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Friday, August 22, 2008
"O my God, incline Thine ear and hear. Open Thine eyes and behold our
desolations and the city which is called by Thy name; for we do not present
our supplications before Thee for our righteousnesses, but for Thy great
mercies." Daniel 9:18 KJ21
_________________________
A Message
from Bishop David Anderson
Dearly Beloved in
Christ,
Early this week I attended a Common Cause Partnership Lead Bishops' meeting,
with discussions naturally centered around outcomes of the Lambeth
Conference and the GAFCON Primates' Council meeting, and concerns for
finally putting together a North American orthodox Anglican province. From
there I went to a CANA-Nigeria Council meeting, with lay and clergy
representatives from CANA congregations all over the USA. Visitors from
other Anglican judicatories are also present observing the events, both
plenary and breakout sessions.
These Anglican gatherings, such as CANA Council as well as AMiA's Winter
Conference and ACN events, are so different from the atmosphere of stress
and hostility that many experienced when still serving in liberal
revisionist dioceses in the Episcopal Church. At these type of orthodox
Anglican gatherings one can actually relax, move deeper into worship, accept
sound teaching, and fellowship with others who are of similar faith. To God
be the glory!
We note that a letter from Bishop Duncan of Pittsburgh to Bishop Lillibridge
of West Texas, which was forwarded with permission to the Windsor
Continuation Group members, was leaked by someone either in Bishop
Lillibridge's office or one of the Windsor Continuation Group members. Does
the Windsor Continuation Group really wish to be in conversation with Bishop
Duncan or the Common Cause Partnership Federation, a likely new Anglican
Province in North America? There are ways to make slight modifications in a
document and code them so that the miscreant identifies himself when he
leaks a document. Perhaps next time, that might be an appropriate option.
One of the items
that Bishop Duncan wished to protest was the treatment of border crossings
as the moral equivalence of same sex marriages and gay bishops, a stance
that previous Primates' Meetings refused to take. This new equivalence
represents a steep moral decline on the part of the Lambeth leadership, and
is further underlined by the thought that the orthodox Anglicans who have
left, let me say it again, WHO HAVE LEFT the Episcopal Church, would EVER go
back into the toxic theological quagmire of heterodoxy that is the
leadership of TEC. We are not going into any holding bay; we are the victims
and Lambeth is thinking of sending the abused back to the abuser rather than
punish the abuser. But remember, if Dr Williams semi-secretly believes in
the gay agenda, he cannot and will not ever really discipline TEC; rather,
he would send the orthodox back for TEC to have a second go at them. I don't
think the orthodox will buy that idea. That train goes to the death camp and
we're not getting on it.
Andrew Carey,
journalist for the Church of England Newspaper, has done a short but
excellent recap on the Episcopal Church, and it is worth your taking a look.
I think Andrew really gets it - now if only Dr. N. T. Wright would read,
mark, learn and inwardly digest what Carey has said, the C of E would be in
a better position to be a help to the Communion.
Now to close with
a note of optimism: in northern Virginia, Judge Bellows has again ruled in
favor of the local churches in the TEC & Diocese of Virginia lawsuit against
the orthodox Anglican churches who left with their property. TEC & Virginia
will keep suing and appealing, however, burning up money in lawyers' fees as
part of a strategy. For churches to prevail over the bully TEC and the
diocese, the churches need to have the local law on their side, the facts on
their side, and enough money to stay in court forever. TEC loses on the law
and loses on the facts, but if they can burn enough money, they can win by
financially exhausting any opponent, as unjust as that is. But now I ask
you, is a denomination like that where you want your children and
grandchildren to go to church? When you go to a revisionist TEC diocese like
Virginia, do you really want your Sunday morning offering to go not to the
Glory of God, not to the heat/lights/salaries of a local church, not to
mission work, but to persecute orthodox churches in order to force them out
of their churches and onto the street? I would think that even the liberals
and revisionists would get tired of that after while. For now, the orthodox
Anglicans in the USA are praying for a final victory in Judge Bellows'
court, and for TEC to move on to the MDG's that they keep talking about.
Blessings and
Peace in Christ Jesus,
The Rt. Rev.
David C. Anderson, Sr.
President and CEO, American Anglican Council
_________________________
AAC selects Chief Operating Officer and new Affiliates
Administrator
August 20, 2008
The American
Anglican Council (AAC) is pleased to announce the selection of The Rev. J.
Philip Ashey as its Chief Operating Officer and Chaplain (COO).
Fr. Ashey is in his 22nd year of serving in the ministry. Along with parish
rector, his ministry experiences include teaching at Trinity Episcopal
School for Ministry, Ambridge, PA; leading and participating in mission
trips to Uganda and Kenya; and pastor and counsel for the Christian Legal
Society.
Before his ordination, Fr. Ashey was the Deputy District Attorney in Orange
County, California. He completed his undergraduate degree at Stanford
University, law degree at Loyola Law School, and his Master of Divinity at
General Theological Seminary in New York.
The AAC is also
pleased to announce the hiring of a new Affiliates Administrator. Carol
Frederick will be replacing Linda Newton as the Affiliates Administrator.
Carol will officially start on September 2, 2008. Carol attends Christ
Church, Atlanta (Province of the Southern Cone, Alfred Sawyer, rector). She
has many years' experience in advertising and other businesses where she
dealt successfully with clients and vendors. Carol also has a good deal of
experience as a volunteer doing various types of parish ministry. We are
very happy to have her join us.
_________________________
Virginia
Anglican Churches Praise Fairfax Judge Ruling on Contracts Clause
Source:
ADV website
August 19, 2008
FAIRFAX, Va. - The 11 Virginia Anglican congregations sued by The Episcopal
Church (TEC) and the Diocese of Virginia responded to the Fairfax County
Circuit Court ruling issued today concerning the Contracts Clause and the
assertion by TEC and the Diocese that the 11 Anglican congregations waived
their right to invoke the Virginia Division Statute. Judge Randy Bellows
ruled that TEC and the Diocese failed to timely assert their claim that the
11 Anglican congregations contracted around or waived their right to invoke
the Division Statute. In addition, the judged ruled that the Division
Statute does not violate the contracts clause provisions of the U.S. and
Virginia Constitutions as applied to these properties. The rulings can be
found at www.anglicandistrictofvirginia.org. Today's rulings mean that
there are only a small number of issues remaining to be decided at the
October trial, and the 11 Anglican congregations are hopeful that they can
be resolved quickly.
"We are pleased that Judge Bellows ruled in our favor on these questions.He
ruled very clearly that our congregations are able to rely on theVirginia
Division Statute in order to keep our church property. We have maintained
all along that our churches' own trustees hold title for the benefit of
their congregations. TEC and the Diocese have never owned any of the
properties and their names do not appear on deeds to the property. The
Virginia Supreme Court has consistently stated that Virginia does not
recognize denominational trusts of the sort asserted by TEC and theDiocese,"
said Jim Oakes, vice-chairman of the Anglican District of Virginia. All 11
churches are members of ADV. "Given today's ruling, we hope and pray that
TEC and the Diocese would put away this needless litigation. We have
consistently remained open to exploring avenues for amicable discussions,
and have been grieved that TEC has chosen to continue to pursue a path of
confrontation rather than civil dialogue. This litigation has done nothing
to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ," Oakes continued. ...
The rest of the
article may be found at the link above.
_________________________
Analysis of Lambeth: The winners and losers
Source: Church of England Newspaper, August 22 edition, Pg. 7
By George Conger
The 14th Lambeth
Conference was a triumph for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan
Williams, in light of the criteria set forward for success by its
organizers, but did not prevent the collapse of the Anglican Communion. ...
For
traditionalists, Lambeth 2008 let down the Communion, leaving it millions in
debt and with left and right further entrenched in their positions. The call
for dialogue was not heeded, and the pleas for restraint on gay bishops and
blessings, as well as cross-border episcopal incursions were rejected out of
hand before the close of the Conference.
On its own terms,
Lambeth 2008 was an institutional success. The oft-foretold schism of the
Anglican Communion did not appear to take place between July 16 and Aug 3 on
the campus of the University of Kent in Canterbury, and the bishops were
seen to be expressing mild statements of concern on global warming, poverty,
disease, hunger, domestic violence and other generally bad things - while
also affirming, in a non-controversial or provocative way, generally good
things: peace, the brotherhood of mankind, and church unity. ...
By couching the
single conference statement as a "reflection," Lambeth 2008 found a way to
avoid any one group or constituency amongst the bishops coming out the
loser, with their views cast as the minority position. By asking the bishops
whether they could hear their own voice amongst the chorus in the
reflections document, the Lambeth Conference assured like the Dodo in Alice
in Wonderland that "Everybody has won, and all must have prizes."
No ecclesial
missiles were fired, the Americans behaved, Gene Robinson was muted, and the
more embarrassing bishops were far away - no impromptu exorcisms of gay
activists as happened at the 1998 Conference before the cameras of the BBC
this time.
For Dr Williams,
then, the conference was a success and his plan of staving off a
confrontation until the completion of the Anglican Covenant, which would
shift the onus of deciding whether one was "in or out" away from Canterbury
onto the provinces, a sound one.
However, few of
the bishops questioned by The Church of England Newspaper over the course of
the Conference and in the week after, saw themselves or the communion as
"winners." Liberals were aggrieved by Dr Williams' turn against them on the
closing day, when he called for a moratorium on gay bishops and blessings -
and singled out the Episcopal Church for opprobrium as the chief
troublemaker in the communion. ...
Conservatives
entered the Conference discouraged by the absence of over 60 per cent of the
African diocesan bishops, and left frustrated that nothing substantive was
accomplished. Fears Dr Williams was "not on side" were not assuaged by his
conservative-sounding closing presidential address on Aug 3, as a steady
onslaught of progressive Bible studies, politically correct plenary
sessions, and in the words of one American conservative bishop - "asinine"
Indaba groups was a source of frustration and impatience.
The central
failure of the Conference, however, flowed from the decision not to confront
the issues dividing the Communion. During the 2003 primates meeting,
Archbishop Peter Akinola and a small group of primates were persuaded by Dr
Williams to attend communion services with US Presiding Bishop Frank
Griswold, even though their scruples forbade them from doing so.
Over the
succeeding five years, the inability of Anglican bishops to worship round a
common altar has not been addressed, and even with a boycott of over 200
bishops the opening Eucharist in Canterbury Cathedral saw three primates and
a number of bishops refrain from receiving communion due to their
theological difficulties with the American Church. These positions were not
softened during the three weeks at Lambeth, but hardened with some bishops
convinced that dialogue in the terms proposed by Dr Williams was now
fruitless. ...
_________________________
TEC sent
largest number of bishops to Lambeth
Source:The
Living Church
By (the Rev.) George Conger and Steve Waring
August 19, 2008
The Episcopal
Church provided the largest block of bishops at the Lambeth Conference,
sending 104 of the 469 diocesan bishops present during the conference of
Anglican bishops in Canterbury.
Details on who and how many of the Anglican Communion's 880 active bishops
attended the Lambeth Conference have not been made public. However, the Rev.
Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Consultative
Council, reported the conference "involved the participation of some 680
bishops and 3,000 participants."
There were 617 Anglican bishops registered for the conference, according to
Lambeth Conference documentation obtained by The Living Church.
Approximately 600 Anglican bishops were present for the group photo. Of the
617, 469 were diocesan bishops and the remaining 140 were suffragan,
assisting and assistant bishops, as well as eight bishops without
territorial sees.
The largest number of absentees was from Africa, with 209 of the continent's
324 diocesan bishops missing. There were 115 diocesan and 12 suffragan
bishops from African dioceses.
After The Episcopal Church's 127 bishops, the second largest contingent came
from the Church of England, which registered 113: 39 diocesan and 64
suffragan/assistant bishops.
Australia registered 39 bishops (20 diocesan and 19 suffragan); Canada 37
(29 diocesan and 8 suffragan); Southern Africa 27 (23 diocesan and 4
suffragan); North India 22; South India 21; Tanzania 20; the Sudan 17 and
New Zealand 14.
The registration totals do not correspond exactly to the number of bishops
actually present at Lambeth, however. At least 17 Anglican bishops who
registered did not show, and a handful not registered did attend. ...
The rest of the article
may be found at the link above.
_________________________
Bishop Duncan Shares Concerns about Windsor Continuation Group's
Proposals
Source: Common Cause Partnership
website
August 20, 2008
A letter by
Bishop Robert Duncan, moderator of the Common Cause Partnership, to Bishop
Gary Lillibridge of the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas has been made
public. In that letter, dated August 11, Bishop Duncan put in writing
concerns of the dioceses of Pittsburgh, Fort Worth, Quincy and other members
of the Common Cause Partnership caused by the suggestions of the Windsor
Continuation Group for dealing with divisions in the Anglican Communion.
Bishop Duncan had initially shared these concerns with those present at the
Lambeth Conference of Bishops.
The August 11
letter was forwarded with permission by Bishop Lillibridge to members of the
Windsor Continuation Group and subsequently leaked to liberal activists and
published online and via email on August 18.
"I am happy to
publicly acknowledge this letter and my description of the concerns we in
the Common Cause Partnership have about the proposals of the Windsor
Continuation Group. Nonetheless, it is disturbing to discover that at least
one member of the Windsor Continuation Group, a body that is supposed to be
working for reconciliation in the Anglican Communion, so quickly leaked
private correspondence in an attempt to gain some passing political
advantage," said Bishop Duncan.
The full text of
the letter follows:
Dear Gary,
It was very good
to be with you at Lambeth. I especially appreciated the time we spent
together looking at the relationship between the Common Cause Partners and
the Communion Partners, as well as considering issues that are before the
WCG.
I thought that
you might appreciate hearing from me about concerns the approach of the WCG
has caused for me and for all the Common Cause Partners.
The WCG proposes
"cessation of all cross-border interventions and inter-provincial claims of
jurisdiction." There are at least four serious problems with the thinking
surrounding the work of the Windsor Continuation Group in this regard.
The first
difficulty is the moral equivalence implied between the three moratoria, a
notion specifically rejected in the original Windsor Report and at
Dromantine.
The second is the
notion that, even if the moratoria are held to be equally necessary, there
would be some way to "freeze" the situation as it now stands for those of us
in the process of separating from The Episcopal Church. The three dioceses
of Pittsburgh, Quincy and Fort Worth have taken first constitutional votes
on separation with second votes just weeks away. We all anticipate coming
under Southern Cone this fall, thus to join San Joaquin. This process cannot
be stopped - constitutions require an automatic second vote, and to
recommend against passage without guarantees from the other side would be
suicidal.
The third reality
is that those already separated parishes and missionary jurisdictions under
Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Southern Cone (including Recife) will
never consent to the "holding tank" whose stated purpose is eventual
"reconciliation" with TEC or the Anglican Church of Canada. (It was obvious
to all at Lambeth that the majorities in the US and Canada have no intention
of reversing direction.)
The fourth matter
is that the legal proceedings brought by TEC and ACC against many of us have
been nowhere suspended by these aggressor provinces, with no willingness to
mediate or negotiate though we have proposed it repeatedly, not least since
Dar es Salaam.
For your
information, I have written to John Chew and Donald Mtetemela in a similar
way. I have also written to the Global South Primates who signed the open
letter dated 3 August.
I hope this finds
you well. As I pledged when we saw each other, I will do what I can to keep
you informed of thinking among the Common Cause Partners, and will do what I
can to see that any solutions imagined include both the Communion Partners
(on the inside) and the Common Cause Partners (most of whom are on the
outside of TEC, or on their way out.)
Blessings to you and yours,
+Bob
_________________________
A Church under judgement
Source: Church of England Newspaper, August 22 edition, pg. 23
By Andrew Carey
At the recent
Lambeth Conference I had a couple of conversations with so-called
'conservative' Americans, both amongst the press and the bishops. I was even
able to give the Bishop of Springfield (no relation to 'The Simpsons') some
pointers on the rules of cricket as we snatched five minutes in the bar to
watch England being clinically defeated by South Africa.
Their depressing
and urgent situation in The Episcopal Church becomes ever clearer over time,
despite all of the efforts of their liberal church leaders to try and
persuade the rest of the Anglican Communion that really we're just like you.
Close watchers of the US, and readers of this newspaper, will be more aware
than most of the state of that Church. Heterodoxy is never punished, whereas
orthodox impatience is the subject of lawsuits all over the country. And the
amount of heterodoxy uttered in The Episcopal Church is truly astonishing.
Even leaving aside the virtual atheism of Bishop Spong's 'Twelve Theses',
we've had bishops claim that the church can 're-write the Bible', others
make sweeping apologies for Christian mission to those of other faiths,
while the Presiding Bishop views Jesus as just one way among many.
Furthermore,
they've had scandals the likes of which would destroy the Church of England
in the eyes of the world, with our much more effective national press
conducting the funeral rites. They've had thrice-divorced bishops, a
child-abusing bishop, as well as one who's covered up sex abuse by his
brother, a priest. There's been a drug-dealing priest, others who've been
exposed in a pornographic magazine for engaging in bizarre sex with
Brazilians. This is truly only the tip of the iceberg. Any one or two of
these cases would have been a national scandal in Britain, in the US it's
only a few column inches.
With whole
parishes and dioceses deserting the national Church amid such widespread
heterodoxy and scandal, followed by a wave of litigation and squabbling over
property, it's impossible to see The Episcopal Church as anything other than
a disaster area. If there ever was a Church under the judgment of God, it is
this one. |
