U.S. Episcopal diocese votes to stop using masculine pronouns for God | News | LifeSite. WELS Feminized and de-Lutheranized Christian Worship . Now WELS Is Planning a Worse New Hymnal

D.C. Bishop Budde

U.S. Episcopal diocese votes to stop using masculine pronouns for God | News | LifeSite:



"WASHINGTON, D.C., February 1, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The Episcopal church in the Diocese of Washington, D.C., passed a resolution last week to stop using masculine pronouns for God in future updates to its Book of Common Prayer.

The resolution to stop using "gendered language for God" was passed quickly by delegates to the Diocese's 123rd Convention.

“If revision of the Book of Common Prayer is authorized, to utilize expansive language for God from the rich sources of feminine, masculine, and non-binary imagery for God found in Scripture and tradition and, when possible, to avoid the use of gendered pronouns for God,” the resolution stated.

“Over the centuries our language and our understanding of God has continued to change and adapt,” the drafters of the resolution stated. The drafters said that referring to God using masculine pronouns is to "limit our understanding of God." "

 Nadia Bolz-Weber is ELCA,
but ELCA and The Episcopal Church work together.
And WELS-LCMS-ELS work  with ELCA.

 Susan Johnson graduated from Waterloo Lutheran Seminary. 
She is the Bishop of the Canadian ELCA branch.
No wonder seminary enrollment is down at WLS.

 What's wrong with this photo? Right.
There is a MAN in this picture of the two Lutheran national leaders and two Episcopal national leaders.

'via Blog this'

Episcopal Seminary Funeral March Underway? - Juicy Ecumenism. Note How Another Collapse Is Affecting Trinity ELCA Seminary, Also a Merger. Plus ELCA in Pennsylvania

This is the Episcopal Divinity School near Harvard. My professor Elizabeth Schuessler-Fiorenza taught there after Notre Dame, then received an endowed position at Harvard.
Hartford Seminary became Hartford Seminary Foundation,many years ago - and now it is Hartford Seminary again.

Episcopal Seminary Funeral March Underway? - Juicy Ecumenism:

Episcopal Seminary Funeral March Underway?

In a surprise move, the Board of Trustees for one of the 10 schools educating Episcopal Church seminarians has voted to cease granting degreesat the conclusion of the 2016-2017 school year. It is unclear how Episcopal Divinity School of Cambridge, Massachusetts might continue on, with the board stating that it “will explore options for EDS’s future” in the coming year.

Interim Dean Francis Fornaro, who took office in March of 2015 following the departure of former Dean Katharine Ragsdale, will resign in November and stated “I totally disagree with this resolution.” Fornaro is a 1996 graduate of the seminary and previously served as adjunct faculty there.

“A school that has taken on racism, sexism, heterosexism, and multiple interlocking oppressions is now called to rethink its delivery of theological education in a new and changing world,” declared former Washington National Cathedral Dean and EDS Board Chairman Gary Hall in an official announcement. “Ending unsustainable spending is a matter of social justice.”

Hall has significant history with multiple theologically progressive, financially struggling institutions: he also presided over the final years of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary of Evanston, Illinois before it merged with Bexley Hall Seminary of Ohio to form Bexley-Seabury. In 2015, Hall announced that he was stepping down as head of the National Cathedral early, in order for another official to be named that could complete a 10-year fundraising campaign to stabilize the financially struggling church.

Episcopal Divinity School was formed from the 1974 merger of Philadelphia Divinity School and Episcopal Theological School, both of which trace their origins to the mid-1800s. The Cambridge, Massachusetts seminary sold property worth over $33 million to neighboring Lesley University in 2009 in an effort to pay off outstanding debt and regain the school’s financial footing. According to The Living Church, EDS draws 7 percent from its $66 million endowment to cover operating costs; 5 percent or less would be considered sustainable.

In early 2015, Dean Katharine Ragsdale announced that she would be departing as head of the seminary after five rocky years there marked by intense disagreement between faculty and the administration.

Several Mainline Protestant seminaries have been under financial stress in recent years, with American Baptist Churches USA (ABC) and United Church of Christ (UCC)-affiliated Andover-Newton Theological School – the oldest graduate theological institution in the United States – announcing intent to sell its campus and end its residential study program. In January, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg and Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia announced that they would each close and re-launch as a single institution. [GJ - I think the Pennsylvania ELCA seminaries must remain legally separate to retain their status with the ATS.]

Of those schools educating Episcopal Church seminarians, the denomination’s flagship General Theological Seminary in New York faced turmoil in 2014 as Dean Kurt Dunkle met opposition from a majority of faculty whose “resignations” were accepted by the GTS board despite not being offered. Eight of the nine dismissed faculty were later “provisionally” reinstated and much of the faculty has since turned over.

Episcopal Divinity School is regarded as one of the Episcopal Church’s most liberal seminaries. The seminary’s board describes EDS as “leaders in educational programs that are enlivened by theologies of liberation, especially the many voices of feminist, congregational, ecumenical, and global studies.”

According to EDS Board Treasurer Dennis Stark, “We are spending six million a year from our endowment, and 30 percent of that is above a reasonable amount.”

According to the school, EDS’s investments are currently valued at approximately $53 million plus the real estate value of its campus, which is adjacent to Harvard University. More than half of the endowment is restricted.

UPDATE [7/22/2016]: Anglican Ink reports that another progressive Episcopal Church seminary, Bexley-Seabury, is closing its Columbus, Ohio campus partnership with Trinity Lutheran Seminary (ELCA) and will consolidate its presence at UCC-affiliated Chicago Theological Seminary. Bexley-Seabury had already shuttered a Rochester, NY campus partnership with Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in 2008. Bexley-Seabury has a full-time enrollment of 17 students and four full-time faculty as of autumn 2015.

'via Blog this'

Virtue Online Shows that WELS and LCMS Not Alone in Their Scandals and Corruption

Ex-Cardinal Keith O'Brien

VirtueOnline - News:

The Scandal of the Cardinals. The Disgrace of Episcopal Bishops
The Episcopal Church embraces what Rome calls "intrinsically disordered"

News Analysis

By David W. Virtue 
www.virtueonline.org 
February 25, 2013Leading Episcopal gay and lesbian clergy and laity are publicly gloating over revelations that more leading Roman Catholic leaders have been quietly practicing what they themselves openly practice and preach.

In the name of transparency, integrity, openness, inclusion and diversity, the Episcopal Church has rolled over to the zeitgeist and embraced pansexuality, even as leading Catholic prelates have been exposed for their sexual behavior paralleling a number of Episcopal bishops. Four of them have publicly outed themselves including Gene Robinson, Mary Glasspool, Otis Charles and Tom Shaw, while other Episcopal bishops clandestinely practice sodomy but have chosen not to "come out" preferring to remain closeted with their sexual practices.

Who is surprised to learn that there are gay priests in the Vatican, asked Jim Naughton in a headline at his liberal blog Episcopal Café? "It is common knowledge that punitive attitudes about sexuality and the pressure to keep one's identity hidden can lead to unhealthy behavior. People who hide their identities and engage in these behaviors are open to blackmail. So this news is less shocking than it is predictable. The church's repressive teaching and the subterfuge it engenders--from officials of all sexual orientations--is what is undermining the church."

Or this:

"Perhaps we need to add to the list of known knowns and unknown unknowns, the "known but not acknowledged." One of the principal facts of scandal is that there is a fact, a reality that is revealed publicly. So I would not automatically dismiss this as a possibility. After all, in addition to being Bishop of Rome, one might well observe that the pontiff is to some extent Prisoner of the Vatican... and many are the secrets held in pectore..."Not surprisingly Britain's leading homosexual rights advocate, Peter Tatchell called Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Britain's most senior Roman Catholic a hypocrite following revelations of accusations of inappropriate behavior with male priests. "He appears to have preached one thing in public while doing something different in private." Cardinal O'Brien has condemned homosexuality as "a grave sin". He has now apologized to those he had offended for "failures" during his ministry and announced in a statement that he will be standing down as leader of the Scottish Catholic Church. Resigning Monday from the College of Cardinals, he will not take part in electing a new pope, even though he is only 74, thus leaving Britain unrepresented. leaving Britain unrepresented. 

An ignominious end not unlike that of Bernard Francis Cardinal Law of Boston who resigned as Archbishop of Boston in 2002, in response to the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal after church documents were revealed suggesting he had covered up sexual abuse committed by priests in his archdiocese. Many believe he fled to Rome to escape prosecution in 2004. Pope John Paul II appointed Law as Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome.Cardinal Roger Mahony, who retired as head of the L.A. Archdiocese last year, was stripped of his remaining diocesan duties last month over his handling of priest sex abuse cases. He has repeatedly apologized for past mistakes. No criminal charges have been filed against him and he is still expected to participate in the upcoming Conclave despite a growing ground swell clamoring for him to recuse himself from helping to elect the next pope.

Ireland's Sean Brady, Belgium's Godfried Danneels, and Philadelphia's late Cardinal Justin Rigali have all been pilloried in the press over allegations they failed to protect children from pedophiles. Both Brady and Danneels are, by age, eligible to enter into the conclave. The Irish cardinal is 73 and Danneels will turn 80 in June. 

Recent revelations in Italy have alleged the existence of a gay mafia within the Vatican, including senior Cardinals and other Vatican officials, and their alleged participation in gay bars, clubs, saunas, chat rooms and escort services.

Several press reports now suggest that Pope Benedict's stepping down might be over the tension of his knowing about the widespread, deeply entrenched "gay mafia" in the Vatican that only a new pope can root out.

Catholic theologian Larry Chapp noted in Benedict's statement that the reason why the Church needs someone with more physical strength at the helm is because the faith of the Church is facing what he calls a "grave crisis." I think he is saying there is something uniquely dangerous in the current situation of the Church and that unique thing is the de facto apostasy of so many within the Church, up to, and perhaps especially including, many members of the clergy and religious.In his book "Light of the World" Benedict says, "The greatest persecution of the Church comes not from her enemies without, but arises from sin within the Church." The retiring pontiff seems to have found this out through sad experience.

That homosexuality has become the lightning rod issue of our times for nearly all the major Christian denominations is a horrific story which is still unfolding and to which we may now only be seeing the tip of the iceberg.

Charges of hypocrisy notwithstanding, the Roman Catholic Church has stood by its claim that while its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained, based on Sacred Scripture which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.Even if Tatchell's claim that around 40% of Catholic priests in Britain are gay and nearly half of all Cardinals worldwide are thought to be gay, (an unprovable assertion) this will not change the church's teaching nor does it negate Scripture's clear prohibition against any sort of sexual behavior outside marriage between a man and a woman.

The Roman Catholic Church will hold firm to Scripture, history and tradition to maintain its position regardless of how many priests, bishops and cardinals are living double lives and broken the moral law. 

The Episcopal Church on the other hand, has embraced the entire panoply of sexualities - LGBTQI - with devastating consequences to its future. The Roman Catholic Church can still claim a billion souls, even as the West broadly continues its decline away from organized (or even disorganized) religion.Sociologist and culture analyst Dr. Os Guinness is on record as stating that inclusivity is indifference to truth which he calls "profoundly dangerous". In a conversation with a Roman Catholic cardinal, he noted that while the Borgia popes, one of whom fathered children with his own daughter, never denied a single issue of the creed, Episcopal leaders in The Episcopal Church deny much of the creed and remain in post.

Guinness argues that the Church has always made distinctions because truth matters. "Inclusivity is indifference to truth. There is respectful tolerance (based on freedom of conscience) and sloppy tolerance, which is muddle headed, ethically folly and a slipway to real evil."

Hypocrisy over sexuality issues, including gay marriage, may well drive many out of the Roman Catholic Church, but still and all, that branch of Christendom survives and in some geographical instances still thrives. The rise of Catholicism and, of course, Anglicanism in Africa gives the lie that the Hawkins and Dawkins of this world are winning the God no-God debate. Post modernism is running its course to nowhere.Interestingly enough, even as the Roman Catholic Church searches about for a new leader, one possible candidate is Ghana Cardinal Peter Turkson, tipped to become first black pope in modern times. He publicly blames gay priests for abuse scandals facing the Catholic Church and said sex scandals would not happen in African churches. He has faced a predictable backlash after blaming gay priests for the clerical abuse crisis. He said that similar sex scandals would never convulse churches in Africa because the culture was inimical to homosexuality.

The Roman Catholic Church will survive, even though Evangelical Anglicans, who number in the tens of millions, will never bow the knee to Rome and liberal Protestant Christianity will continue its gadarene slide to oblivion.

END

'via Blog this'

The Episcopal Church - USA - Banned at Last, A Three Year Suspension

"What?"

http://www.religionnews.com/2016/01/14/episcopal-church-suspended-anglican-communion/

(RNS) The Anglican Communion voted to censure its American branch, the Episcopal Church, during a meeting in Canterbury, England, called to reflect on the future of the communion.

The vote Thursday (Jan. 14) to suspend the Episcopal Church from voting and decision-making for a period of three years was leaked a day ahead of a press conference that had been scheduled for Friday.

Details of the suspension were first reported by Anglican Ink, a Connecticut-based publication that said they came from a leaked communique. The vote passed by a two-thirds margin, the publication said, and included prominent voices among African bishops who have loudly condemned the American church for its liberal stance on gays.

The dramatic demotion follows a string of Episcopal Church decisions stretching back to 2003, when it elected Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as a bishop of New Hampshire. That decision led dozens of U.S. churches to break away from the Episcopal Church and declare their allegiance to a series of rival groups, including the Anglican Church in North America.

In July, the Episcopal Church voted to allow its clergy to perform same-sex marriages, a move not taken by the majority of churches in the Anglican Communion.

“Given the seriousness of these matters we formally acknowledge this distance by requiring that for a period of three years The Episcopal Church no longer represent us on ecumenical and interfaith bodies … ,” a statement issued by the Anglican Communion reads. “They will not take part in decision making on any issues pertaining to doctrine or polity.”

“The traditional doctrine of the church in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds marriage as between a man and a woman in faithful, lifelong union,” the statement also notes. “The majority of those gathered reaffirm this teaching.”

The Anglican Communion consists of 44 member churches from around the world, representing about 85 million Christians.

The Episcopal Church, the predominant church of many of the 13 original Colonies, has had a disproportionate influence on public life in the United States. The majority of U.S. presidents have been Episcopalians and its influence still far surpasses its 1.8 million U.S. members, who now find themselves without a voice in Anglican Communion decisions.

The three-year term of the suspension is the amount of time until the next denomination-wide meeting of the Episcopal Church, when it will vote on a response, though other church groups could respond sooner.

The suspension comes after four days of discussions among church leaders — “primates,” in church parlance — over the Episcopal Church’s position on gay marriage in relation to the position of the broader Anglican Communion. The meetings apparently got testy; British Christian media reported that the archbishop of Uganda, among the most conservative of Anglican branches, walked out amid disagreements.

Jeffrey Walton, the Anglican program director at the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington, D.C., said the suspension of the Episcopal Church is significant but does not, at this point, represent a schism, or irreparable rupture, within the Anglican Communion.

“This is not kicking the Episcopal Church out of the Anglican Communion, but it is saying is that by making these decisions for the past 12 or so years the Episcopal Church has created this distance and there will be consequences to those decisions.”

Other Anglican experts were mystified at the Anglican Communion’s statement, which consisted of eight brief points.

“This is not how Anglicans should behave,” said Christina Rees, a member of the General Synod, the governing body of the Church of England. “It’s awful. It’s a terrible outcome to the meeting of the primates in Canterbury. What action will now be taken against all those churches in the Anglican Communion who treat gay men and women as criminals? Will they be suspended for three years, too?”

Jim Naughton, former canon for the Archdiocese of Washington and now a communications consultant specializing in the Episcopal Church, called the sanctions a “weird” attempt by the primates to take power away from elected bodies and claim it for themselves.

But Naughton expects no impact in the life of the Episcopal Church.

“We can accept these actions with grace and humility but the Episcopal Church is not going back,” Naughton said. “We can’t repent what is not sin.”

Bishop Ian Douglas of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut wondered whether the Anglican primates wanted the Episcopal Church to repent for its position on same-sex marriage. “Or were they asking for an apology for how the (church’s governing body) went about opening all the roles and rites of the church, including marriage, to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Episcopalians?”

Kevin Eckstrom, director of communications for Washington National Cathedral, the seat of newly installed Presiding Episcopal Bishop Michael Curry, said that while this suspension will be greeted by sadness in the Episcopal Church, it has been on a parallel track with the Anglican Communion for a while.

“It is not unlike a couple who are having marital problems and are sleeping in separate bedrooms,” he said. “Maybe now they are going to formalize the separation.”

Curry told Episcopal News Service the sanction would be painful for many in the Episcopal Church to receive. “Many of us have committed ourselves and our church to being ‘a house of prayer for all people,’ as the Bible says, when all are truly welcome,” Curry said.

Communion leaders also reportedly wanted to censure the Anglican Church of Canada, but because it has not yet adopted same-sex marriage rites, no action was taken.

The Lambeth Palace press office, home of the archbishop of Canterbury, did not respond to requests for comment about the vote, which was leaked to the media.

(Kimberly Winston is a national correspondent for Religion News Service. Senior National Correspondent Cathy Grossman contributed to this report from Washington, D.C., and reporter Trevor Grundy contributed from Canterbury, England.) 

From Virtue Online - New Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church Is a UOJist

http://www.virtueonline.org/washington-presiding-bishop-michael-currys-installation-desolation-episcopal-church

In the Eucharistic prayer, Curry continued his massive changes when he destroyed the scripture from Matthew 26:28. Curry proudly proclaimed that the Lord's blood of the New Covenant was poured out for "all." The Bible reads that the New Covenant is for "many" and the Book of Common Prayer faithfully renders this the same. No, Curry has decided that this is to read "all" without explaining this change.


***
GJ - Calvinists say covenant. NIV-like.

This shows the rapid downhill trajectory of a denomination when the radicals get some power. The LCMS' DP Benke engaged in pan-religious worship and was protected by the SP and put back in office by his addled district.

UOJ and uni-religion go together. From the installation of Curry:

The Anglican primate of Canada, Archbishop Hiltz, asked God to shower grace upon Michael. An Islamic leader, Dr. Alsanousi asked God to help us understand the Holy Quran. Should I repeat that? Yes, he asked God to help us understand the Holy Quran and then went into long sentences that I assume were Arabic and were not listed in the program. Who knows what he said? I don't. A forgettable Moravian prayer ended the ecumenical portion, leaving the question hanging in the air, Where was the Roman Catholic Church? I for one really missed them. Michael Curry warmly embraced the Islamic leader and then moved rapidly over to the altar.

Virtue Online - Obama Invites Robinson To Meet Pope Francis, SJ

Bishop Robinson and his second wife are now splitsville.

Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson invited by President Obama to meet Pope
Other invitees include transgendered and LGBT leaders. No orthodox Anglicans invited
COMMENTARY
By David W. Virtue DD

ELCA works closely with the Episcopalians;
LCMS and WELS work closely with ELCA.

www.virtueonline.org

September 16, 2015

CRUX carries an AP story reporting that President Obama has invited a whole range of religious leaders to the White House to meet Pope Francis when he comes next week. Among them is former New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in The Episcopal Church.

Robinson, you will recall, divorced his wife Boo, so he could marry his boyfriend Mark Andrew. Before "marrying" Mark Andrew, he and his wife went to the church where they were married and made up a ceremony in which they "released" one another from their vows. Then Robinson (who also struggles with alcoholism) "married" his boyfriend Mark and later divorced him too. It has been a rocky, public road for the bishop that no amount of public humiliation seems to have caused him to reflect on his behavior. Robinson, currently a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, has attended a number of religious events with the Obama administration, providing a prayer at President Obama's inauguration in 2009 and taking part in the 2014 National Prayer Breakfast. His hubris knows no end.

At the last General Convention in Salt Lake City, following the passage of gay marriage in the Church, he was heard to cry in the House of Bishops, "It is finished!" seeing himself, once again, the martyr being sacrificed on the phallic cross of his desires and of his own making. He has achieved what no bishop (not even the Borgia popes succeeded in doing) has done -- denying the creed and still holding onto his job and pension.
Robinson's consecration to Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003 was the cause of the single biggest exodus from The Episcopal Church since it was organized after the American Revolution, when it separated from The Church of England.

Over the next decade following his ordination, more than 200,000 practicing Episcopalians left the Episcopal Church, fleeing to safer spiritual climes like the Anglican Church in North America, the Roman Catholic Church, The Ordinariate, the Lutheran Church, and a number of other smaller orthodox denominations. It has been the worst flight in TEC's history with zero chance of recovery. There are less than 700,000 Episcopalians worshipping in some 6700 churches weekly, with two thirds of them made up of women over 60. Nearly half of all these churches have neither a full time rector nor a part time non-stipendiary priest.

Other invitees include a pro-abortion nun, and at least two openly gay Catholic activists who will be among the thousands greeting Pope Francis, thanks to decisions by the Obama administration.

LifeSiteNews has confirmed that Mateo Williamson, a biological woman who identifies as a man, and former co-chairman of the Transgender Caucus for Dignity USA, received an invitation to the White House when Pope Francis visits next week. Williamson declined to speak with LifeSiteNews about the invitation, instead commending invitation organizer Vivian Taylor.

Taylor is the executive director of the national LGBT advocacy arm of the Episcopal Church and a biological male.
Rev. Stephanie Spellers, an Episcopal theologian wasn't able to register for the event in time, but told CNS News she "did get the invite." Spellers is the author of "Radical Welcome: Embracing God, the Other, and theSpirit of Transformation."

Dissident Catholic nun, Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of the social justice group NETWORK and pro-abortion leader of "Nuns on the Bus," will also attend. Campbell is widely credited with undermining the abortion concerns of U.S. bishops when the Affordable Care Act was being debated five-and-a-half years ago.
An investigation of Campbell's organization, started by Pope Benedict XVI, ended earlier this year with few repercussions for the organization.

Perhaps most famously, gay Catholic blogger Aaron Ledesma -- who claims that Pope Francis drew him back to the Church earlier this year -- will be in the large crowd on White House grounds. Ledesma, 23, writes a blog called "The Gay Catholic."

Other confirmed attenders at the White House reception are the Rev. Joel Hunter, an evangelical megachurch pastor from Florida who is a confidant of Obama on spiritual matters; the Rev. Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents about 40 conservative Christian denominations; and the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, a major US Latino evangelical group that, along with the US Roman Catholic bishops, has pressed lawmakers for immigration reform.
There will be thousands at this "audience" with Pope Francis. It's doubtful that Gene Robinson will be in the line up to meet Pope Francis personally, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him maneuvered into place for a photo with the Pope, which the mainstream media will then publish with the caption, "Pope Francis and Gay Bishop: Who Am I to Judge?" writes Catholic convert Dwight Longenecker.

Robinson has been a one man wrecking crew that got away with it because conservatives in The Episcopal Church kept drawing lines in the sand in the hope that the Episcopal Church would see reason, come to its senses and its leaders repent of their ways. It never happened.

FOOTNOTE. I have received press credentials to report on the Pope when he comes to Philadelphia -- as far as I know, the only Anglican journalist to obtain credentials. I will report first on the Synod on the Family, followed by the Pope's visit. I will file stories daily. You can see them at www.virtueonline.org
END

Pentecost at a Hip, Episcopal Church

Virtue Online - An Overview of the News - Good and Bad

http://www.virtueonline.org/diocese-ft-worth-iker-wins-next-round-property-warscliteracy-art-sewanee-outrages-alumniepiscopal

It is impossible to reconcile such decisions with the commandments of Scripture and traditional Christian morality. The Orthodox Church has condemned the aforementioned innovations as apostasy from the norms of the apostolic faith and church order as fixed by the Gospel and Church Tradition. --- Patriarchate Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk

Our mission is to introduce people to life in the Kingdom, to the range of God's effective will--where what God wants done is done. We introduce people to such a biblical understanding of discipleship: that it is literally living our lives as Jesus would if he were in our shoes, our context. --- Dallas Willard

"As I look back over fifty years of ministry, I recall innumerable tests, trials and times of crushing pain. But through it all, the Lord has proven faithful, loving, and totally true to all his promises." --- David Wilkerson

God is watching. Forget about the judgment of history. For those of you who are religious people, you have to think about the judgment of God. And don't worry about asking God to bless what you are doing. Look for what God is doing and get involved in that, because that has already been blessed. --- Bono

The mark of true preaching. Persecution or opposition is a mark of every true Christian preacher ... The Old Testament prophets found it so, men like Amos, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. So did the New Testament apostles. And down the centuries of the Christian church, until and including today, Christian preachers who refuse to distort or dilute the gospel of grace have had to suffer for their faithfulness. The good news of Christ crucified is still a 'scandal' (Greek, *skandalon", stumbling-block), grievously offensive to the pride of men. --- John R.W. Stott

If, in the enlightened perspectives of tolerance, equality and sexual anti-discrimination, Parliament (UK) sees fit to 'pardon' those who were once found guilty of gross indecency, why, in the enlightened perspectives of theological ecumenism, spiritual sophistication and religious anti-discrimination, will they not pardon those who were once convicted and executed for heresy? Not enough votes in it? ---- Archbishop Cranmer blog

Dear Brothers and Sisters

www.virtueonline.org

March 6, 2015

After a bitter, seven-year legal dispute, state District Judge John Chupp ruled Monday that Episcopalians, led by Bishop Jack Iker who broke away from the national Episcopal Church, are entitled to an estimated $100 million in property in the 24-county Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth.

Fort Worth-area Episcopalians, who remained loyal to the national Episcopal Church and reorganized the diocese under Bishop Rayford High, have the right to appeal the decision.

"We are grateful for the ruling in our favor. It is clear that both church laws and Texas laws have been rightly applied in this dispute," Iker proclaimed.

The schism occurred in 2008 when Iker and a majority of the 56 churches in the diocese broke away from the national church over issues including ordaining of gays and lesbians. Now Iker's group is a part of the Anglican Church in North America.

Chupp's order reversed his 2011 ruling declaring that the property belonged to the national Episcopal Church for use by the Fort Worth group that chose to remain affiliated with the New York-based denomination.

Chupp's earlier decision was based on what are called "deferential" principles, meaning that state law should defer to the rules of hierarchical religious institutions. An Episcopal Church law, called the "Dennis Canon," states that church property belongs to denomination, not local dioceses.

The Texas Supreme Court overturned that decision and ordered Chupp to rehear the case on "neutral principles" that govern nonreligious organizations. That favored Iker's group, which several years ago passed several local diocesan ordinances declaring that the Fort Worth diocese, not the national church, owned the property in the diocese.

Suzanne Gill, a spokeswoman for Iker's group, announced an appeal of the decision is expected. "This will likely go to the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth ... and possibly to the Supreme Court again."

Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church
has destroyed, murdered, and scattered the flock.
Remember that Selective Outrage is
a component of Selective Diversity.
She is a one-hit wonder and will retire from office.

*****

The outrage continues at Sewanee: the University of the South -- from gay marriages to porn movie showings to the latest piece of outrage. Officials at Sewanee excitedly unveiled a massive golden clitoris statue in the main library at the Episcopal Church-affiliated liberal arts school in Tennessee. It will be there for two weeks. Following the unveiling, there was a reception.

The sculpture is part of a project called "CLITERACY" by feminist artist Sophia Wallace. She has presented her work in exhibitions throughout the U.S. and abroad, at the Kunsthalle Wien Museum, Art Basel Miami, Scope NY, Taschen Gallery, Aperture Gallery, and more. Her work has been reviewed in the New Yorker, Salon, and Hyperallergic, among others, and has been recognized with awards such as the Critic's Pick Award at the Griffin Museum. Not a single Christian university or theological college in the U.S. has embraced this sexualized "art". Only the Episcopal Church's one university.

The Cliteracy "Art" outraged Alumni and Friends. VOL sent an Open letter calling upon Dean McCardell to remove this monstrosity and apologize to parents.

According to an official announcement, CLITERACY will disrupt not only the silence of its setting, but also the overall cultural silence surrounding female bodies in a phallocentric society.

A few days later, the following was reported in the Sewanee Purple campus newspaper. Laci Green comes to Sewanee advertising "The Best Sex Ever."

"My hope is that you will be given some tools, ideas, and information in order to have whatever you would consider the best sex," Green started. The lecture followed a simple outline, addressing anatomy, health, and consent. Noticeable 'ewwwwws' were heard when Green presented a photo of a vulva. "What is that? A vagina? It's actually a vulva -- which is the technical term for the outside."

A large portion of the section that followed was dedicated not only to eliminating "ew" as a reaction to a healthy vulva, but also to debunking myths about vulvas and sex, including the myth that longer labias are a result of a woman having more sex. "Sometimes I'll hear 'Um she just had a lot of sex. She's just a slut.' Honey, no. The myth that you get longer labia from more sex is just a myth," Green announced. She also destroyed the idea that if a vagina is more open and wet, the woman is more sexually active. To the contrary, if a woman's vagina is not wet and open, it is likely that she is not aroused.

"Trying to find a good picture of an average, front-facing, unerect penis was nearly impossible," Green explained when the talk turned to the male anatomy. "The average size of a penis is 5.5 inches. Most teenagers will assume the average size is 7-8 inches, usually thanks to porn." She then went on to explain how societal pressure to measure masculinity based on penis size is completely unfounded. "Not only is it something you shouldn't have to worry about, but size also has very little to do with pleasure. It's all about how you use it."

Other topics Green discussed included masturbation and STIs. On the subject of STIs, Green said "STDs are normal, preventable, and often curable. But STDs are especially shamed because they are usually gotten from sex." The most common STIs on college campuses are Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Genital Warts, and Herpes. The best way to avoid getting an STI is to use protection every time. She said STDs were NORMAL!!

As the talk concluded, Green reminded the audience that respect and enjoying oneself are the foundations of the "best sex ever." Afterwards, a large portion of the audience lined up to take photos with Green and/or the large blue dildo. In order to make safe, healthy sex as easy as possible for everyone on campus, free condoms are always available at the Wellness Center, while free condoms, lube, and dental dams are always available at the Women's Center.

By sponsoring the STD preventing dental dams, Sewanee is admitting the kinds of sex it encourages are unsafe.

No mention is made of what the Bible has to say about sex before marriage. Apparently, that was of no concern to Green. Fornication is now normal. Not a word of rebuttal from Dean McCardell has been heard either.

Sewanee University Chapel -
truth on the scaffold,
error on the throne.

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT AND BOARD OF REGENTS

We call upon Dean John McCardell, Chaplain Thomas MacFie, Diversity Change Agents Benjamin and Hamilton, Bishop Alexander, Jon Meacham, and All Regents by Name to either apologize for this dangerous sickness and promise it will never happen again, or come out and admit that "Civility and Respect" demands of them that they affirmatively and actively support vile sex addictions for teens and lesbian pornography for all.

The question must be asked: What is Sewanee doing to curb the growing spread of teen STDs and AIDs on Campus? Would they allow this at their own successful businesses?

We call upon them to remove this so-called piece of art from the premises of this Episcopal University, apologize to alumni and parents and vow it will never happen again.

Write to Dean John McCardell here: vc@sewanee.edu

*****

Chapel design and Photoshop by Norma Boeckler.

A Church that is no longer able to say "it is written" has placed itself in great spiritual danger, but that is where the Anglican Communion is headed, according to Kenya Archbishop Eliud Wabukala and GAFCON chairman in his Lenten letter.

Citing a review of Living Reconciliation, by CofE theologian Dr. Martin Davie, a book written to promote the "Continuing Indaba" project, Wabukala said the book is not faithful to the Bible's teaching that reconciliation has evangelism at its heart. What the writers are really concerned about is institutional unity; they simply assume that the deeply divisive promotion of same sex relationships by such Churches as the Episcopal Church of the United States is not a barrier to full and continued fellowship.

According to Dr. Davie, "The New Testament's emphasis is not on people learning to live with what divides them, but learning to live out what unites them." The New Testament teaches that reconciliation with one another flows from reconciliation with God through repentance and faith in the gospel message. It does not make sense to call for reconciliation in the Church while, at the same time, accepting behavior the Bible says excludes people from the Kingdom of God unless they repent.

He concludes that the path recommended by the authors of Living Reconciliation is "effectively a blank check for the acceptance of any and every possible form of deviation from New Testament Christianity."

*****

Four Episcopal laypersons have written a letter to the Deputies of the 2015 Episcopal Church General Convention asking for an accounting of the $20 million spent on litigation in 94 civil lawsuits. Their letter reads:

We were among the 5,000 signatories of an unanswered petition requesting an accounting and transparency from the Church in spending more than $20 million dollars of church funds for litigation in 94 civil lawsuits. Five dioceses and hundreds of parishes wished to depart the Episcopal Church with their property but the Presiding Bishop and her chancellor abruptly ended peaceful negotiations for departure and filed civil lawsuits to seize those properties. Over forty of the lawsuits involved actions against parishioners who voluntarily served as vestry members or other leadership positions. In several cases, the Presiding Bishop was seeking the personal assets of these parishioners for monetary punitive damages causing undue and unjust personal financial hardship and mental suffering to them. In the past two decades, an estimated 1.5 million Episcopalians transferred to another Anglican Church, left for another denomination, or left the Christian faith altogether and more than 500 Episcopal Churches have closed.

Further, more than 700 former clergy and 12 Bishops were defrocked or suspended from their ordained ministry when they sought transfer to another Anglican Church. By misuse of the canons, and without a hearing or trial, the Presiding Bishop extinguished the right of those clergy to exercise the gifts and spiritual authority conferred in ordination at the Anglican Church body where they have transferred. Countless lives were shattered and relationships destroyed by these actions, for these good men and women did not take their solemn vows of ordination lightly, and they were unjustly defrocked for it.

Two Dioceses, the Diocese of Pittsburgh and the Diocese of South Carolina, saw the harshness of the Presiding Bishop's action against her Brothers and Sisters in Christ and lessened the Abandonment charge to "restrict [the] exercise of ministry" only within TEC.

We seek an end to these unprecedented unjust acts by an appropriate resolve and executed by this 2015 General Convention committing the Episcopal Church to make full restitution for these actions, with the 94 lawsuits withdrawn from secular courts and all associated court costs paid for by the Episcopal Church. We call for the Convention to support those Dioceses and parishes wishing to depart from the Episcopal Church, to go with your blessing, recognizing that departing are members in good standing and the convention supports their quest to transfer and/or become recognized members of the Anglican Communion if they so desire.

To our 700 Clergy Brothers and Sisters, realizing the church can never make amends for what the Church has done, we call for the Episcopal Church to begin a process of healing and conciliation for all concerned at the diocesan level and the church begin with all rights and privileges of ordination totally restored.

Finally, to all members of the church, we call for the Episcopal Church to communicate an apology for misleading your members, for lack of transparency in your leadership roles and hold yourselves accountable for all these actions, with the assurance this will never happen again.

Faithfully,

Bradley Hutt, former Senior Warden, Christ Episcopal Church, Clinton, MD.

Bill Boniface, former Senior Warden, St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Croom, MD.

Nancy Virts, former Senior Warden, All Faith Episcopal Church, Charlotte Hall, MD.

Bob McCarthy, former Senior Warden, St. Georges Episcopal Church, Valley Lee, MD.

*****

Brent Bozell, III

Conservative activist and media critic L.Brent Bozell, in an interview at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) over the weekend in National Harbor, Maryland, predicted that "an effort [will be made] within three years" to bring criminal charges against a priest or a pastor for "talking about traditional marriage."

The founder and president of both the conservative Media Research Center and Cybercast News Service warned in a 20 minute speech from the main stage at CPAC on Friday that "the radical left" is trying to "destroy the last vestiges of freedom in America," evidenced by, among a list of other things, the belief that "there's only one morally acceptable position on gay rights."

Asked to elaborate on his thoughts, Bozell said that in the "radical left" world view, "there are the oppressors and the victims, and the oppressors are Christians, and the victims are the ones they are oppressing for not abiding to the dictates of the state.

"I think it's very dangerous," he continued. "I'm not going to be at all surprised to see an effort made within three years, an effort made somewhere against a priest or a pastor for talking about traditional marriage and for calling homosexuality a sin. I will not be at all surprised if there are criminal charges brought against one of them."

Bozell also condemned laws barring discrimination against LGBT people in public accommodations, such as bakers or florists, saying the state "should have no say" in the matter.

*****

The University of the South's School of Theology has launched a new seminary program, EQB Fellowship, to address seminarians' debt. The university's motto, Ecce Quam Bonum ("How good it is"), is shortened from "How good it is when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity" (Ps. 133).

EQB Fellowship program will create a new model of sustainable living and learning in a residential community for 12 seminarians. Students will receive full scholarships, including living expenses, which will allow them to graduate debt-free and provide a rich environment for leadership formation. Students will live in EQB House on the University of the South's campus.

Four students will be admitted to the program each year, beginning in the 2015-16 academic year, with a maximum of 12 overall. These 12 students will be selected for their commitment to change-the-world ventures for the Church of the 21st century.

The real question is: What they will learn while there and what impact will it have on a dying denomination that is rapidly aging and whose congregations are now under 70? If the recent blast by pipsqueak Sewanee theologian Paul A. Holloway against a giant like N.T. Wright is any indication, this EQB program might not be worth much, if anything.

*****

Knox was not one to dabble in public relations.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, a senior American churchman in Rome who has been one of the most outspoken critics of Pope Francis' push for reform, is roiling the waters yet again, this time arguing that the Catholic Church has become too "feminized."

Burke, who was recently demoted from the Vatican's highest court to a ceremonial philanthropic post, also pointed to the introduction of altar girls as why fewer men are joining the priesthood.

"Young boys don't want to do things with girls. It's just natural. I think that this has contributed to a loss of priestly vocations."

Perhaps Cardinal Burke should take a long hard look at the Episcopal Church, the most feminized, sodomist church in modern history and only getting worse, as to what he and his church can look forward to. Masculinity is almost a swear word in TEC these days.

*****

The two-headed calf -
Rome or Fuller Seminary?

The big news this summer at General Convention will be the Marriage Task Force, which calls for revision of the marriage canon into gender-neutral language.

The proposed change would allow clergy to solemnize same-sex unions. The A050 Task Force on the Study of Marriage is recommending that the 2015 meeting of General Convention authorize Episcopal Church clergy to officiate at same-sex marriages.

The task force proposes the change in its just-released Blue Book report by way of a resolution (numbered A036) that would revise Canon I.18 titled "Of the Solemnization of Holy Matrimony" (page 58 of The Episcopal Church's canons).

The revision removes, among many edits, the language of I.18.2(b) that requires couples to "understand that Holy Matrimony is a physical and spiritual union of a man and a woman." Removing that and other gender-specific language from the canon, the report says, in satisfying the mandate in the group's enabling resolution that it "address the pastoral need for priests to officiate at a civil marriage of a same-sex couple in states that authorize such."

Section 3 of Canon 18 would be rewritten to, in part, remove the requirement that the couple sign a declaration stating they "solemnly declare that we hold marriage to be a lifelong union of husband and wife as it is set forth in the Book of Common Prayer."

The revision would recast the requirement in the canon's first section that clergy conform to both "the laws of the state" and "the laws of this Church" about marriage. The rewritten portion of that section would require that clergy conform to "the laws of the State governing the creation of the civil status of marriage, and also to these canons concerning the solemnization of marriage."

It is fair to say that this will pass with little fuss except from a handful of orthodox bishops and deputies. It's a forgone conclusion really. It will be heralded as a great step forward for gays in the church and America. Nobody really cares what Archbishop Justin Welby thinks or how this will impact the Global South. TEC doesn't care. Of course, the Episcopal Church will carry on about "shared conversations" and "generous orthodoxy" -- the latter not even Rowan Williams could get his head around. There will be the endless talk of Indaba and living into our differences and so on. TEC is determined to walk apart and so has GAFCON. This act will just be another point of departure.

*****

Malcolm Muggeridge was a serial groper who "caused much hurt to those close to him," his niece admitted in an article that appeared in the Daily Telegraph. The former deputy editor of the Daily Telegraph was "anything but a saint in his first sixty years," says Sally Muggeridge, but his conversion to Christianity was "genuinely life changing."

In a letter to the Telegraph, she said the transformation saw him adopt a more austere lifestyle and give up meat, sex, smoking, and drinking.

His niece, who is the international president of the Malcolm Muggeridge Society, says he was reportedly nicknamed "The Pouncer" within the BBC and was also described as "a man fully deserving of the acronym NSIT -- not safe in taxis".

She said the society had "never sought to paint Muggeridge other than a man with very great gifts but also some serious flaws. The latter caused much hurt to those close to him, particularly his wife, my aunt Kitty."

It was therefore "all the more remarkable, perhaps, that Muggeridge was able to effect such a life-changing transition in his sixties to born-again Christian, adopting a much more spartan lifestyle: not only giving up sex, smoking and drinking but also becoming a vegetarian."

I knew Malcolm and Kitty Muggeridge in the late 60s when I met him at an Anglican Retreat Center near Robertsbridge in Sussex. It was at the time of the Czech invasion by the Soviets and a group of young Czech Christians had fled the country to start new lives in England. When we met there was an instant connection. He later invited me to his home where I met Kitty, his wife. They took me - a young man without family who had left his home country of New Zealand to study abroad - under their wing. Over the following two years, I was repeatedly invited to their country home away from the temptations of London. They cared for me as their son during that time. All their children had long since grown and gone. I did a television show with Malcolm, Why Christianity with people like A.J. Ayers fulminating against Christianity. We bonded further.

After his conversion, of course, Muggs, as he was affectionately known, was totally faithful to his wife Kitty (but they previously had what might be described as an open marriage for many years.) She had a child by another man and Muggs himself was certainly promiscuous in his unregenerate years. Their lives were changed through their encounter with Christ. They touched neither wine nor meat, and did not smoke. Both chose to live celibately, faithfully reading the Book of Common Prayer each day.

This scurrilous attempt to blacken Muggeridge because of recent revelations of celebrity Brits like Jimmy Saville and Stuart Hall, both sexual perverts and pedophiles, is outrageous both to the Muggeridge legacy as a Christian who was once described by the Rev. John Stott as a "prophet" and to the contribution he made to the Christian cause at a time when England was fast heading towards modernity and paganism. His critics forget that St. Mugg was a groper when he was one of them, and stopped when he was one of us! He was, then and now, a light in the darkness. I loved them both and treasure their memory.

*****

There were two notable deaths in The Episcopal Church this week and both wrought havoc in their own way on the church. The first was the author of Are you Running with Me Jesus Malcolm Boyd, activist-writer priest who died at 91 in Los Angeles. He was ordained one of the first openly gay priests whose partner was with him when he died. His books made him moderately famous as did his sexuality at the time.

The other death was the former Bishop of Long Island Orris Walker, one of the truly great disasters of our time, right up there with Charles Bennison.

In 2009 I wrote that the Long Island Episcopal Bishop faced Presentment Charges if he did not step down.

Katharine Jefferts Schori, the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, made a phone call to Walker, and in a no holds barred conversation she told the bishop, a man who has been in and out of rehab for years with serious drinking problems, that he was out, finished as bishop, and that any attempt by him to hold on for three more years following the election of a new bishop would invite canonical charges.

Specifically, she informed Walker that he had better bow out gracefully and fade away, or the House of Bishops would formally look into the voluminous charges against him, not the least of which were his numerous cases of failure to comply with the canonical visitation to parishes.

Walker took the conversation to heart and reluctantly agreed.

For years, Walker and his diocese have been plagued with sexual scandals chronicled in Penthouse magazine, Standing-Committee mandated forensic audits for misuse of his diocesan credit card, constant financial failures, and numerous closed parishes. The list is endless. Any and all critiques of his ministry were struck down with the bloody shirt of racist allegations. Neither man will be missed, both contributed to the ongoing destruction of The Episcopal Church.

*****

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In Christ,

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