to
share in co-creation with the Creator, who is our Father.

We learn that leitmotif of the journey on which the people of Israel
were led was one of ritual, social and ethical purity. We learn through
the presence and teaching of Jesus that it is His intention that this
purity deepens and enters the human heart, through the New Covenant.

We learn too that all kinds of forces that are characterised by their
rejection of the Holy Trinity set out to disrupt the patterns and
given-ness that we encounter in revelation.

These form the normal narrative of orthodox Christianity.

One does not have to be an astute theologian to perceive in the secular
movement of feminism an attempt to rekindle antagonism between men and
women. One does not have to be very sophisticated to see you that the
recasting of the mutuality between men and women in terms of power
relations is a sign of this assault on the mind of God and his purposes
for us.

Nor to see that the movement for gay marriage is an attempt to break the
causal link between sex, love and heterosexual parents with their
children.

One does not have to be very bright to see at the movement for
transgenderism is at its root an attempt to recast the reality of our
circumstances in the humanistic contours of our own narcissistic
imagination. No longer even "Cogito ergo sum". Now it is becoming "Ego
sum quidquid velim esse". (I am whatever I might wish to be). Cross
dressing and gender dysphoria are not so much about gender or cross
dressing as they are the attempt to make reality in the shape of our own
distorted and wounded imaginations. In a sex and gender obsessed
society, this takes the form of manipulating sex and gender into
whatever shapes please our disordered psyche and dispositions most.

The present Archbishop, Justin Welby, was chosen for his business
credentials rather than a reputation for a well-developed grasp of
theological issues. There is a growing fear that he may prove to be, if
one may say so without intending too much offence, a one trick pony. He
does mediation and reconciliation. His ambitions do not appear to
stretch him much beyond this repertoire.

In fact, if one was of a slightly conspiratorial cast of mind, one might
consider for a moment the possibility that he was plucked out of
obscurity, and chosen by the semi-visible centres of influence who run
the Church of England's appointments system, precisely because he did
not show much propensity for theological analysis or spiritual
discernment. There was so much less risk that such a man might deviate
from the (pre-prepared) programme.

He had the great advantage that having been connected with HTB (Holy
Trinity Brompton) and learned the patois of the hugely successful Alpha
course. He would be assumed to have gained, by osmosis of nothing else,
the confidence of all successful evangelicals everywhere.

If the powers that be that were working to make the C of E reflect their
soft socialist and fuzzy feminist preferences, and were looking for the
equivalent of a ecclesiastical drug mule to continue the programme,
Justin Welby might have appeared to be a very promising candidate.

He did not have much theology and even less parochial experience. After
finding his professional feet in a multi-national energy company, he
made the transfer to C of E plc with some ease. He achieved some rather
exciting reconciliations as a minor canon in the specialised atmosphere
of Coventry Cathedral, and then had a meteoric rise through the system,
until rather breathlessly he bounced from the briefest of stays in
Durham to arrive as Archbishop of Canterbury.

He is clearly a very nice man, if initially a trifle taken aback and
surprised by the rapidity of his own journey. He had leapt from lower
mid-management to 'Managing Director' and 'Chairman of the Board',
leapfrogging innumerably better qualified candidates, in the twinkling
of an ecclesiastical eye.

On this speedy journey there was little evidence that the wider cultural
and theological issues that were creating seismic shifts in a deeply
contested moment of history caused him much disturbance. With each
tremor of the ground beneath him he would reach for his metier of the
moment -- this practice of Coventry-style reconciliation and mediation,
and with a certain gritty enthusiasm, try to help people to, well, get
along a little better.

One of the universal experiences of those in the public eye however, is
that reality sets out to test our mettle with regularity.

During a rather serious interview on LBC (originally the London
Broadcast Company), Archbishop Welby was asked what his reaction was to
a six-year old boy being sent into a Church of England school, dressed
as and identifying as 'a girl' to the serious disturbance of the other
children and some of their parents.

The parents of one child, practicing Christians at school in the Diocese
of Portsmouth, complained. They discussed the matter with school and
Diocesan authorities and were rebuffed by a diocese which claimed its
prior responsibility was to a very narrow interpretation of the
Equalities Act 2010. So they sued the school in order to establish that
the Church school had misunderstood and misapplied the law.

The Archbishop was asked for his views on the matter on the radio last
week. As the interviewer, Nick Ferrari posed the question, Archbishop
Welby held his head in his hands as if facing a problem of herculaean
proportions. He admitted he found the case 'difficult'.

He told Ferrari, and the listening world:

I would say to them I don't think that's a problem.
For the other family are making up their own minds. The other child is
making up its own mind.
Talk to your child. Help them to understand. Help them to see what's
going on and to be faithful to their own convictions.

The question and the issue go to the heart of the struggle that
Christians in general and the Church of England in particular are
struggling to define and overcome.

Archbishop Welby chose not to address the dilemma of the Church schools
and the interpretation of the equality act.

He chose not to address the admonitions in the Scriptures about cross
dressing.

He chose not to address the willingness of the parents to pursue this
matter of spiritual principle when the Diocese had rejected their
concerns.

He chose not to examine the issues that lay behind the contesting of
gender identity and the difficulties of mental illness, or allowing the
mentally discomforted to impose their agenda on everyone else.
He reached for the tool he knew best -- mediation and reconciliation,
and suggested that the Christian parents learn to respect other peoples'
convictions.

He didn't find it necessary to make a distinction between the
'convictions' of a six year old child ("the other child is making up its
own mind") and those of its parents.

He didn't question if their parental and adult responsibility might be
in question as they abrogated their own judgement to that of their
6-year-old child. There are very few occasions where one would let a 6
year old make up its own mind 'contra mundum'. They include the time it
goes to bed, what it eats and drinks, and how it learns manners and
cooperative social behaviour. But in this case of gender identity, no
small issue, the Archbishop was at ease with himself as he insisted such
a child "had made up its own mind... and was "faithful to its own
convictions."

What can one say in defence of such a Church that has such an
Archbishop. There seems little point in asking the obvious and wondering
if he has an idea as to where the faithfulness to one's own convictions
begins and ends in the light of other ethical priorities. Presumably he
would exempt paedophiles and fascists, bullies and racists, polyamorists
and the incestuous. Or would he? We don't know.

Has he just swallowed whole the secular agenda of relativism in all
things cultural? Or is he just incapable of thinking seriously about
ethical problems in relation to the Bible during a live radio interview?

The Bible has a lot to say about gender and the theology of gender. So
does Christian tradition. But when faced with the search to find
criteria to solve a contemporary ethical dilemma, the Archbishop does
not. He reached for the rather clumsy instrument of lowest common
denominator mediation, and the impoverished, anti-Christian rhetoric of
unthinking relativism. He wanted above all else to affirm the sanctity
of the confused six-year old and the probity of the child's "deeply held
convictions".

What can the Anglican Communion expect from such a Church leader,
biblical scholar and theologian as it faces the stresses and strains of
a secular assault on its integrity and attempts to live out the biblical
virtues of revelation in the face of seditious secularism?

Probably not much more than "respecting each party for the strength of
their convictions."

In the face of a fire breaking out in a large theatre this is not much
more helpful than advice that any direction that takes your fancy might
be a good direction to take if you really have made up your mind to
leave the theatre and escape, so long as you really feel good about
whatever direction you have chosen.

Faced by the uncompromising force of a renewed Islam, the poison of
cultural Marxism and the toxicity of selfish secularism, the Christians
in the Church of England might have hoped for leadership that would
inspire, defend and articulate the historic faith for them, with the
Bible in one hand and the cross in the other.

One is reminded instead of St Paul warning Christians away from those
who live and teach "holding to the form of godliness but denying its
power" (2 Tim 3.5)

The power comes not from an accommodation with the surrounding culture,
nor from the approbation of well-meaning fellow travellers. It comes
only from a deep commitment to Jesus as we meet Him in the Gospels and a
profound and unconditional repentance when we fall, ask to be forgiven
and are raised up again.

In this present Archbishop we have yet to see much understanding of the
theological and spiritual issues that the Church faces in a relativistic
and increasingly anti-Christian society. We have yet to see an ability
to distinguish between the spirit of the age, the zeitgeist and the Holy
Spirit. We have yet to see a commitment to the teaching of Jesus in the
Gospels; yet to see a profound repentance for preferring the secular to
the sacred; yet to see the power of the Spirit of purity over the patter
of spiritual patois.
If the Church of England is to survive, let alone be raised up, it will
require an Archbishop, (and a college of bishops), who are able to both
understand these things and put them into practice.

There is no sign of either yet.

END



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

Message: 15
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:34:51 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Who Decides Membership in The Anglican Communion? Not the
Secretary General of The ACC!
Message-ID:
<1506645291.2205927....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Who Decides Membership in The Anglican Communion? Not the Secretary
General of The ACC!

By Phil Ashey
https://americananglican.org/
Sept. 23, 2017

"It is simply not true to say that ACNA is part of the Anglican
Communion," he [Idowu-Fearon] said. "To be part of the Communion, a
province needs to be in communion with the See of Canterbury and to be a
member of the Instruments of the Communion. ACNA is not in communion
with the See of Canterbury--and has not sought membership of the
Instruments." Idowu-Fearon added that "There is a long-standing process
by which a province is adopted as a province of the Communion... ACNA
has not gone through this process." Accessed 13 Sep 2017

The Secretary General's statement that The Anglican Church in North
America (ACNA) is not a province of the Anglican Communion is misleading
at best. It ignores the very process of recognition of the Anglican
Church in North America by some GAFCON provinces as early as July 2009.
It ignores the public and published recognition of Archbishop Foley
Beach as "a fellow Primate of the Anglican Communion" by those Primates
of the Anglican Communion who installed him as the second Archbishop of
the Anglican Church in North America on October 9, 2014. The Secretary
General ignores the recognition of the Anglican Church in North America
as a "partner province" of the Global South by the Primates of the
Global South in their October 2016 Communique.

In other words, the process of recognition of the Anglican Church in
North America as a member Church within the Anglican Communion is
already a 10-year process initiated by Primates of the Anglican
Communion, representing Churches of the Anglican Communion, and in
keeping with their "long-standing" procedural authority to do so. It's
certainly in the Secretary General's interest in his Report to take
pride in his achievement in helping to form a new 'province" of the
Anglican Communion in Sudan. But that does not give him the right to
take pride in misstating who decides membership in the Anglican
Communion--especially by usurping the rightful authority of the Primates
to do so while they are in the middle of an already ongoing process of
recognition.

Perhaps the Secretary General is worried that the process has become so
far advanced already that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to
incorporate any of the ACC's "suggestions" into the governing documents
of the Anglican Church in North America. That's ok. We can assure the
Secretary General and the ACC that we have consulted some of the finest
canonical minds in the Anglican Communion, as well as the widest
possible range of governing documents among the Churches of the Anglican
Communion, in shaping our own. The recognition by the Primates and
Provinces of the numerical majority of Anglicans within the Communion
testify that we have done our job well.

So, let's look at the authoritative documents of the Anglican Communion
that address the question of membership.

1. Recent events and publications question the necessity of
relationship with the See of Canterbury as an essential prerequisite for
membership

Yes, it's true that Resolution 49 of Lambeth Conference 1930 defined
membership in the Anglican Communion as a fellowship, within the one
Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, of those duly constituted dioceses,
provinces or regional Churches in communion with the See of Canterbury.

However, the 2005 decision of the Church of Nigeria, the largest
province of the Anglican Communion, to change its Constitutional
definition of membership in the Anglican Communion from "relationship
with the See of Canterbury" to relationship with those who uphold the
historical formularies of the Anglican Communion (The Bible, the 39
Articles and the BCP 1662 and Ordinal) sent a shock wave through the
Anglican Communion that Anglican identity and membership is in fact
based on a common confession-- and not geography or mere "bonds of
affection."

This in turn shaped the definition of membership in the Anglican
Communion in the Principles of Canon Law Common to the Churches of the
Anglican Communion(London: Anglican Communion Office, 2008). According
to Principle 10.4 of the PCLCCAC, "the relationship of ecclesial
communion within the Anglican Communion is based on the communion of a
church with one or more of the following (a) the See of Canterbury...;
or (e) all churches which profess the apostolic faith as received within
the Anglican tradition." (emphasis added).

Clearly, relationship with the See of Canterbury is no longer the
prerequisite that it was in 1930 for membership in the Anglican
Communion.

And, in fact, the Archbishop of Canterbury has never refused to
recognize as a member of the Anglican Communion any Church which has
been moved forward by 2/3 of the Primates to the ACC for addition to the
Schedule of Churches in the Anglican Communion. Whatever approval the
See of Canterbury offers comes at the end of the process--not at the
beginning.

2. According to its Constitution, the ACC has only an advisory role
in the formation and recognition of new Churches in the Anglican
Communion

Under Article 5 of the Constitution of the Anglican Consultative
Council,[1]which enumerates the specific powers of the ACC, Article 5.3
provides that the Council has power "To advise on inter-Anglican,
provincial and diocesan relationships, including the division of
provinces, the formation of new provinces and or regional councils, and
the problems of extra-provincial dioceses."[2] (emphasis added). It is
simply misleading, publicly or privately, to suggest that the ACC has
anything more than an advisory role in the formation of new provinces.
This is borne out by the very language of the oft-referenced Resolution
12 of ACC-10 regarding the formation of new provinces (see below).

Article 7 of the Constitution describes the Structure of the ACC, and
defines membership within the Anglican Communion as those
Member-Churches "which are included in the Schedule to these
Articles"[3] However, Article 7.2 does give the Standing Committee of
the ACC (aka The Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion)
permission to add a Church to the Schedule of Member-Churches with the
assent of 2/3 of the Primates:

"...with the assent of two-thirds of the Primates of the Anglican
Communion (which shall be deemed to have been received if not withheld
in writing within four months of the date of notification) the Standing
Committee may alter or add to the Schedule."[4] (emphasis added).

This language leads to two observations. The initiative of the Standing
Committee of the Anglican Communion is permissive only. It is not
required beforehand for the formation of a new province. Secondly, the
ultimate authority in any case rests in the assent of two-thirds of the
Primates of the Anglican Communion. In other words, the ultimate
authority for forming a new province/Member-Church of the Anglican
Communion rests with the Primates, and not with the ACC or its Standing
Committee.

3. Resolution 12 of ACC-10 does not give jurisdiction to the ACC to
create or withhold recognition of a new Church within the Anglican
Communion

The Secretary General is in error when he claims that a new Province
must apply to the ACC, much less "the Instruments," before it can become
a province. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are no
official regulations guiding the formation of a province--merely
suggestions. In 1996 ACC legal advisor (now Canon) John Rees said the
ACC-10 guidelines were not intended to be a legal requirement but rather
a flexible aid in provincial formation. The Anglican Communion News
Service echoed Rees' statement when it reported that the ACC-10
guidelines would "ensure new Provinces the opportunity to benefit from
the advice of the ACC and the experience of other Provinces" but were
not necessary steps for creating new provinces.[5]

In fact, ACC-10 Resolution 12 restated the advisory role of the ACC in
making recommendations (rather than directives) on the formation of new
provinces in the following language:

"Resolved that this Council (1) affirms its commitment to assisting in
the creation of new Provinces...(2) urges those involved in promoting
the creation of new Provinces to consult the council through its
Secretary General... (3) affirms the guidelines set out in previous
Council resolutions, and (4) adopts the additional guidelines as set out
in the appended schedule."[6](emphasis added)

The language of the additional guidelines appended in ACC-10 Resolution
12 is not mandatory but rather permissive, as demonstrated in the
following language: "...(2) The proposal for a new province...might (and
ideally would normally) be accompanied by an invitation to the ACC for a
visit by the Secretary General... to discuss the application [of these
guidelines] to the specific situation in the local area..."; (4) "...The
ACC can provide significant assistance in advising both on the content
of constitutions... and on the arrangements that may need to be made for
that stage of the discussion..." and (5) "the Secretary General [of the
ACC] may, in consultation with the Standing Committee as appropriate,
appoint a committee, or call upon individual consultants, to make
observations on its behalf for further consideration by the promoters
and their advisors.[7] (emphasis added)

Finally, ACC-10 reaffirmed the authority of the Primates to recognize
Provinces when, in Resolutions 1 and 2 welcoming Mexico and SE Asia as
new Provinces, it began both resolutions with this declaration:
"Resolved that the Primates having assented, this ACC-10 meeting in
Panama welcomes..."

4. The Primates have unconditional authority by 2/3 assenting to
recommend a Church be added by the ACC to the Schedule of Churches in
the Anglican Communion.

The Guidelines set out in previous ACC Resolutions, affirmed by ACC-10
Resolution 12, include the following:

* in 1993, at a joint meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion
and the Anglican Consultative Council, Resolution 47 regarding the new
Provinces of Burundi, Rwanda and Zaire "requests the Primates to add
them to the list of Member Churches in the Anglican Communion," and
* Resolution 48 regarding the new Province of Korea "requests the
Primates to add it to the list of member Churches of the Anglican
Communion following its inauguration."

In both Resolutions, the Council explicitly recognizes the Primates as
having the authority to determine the membership of the Anglican
Communion--and this is the very fundamental guideline affirmed in ACC-10
Resolution 12. Moreover, this is also the same express condition
precedent to the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion adding a
Church to the Schedule of Member-Churches under Article 7.2 of the ACC
Constitution.

Conclusion

The Secretary General's declaration that Anglican Church in North
America is not a Church in the Anglican Communion is at best premature.
At worst, it is misleading and characteristic of the increasing
overreaching of the ACC in its jurisdiction. The Anglican Church in
North America is already in a 10-year process of recognition by the
Primates, who have the jurisdiction to extend such recognition. The ACC
may offer advice if requested. They have not been requested by the
Primates recognizing The Anglican Church in North America to do so. The
Secretary General should work with the Primates rather than seeking to
usurp their authority.

The Rev. Canon Phil Ashey is President & CEO of the American Anglican
Council.Phil Ashey

[1]The Constitution of the Anglican Consultative Council, as
incorporated under the UK Charities Act 2006 (Companies House UK:
Company No. 7311767, 12 July 2010), Accessed 19 Sep 2017
[2] Ibid., at 4.
[3] Ibid., at 7.
[4] Ibid.
[5] CEN, December 11, 2008, "Canterbury won't block or bless new
province," Accessed 17 September 2017
[6] ACC-10 (1996: Panama City), Resolution 12, "Creation of new
Provinces," Accessed 19 September 2017.
[7] Ibid.



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

Message: 16
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:35:22 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: What has the Archbishop of Canterbury got against Marriage?
Message-ID:
<1506645322.2205945....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

What has the Archbishop of Canterbury got against Marriage?

By Jules Gomes
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/
24th September 2017

A squadron of mosquitoes invades a nudist colony. The insects find this
a new experience. Thus far they have struggled for sustenance by feeding
on people who clothe themselves. Now their cups of haemoglobin runneth
over. This is a bloody banquet. Body upon body of bare flesh flashes an
open invitation. Every mosquito can drink to its heart's content. There
is more than enough for everyone.

The mosquitoes dive into the fleshpots of the new world. Some drink more
than others. Some capitalise on the excess and begin marketing a whole
range of products from the surplus blood. Others take their good fortune
for granted. They become lazy and reckless. They no longer risk carrying
out nightly raids on slumbering flesh for a quick prick and sip, but
loll around and live on bloodsucking handouts paid for by the
hardworking mosquitoes. A group of younger mosquitoes give themselves
over to a life of intoxication as they begin sucking blood solely from
alcoholics and drug addicts in the nudist colony.

The mosquitoes have elected a few representatives to govern them. The
overseers believe in maximum freedom. There is, after all, plenty for
everyone and no reason why anyone should starve. Despite this, a new
political party of mosquitoes called Marxitoes begin feverishly
discussing what they see as the malarial economic decline of the new
Mosquitoland.

Meanwhile, immigrant and refugee mosquitoes hear of the mosquito
paradise and brave mosquito nets and insect repellents to fly to this
new country. The agitators, however, are zipping around spraying the air
with buzzwords such as 'inequality' and 'redistribution of blood'.
Mosquito paradise isn't good enough. They begin campaigning for a
mosquito utopia, Mosquitopia.

One of the chief agitators is Arch-Mosquito of Canterbury 'Proboscis
Just-in' Welby. On the very same day the British Social Attitudes survey
trumpets the passing away of his Church of England (it died of yellow
fever, being too cowardly to confront the culture), Welby is humming his
one-note tune based on My Favourite Things from The Sound of Muzak. But
poor Welby, unlike Sister Maria, has only one favourite thing he can
talk about -- it isn't 'raindrops on roses' or 'whiskers on kittens', it
isn't even the gospel, it is 'inequality, inequality, inequality'.

Welby begins by scaring the hell out of the mosquitoes in the nudist
colony. 'We stand at a moment of significant economic uncertainty,' he
declares in the high-pitched whine of an anopheles mosquito. 'Britain's
economic model is broken and produces widespread inequality . . . What
we are seeing is a profound state of economic injustice.'

The swarm of mosquito agitators from the Left-wing Institute for Public
Policy Research (IPPR) wave their probosces (mosquito pricks) and chorus
in unison with the Arch-Prick of Canterbury in a 122-page report called
Time for Change: A New Vision for the British Economy.

'The British economic model needs fundamental reform. It is no longer
generating rising earnings for a majority of the population, and young
people today are set to be poorer than their parents . . . the economy
we have today is creating neither prosperity nor justice,' the report
states. Fiddlesticks! It calls the current British economic model an
'economic muddle' and offers a 'new vision for the economy in 2030,' an
'inclusive economy which distributes economic rewards fairly'. The
report is replete with wild exaggerations. 'The UK is the most
geographically unbalanced economy in Europe.' Okay, next? 'The UK
economy distributes rewards very unequally.' Pish posh!

On the contrary, the nudist colony has abundant opportunities for
everyone. Jobs are being created at an unprecedented rate. According to
the Institute for Fiscal Studies, income inequality remains highest in
London, but there have been big falls since the recession. The gap
between rich and poor is smaller than a decade ago. Inequality in
Britain is lower than France, Italy, Canada or Australia, says the World
Bank. Britain's headline employment rate has grown to 74.9 per cent, a
record high since comparable data was first compiled in 1971, according
to the Office for National Statistics. The average household income was
?26,300, up in a year by ?600, for the financial year ending in 2016.

The ghost of John Maynard Keynes haunts the economic model proposed by
the IPPR. Keynes is the most frequently cited economist in the report.
Keynes is Welby's patron saint. 'Another Keynes is needed,' Welby wrote
in Dethroning Mammon, his 2017 Lent book. Keynes called himself an
'immoralist' and 'repudiated entirely customary morals, conventions and
traditional wisdom'. Naturally, his disciple Welby, apart from his
social justice warrior mumbo-jumbo, makes no attempt to link morality to
prosperity.

'Why are so many people so poor when others are so rich?' asks Welby.
'Yo Archie, would you like to repeat your question to economist Aparna
Mathur? You might not like her answer, because though a number of
economists have given similar answers, you and your fellow Lefties would
still like to blame structures rather than encourage individuals to take
personal responsibility, isn't that so, Your Arch-Mosquito-ness?'

'The biggest reason for income inequality is single parenthood,' writes
Mathur, who is not your average Western, white, male, cisgender,
Christian. She cites extensive research by Robert I Lerman and W
Bradford Wilcox in For Richer, For Poorer: How Family Structures
Economic Success in America. 'The nation's retreat from marriage is
linked to growing family inequality, male joblessness, and economic
stagnation,' they observe.

Between 1980 and 2012, median family income rose 30 per cent for married
parent families in the US. For unmarried parents, family incomes rose
only 14 per cent. Between 1980 and 2008, about 51 per cent of the
decline in men's employment rates in the US was associated with the
retreat from marriage. 'These findings are striking not only because
they affect current levels of income and income inequality, but because
these effects persist across generations,' writes Mathur.

Surely this is common sense? Why does the Archbishop choose to ignore
the facts that our choices and attitudes towards marriage critically
influence income inequality and economic mobility, when marriage should
be a 'good' with which he, as a Christian prelate, should be deeply
concerned? It would be facile to claim that a society built on marriage
and family is the only factor. But it is such a major factor that one
has to be morally blind or ideologically bankrupt to ignore the cause
and effect between the breakdown of the family and the prosperity that
comes from a society built on the bedrock of marriage.

There are other virtues such as thrift and hard work that contribute to
prosperity. Orthodox Jewish talk-show host Ben Shapiro repeatedly quotes
a credo from the left-leaning Brookings Institute. There are three
things you should do if you don't want to be permanently poor: 'Graduate
high school, get a job, and don't get pregnant before you are married.'

The nudist colony has great suckings. Never in history have so many
people enjoyed so much prosperity. Don't let the Arch-Prick of
Canterbury and his swarm of fellow-Marxitoes tell you otherwise.

The Rev'd Dr Jules Gomes is a doctoral supervisor on the faculty of the
Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life.



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

Message: 17
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:35:58 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev has a warning
for the West
Message-ID:
<1506645358.2206030....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev has a warning for the West

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for
External Church Relations, speaks at the joint meeting of both houses of
the Russian parliament.

By Elizabeth Scalia
https://aleteia.org
Sept. 25, 2017

"Before 1917 nobody ever proposed that the collapse of a centuries-old
Christian empire would happen..."

Participating in a London conference on the topic of "The Christian
Future of Europe," Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, head of the External
Relations Departments of the Russian Orthodox Church, Moscow
Patriarchate, spoke on September 22 at the Russian Embassy to Great
Britain, and his talk was something of a warning to the Churches of the
West.

Opening his talk with an acknowledgement of Christian persecution
throughout the world, and armed with research figures hewn from recent
PEW polls and other studies, Hilarion painted a grim but up-to-date and
accurate picture of what Christianity is currently facing due to
migration and Western secularization, and also what the future of
Christianity will look like without a deep and strenuous effort at
evangelization.

The Archbishop presented a sobering look at how migration is impacting
Europe: "According to figures by the European Union agency Frontex, more
than 1.8 million migrants entered the EU in 2015 alone ... the number of
migrants in Europe has increased from 49.3 million people in 2000 to
76.1 million people in 2015."

"The other reason for the transformation of the religious map of
Europe," said Hilarion, "is the secularization of European society.
Figures in a British opinion poll indicate that more than half of the
country's inhabitants -- for the first time in history -- do not
affiliate themselves to any particular religion."

This trend is not holding true in Russia, where an identification with
faith is on the upswing, although "many defined themselves as 'religious
to some degree' or 'not too religious' ... However, the number of people
who define themselves as being 'very religious' is growing steadily."

That good news must be balanced an understanding of the rapid decline of
religious practice in Europe and North America, and here Hilarion
suggested that history must be given its due study, as a warning:

I would like to remind you all that in Russia before 1917 nobody ever
proposed that the collapse of a centuries-old Christian empire would
happen and that it would be replaced by an atheistic totalitarian
regime. And even when that did happen, few believed that it was serious
and for long.

The modern-day decline of Christianity in the western world may be
compared to the situation in the Russian Empire before 1917.

The revolution and the dramatic events which followed it have deep
spiritual, as well as social and political, reasons. Over many years the
aristocracy and intelligentsia had abandoned the faith, and were then
followed by common people.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia spoke of this in
January 2017: "The fundamental rupture in the traditional way of life --
and I am now speaking ... of the spiritual and cultural
self-consciousness of the people -- was possible only for the reason
that something very important had disappeared from peoples' lives, in
the first instance those people who belonged to the elite. In spite of
an outward prosperity and appearance, the scientific and cultural
achievements, less and less place was left in peoples' lives for a
living and sincere belief in God, an understanding of the exceptional
importance of values belonging to a spiritual and moral tradition."

Hilarion seemed to reserve a special condemnation of the resistance to
religion demonstrated by the European Union:

And when half a century after the creation of the European Union its
constitution was being written, it would have been natural for the
Christian Churches to expect that the role of Christianity as one of the
European values to have been included in this document, without
encroaching upon the secular nature of the authorities in a unified
Europe.

But, as we know, this did not happen.

The European Union, when writing its constitution, declined to mention
its Christian heritage even in the preamble of the document.

I firmly believe that a Europe which has renounced Christ will not be
able to preserve its cultural and spiritual identity.

The Archbishop's full speech may be read here.
https://mospat.ru/en/2017/09/23/news150374/



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

Message: 18
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:36:42 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: "virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org"
<virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org>
Subject: Prof sounds alarm over same-sex 'studies' on children
Message-ID:
<1506645402.2206115....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Prof sounds alarm over same-sex 'studies' on children
'Here they are teeing up the kind of evidence to overturn age of consent
laws'

By Greg Corombos
http://www.wnd.com/2017/09/prof-sounds-alarm-over-same-sex-studies-on-children/
Sept. 26, 2017

Twenty years after politicians and researchers howled in protest at
research suggesting there was no lasting harm to minors who engage in
same-sex sexual relationships with much older adults, similar research
now is being met with the silence of the scientific community and may be
used to challenge age of consent laws.

University of Texas Sociology Professor Mark Regnerus is at the
forefront of the debate on sexual research and has come under withering
criticism for his work concluding that children in homes where a parent
is in a same-sex relationship fare worse than children in homes with
their biological mothers and fathers.

Regnerus is sounding the alarm on research quietly published in the
"Archives of Sexual Behavior."

There, researcher Bruce Rind has led studies suggesting there was no
noticeable difference in long-term regret, shame or other negative
reactions when compared to the teenagers' long-term response after
having sex for the first time with boys or girls of the same age.

"Outlasting the Gay Revolution" spells out eight principles to help
Americans with conservative moral values counter attacks on our freedoms
of religion, speech and conscience by homosexual activists

In the Rind studies, the minor girls studied were age 15 on average,
while their same-sex partners were 26 years old on average. For males,
the boys were an average of 15 and their partners were 28 on average.

Regnerus says the efforts to remove the stigma from such sex are making
a comeback after being scored almost two decades ago.

"And now here they are, back again in respectable academic journals,"
said Regnerus. "Here they are teeing up the kind of evidence to overturn
age of consent laws."

"I'm not sure there's another way to read that. That's what I saw when I
read them. They all come from the same person," he added.

But the reaction from the scientific community is deeply troubling to
Regnerus, mainly because there isn't one.

"It's not as if (the studies) are being praised or lauded. It's that
they have been released and published, largely to quiet. To be quiet
here is to be complicit. And so I thought we have to call this out,"
said Regnerus, who shakes his head when comparing the reaction to his
own research.

"It's disturbing that this guy publishes stuff on minor-adult sex to
quietness and anything I say is shouted down from the rooftops, which is
distressing to say the least," said Regnerus.

He says the lack of outrage suggests it could be the first step toward
trying to normalize such behavior.

"Downstream from documenting something becomes acceptability, which
becomes something that's legal. I don't know that we'll ever legalize
this sort of thing. I pray not. But there is a bridge being built in
that direction," said Regnerus, and he says that bridge is being paid
for in part with U.S. tax dollars.

"There's not just foundation money underwriting this. Even the federal
government, via the National Institutes of Health and the National
Science Foundation, is tacitly complicit in this type of research," said
Regnerus.

Regnerus said the disturbing foothold is another direct consequence of
the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage.

"The quest for marriage, I say in my new book entitled 'Cheap Sex,' was
actually a sort of cultural land grab. Here we're seeing a little more
evidence that what's at stake here is human decency and the dignity of
children and persons in general," said Regnerus.

Regnerus also condemns the research methods, from tiny numbers of sample
cases to questionably gathered data. He says LGBT activists often use
small samples to conclude there is no harm to children in same-sex
parenting situations as well.

Also disturbing to Regnerus is that Rind admits many of the boys and
girls went along with the same-sex experience and did not resist even
though they did not want it. He says Rind seems to brush off a very
serious aspect of this type of encounter.

"One of the ploys going on here is the, 'Oh, regardless of the situation
in which the first sex occurred, the outcomes long term are OK and going
along with it is some form of consent,'" said Regnerus.

"That's a ridiculous notion to suspect that somehow we're talking about
power that's equal between a 13-year-old and say a 27- or 28-year-old.
It's a ludicrous notion," said Regnerus.

Regnerus further asserts that because such events can convince young
people that they must be of a certain sexual persuasion, that they don't
look back on such experiences negatively and may even look back on them
as enjoyable, a metric he says Rind also equates with consent. He says
it is very difficult to quantify the true impact of such an event years
or even decades later.

He says the ongoing objective of the cultural and scientific left
remains clear.

"What we're looking at is sort of a comprehensive union when we're
talking about the sexual union. It's just frightening to me that people
want to pick apart at that until there's almost nothing left," said
Regnerus.

"Outlasting the Gay Revolution" spells out eight principles to help
Americans with conservative moral values counter attacks on our freedoms
of religion, speech and conscience by homosexual activists



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

Message: 19
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 20:42:40 -0400
From: David Virtue <da...@virtueonline.org>
To: virtue...@listserv.virtueonline.org
Subject: PRAYER: What Does it Mean to be a Mature Christian Disciple?
(Luke 11:1-13)
Message-ID:
<1506645760.2207575....@webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

What Does it Mean to be a Mature Christian Disciple? 11. PRAYER: (Luke
11:1-13)

By Ted Schroder,
www.tedschroder.com
October 1, 2017

The mature Christian disciple seeks to reproduce the fruit of the
Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control, hope and humility. None of these virtues are
produced naturally. They require connection to Jesus as the branches to
the true vine. It takes a lifetime to overcome our self-centeredness. It
takes a life of prayer to experience deep change. The reason we fail to
produce the fruit of the Spirit has a lot to do with our prayerlessness.
The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, and so should we. How
is your prayer life?

Tim Keller in his book on prayer (Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy
with God, Penguin, 2014) relates the story of Flannery O'Connor, the
famous writer from Milledgeville, Georgia. When she was twenty-one years
old and studying writing in Iowa, she sought to deepen her prayer life.
She began keeping a handwritten prayer journal. In it she describes her
struggles to be a great writer: "I want very much to succeed in the
world with what I want to do...I am so discouraged about my
work...Mediocrity is a hard word to apply to oneself... yet it is
impossible not to throw it at myself... I have nothing to be proud of
yet myself. I am stupid, quite as stupid as the people I ridicule."

Keller comments: "These kinds of declarations can be found in the
journal of any aspiring artist, but O'Connor did something different
with these feelings. She prayed them. Here she followed a very ancient
path, as did the psalmists in the Old Testament, who did not merely
identify, express, and vent their feelings but also processed them with
brutal honesty in God's presence. O'Connor wrote of

Effort at artistry in this rather than thinking of You and feeling
inspired with the love I wish I had. Dear God, I cannot love Thee the
way I want to. You are the slim crescent of a moon that I see and my
self is the earth's shadow that keeps me from seeing all the moon....
what I am afraid of, dear God, is that my self shadow will grow so large
that it blocks the whole moon, and that I will judge myself by the
shadow that is nothing. I do not know you God because I am in the way.

"To love our success more than God and our neighbor hardens the heart,
making us less able to feel and to sense. ..Therefore, because O'Connor
was a writer of extraordinary gifts who could have become haughty and
self-absorbed, her only hope was in the constant soul reorientation of
prayer." (Keller, p.11)

She reflected on the discipline of writing out her prayers in the
journal. She recognized the problem of the form. "I have decided this is
not much as a direct medium of prayer. Prayer is not even as
premeditated as this -- it is of the moment and this is too slow for the
moment." Then there was the danger that what she was writing down wasn't
really prayer but ventilation. "I...want this to be...something in
praise of God. It is probably more likely to being therapeutical...with
the element of self underlying its thoughts."

Yet with the journal she believed, "I have started on a new phase of my
spiritual life... the throwing off of certain adolescent habits and
habits of mind. It does not take much to make us realize what fools we
are, but the little it takes is long in coming. I see my ridiculous self
by degrees."

O'Connor learned that prayer is not simply the solitary exploration of
your own subjectivity. You are with Another, and he is unique. God is
the only person from whom you can hide nothing. Before him you will
unavoidably come to see yourself in a new unique life. Prayer, therefore
leads to a self-knowledge that is impossible to achieve any other way.

Cutting through everything else in O'Connor's journal was a simple
longing to learn truly how to pray. She knew intuitively that prayer was
the key to everything else she needed to do and to be in life. She
wasn't content with the perfunctory religious observances of her past.
"I do not mean to deny the traditional prayers I have said all my life;
but I have been saying them and not feeling them. My attention is always
fugitive. The way I have it every instant. I can feel a warmth of love
beating me when I think and write this to You. Please do not let the
explanations of the psychologists about this make it turn suddenly
cold."

At the end of one entry, she simply called out, "Can't anyone teach me
how to pray." (Flannery O'Connor, A Prayer Journal)

Jesus gives the disciples a pattern of prayer. We can take each phrase
of the Lord's Prayer as an outline of prayer: we call upon God as our
heavenly Father and we seek to hallow him with a heart of grateful joy
and sense of wonder and beauty. We then ask God to extend his royal
power over every part of our lives -- emotions, desires, thoughts and
commitments and the life of the world. We accept the will of God for us
and trust that God knows what he is doing even when we find it
difficult. This first part of prayer is God-centered. We orient
ourselves to his will before we come to our own concerns. We pray for
our daily needs and for a prosperous and just society. Then we seek
forgiveness for ourselves as we forgive others. We pray that we would
not entertain temptation which will entice us away from trusting in God
by the substitution of false desires. To that end we pray for
deliverance from any kind of evil either within us or outside us,
everything that threatens our welfare.

What prevents us from enjoying an enriching time of prayer? There are
many distractions and excuses we can list. Jesus said we need to be
determined like that man who goes to his neighbor at midnight. We will
not be discouraged from prayer by the time of day, or how tired we are,
or all the things we have to do. We will believe in the value and power
of prayer: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks
receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be
opened." Our heavenly Father wants to give his Holy Spirit to those who
ask him. He will give us the fruit of the Spirit if we really want them.
But it will require the humility of asking in Jesus' name and not in our
own worthiness.

How is your prayer life? Do you have a time which you dedicate to
prayer? How meaningful is public prayer in worship to you? The Lord's
Prayer was given to us in plural form. We ask God to give us what we
need. We are part of a spiritual family when we say "Our Father". Prayer
is not strictly a private thing. There is strength in praying with
others. We get to know Jesus and deepen our relationship with him in
his community. Then we can reproduce the fruit of the Spirit in
relationship with one another.



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

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