1 May 2015 A.D. UPDATE: U.S. Episcopal News—Savanah Rector, General Seminary, NYC and Other Seminaries, Bishop Waldo of Upper SC, Strategic Moves for General Convention 2016

1 May 2015 A.D. UPDATE: U.S. Episcopal News—Savanah Rector, General Seminary, NYC and Other Seminaries, Bishop Waldo of Upper SC, Strategic Moves for General Convention 2016, GAFCON 2018, Bishop Bane of NC, and Washington Cathedral & Islam

Virtue, David. “On the Episcopal and Anglican home front.” Virtueonline.org. 30 Apr 2015. http://virtueonline.org/christians-china-130-million-stronggts-faculty-call-att-gen-intervenegeorgia-tec-priest-arrested. Accessed 30 Apr 2015.

On the Episcopal and Anglican home front, the news was mostly bad. An Episcopal priest in Savannah, Georgia, was arrested for downloading a pile of child porn; General Theological Seminary in New York City is back in the news with faculty and alumni calling on the NY Attorney General to investigate the seminary's finances, the sale of Episcopal properties in the immediate area, and the retention of a president who is thoroughly disliked by all, but who holds grimly onto the job anyway. Library faculty have resigned, some students have left, and there is only one new paying student for the coming semester. GTS is ripe for closing. Even as it does, they will award an honorary doctorate to black Atlanta Bishop Robert Wright, the last desperate act of a dying seminary. Truth is most of The Episcopal Church's seminaries are in trouble with lousy finances, many pushing gay theology, a dwindling student population, and a spiritual environment at complete odds with the gospel.

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It will come as no surprise that the Episcopal Church is pushing for the SCOTUS to legitimize same-sex marriage. Episcopalians, who followed the April 28 U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments on whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to be married, are no doubt looking ahead to the implications of the court's eventual ruling for this summer's General Convention.

The Episcopal Church officially has advocated for equal treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in both the civil and ecclesial arenas for years. The church's advocacy for civil equality for LGBT persons began in 1976 with Resolution A071 which stated, "homosexual persons are entitled to equal protection of the laws with all other citizens, and calls upon our society to see that such protection is provided in actuality." Translation. Let's go for gay marriage.

So TEC and a number of mainline Protestant denominations want it, but will they get it? Many think it is a slam-dunk, but not everyone. Judges Alito and Scalia are against it while Kennedy is considered the "swing" vote. He adopted the liberal position on three more limited gay cases. He is clearly reconsidering. Many believe it should be a state's issue, but pansexualists want a national referendum that allows them to cross state lines even if the state they move to will not allow gay marriage.

If the judges go for it, expect push back. VOL has posted a story in today's digest that says a number of well-known U.S. evangelical leaders have said they will not obey the new law and are threatening civil disobedience if the Supreme Court legalizes gay marriage.

"We respectfully warn the Supreme Court not to cross that line," read a document titled, Pledge in Solidarity to Defend Marriage. "We stand united together in defense of marriage. Make no mistake about our resolve.

"While there are many things we can endure, redefining marriage is so fundamental to the natural order and the common good that this is the line we must draw and one we cannot and will not cross," the pledge states. They say Western civilization will collapse if this goes through.

And you wonder why God's Holy Spirit is now moving firmly in China and Africa. This abomination is not even on their radar screen!

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It will come as no surprise that Bishop C. Andrew Waldo of Upper South Carolina announced this week that he will approve same sex blessings in the diocese, but at least one parish is pushing back. The rector of Christ Church, Greenburg, SC, the Rev. Harrison M. McLeod wrote a letter saying he would not authorize such blessings, undoubtedly putting him in Waldo's sights to be dealt with later.

"My parish is, in vast majority, quite pleased with Harrison's decision and I am personally very thankful for the clarity and directness of his statement, and in writing as well, so that there can be no mistake or miscommunication. The conservatives whom I know in the diocese are, obviously, very displeased with Bishop Waldo's decision," wrote a blogger.

Waldo is a disaster. He has made so many bad decisions, been sued twice and constitutes one of the most truly lightweight bishops in TEC's HOB.

He once said he counted Bishop Gene Robinson as his "mentor," and was clear that he sought to institute same sex blessings after General Convention approved a rite. He said he counts Jesus as "my way" and "my truth," and practiced Communion of the unbaptized, in violation of the national church canons, at his old parish. The list goes on and on.

Wrote one blogger, "Bishop Waldo now stands, in his capacity as bishop of this diocese, as a sign and a figure of disunity, division, and disorder. He is not a catholic and "visible sign of unity" as bishops are asked to be; he is an icon of division within our diocese. What an unspeakable tragedy for his episcopacy and for this diocese."

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GAFCON Primates met in London recently with both bad secular press and the religious press misinterpreting the event. A group calling themselves Thinking Anglicans offered up the worst unthinking tripe on the meeting. ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach, who was present for the occasion, will do a tell all for VOL thus giving you a fully accurate picture of what was said and not said along with the intentions of the Primates and the AMiE. Watch for the interview in coming days.

The GAFCON Primates Council issued a communique saying that the next GAFCON conference will be in 2018, but did not say where. This global gathering now serves a critical function in the life of the Anglican Communion as it is an effective instrument of unity, which is capable of gathering the majority of the world's Anglicans together.

The primates heard from GAFCON's newest province and its Archbishop, Foley Beach of the Province of the Anglican Church in North America, who was unanimously elected to the GAFCON Primates Council. Archbishop Beach shared about the remarkable growth being experienced in North America, evidenced by the planting of 483 new congregations since 2009.

They also celebrated the recent launch of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Australia (FCA AU), the newest GAFCON fellowship, led by the Venerable Richard Condie, Archdeacon of Melbourne. Over 450 participants attended the inaugural conference in March 2015; this fellowship is now well positioned to contend for the faith in the years to come.

"FCA UK & Ireland, formed at our initiative, continues to welcome and provide support for faithful Anglicans in the British Isles. We are particularly concerned about the Church of England and the drift of many from the Biblical faith. We do not regard the recent use of a Church of England building for a Muslim service as a minor aberration. These actions betray the gospel and discourage Christians who live among Muslims, especially those experiencing persecution."

They also said they supported Bishop John Ellison in resisting the unjust and uncharitable charges brought against him by the Bishop of Salisbury, noting the sad irony that this former missionary bishop to South America now finds it necessary to defend himself for supporting missionary activity in his own country.

They also sought to encourage and support the efforts of those working to restore the Church of England's commitment to Biblical truth, a sort of slap in the face at Archbishop Justin Welby who undoubtedly ground his teeth in Lambeth Palace on reading this.

The GAFCON primates said they were structuring for the future and planned for the expansion of their movement in order to touch the lives of many more Anglicans with gospel fellowship. "As part of this we have identified a clear need for theological education and the training of leaders, especially bishops, and we have started work on both of these priorities. We also recognize an increasing need to be able to respond both to calls for affiliation from other provinces, and requests for support from emerging fellowships where the biblical gospel is under threat."

They also said they were not leaving the Anglican Communion.

One of the reasons there will be no formal split in the Anglican Communion is that the communion is already owned by the Global South. ACNA Bishop Bill Atwood crunched the numbers and revealed (what VOL has been saying for years) that the Global South is in complete agreement with GAFCON in terms of Biblical faith and theology. In fact, a reasonable guess of the orthodox majority in the Anglican Communion is about 95% of the active Anglicans in the world, or perhaps as many as 53 million out of the 56 million active Anglicans. (Please let's stop talking about the Church of England having 26 million Anglicans. Most of them haven't darkened the doors of a church since they were baptized.) Truth is the CofE has less than one million active Anglicans.

The point is the presence of GAFCON in the Communion is huge. There is no need for GAFCON provinces to leave the Communion; they are the Communion. This is certainly true when viewed together with most of the Global South Provinces. Their numbers and influence just aren't reflected in the old structures of the Communion. Hence the need for GAFCON and its structures!

Atwood points out that there are more people in the Youth Group of All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi than there are in the entire Province of Mexico! VOL broke the news that The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) now has more people in Church on a Sunday than the Church in Canada, Brazil, Hong Kong, Japan, or Korea!

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The Episcopal Church saw a return to its fold this week of Bishop David Bane, former bishop of Southern Virginia.

Snubbed for more than three years after resigning as Bishop of Southern Virginia in 2006, Bane joined the Anglican Church of North America and accepted an invitation to serve as Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

In a copy of a letter sent to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop Bane told VOL he described his action "as one of the saddest and most unanticipated decisions in my life. On the other hand, I can no longer deceive myself that I can be fulfilled and happy without being engaged in Christian ordained episcopal ministry." Bishop Bane said he felt like a "pariah" and that people he had considered long-time friends and colleagues "refused even to look me in the eye."

Bane was railroaded out of The Episcopal Church in October 2006 because he insisted that his clergy uphold the findings of the Windsor Report and because he is also orthodox in faith and morals. Bane voted against Gene Robinson's consecration, voted for the creeds, and embraced the Windsor Report.

At that time, he wrote VOL a letter saying that a "2004 DOC Report," which was supposed to be an impartial and pastoral look at the functioning of the diocesan organizational structure with recommendations for areas of improvement, concluded that he, not a dysfunctional diocese, was the cause of the problems in the diocese.

So now he has returned "home" to TEC. The news stories and official blurb won't really tell you why and he won't either. Has it to do with his pension? Why would a man so badly treated, return like a dog to its vomit? This is one step forward (leaving TEC) and two steps back (returning to TEC).

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General Convention is upcoming shortly and the Church's orthodox deep thinkers are raising a lot of questions about what they should do. Philip Turner and Ephraim Radner of the Anglican Communion Institute, wrote, "There are times in the life of individuals, institutions and communities when they are faced with questions for which received wisdom has no ready answers. As loyal members and Priests of The Episcopal Church (TEC), we find ourselves in precisely this position. As our General Convention approaches, changes are afoot within TEC that either have or soon will alter the worship, common life, governance and identity of our church in ways that render all of them in fundamental ways unrecognizable as continuations of what went before." That's a bit like discovering there is water in the Delaware River. VOL has been railing about these issues for years, but the ACI folk are just now getting religion.

The place to begin is with TEC's constitution, they wrote. "It is here that the revolutionary character of the changes now in process becomes most obvious. No constitution is in itself a "supreme authority" for the simple reason that it is incapable of rendering particular and final judgments in the ordering of common life." They rail against centralized authority in GC and say the office of the PB and the Executive Council is abusing power, absolutism, arbitrary rule, whimsical change, and indifferent disregard of others easier and more likely."

They cite as one abuse of power the canonical changes in Title IV that concentrate disciplinary powers vis a vis clergy in the office of individual bishops, and disciplinary powers vis a vis bishops in the office of the Presiding Bishop (Title IV Revisions: Unmasked). Both of these moves have in fact significantly tilted procedural force in the direction of abuse of power, on a diocesan and on a national level. They cite the way Bishop Mark Lawrence was treated in South Carolina; the mistreatment of the six bishops who, having sworn an oath to uphold the order of TEC, signed an Amicus Brief in Texas stating their understanding of the Constitution; and numerous individual priests, believing they were also so obliged, being subject to arbitrary accusations.

These two theologians also cite the Book of Common Prayer's complete dissolution as the center of common life and Christian formation. "Unless the BCP is allowed to mean what it says, and to have what it says stand as the 'saying' of the Church, it is a meaningless authority." They say the proposals before GC this summer do this in two ways. First, there is the proposal to adopt canons which say that what the BCP describes as marriage is not in fact authoritatively meaningful; such a canon, it is believed by the proposers, will permit same-sex marriages to be performed in our church. This proposal for a new canon, that alters the BCP's stated meaning even without revising the BCP itself, derives from a desire to skirt the constitutional process required for prayer book revision itself. Therefore, they propose a canon that asserts that the BCP, in the marriage service, does not mean what it plainly says, but may mean other things, or may simply be ignored as to its meaning when it is used.

Their third issue is over mission. TEC, of course, has redefined mission to mean everything other than saving souls or pressing the gospel. The DFMS, they argue, has evolved into a legal place-holder for TEC, with its missionary origins and purposes basically lost in the business and bureaucracy of overseeing the large organization known as "815" -- the Office of the Presiding Bishop, and various offices related to GC's commissions and financial needs. "The missionary center of TEC, once admired around the world, has simply disappeared.

"They have pressed forward with decisions that deeply alienated many of their own membership; they engaged in acrimonious litigation that has cost tens of millions of dollars from the "mission funds" of TEC; they have chosen to ignore numerous requests from world Anglicans, including many of their former mission partners, to forgo various moral and liturgical innovations that have been deemed problematic and divisive; they have fostered a spirit of hostility towards their own evangelical members and those of classical Christian commitments in the Communion, as well as towards other Christian churches of classic character; and, as a whole, they have done nothing to further the visible, Gospel-centered, and reconciled unity of their own flock."

These leaders call for the Church to repent. It won't happen of course, TEC is way past believing it is living in sin. So why are these guys still in TEC! Do they really think TEC can be reformed at this late stage in the game?

These deep thinkers cite the play, A Man for all Seasons, wherein Robert Bolt presents a scene between Thomas More and his son-in-law, William Roper. Roper says to More that he would cut through all the law of England to get to the Devil. More responds, "and after you have cut through all the laws and the Devil turns around and there is nothing between you and him, what then son Roper, what then?" Bolt's point is germane. After we have cut through the restraints of the Constitution to gain an end, what then? Where is our protection from grotesque abuses of power and all their bitter fruits?

Where, indeed.

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Washington's National Cathedral apparently sees no evil in Islam. Commentator Andrew Harrod attended a presentation on Islam in America at the National Cathedral recently which had a predictably politically correct tone

"My Christian faith coexists happily with the largely Muslim culture in which I grew up" in the Middle East, stated counterfactually Grace Said while introducing the April 7 National Cathedral presentation "An Introduction of Islam in the U.S." Said, sister of the late leftist academic and Arab/Islam apologist Edward Said, set the tone for an event before a conference hall audience of about 60 that glossed over the troubling Islamist and anti-Israel aspects of its participants.

The Episcopalian Said revealed a strange priority of religious repression concerns, overlooking a long history of Islamic persecution of Christians and other minorities. Said worried that "Islamophobia is on the rise" in the United States "based in large part on fear of the other." National Cathedral Canon Patty Johnson's opening prayer emphasized Said's and the evening's ecumenical theme by imploring the "Holy One" to unite Christians with "Muslim brothers and sisters" into "one loving people."

Such ecumenism did not extend to the Jewish state of Israel. Distributed printed material from the National Cathedral's Palestine-Israel Advocacy Group (PIAG), chaired by Said, listed numerous anti-Israeli, even anti-Semitic groups, as PIAG recommended resources. The far-left Israeli "human rights" organization B'Tselem (a Holocaust-denier once worked there) appeared alongside the Foundation for Middle East Peace.

The evening's featured speaker was Howard University professor Altaf Husain, described by his co-panelist, Georgetown University professor Yvonne Haddad, as a "rising scholar of Islam in the United States." Like the other speakers, Husain emphasized a desire to "create further bridges" between faiths while describing how he and other Muslims had fulfilled their American Dreams. This Cleveland native emigrated from India as a child with his family while his wife and in-laws came from Egypt, part of American Muslims' "baffling" diversity. His review of American Muslim history, beginning with African slaves, ended in his assessment of survey data that today's American Muslims are "mostly middle class and mostly mainstream."

Husain's National Cathedral appearance should worry Americans. As the 2014 National Cathedral Muslim prayer service involving CAIR and ISNA indicated, this nationally revered (Episcopal) house of worship today often ignores dubious Islamic connections. ISNA's sharia-supporting Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi also appeared at the National Cathedral memorial service three days after 9/11, where his vague comments failed to condemn Al Qaeda terrorists. Simultaneously, scathing criticism of America's ally Israel from Said and Husain, who stated as MSA president in 2001 that, "Israel, for 50 years, has been an apartheid state," apparently leaves the National Cathedral untroubled.

You can read the full report in today's digest.